Page 9 of The Time Of Kings

And as for me, well, I was left with no choice but to be taken. To be dragged out of the cottage with a single thought now racing round in my mind…

Who wasmy kidnapper this time?

5

WRONG ROOM

Iwas so close to questioning how the hell this could have happened, yet again, when I realised the idiocy of doing so. Because this was me we were talking about. Which meant that, at this point, I was pretty sure that if there was such a thing as the kidnapping Olympics, then I would have been gold medallist ten times over by now. Honestly, I was starting to think of it as some cosmic joke on my behalf and I would have just rolled my eyes. Well, that was had I not been worried out of my mind for Amelia’s sake.

The sight of that blood trickling from her forehead had made me wake with a start, quickly realising two things. The first being that in my manic attempt at trying to fight my way back to my daughter’s side, they must have knocked me unconscious. The second thing was when I awoke, I was half upside down and lying across something moving.

Cracking a cautious eye open, I soon realised why this was as I had obviously been flung over a horse at some point. Well, that would certainly explain the smell and the face full of fur, something I would have pushed myself away from. However, I didn’t think alerting my kidnappers to the fact I was awake wasa good idea, so I simply turned my face to the side and took in a deep breath, hoping this would help. I knew at some point we would have to stop and when we did, that was when I would slip from this beast and start running for my life.

I just needed to get far enough away to lose them in hopes of then making my way back to Amelia, praying by now her aunts had found her. Of course, I also hoped they wouldn’t decide to put themselves in danger in hopes to save me.

Oh, but who was I kidding? I had a lot of hopes here and they all centred around keeping Amelia safe. But knowing my daughter the way I did, I also knew that her first priority, just like mine was, would be family. Which meant that time was of the essence and getting back to her before she came looking for me was what I needed to focus on here.

So, with this in mind, the second the horse started to slow I mentally prepared myself, opening my eyes enough to watch as we made our way through a stone arch. One that looked to lead us into a stables of some kind. Well, this was going to be my one and only chance as the men dismounted the horses. Including the one that was riding behind where I was slumped over.

The second they started to turn their backs to me, I allowed my body to slide from the horse, unfortunately crumbling the second I did, as my legs had gone dead. Thankfully for me, the horse seemed to be on my side, as the moment the men noticed, the horse reared up. Of course, this little getaway of mine was shaky to start but with the horse now kicking off (literally), it gave me the head start I needed to get to my feet and start running.

I also realised that the sun was fully up and painting the surrounding countryside in colour, despite being able to see the angry storm clouds in the distance. Meaning the beautiful view in front of me wouldn’t stay as idyllic as it did now for long.

The rolling green hills seemed to go on forever and the mountains made for a dramatic backdrop for the castle I seemed to be running towards. Because unfortunately for me, there didn’t seem like any other route to take. Not when the road leading the opposite way was now blocked by the men running towards me.

Of course, the sight of knights on horseback up ahead was one that managed to make us all stop suddenly. As the road leading along the left side of the castle had nothing but a cliff drop on the other side leading to the valley it was built atop of. I recognised that the knights looked just like those that had come looking for us at the cottage that Pip and Sophia had managed to lure away.

It didn’t take a genius to know what had happened.

The brutes behind me stopped in their tracks at the sight of the knights, and what followed was them giving up trying to get me back in favour of running in the opposite direction.

They hadn’t been working together at trying to kidnap me.

Clearly, these fools had believed they could get the job done and gain the credit for retrieving me before the knights could. This was the only explanation I could come up with for why they quickly scattered.

Something that ended up being a plus for me, as I witnessed this whole thing going down before the Knights could. Which therefore meant that I had time to hide before they actually saw me. This was the good news. The bad news was that there seemed to be only one place to hide, and let’s just say that it was less than ideal. But beggars couldn’t be choosers, as the saying went, so into the ditch I went. One that had a tiny waterfall flowing into it from a small stone arch. Which meant that I easily slid down the side, hiding quickly enough so that they missed me as they finally made chase with my kidnappers.

However, the problem to this was that my foot sank into the mud, and gravity became the enemy when I went face first into the muddy side of the bank. Friction became my second enemy, or should I say the lack of it, because I continued to fall until finally coming to a natural stop when landing in the stream of water at the bottom. I then mouthed a muffled,

“Fuck!”

My body was jarred against the rocks and no doubt gained quite a few bruises for my efforts. But hey, at least the knights hadn’t seen me, so that was a plus.

There was no complaining about my hiding place’s efficiency. Not when I saw some of the knights racing past on horseback as they galloped off, making chase after the kidnappers and therefore unknowingly solving my immediate problem. The next one, of course, was how I was going to get back to Amelia, dressed like I was, still in modern clothes, now covered in mud and in broad daylight, when clearly, I was still being hunted for some insane, unknown reason.

“First things first… get your soggy arse outta this mess,” I muttered before reaching up and failing to drag myself out of the mud about three times before finally finding enough of a grip to do so. Of course, with each attempt I only managed to cover myself in even more mud. Meaning by the end, I could feel it dripping from me. I even tried to get it off my face but with my hands covered, it became an impossible task. Even my hair was caked in it, but at least I’d had the foresight to tie it back and twist it up in a clip. Thankfully, at least some of the wet grass helped, as I used it to wipe my hands before trying to tackle my face. But when it was as bad as being able to taste mud in your mouth, then let’s just say it was a lost cause.

Even my nails looked like I had decided to bury a bone in the garden. Wiping my hands down my thighs had been a no-gothanks to the mud that soaked my clothes. I literally looked like a walking, talking turd!

Yep, I had officially hit an all-time low.

Then after being the single attendee to this pity party I had going on, I took a minute to think what my next move would be. Although, despite the Gods most likely laughing their clean arses off at me right now, they also must have decided to throw me a bone, and not the type they expected me to bury. No, in the form of a small doorway, tucked down some steps, like some servant entrance or something.

Yet despite this doorway being somewhat concealed from the road, I also knew that at some point I would be discovered. Especially when those knights came back to re-join the others as they would have to pass right by me.

Of course, this planning stage of mine was abruptly cut short when suddenly the place I was leaning all my weight against suddenly gave way and the door was opened.

“Aaaaah!” I heard my own scream echoed by the shocked woman who now found me sprawled out on the floor, covered in mud, looking up at her in bewilderment. Then she screamed the very last thing I ever expected her to call me,

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