Saving Her Kingdom

♡ Chapter 24

Chapter 24 (Edited)

The next morning, Thomas and I ate our breakfast and got going shortly after dawn. We said goodbye to the villagers that had already woken up and marched onto the road.

We rode to the next village, where we ate lunch and continued to the next town. The people were always shocked to see Thomas and their reaction were sometimes quite extreme, although I could understand why. It was not often that the Crown prince showed up in a village unannounced.

At one point in the evening, Thomas asked me, "Do you know how much longer it is until the next inn?"

"No, I have never been there, I assumed you knew," I said and shot him a questioning look.

"What? But I have been following you since the last village," he looked at me alarmed.

I slowly shook my head, confused. "No, I was following you..."

Thomas let out a ragged breath. "Oh damn. What are we going to do?"

I sighed, "Well, we have to sleep somewhere for the night."

Thomas nodded. "Yes, but I think we are lost now."

"Wait, can I look at the map please?", I asked. Maybe I could find the way we took and find out where we were.

He took it from his pocket and gave it to me. "Do you know this area?", he asked.

"Not very well, but I'll try to find our position," I said and looked at the maze of paths on the map.

After at least 15 minutes of analyzing and studying the map, I found out that we were right in between two villages. I looked at the sun and it was going to set in an hour at most. I swore quietly.

"What?", Thomas asked.

I snapped my head towards him. "We're in a worse position than I thought," I explained.

His eyebrows raised in concern. "Where are we?"

"We are too far from the two nearest villages to reach them before the night."

"Oh," he said and scrunched up his face, "We will have to sleep in the forest..."

"Indeed, we have to."

He sighed. "Come on then. Let's try to make a camp before the sun sets."

He climbed off his horse and I did the same. We attached our horses to a tree and Thomas said, "We should make a fire to keep us safe from the wild animals."

"The wild animals?"

"Yes. I often go hunting, you know. I have an idea of what lives in here," he stated, pointing into the forest.

I shivered, suddenly thinking of the night I ran away from home. I had never known I was in such a danger back then. I let out a short breath and composed myself. "I still have the snacks we bought at the last town. You should go make a fire then, and I will give the horses water and food."

Thomas nodded and went into the forest, picking up small twigs and branches. I unpacked our food and looked into the water bottle. There wasn't enough for all of us. I felt my chest deflate. What are we going to do? Do we really have to sleep outside now? I didn't really have a choice.

I suddenly remembered something I saw on the map. There was a small river not far from here. Perfect. I started to walk in the direction I remembered the river should be when I looked at the map, and took our two water bottles.

When I heard the flow of the river, I went to collect water from it and headed back. When I arrived, Thomas was lighting up a fire over a small pile of branches surrounded by stones. The small flame grew progressively, and with Thomas blowing on it, the fire was finally big enough to last.