The flight from the castle had been long and dark. The hidden passageway eventually wound its way towards the sea and opened upon the beachfront. The exit was well hidden behind several large slabs of smooth stone that required the horses to carefully clamber or risk falling and breaking a leg, even with the riders currently being dismounted. The sand didn’t offer much relief for the horses, constantly sliding under the weight.

After about an hour, Harry and the others eventually led their horses back into the trees and brush where they sat to rest. Zoe had gone off on her own in search of fresh water and to get a better idea of their current location. Harry would have protested leaving her alone, but knowing that the horses needed to rest and that Bridget was still his primary concern, he let her wander off under the stipulation to be back within an hour.

Harry sat with his back to a tree and across from Bridget, who currently sat against a fallen log and her knees tucked into her chest. She hadn’t said a word since leaving the palace, and the unnerving silence from her bothered Harry more than the idea that they were currently being hunted. “Are you alright?” He asked her.

Bridget shook her head and pulled her knees closer, bowing her head into her legs and holding back from sobbing again. Idiot! Of course, she’s not alright. We’re running for our lives. He decided it would best not push her to speak about it and stood to check if their pursuers had arrived. He had not seen any yet, but knew that they would eventually come. Whoever had masterminded this attack was clearly smart enough to not let a valuable and vulnerable target escape. The exit was well hidden from not being used for years, but now that it had been moved, they would surely notice.

When Zoe finally returned, Harry heard her more than saw her approach. The bird calls had moved further away and the more skittish animals had stopped their play at her approach. She was a hard one to track, and Harry often wondered where and why she had learned to sneak about. She seemed far more adept and comfortable out in the woods than back in the palace. “What did you find?” He asked, as he turned to approach her.

She stopped for a moment, surprised yet again that he knew she was coming; that will never stop being satisfying. “Not much. There’s lot of animals and plants around here, but I found no clean water directly inland. We will likely have to camp for the day by the pond I found. Do you know much about wilderness survival, Harry?”

He gave a small nod, “I do, but not as much as I would like. I know that we need water and food, as much for us as for the horses.” She nodded her agreement. “Do we take our chances with the pond though? My old man always said to never trust standing water.”

“Your old man always knew far more than any simple blacksmith should know. Too bad you couldn’t have inherited that aspect from him.” She winked at him and stuck her tongue out, which made Harry glower at her. “Anyways, you're right; we can’t drink it as is, we will have to clean it.”

She turned her attention to Bridget, still holding onto her knees tightly. She came closer so she could whisper to Harry. “Has she said anything yet?”

“Not yet. I keep trying, but every time I try and talk to her, she retreats further into her… whatever that is she is doing.” He gestured slightly towards her as she ducked her head further into her legs.

“You really shouldn’t push her. So long as she still follows, I think we’ll be ok.” She pressed her lips together, anxiety playing on her otherwise aloof demeanor, but said nothing more. Instead, she turned and walked over to Bridget, stooping down and helping her to her feet before leading them all to the pond she found.

*********

Harry was startled awake by the thunderstorm passing through the area. The persistent booms of the raging sky made sleep all but impossible to find. Not like he was going to get much sleep anyways, but it was irritating all the same. Groggy and stiff from sleeping on the hard earth, Harry sat up to stretch and check how their supplies fared in the rain.

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He looked around their camp and found that the rain never came. The sky remained dark and angry, pierced every now and again by a flash of furious light, but otherwise passed overhead without even so much as a drop of rain. Fire popped nearby and he turned to see Zoe tending to a fire that was still curing some of the meat they had hunted over the last week. Apparently properly treating the meat was far more difficult than Harry would have guessed.

Zoe had proven quite the resourceful adventurer, knowing how to track and survey, how to properly prepare and save food, clean water, hide a trail, start fires, and all without an ounce of explanation. Not from lack of trying of course, but every time Harry tried to probe a little further into her past, she brushed it off with the same lame excuse of “wanting to be mysterious.” He was no fool, at least he thought of himself as being reasonably smart, and figured that he would need to be more subtle to get answers from her.

After checking on Bridget, who lay in a restless slumber, he strode over to the fire and sat down across from Zoe. He brought his sword, whetstone, and a bucket of water, just to give himself something to do. But how would he approach this more subtle than he already had? He started massaging the water into his whetstone as he thought. There were secrets to this girl, and he needed to know the full extent of what she could do if he was to keep them all alive. As if to punctuate his thoughts, Bridget stirred and muttered in her sleep, “Father, no… don’t do this… please…”

Still struggling with his thoughts, he saw to sharpening his sword. More than once, they used his sword to try and cut branches for firewood, and it had lost a lot of its edge. A few more weeks like this, and it would likely break. There’s a start, he thought to himself.

“Do you know much about sword play?” He asked Zoe.

“Very little. Just enough to protect myself.” She said, eyes never leaving the fire. “If you’re asking if I could match you, or protect the princess, the answer is no.”

“So how do you protect yourself then? I’ve never seen you so much as lift a dagger, and yet you seem far more proficient in taking care of yourself than I would have ever believed.”

She frowned and looked up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time tonight. “I do whatever I have to.” Her eyes seemed to glitter from more than just firelight. There was an anger that burned just as hot as the fire. The glow seemed all the brighter as the fire dwindled suddenly, blown out with only embers remaining. Zoe immediately threw on some more branches and blew the fire back to life.

Something was wrong about what he saw, but he couldn’t pin down what exactly that was. “So where are we going tomorrow? I know we hoped to reach Meja territory in another week, but I have no idea where we are.” Harry lied. While he didn’t know exactly where they were, he knew roughly how far they traveled.

“We’re still a ways out from Meja, maybe a day as the gull flies. With our current pace, we should be there in 8 days, and that’s if we don’t stop longer than we have to.” So, she doesn’t measure distance, but measures time. Clearly not a merchant or farmer. I’m not ruling out ex-military or mercenary, but she doesn’t have the physical prowess for those professions. “As for where we are going, it’s an abandoned farm that used to provide for the local salt miners.” Why does she know that?

“How do you know it’s abandoned? You’ve been out here recently?” He asked.

She grimaced slightly, and seemed as if she wouldn’t respond, before she finally said “I knew the family that lived there, some years back.” Harry waited for her to continue, but she never did. Damn it all! Why is everything about this woman shrouded in mystery? What is she hiding?

Frustrated, Harry set to finish sharpening his sword. “Harry,” Zoe said, “what are we going to do?” The comment took him completely off guard and he paused mid-stroke. He looked up to see her watching him, grim terror on her face. I guess she had figured out as much as he had that surviving and reaching Meja was simply the first task. What would they do after they got there?

“I’m not sure.” He said, more dejected than he meant to, “but we need to get her somewhere safe.” They didn’t say more to each other after that. Harry simply packed up and headed back to the leanto they had constructed, once again provided by Zoe.

As he set his stuff down, the fire winked out and Zoe made her way to her own shelter. Now Harry realized what had bothered him about the fire: no sound happened when the fire died. Both times no wind had blown strong enough, and there was no hiss from water. That unnerved him far more than their current circumstances. Who is she? He didn’t know who Zoe really was, but once they got somewhere safe, he would get his answers one way or another.