Just Ella

by Annette K. Larsen

  “Can you tell me what happened? All of it?”

  I nodded, took a deep breath, and told him everything—everything I remembered and everything I suspected all interlaced with my frustration at not understanding why or who.

  While I talked, I ripped off the tattered hem that I had tripped over and examined the scrapes on my arms. I wanted to check the scrapes I could feel on my knees and shins. A couple years ago I might have done it, even with Gavin sitting right there, but things were different now, and I couldn’t do much for my knees anyway.

  When my explanation was finished, I watched him, more than a little stunned and overwhelmingly grateful to have him sitting across from me. “How is it that you were able to find me?”

  It took him a moment to decide whether or not to answer. He picked up one of the strips of fabric I had ripped from the bottom of my dress and started winding and unwinding it around his hand before answering. “Ever since the incident three months ago—” he looked up to make sure I knew what he referred to. I nodded. Of course I remembered the last time he had saved me. “When you started visiting the village regularly, it made me nervous. So, whenever I can get away, I’ve tried to be around when you come to and from the village.”

  He paused, expecting some sort of response. I had none. I just stared at him, my eyes stinging and my lip quivering as I realized why he had been standing there by the road. He was waiting for me.

  “I was following you when the ruckus started. I ran up the road to see what had happened and was practically on top of the situation before I realized how bad it was. One of them knocked me pretty good and when I came to I heard you scream.” His voice caught on the last word, and I wondered what his experience would have been, seeing it from the outside. “I ran in the direction your scream had come from, but they were already putting you on the horse.” He took a steadying breath. “I ran after them, but all I could do was follow the horses’ prints. I was lucky it was raining. The soft ground made the prints a lot easier to follow. I honestly didn’t expect to find you. I certainly didn’t think I would catch up to you so quickly. I planned to follow the trail as far as I could and when it ran out I’d at least be able to give the guard some idea as to where you had been taken, which direction, something. But then I heard horses coming. Three riders passed by, none of them small enough to be you. I felt pretty sure they were the ones who had taken you, but you weren’t with them, so I just kept following the trail.” He reached across the space between us and took my hands. I didn’t know if he was aware of the action or not. “I’m still baffled that I actually found you.”

  “I’m not.” Somehow it made perfect sense that he would find me.

  He gave me a real smile. “Thanks for your confidence in me—however undeserved.” He looked me over. “Are you all right to keep going?”

  I nodded and allowed him to pull me to my feet. The strip of my hem he had been playing with had ended up tied around one wrist, and I wondered if he realized it was there.

  We made our way through the woods, walking mostly in silence, but it didn’t feel awkward. Gavin led the way, glancing back often to make sure I could keep pace with him. He helped me over any obstacles we encountered and though the undercurrent of attraction was there, both of us were content—if not eager—to let our friendship take over.

  Still, there was something that needed to be said. I had an answer to his question now, and I couldn’t let him marry someone else if our difference in station were really the only thing keeping him from me.

  “Gavin.”

  “Yes?”

  “Tell me about your fiancée.”

  He stumbled, as if knocked off balance by my request.

  “She is—” He furrowed his brow, fighting for the words. “Her name is Brinna.”

  When he did not continue, I prompted him. “Have you known her long?”

  “Most of my life.” He continued to walk, staring at the ground. “Our families have been acquainted for years. We have always been friendly.”

  “So, she is a friend? You get along well?”

  “Yes. She’s very easy to be with. We’re comfortable with one another. We know what to expect from each other because we have so much in common.”

  I swallowed and tried to make my voice bright as I said, “She’ll make a good wife, then.”

  “I’ve no doubt of that.”

  We lapsed into silence. I had heard enough.

  We had been walking about half an hour when the sound of voices reached us. Gavin silently took my arm and hurried us over to a fallen log amid a denser group of trees. When the voices didn’t move nearer or farther away, we crept closer for a better look. It could be someone who could help us, someone searching for me.

  Or it could be them.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Sheep's Clothing

  MY THREE CAPTORS sat quite a ways from the beaten path we had been following. As soon as they were in view I pulled Gavin down. He looked at me, confused. I think he had planned to approach them. They appeared perfectly harmless. But I shook my head, and he saw by the slight panic in my eyes what was going on. He looked back at the men and then once more at me. “Them?” he mouthed. I nodded and his brow furrowed in confusion. I knew the feeling.

  We couldn’t move or we’d risk being seen, so we sat down carefully on the damp earth and waited. There would be no continuing on until they left.

  “How much longer?” one of them finally asked.

  The leader didn’t even look up, just kept carving on a stick with the same knife he had used to threaten me. “Not long. He‘s probably already found her and is just taking his time receiving her thanks.” His voice was bland, sounding mildly disgusted.

  A half-formed suspicion started at the back of my mind but I had to keep listening. I wanted to know who ‘he’ was.

  “You think it will work? From what I can tell, she made it pretty clear she doesn’t want him.” The suspicion was more than half-formed now.

  “That may be so, but a damsel likes to be rescued now and then. It’s not difficult to get a maid to fall in love with you once you’ve saved her life.” The disgust in his voice was obvious now.

