Tina was barely aware of the time; only noticing the sun moved above when she glanced at the forest floor and saw her shadow had moved as she silently berated herself. She should have fought again Ralph, but at the same time, she wanted to find about her father’s family. Her mind drifted to the few scenes from that Disney movie, the one about Rapunzel. One moment she wanted to go back home then she couldn’t wait to see if the scroll had any truth to it. Tina’s lips pulled into a sympathetic smile. She finally understood how that princess felt about leaving home. Her eyes roam through the forest. She personally didn’t believe she had managed to get back into the forest.
She had forgotten how peaceful this part of the forest was. She felt herself slowly moving back to center. Her spirit energy soaked up the natural energy from the forest. It was a soothing balm for her unseen injuries. She knew what to expect, being in the forest.
She glanced up at Ralph’s back as he chatted with one of his teammates, Abasi, if she remembered correctly. He still carried her hiking bag as he walked a few paces ahead of her…but with Ralph, she didn’t know what to expect from him. He claimed he was hired by the White Hall Matriarch to bring Tina to her, alive and mostly unharmed. It brought up the question - Why?
Tina’s eyes flickered to her hiking bag. Ralph still carried it. He moved through the forest easily, keeping a few feet ahead of her. She did play withe idea of jumping him from behind. She knew there was one problem with that. He kept out of her striking range. She did try to take her bow out as silently as she could with an arrow, but once she had started aiming for a clean head shot, he had turned around to face her, a pair of icy blue eyes daring her to release the arrow. The rest of the team shifted, waiting for her to take the killing shot.
However, movement caught her attention, on the side of her vision, and she turned her head and changed her aim at the last second, releasing the arrow into the canopy overhead. She said in an effect to cover up the soft bing she knew would come, “Damn! I missed,” She paused, “I thought I saw a cat hiding in the canopy.” She slipped her bow away and walked toward the ninja, “There are bobcats in these woods,” she informed her escort.
They didn’t say anything until she reached Ralph’s side. His hand curled around her upper arm, in a tight grasp. She gasped from the pain. He lend in, whispering, “Do that again, Lady Valentina, I will knock your ass out and carry you to the White Hall Estate.” He paused, meeting her eyes, “Got it toots?” she didn’t reply. He tightened his grip and repeated, “Got it?”
“Yeah,” she wanted to growl, but she kept her voice as even as she cold as she replied, “I got it.”
“Good,” Ralph said before she blinked and he was a few feet away from her, again. “We are wasting daylight.”
“I think I will be taking that,” Kikyo announced, and she jerked away Tina’s quiver and bow while Waya reached for Tina’s waistline and took of the sword belt Tina wore, leaving Tina defenseless. Tina watched with some resentment as Kikyo swung the quiver and bow on her shoulder. Waya hook the belt together before he tossed it over his head, allowing it to rest over his shoulder.
Tina shook her head, coming back to the present. She did want to know why they was the one hired to deliver her to the White Hall Estate, alive and unharmed. Tina really wanted to take another look at the scroll. Her eyes darted up to her hiking bag. She had stuck the scroll in her bag. She didn’t want to stop and dig it out. She doubted Ralph would allow it, in case she had plotted a way to harm him to get away.
“I must say I’m surprise,” Ralph broke the silence of the forest. Tina’s eyes flickered toward his back. “I thought you were going to put up a fight, toots. You don’t know how refreshing it is for a target not to fight back,” Ralph commented, off-handily, waving his hand around, “Usually, I have target that fight back. It can be very annoying. It can be extremely messy, too. The last time I had to go to a Retrieval mission, the target fought back, and I ended up hurting the target by mistake.”
Wondering why Ralph had started a conversation, Tina kept silent. Maybe he would give her a clue or some information that she could use. However, this was real life, and things didn’t happen like that. Even though, she did found out some interesting things about certain people when she just sit back and listen. It was simply amazing how much you could learn about a person, sitting back and watching them. She hadn’t been able to learn much about Ralph then the fact he had been trained in sheath and other ninja like ways.
