“So, do you have any family?” she asked after deciding that the camp was much too quiet.
Nate was delayed in answering, chewing on a mouthful of meat. Kiara waited patiently as he swallowed it. “Not really,” he answered.
“What do you mean? Are they all dead or something?”
“They might as well be.” Nate took another large bite of food with bitterness in his tone. Kiara stared at him for a long hard moment, trying to decide what that meant. Maybe they had deserted him. Or he deserted them. Either way, there was obviously some hostility between Nate and his family. Kiara didn’t press the matter any further.
“How long have you lived out on your own? Or do you have a home somewhere?” she asked, nibbling on the small portion in her mouth. Normally, she would have waited until her mouth was empty, but she had a feeling that regular table manners weren’t required in such a setting.
“All my life. I know these woods like the back of my hand. But, I stay within the Grey or in Deceiver’s forest, preferably. I haven’t lived in a regular home since I was maybe ten years old.”
Kiara couldn’t imagine what kind of existence that must have been. “So, you just lived out in the wild? Making camps like this and hunting animals and stuff like that?”
“Pretty much. I make some living off of being a mountain guide or mercenary for barons in Deceiver’s lands. That’s the only reason I have the money that I have.”
“That must be pretty boring, though. Don’t you have any friends?”
“A few in the villages and towns. But, they’re more of acquaintances than friends.”
Kiara finished off her handful of meat and stared at the fire as he finished his own. She couldn’t understand why someone would choose such a lifestyle. She didn’t know what she would do without her friends or family. But, there were all sorts of people in the world and they had their own preferences.
“Do you have any lovers or girlfriends among those acquaintances?” she asked shyly.
Nate seemed just as bashful to answer, as she was to ask the question. “Um… Maybe a few. But, I haven’t seen them in years. I would rather not get involved in that sort of thing anymore.”
Kiara looked up to the rogue and saw something like guilt in his eyes that reflected the flames of the campfire. There was some secret there, as well. He was hiding so many details about himself… But, then again, so was she. She supposed that they didn’t know each other well enough to reveal such things, anyway.
“No wife, no children, no friends, no family… How can you possibly live contently like that?” she thought out loud, contemplatively gazing out at the blackened woods.
“…I don’t,” Nate muttered with as much thoughtfulness. Kiara glanced back to him, who happened to be staring right back at her. She took a deep breath and straightened her back to look off in another direction, feeling slightly uncomfortable all of the sudden.
“You might want to get some sleep. We have a lot of ground to make up tomorrow,” he said, taking the cooked meat and wrapping it in a piece of cloth, stuffing it in his bag along with all of their other tools and equipment, and walking away towards the trees on the other side of the clearing.
“Where are you going?” she asked anxiously, watching him tie a rope around one of the handles of the bag, then tossing it up to a high branch.
“Believe it or not, there are animals in the woods here. Some dangerous and some not. If they take a whiff of this food, they’re liable to come into camp and steal it, along with destroying our supplies,” he said, then walking back to the camp fire after securing the bag up fifteen feet in the air, “I’m hanging it over a branch so that even if an animal comes around, it won’t cause us any trouble.”
Kiara was no longer concerned about the food, but about her own safety.
“Animals? Dangerous? You’re saying there’s things out there that can come in here and kill us and eat us as a midnight snack?” Kiara admitted that she may have been over-exaggerating that idea, but it was a real worry. She didn’t want to be in dream world one moment, and then be thrust into defending herself from a violent, vicious bear or lion that may stumble across their camp. She didn’t want to die that way: to be eaten by some mangy animal.
“Relax. I’m going to stand watch. No beast is going to barge in without my knowing it,” Nate consoled as he sat down next to her at the fire.
“But, what if you doze off?”
“I’m not liable to doze off easily.”
“What if you’re killed by the animal and then it comes after me?” Kiara grew even more terrified and drew her legs up to her chest to hold nervously.
“I’ve fought everything from annoying falcons to hungry grizzly bears. I haven’t seen any animal that isn’t vulnerable to a dagger and arrow.” Nate seemed rather amused by the girl’s questions and didn’t seem the least bit bothered by her over-reacting.
Kiara sighed and rested her chin on the top of her knees and stared out blankly to the tree line, trying to act upset. Nate just smirked and let his eyes rest on the fire comfortably, crossing his legs and leaning back on his hands to stretch out his back and shoulder muscles.
“Aren’t you going to go to sleep?” he asked her curiously.
“Nope. I’m going to stay up with you so that when that bear comes along and is devouring you whole, I can scream from the sidelines ‘I told you so!’”
Nate got a good chuckle out of that, but repeated his question with all seriousness.
“I don’t believe I’ll be able to sleep with the thought that there are wild animals out there, bent on eating me,” she stated with an intelligent nod.
“Believe me, princess, there are no animals out there that can eat you. A bear would hardly be interested in you because you run too fast. A cougar would have easier prey to catch and wolves stay out of the way. You’re in no real danger. The only danger would be if you don’t get some sleep.”
Kiara glanced at Nate from the corner of her eye as he sat back up straight, brought up his own legs and hung his arms over his knees loosely, twirling a twig in his hands.
