Chapter 6

Once the camp was well out of sight, he set Emma down. “That went better than I could have hoped for.” He said, grinning.

            She nodded, “yeah, we got lucky.” she said, and then out of nowhere she hit him.

            “HEY!”

            “That was for saying I was heavy!” she snapped. He rubbed his arm, a sheepish grin on his face.

            “It wasn’t meant as an insult! I was trying to get out of there!” He protested.

            “That isn’t the point.” she said, taking a look around. “Where do we go from here?”

            “It is the point and I think we should head north.”

            “The city is north…have you forgotten that those of us who are banished aren’t allowed to return upon penalty of death?”

            “I remember well enough.” he said, “But don’t you think we should try and warn them that Caleb is plotting something?”

            She looked at the ground, “I know we should…but what if they won’t listen?”

            “Then at least we tried.” he said. “You are the one who wouldn’t give him information because you didn’t want to condemn thousands of innocents to death. I know Caleb, he’ll plot something even without the information you could have provided him.” She didn’t say anything, she just thought.

            “If we do, we don’t have to necessarily go into the city…they have guards around the city walls…”

            “Exactly, we can tell them what we know and they can deliver the news to their superiors.”

            “What if they won’t listen?” she asked.

            “Even if they don’t listen, we still can say we tried.” he said, shrugging. “What more can we do?” She looked at him, and then looked off into the distance.

            “That isn’t good enough…if they don’t listen, we sneak in, and I’ll talk to my father.” she said.

            “What? Are you insane?” he asked. “The chances of sneaking in past all the guards are low…even if you did, you’d be put to death before they would listen!”

            “I have to try.” she said, crossing her arms. “If I didn’t because I was scared to die, then I would be a hypocrite.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “I told Caleb to kill me because I would rather die than be the reason that people die…if I gave up because I was scared of dying, then I would be acting in contradiction to what I said to Caleb.” she explained.

            “You are insane…you know that right?” he said.

            “I am not insane.” she said, arms still crossed, and then she sighed, “You don’t have to help you know.”

            “I know that…and I will help, but I still think you’re insane…but it’s not necessarily a bad thing.” he said, smiling. She looked at him with her eyebrow raised questioningly. “You are incredibly brave…and it’s inspiring really.” he said. “If you are willing to risk your life, you won’t be alone. I’ll go with you.”

            “Thank you.” She said. Then she looked at him and asked, “Why did you stop him from killing me?”

            “I may be part of the rogues…but I still have morals…and you hadn’t done anything to deserve death.” he said.

            “Well, thank you.” she said, “For saving me.”

            “You’re welcome.” he said, with a small smile. “Now, let’s get going before things get sentimental and mushy. I hate sentimental and mushy moments.”

            She laughed at that and said, “Really? And here I thought you were a big softy.” He gave her a look of mock horror.

            “Take that back! You’ll ruin my reputation!”

            She laughed more, “And who’s around to hear me?”            “Not the point!” he protested. He took off walking. She laughed and walked with him.

            “Well, if anyone asks, I won’t tell them how I escaped. In fact I can tell them I took you hostage, that way we can protect your reputation.” she joked. He grinned at her.

            “That sounds good to me!”

            Back at the rogue’s camp, Caleb woke up, and he was less than thrilled about how things had turned out. He stormed out of the tent. “Where are they!?”

            Benett looked at him, “Who sir?”

            “Emir and the girl!” he snarled.

            “Emir took her corpse out of camp to dispose of it…and then he said he was going hunting sir.” he replied. Caleb growled more. “Why sir?”

            “Because, Benett, the girl isn’t dead. I was about to kill her when Emir attacked me.”

            “Emir…attacked you?”

            “Do you doubt my words?” he asked, snarling.

            “Of course not! It just isn’t like him.” he said, taking a small step back.

            “Which way did they go?” he asked. Benett pointed north, making Caleb curse. “Damn them!”

            “What is the problem sir?” he asked.

            “He’s heading toward the capital city with her!” he said.

            “Why would he do that?”
            “Why would he save the girl?” he asked, annoyed.

            “I…I don’t know sir.”

            “Neither do me…but what I do know is that it has something to do with that girl…” he said, narrowing his eyes. “Get the men ready to leave. We don’t let them reach the city, is that understood?”

            “Yes sir.” Benett said, leaving to tell the men to ready themselves for their next mission. Caleb stood where he was, eyes still narrowed.

            “You are going to wish you had died in that tent, girl…” he said softly, “I’ll make sure of it.

Reviews

[S. Barber]

"de said." >>>> "he said." other than that it's good!

[KMC]

Woops! THanks!

[S. Barber]

also "dhe said." >>>> "she said."

[KMC]

I found that one as I was editing my main document!

[NoelHC]

She nodded, “yeah, we got lucky.” She said should be She nodded, “Yeah, we got lucky.” she said

“That was for saying I was heavy!” She snapped she snapped

Lots of He said She said corrections in this one. I won"t repeat everyone of them.

“Not the point!” He protested. He took of walking. should be took off walking.

“Neither do me…but should be “Neither do I …but

[jjwilbourne]

These were my corrections too.
I got pretty lost in the ending dialog because all the tags were 'he said' with one of them switching the pattern within the same dialog block. It made me reread that second 3 times before I realized what happened.