“Have you gone mute or something, sweetie,” he stopped and turned around, facing Tina. “I know you have a voice, sweetie.”
She stopped, giving Ralph annoyed look, “Look, asshole,” she finally snapped, “You have me a choice of either going with you willingly or kidnap me.”
Ralph snorted, “You were planning to take a long hike in the woods, sweetie.” His eyes sparkled with mirth. “There are other monsters in the woods then me.”
“Right now, this is not what I had in mind when I was planning to take this hike,” Tina growled, “One, it would be me, myself, and I - not a wannabe ninja who spent one too many all nighters watching Naruto. Two, I will have the choice of wandering this forest and have the ability to leave anytime I want. Three, I would not go to this White Hall Estate because my father and his side of the family are dead. Four, I have no clue if you are really taking me to this White Hall Estate.” She stepped around Ralph and walked ahead.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Who the fuck is Naruto?” Waya muttered out loud enough for Tina to hear.
“Some anime character,” Kikyo replied back in the same tone, “It was pretty good. I watched a few episodes when I was assigned a mission for this world.”
Ralph blinked before he grinned widely, “There is the fire I have seen in your brothers.”
Tina paused, slowly turning her head to look at Ralph. Brothers? She snorted, “Brothers? I don’t have any.” As if! Her mother wouldn’t keep something that important away from her. She would drop that subject by accident a few times.
“You do, toots,” Ralph replied. She studied him with a detached expression. He believed it. He thought she had brothers. She opened her mouth to argue that he was trained to make her see his side of the argument and would try to get her to agree to go with his side of the conversation. However, went on, “One of your brothers - man, he has given me trouble,” he laughed, “He is one of the General of Camelot.”
Tina cocked an eyebrow at that name drop. Camelot was something she had heard of, mainly, because there was so much stuff in the house about the legendary kingdom and what she learned while she was at college. If that kingdom ever existed, it had been lost to time.
“General Genesis of the Fire Brigade,” Ralph went on, “He has a fiery attitude to match.” He glanced at Tina as they continued walking the forest path. “He recently became the general of that part of the Camelot military in the last five to six years.” He hopped onto a fallen log before he hopped off. “He managed to get that promotion by impressing King Uther during a raid on a non-human camp in the Dead End Forest where I had been station at. Know what he did?” Ralph didn’t wait for Tina to reply before he continued, “he blew up the armory with enough black powder that he took out half of the village.”
Tina, on the other hand, didn’t say another word until they stopped for the evening. Ralph, obviously, didn’t care about her not talking. He kept up the chatter, talking about how here her supposed her older brother managed to achieve frame through his works of military might instead of going down the road of knighthood like her twin brothers. The other three added in their input. Apparently, they all had some experience with this General Genesis. Some of the interactions were good like Kikyo’s run in with the General during a mission where she had to go undercover and the mission almost blew apart when Genesis decided to blow up the place.
Some of the stories Tina heard caused her to blink. Either way, the team got a good laugh from sharing stories. Tina got the impression this Genesis character was he loved playing with fire.
The moon stared at them from her highest point in the sky when Ralph called for a stop. Tina could barely see in the dark as she lend against a tree. Her legs felt like hello. They trembled behind her. She heard a thump as Ralph said, “I put your bag by your feet. I’ll be back, soon, with dinner.”
Tina didn’t say anything as his darken form vanished from sight. She didn’t know if she could move much further, to tell. She hadn’t been on a hike for nearly five weeks, and it was usually at most a hour walk, not a 8 or 10 hour hike without a stop. She let out a grim chuckle. All that ice cream she ate finally caught up with her. She knelt beside her bag and dug through it, searing for the small flashlight she had kept with her monthly supplies. Tina found the bag and the flashlight before she grabbed the package of baby wipes. She flickered on the flashlight. She noticed the two men disappeared as well.
“What are you doing,” Kikyo’s voice drifted out as a loud snapping sound echoed. She immediately turned, casting the flashlight on the source. Ralph stood a couple feet away with four rabbits in one hand and a bloody kunai in the other.