She didn’t quite believe him, so she decided to stay up anyway, just to listen to the sounds of the night. She never really took the time to listen to her surroundings. And, if she ever did, it wasn’t nature noise that she would hear, but sounds coming from inside the castle or out in the village.
What she heard around her, made her more anxious than before when Nate was speaking of wild animals. The first sounds came from the fire that sat before her. The crackling and hissing of the branches were the loudest of all the noises. Outside of their clearing circle, Kiara could hear the buzzing of insects and screeching of crickets that surrounded them like an invading swarm.
Along with the crickets, she could occasionally hear the snapping of twigs and wrinkling of leaves, causing her to be thrown in a fit of paranoia. Kiara glanced around frantically to the direction of every alien noise, like chipmunks chirping and frogs belching. Only five minutes of this unsettling behavior was making Nate wonder if Kiara was losing her head.
A soul-shivering howl broke through the air, coming from behind them. Kiara looked behind her with wide eyes and reflexively groped for Nate’s strong bicep to cling to, scooting closer to him, fearful of what could have made that noise.
“What was that?” she whispered shakily.
Nate only looked down at Kiara as she stared off into the woods with a frightened, searching gaze. He found something appealing in such an exposed state that she was in.
“Probably just a wolf or a dog… Relax.”
It wasn’t long after he said that when another howl pierced through the frightful silence. Kiara’s head swiveled around to look ahead of them where the howl came from. Her grip tightened around Nate’s arm and she refused to let go. She only shrunk closer to his side and felt like a scared child.
Nate only watched her with intrigue, not moving or reacting in the slightest way to calm her fears. Any normal man may h
ave put his arm around her and held her closer to make her feel safer, but Nate just looked down at her delicate hands that held his arm and her frightened eyes that shifted back and forth to scan the tree line for any approaching wolves.
Kiara, after realizing how close she was to Nate, glanced to him for only a second, then released her grip to wrap her arms around her shoulders in embarrassment. She kept her eyes focused steadily on the ground and let out a tense breath. His gaze loosened itself and returned to the amber flames of the campfire.
She felt very silly for being afraid of the dark and the wilderness. Nate must have thought she was just some spoiled brat that never slept outdoors in her whole life. He would be correct, though. But, there was so much more to Kiara than mere feminine weaknesses. She had a stronger spirit than that, but Nate didn’t see it. She had to be brave and strong. She represented her father, after all.
“Have you ever been to Aleph?” she asked, hoping to cover-up her mistake with conversation.
“Once… A very long time ago,” Nate replied nostalgically.
“Do you travel to my father’s kingdom at all or do you just stay on this side of the mountains?”
“I only travel into Malcolm’s territory when it’s necessary for a job I have to do.”
Kiara knew that meant that Nate had only gone into her father’s lands to kill or bounty hunt.
“How often is that?”
“Probably only a few times a year.”
“Do you like the land?” she asked, hoping to find that the man had some taste in atmosphere. If he had his choice of place to live and was free to cross over between the territories, then why would he choose to reside in such a dead place as Deceiver’s?
“It’s ok, I guess. The trading is much more diverse and the people are nicer.”
“Why don’t you stay over there after you deliver me to my father?”
Nate sighed and picked up a long branch to stoke the fire. “That is no business of yours. You need to go to sleep.”
Kiara dropped the subject, finding it difficult to carry on any type of polite conversation if he was constantly going to become offended by her questions. However, she didn’t go to sleep. She stayed up, crossing her arms over her legs to create a resting place for her head as time ticked by ever so slowly.
An hour must have gone by and Kiara was sound asleep. The night sounds may have bothered her, but it didn’t keep her from passing out from exhaustion. Nate was still wide awake when Kiara’s body began to lean towards his. Inevitably, her head landed on his shoulder.
Nate didn’t move, but looked down to the girl with reddened eyes, scrutinizing every quality of her flawless complexion that was illuminated by the fire. Even if she was a pain in the rear, a talkative palace brat and a major bump in his path, he had to admit to himself that she was very stunning, despite the boy clothes she had to wear.
He watched her for as long as he pleased - half expecting her to awake - then gently laid her down onto her sleeping mat. Nate took up his cloak and spread it across her small frame to supplement a blanket. He didn’t sleep for the rest of the night and frequently glanced over his shoulder to the snoozing princess.
Chapter 6
“This place reeks!!” Kiara screeched in disgust as they entered into Gimel’s Bog.
That morning, Kiara was relieved to find that their food hadn’t been snatched or stolen by any beast. She was more excited to find that both her and Nate were alive and unharmed. When she had awoken, Nate was already busy putting out the fire and collecting their supplies for another day of walking.
Kiara had half a mind to complain about her feet more so as to avoid the arduous task ahead, but when she stood up straight, putting all her weight on her injured feet, she felt she had enough strength and resistance to walk a while. What she wasn’t expecting was the swampy land that they would have to cross to get past the western border of Deceiver’s land.