  “Still, I don’t know why we have to wait around.”

  “Doesn’t matter why; we have our orders. Now quit complaining and start listening. There may be a search party out, and if so we’re going to have to convince them that we’re out looking on the prince’s orders.”

  The other two grumbled, indicating they knew the plan. But I had heard enough. I was seeing red. The only prince I had ever had the opportunity of rejecting was Jeshua. What kind of a spineless, pathetic person has their friends kidnap a girl just so he can pretend to rescue her? I wanted to scream and hit something, but I kept my mouth tightly clenched, trying to think my way through the white-hot fury. I labored to keep my breathing under control and my fingers dug into the earth beneath me. My mind felt so consumed with my internal battle that I didn’t notice the rider approaching. He was just there, pulling his horse to a halt and shouting at his comrades.

  “Where is she?” he demanded. The hood obscured his face, but I didn’t need to see him to know who hid beneath the cloak.

  The leader looked stunned. “At the tree, sir.”

  “Don’t fool with me, William; she’s not at the tree! What have you done?”

  “We left her there, sir. Are you sure you went to the right one?”

  “The rope was there as were some of her bindings, but she wasn’t there.” Panic was starting to taint his anger. “What did you do?” His horse pranced beneath him, upset by his master’s anxiety.

  “She was there, sir, I…” he trailed off.

  For a moment they all just stared at one another, silent, not knowing what to make of it. “What have I done?” Jeshua murmured, then kicked his horse into a mad gallop toward the castle.

  I stared into the air in front of me, only vaguely aware of Gavin sitting stalk-still, his clenched fist pressed
tightly against his mouth.

  The three men finally roused themselves and jumped onto their horses, immediately heading away from my home and back toward Tride.

  When the sound of their horses had disappeared, I finally let my voice loose. “Who would do such a thing? What kind of a person does something like that?” I pulled up a fern from nearby and beat it against a tree until there was nothing left of it, wishing the tree was Jeshua. “I could have killed myself climbing that stupid tree, all so that he could fake being a hero! How could he?” I went to pull another switch from the ground, but Gavin’s arms came around me from behind and gently made me drop it. I almost let myself lean back against him, but instead I pushed away, stumbled, and fell to my knees, letting out a scream of frustration through my clenched teeth.

  After a moment of kneeling there in quiet fury, Gavin spoke from behind me. “That was Jeshua, wasn’t it?”

  I nodded my head.

  “I can’t believe he would do that.” He let out a breath as though he were forcing the tension out of himself. “What a miserable—human being.” He had been about to say something else, but caught himself in time. I heard clearly the revulsion in his voice. “No wonder you always despised him.”

  My bitter laugh sounded harsh. “‘Despise’ doesn’t begin to cover what I’m feeling right now.”

  “Come on.” He put his arms under mine and lifted me to my feet. “Let’s get you home.” He took my hand and we continued picking our way through the forest. I let Gavin pull me along, too consumed in my own thoughts to pay attention to where we were going. I wondered how to tell my parents what I had seen when they thought they knew who Jeshua was. Explaining Gavin’s involvement would be difficult as well. And I came to the conclusion that I could do neither. No one, absolutely no one would believe that Jeshua would do something so depraved, especially when I hadn’t seen his face. And as for Gavin’s involvement, trying to explain that would just make a mess and would likely end up getting him in trouble.

  We crested the top of a hill and looked down to see the road winding away to our left and the palace wall a short distance beyond the foot of the hill. If we followed the wall left, we would come to the gate, which was just beyond our sight. I turned to Gavin. “All right, tie my hands together.”

  He stared. “What?”

  “Gavin, I have to go back on my own. No one can know you were anywhere near me when this happened.”

  “But—”

  “Last time you saved me, you ended up under interrogation.” I looked him in the eye, trying to make him understand. “The best thanks I can give you is to make sure no one has even a chance to suspect you. You’ve been in trouble because of me too many times before.”

  He looked toward the sky and sighed, then clenched his jaw. He knew I was right. “All right, I agree I should let you go back on your own. But why in the world would you want me to tie you up?”

  “I’m not exactly a tough girl, Gavin.”

  He huffed. “That’s debatable.”

  I smiled weakly. “I shouldn’t have been able to get away on my own, and if I had, I wouldn’t have taken the time to try to free my hands; I would have just run. I can tell them the scrapes on my arms and knees are from falling. But I need to have my hands tied, and I should probably have the gag around my neck to make it look like I was able to pull it out of my mouth but not untie it.”

  “Ella—” he started to object.

  I held out the cloth for him. “Just…tie my hands please.”

  He glared at the binding. “I do not want to tie you up.”

  My smile was sad. “I appreciate that, but I really need you to. I won’t be tied for long. As soon as the guards spot me, they’ll cut it off.”

  He still made no move to take it from me, so I shoved it into his hand. While he continued to debate with himself, I took the gag and tied it loosely around my neck.

  I heard him sigh again and turned to see him shaking his head. “It needs to be over your hair.”

  “What?”

  “They tied it over your hair, not under it.” I could tell he gave me this advice reluctantly, so I shoved my hair inside the loop of cloth and then held my hands out to Gavin so he could tie them.