“Getting ready to take a piss,” She replied, tiredly.
“I’ll come with you,” Kikyo nodded, understandingly. Ralph knelt in the middle of the clearing as Tina slowly rose to her feet and stumbled to the tree she lends against before she slipped against it, checking to see if there any poison ivy or ask or animals at the base of the tree. Tina quickly did her business and returned to the clearing to see Ralph had a fire going with the rabbits already skinned and over the fire, already. She heard Natasha’s voice in her head, screaming out, “Thumper! Nooo!”
Tina resisted the urge to snort in amusement. Her younger sister would have a field day to see Thumper on a stick. She returned and sat down beside her bag. She put away the flashlight and the other supplies she had took out. She lend against the base of the tree, looking at Ralph.
“So,” she started, “How did you choose to become a ninja?”
Ralph looked at her with a questioning look and sighed before replying, “It was either choose to become a ninja, a member of the Police Force, or a merchant with no trade or skill. I chose the best path for me. I haven’t regret making that choice.” He shifted the rabbits over the fire, turning them so they didn’t burn one side. “Why haven’t you got married, yet?”
“I was engaged to be married,” Tina admitted, “He never set a date, but maybe that was a good thing. We weren’t right for each other for various reasons.” She stared at the flickering flames. She repeated the same question about the reason why Kikyo, Waya, and Abasi chose their path.
“I didn’t have a choice of becoming a ninja because it was required for me to do,” Kikyo stated, “When I’m ready, I will do my duty as a woman of the Hidden Bark and provide the next generation.” Tina frowned at her, feeling confused. What did she mean by that?
Waya snorted, “I’m like Ralph – I had a choice and wanted to do the Ninja Path.”
“The Ninja Path was the smart thing for myself and my future family,” Abasi shrugged.
They all acted like they really didn’t have a choice in their career and didn’t mind it. Tina blinked at them as she thought. Of course, there is a chance that they were lying to her about their personal decision. It was a personal question, after all.
After eating, she settled down for the night in her sleeping bag. She sniffed the bag and wrinkled her nose. She needed to wash the bag the next time she got home. It smelt like a sweaty body slept one too many nights in it. Once upon a time ago, before she had met him, she did spend most of her summers and weekends in these woods. She probably forgot to wash the sleeping bag when she decided to stop having her adventures and settled for ‘real’ life adventures that involved her growing up to be an adult.
She wished she didn’t met that asshole. He ruined her hopes for True Love and achieving her Happy Ever After. However, she was old enough to admit to herself, it takes two for a relationship to work and she did do her part of ruining the relationship. She did try to repair it, but it seemed like he didn’t want to help her on that.
Curling up in her sleeping bag, Tina scouted down into the bag and stared up. She forgot how the sky looked with the bright sparkles staring down at her. She knew there was life out in the cosmos, but she often wondered if there was someone staring up at the stars like she was on another planet. She released a sigh and rolled onto her side. Tears welled up in her eyes as she thought about what happen.
She felt the tears trail down her cheeks, feeling hot against her already too warm cheeks. Her stomach rolled as she fought to keep the emotions from overwhelming her. Eventually, she just closed her eyes and tried to imagine herself in a peaceful place.
When that didn’t work, she imaged her soul mate - whoever that was - laid down beside her and wrapped a strong arm around her midsection, pulling her closer to him, and imaged him whispering, “It will be alright, my love. We will meet soon and together; we will piece your heart back together. Just stay strong, I will meet you soon, my dear heart.” She wished that image would come true, one day. Closing her eyes, she muttered a prayer of protection and greeted the Moon as she spotted it rising through the trees.
“Dearest Nott, lure me to sleep so I can face my enemies and battles well rested
Dearest Freya, please bring me your blessing of love and of comfort
Dearest Thor, watch over me while I rest, may your hammer strike all who threatens to harm me
Dearest Loki, trick all the creatures who tend to do me harm, please use your chaotic magic to protect me
Hail all the Gods.”