“Of course it stinks. It’s a bog. It’s supposed to stink,” Nate replied to her outcry with irritation in his voice. He wasn’t about to make her play the conversation game again as they had yesterday, but he sure wished that he had something to cover that big mouth of hers with. Ever since they started out that morning, all she did was talk about the scenery, her feet, her clothes, his clothes, the food, her sleep and everything else she could think of to make up for his malevolent silence.
“Why does it stink so bad, though?” Kiara asked as they stepped onto the mushy marshlands while she held her nose.
“Probably because animals would get stuck in the mud or quicksand and die, so their carcasses are rotting underneath the surface.”
“That’s so gross! Can’t we just risk going through Deceiver’s forest and over his border to get away from this?”
Nate stopped and held out his arm to make her stop as well, just on the edge of where the bog would turn into a swampy maze. If the trees outside of the bog looked dead and lifeless, then the trees within the bog were even older and more decrepit with grey bark and moss hanging from their branches. The ground was soft and sank under their feet. All around Kiara, she could see little puddles of misty, bubbling, tar-like mud.
“Because, it’s less risky to go through here than face Deceiver’s scouts. I’ve been through here before and I know a path that leads straight north,” Nate said calmly, pointing at the winding little land bridges that weaved through the trees, providing a medley of different roads to take. But, only one was trustworthy enough to lead them to the end.
“Are you sure?” Kiara muttered with a look of insecurity at the bog that awaited them.
“Sure about what?” Nate glanced down to her with puzzlement.
“Are you sure you know the right way?”
“Positive. Come on, it’s almost noon and we need to get out of the bog before stopping for lunch,” Nate said, then picked up a walking stick and prodded the ground to find a particular path to walk down. Kiara shyly walked behind him, trying to not be misled by the way the ground looked. Sometimes, if the surface looked unstable, it turned out to be really hard. And if it looked firm, it was actually quicksand.
Nate finally picked one trail and confidently walked down it, occasionally tapping his stick ahead of them to make sure it really was safe. Kiara followed, finding it difficult to come up with any conversations in the midst of her anxious mind, so her mouth stayed shut. All she felt she could do was stare around at the bog and watch the ground that her feet were treading on.
The trees were wide and their roots stretched out along the surface of the mud, providing a stable base for them to stand taller than most of the other trees she had seen. The bog was buzzing with all sorts of insects like mosquitoes, fireflies and dragonflies. Kiara was constantly swatting in front of her face to keep the bugs away from her.
There were no bushes and the only sign of foliage besides the trees were wiry vines that wrapped themselves around the trees and hung from their high branches. Hardly any wildlife was present either. The most she could see were snakes, lizards and other reptiles that could dwell amongst the trees.
Kiara grew more excited when she saw a friendly-looking squirrel jumping from branch to branch not too far from them.
“Oh, Nate, look! A squirrel!” she whispered so as not to frighten the little rodent.
Nate stopped along the trail and glanced up to the trees in confusion, as if he wasn’t expecting a squirrel to even come near the bog. When he spotted the animal and looked at Kiara’s ecstatic face, he shrugged at its insignificance, then proceeded along the trail. Kiara slowly continued behind him, never taking her eyes off the cute little creature. She was happy to see something so familiar in such a scary place where the sun refused shine.
But, her happiness was soon put out like a candle when the poor little squirrel missed his mark while making a long jump. He scraped against the branches that flew past him as he fell down towards the mud. The squirrel was unable to save himself. He landed in the tar.
Ki
ara gasped and stopped on the trail to watch the squirrel struggle for his life, groping and gnashing out for anything to pull himself out, but there was nothing. The mud stuck to his fur, weighing him down and the bog swallowed him under like a hungry beast. Not even a little air bubble came up from where the squirrel had disappeared. Kiara shed a small tear for the animal, and then hurried to catch up with Nate.
Nate was aware of what had happened, but felt no sympathy for Kiara or the squirrel. The animal should have never come in the bog in the first place. Just like Kiara, that squirrel didn’t belong there. But, Nate was determined the get her out and to safety, even if he had to drag her out.
Kiara was silent and hung her head low, feeling even more scared and alone. She had Nate for company, but it wasn’t really enough to make her feel welcome. He was still very cold and aggressive and Kiara wished he would come out of his shell or either they would arrive to her father’s kingdom quicker so she wouldn’t have to endure his rude behavior for very long.
Although he was respectful in some ways, he didn’t make her feel any safer or at home. Kiara wrapped her arms around her stomach insecurely and breathed deeply as they walked on. It was silent except for the occasional bubbling and gurgling of the bog and the sounds that came from the strange animals up in the trees.
As nearly half an hour passed, with Nate taking turn after turn down different paths that took them around and about, almost in circles, Kiara was beginning to think this wasn’t the right way. Her faith in Nate’s abilities to get them out of the bog were dwindling down to nothing as her feet were sinking deeper and sometimes getting stuck in the mud.
“Are you sure we’re going the right way?” Kiara eventually asked as she was struggling to slip one of her feet out from the paste-like mud. “It seems like we’re taking the long way instead of just going straight through.”
The Princess and Her Rogue Page 9