*Chapter 9*
Morning came and I was still all alone. I figured Gabriel and Justin would have found me by now. I’m a seventeen year old girl from the year 2012, and I found the enemy camp. How did they not know how to track me? They were supposed to be professionals. Maybe they weren’t looking for me. Maybe they decided their lives would be better without me. I’m sure Joshua wouldn’t hesitate to leave me out in the forest to die; Justin would probably be the only one trying to convince the rest of the men that I was worth saving, and Gabriel was probably to upset and didn’t want to see me. I really know how to mess things up. On the bright side I was still alive. They haven’t woken up, and I’ve been left alone.
*Meanwhile in the forest*
“Gabriel calm down, we’re going to find her.”
“It’s all my fault.”
“What happened? Why would she run away?”
“Well, I kind of kissed her.”
“No way! You guys weren’t even engaged for an hour and you kiss her.”
“I guess you could put it that way. I wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to see me again.” We’ve been searching for Miranda all night and all morning. She didn’t leave us much to work with; we couldn’t pick up her trail. I knew something was wrong the second I got back to camp after our swim. It just felt wrong, it’s like I knew Miranda wasn’t back and that she was in some kind of trouble.
“Gabriel, we have something.” Finally, I knew Joshua could track her down. That’s the reason he’s in my group. We wouldn’t ever be friends, but he did always have my back. We followed Miranda’s tracks for about an hour until we came across a camp site. We hid in the bushes nearby. All the men were looking around the area. My eyes fell on one thing and one thing only, Miranda. She was tied to a tree. Her hair was ratted up in a mess, her dress was dirty and torn, and her face was pale. I guessed she didn’t have anything to eat or drink. She looked so fragile, like one touch and she could vanish into dust. I hated seeing her like this, and to know that it was all my fault didn’t help. She still looked beautiful, she always would. No situation could make her look ugly. I had to get her untied and safe.
“Okay men listen up this is how we are going to do this. There are only eleven men. Two of them are guarding the camp at the other end. Miranda is at the big tree. Once we take down the two guards the others will come out of their tents. This means a fight. It shouldn’t be too hard we out number them. Gabriel, while we are all busy you rescue Miranda. Can you all handle that?” There were replies to Joshua, but I was just too focused on Miranda. “Ready? Go.” Everyone went their own ways and I ran up to Miranda’s frail body. She looked up at me and attempted to smile.
“You came,” her voice was so week and so tired.
“Of course I came.” I continued to untie her, her eyes were starting to shut. I was hoping it was just because she was tired. I looked around and saw that we were taking all the men down. Some ran into the forest to hide. I had Miranda back; I wasn’t too concerned about wiping the entire camp out. I put her on my back and started heading back with my other men. I waited until we were far out.
“Miranda, drink some water.” I held up my canteen to her mouth, but she wouldn’t take it. “You need this.” She was too weak to even look at me. I dripped some water in her mouth just so she had some kind of water in her system. All my men caught up and gathered around looking at her.
“Gabriel is she going to be okay?”
“She should be after she gets some water, food, and rest. Is everyone okay? Did we all make it?”
“Yes, we should head back.” We started the long walk back. We decided not to bring horses along so we would have the act of surprise on our side. Now I was starting to think that wasn’t my best idea. I was so tired, and not that Miranda was heavy, but she didn’t help. It was already dark again. My days were going by really fast. I would be back home at the castle in a few days. I could rest and get away from this life for a while.
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