  He glowered at my wrists. “They’ve barely stopped bleeding; this will make them worse.”

  “Gavin, please? The sooner you tie them, the sooner I can get back home and have my nurse bandage them.”

  He finally stepped forward and gently wound the cloth around my wrists. It only made the stinging a little bit worse.

  I took a deep breath, then went up on tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for everything. I hope you’re happy with Brinna.” He didn’t say anything, just swallowed and nodded while looking at the ground. I started to turn away, then instinctively told him the truth. “I miss you.” He still wouldn’t look at me, but I saw him mouth the words miss you before I turned to stumble my way toward the castle and home.

  I planned on getting quite close to the wall before drawing attention to myself in an attempt to ensure Gavin would not be found. But as I started down the hill, I saw a swarm of soldiers patrolling the ground outside. I guessed either they were expecting a full scale attack on the castle, or they were preparing to come out and find me en masse. I rushed down the hill, wanting them to find me as far from Gavin as possible.

  My stumbling approach resulted in many weapons pointed my way for the few seconds it took them to recognize me. Then they froze, no doubt shocked as they watched me approach—dress ragged and torn, arms bloodied, wrists bound, hair wild—walking awkwardly in an attempt to keep my balance while my hands were restrained in front of me. I heard a deep voice resonate, “Princess!” then they broke into an uproar, each running toward me on foot or on horse. The first horseman to reach me barely slowed his momentum as he swept me up in front of him and then rounded toward the gate. The soldiers completely surrounded me. We reached the gate before I knew it and were met by even more guards. They all shouted questions back and forth, but the captain was the first to speak to me.

  “Princess Ariella, are you well?”

  “Well enough,” I managed to answer as the horse pranced in agitation beneath us.

  He looked me over, seeming to take in every detail. “Are you seriously injured?”

  “No, but—” I held my hands forward and he quickly drew a knife from his forearm and cut my bonds. I sucked in a breath; my wrists stung.

  “Are you being pursued, Your Highness?”

  “No.” I replied, but he signaled his men to continue their search anyway.

  “Take the princess home,” was the captain’s next order.

  The horse took off toward the castle, past all the curious onlookers and vigilant guards.

  News of my return reached the palace before we did. My parents and all of their attendants were making their way toward me. I slid from the horse just before they reached me. My mother was there first, crying, stroking my hair and kissing my forehead, asking over and over if I was all right and murmuring, “You’re home, you’re home.”

  My father didn’t say anything to me, just held me tightly against his chest for a moment, then began drilling the guards. It was more affection than I would have expected from him and I appreciated it. Though he and I were still at odds much of the time, that didn’t matter at this moment.

  I passed into the entrance hall, leaning against my mother while my father kept a supportive hand on my back. I vaguely heard my father ask that my mother, the captain, and my nurse join us in a chamber off the main hallway, but instead of allowing myself to be propelled along, I stopped.

  Jeshua stood outside the fray of people, anxious and guilty. My vision went red. His audacity had me acting before I could think. I asked my parents to give me a moment, but still had to pry myself from their embrace.

  I barreled toward Jeshua but had enough sense to pass him by and duck into an alcove that was mostly concealed by tapestries. He followed me.

/>   “Ariella—”

  I spun, and in response to him daring to use my name at this moment, I slapped him across the face with so much force that the sting of my hand registered through my fury, my adrenaline, and all my other pains.

  “Don’t,” I whispered fiercely. “Don’t you dare say a word to me, you horrid bit of filth.”

  His mouth hung open in shock. “But—”

  “I know it was you.”

  He went a bit pale. “I—I’m afraid I don’t understand.”

  I could not speak through my fury and only pinned him with what must have been a withering glare because he took a step back.

  “I only wanted—”

  “Don’t speak to me. Don’t touch me, don’t you dare to ever come near me again.” He took a step back, away from my fury. “I know that no one will believe it was you, but I want you to be aware that I know what you are, you wretch!” He actually had the nerve to appear indignant at the insult. “Now, get away from me!” I shrieked through clenched teeth. He took two more steps backward, then turned and strode quickly out through the hall. I stood there, attempting to gain some sort of control over my emotions. I seethed, so angry I could barely make my eyes focus as I tried to breathe evenly before leaving the alcove. My parents waited a short way away and their expressions made it clear that my last demand of get away from me had been heard. They may have even heard me slap him. Good; now they knew how I felt about Jeshua even if they didn’t know why.

  My mother’s arm came around my shoulders and I feared she would want to talk about Jeshua, but she said simply, “Come along, dear,” and led me to a room off the main hall where I was situated in a chair as my nurse tended to my arms. I would wait for the captain to leave before telling her about my damaged knees. My parents stood just behind my chair, my nurse knelt beside me, and the captain sat down across from me, asking his questions.

  I tried to keep myself aloof and numb as I answered as honestly as possible while leaving Gavin out of the telling. I let them believe that I was able to free myself from the tree on my own. I told them about overhearing the conspirators, about the fourth conspirator who had wanted to rescue me. I even mentioned that his sounded familiar, almost like Jeshua’s voice...but they brushed that notion aside and moved on to other details.