Chapter Three

Chapter Three

            Apparently I was being sneaked out of the prison cell. Luke put his finger to his lips as he looked around before signaling for me to follow him. To my surprise, the exit wasn’t that far of a run away. We were outside, not caught, in less than a few minutes. He started laughing once we were outside and I couldn’t help but smile. He elbowed me.

“What a rush, huh?”

I nodded and he sighed. I smiled and looked up at the warm sun. There was not a cloud in the sky. For the first time I got to see Luke clearly. He was actually kinda… gorgeous. His eyes were a beautiful shade of ocean blue and his black hair fell casually. He smiled at me again.

“Hey, wanna meet my best friend?”

I shrugged.

“Sure”

He led me around the corner of the giant building we had just exited. We turned one more corner until a forest came into view. He led me on a path through the trees until we came to a small building. Half of it was open, full of hay, and the other half had a barn like door that was shut. Grazing next to it was a beautiful black mustang. He patted its massive face and I smiled. Luke looked at me.

“This is Deputy. We call him Dep for short”

The horse walked over to me and began sniffing me loudly. Luke smiled wider.

“He’s looking for carrots or apples. I think he likes you”

Suddenly Deputy’s ears went up and twisted back the way we came. Luke looked up and put his finger to his lips again. Before I knew it I was thrown on top of the horse. Luke whispered into his ear.

“Hide”

And hit his butt. I held on for dear life, terrified of falling off. I had never ridden a horse before! The horse took off into the trees and I grabbed onto his neck. When we finally stopped, my butt hurt so bad I felt like I could cry. I fell off the horse and landed in the dirt. I sat at the foot of a tree and sighed. I looked around, wondering where I was. Suddenly there was a loud birdcall and the horse took off.

“Great. Now I’m stuck here”

A few moments later, Luke appeared through the trees with Deputy behind him. He smiled at me.

“I’m guessing you can’t ride horses?”

“No. No one ever taught me how. He didn’t even have a sattle!”

“I don’t like him to. Come on, I’ll show you how”

He picked me up again and I glared at him. He chuckled.

“Big baby”

“Why did you shove me on the horse in the first place?”

“Oh, dad was coming around to check on me. I didn’t want him to see you”

I rolled my eyes as he set me on the horse.

“Ok, now once you’re settled, sit up straight and hold onto his mane”

“I’m in a dress, this is hard”

“It’s not the best clothes for riding horses, but it’s what you have. Tuck it under your thighs so that it won’t blow into your face”

“What?”

He grabbed my thigh and tucked the dress underneath it. I gasped and glared at him. He chuckled.

“Calm yourself. If I meant for it to be sexual, you’d know”

I felt my face grow hot at his comment and he chuckled again before tucking the dress under my other thigh. He smiled.

“Ok, the next part sounds stupid but it works. When the horse walks, move your butt from side to side with it”

“What?”

“Just do it”

He made a weird clicking sound and Deputy began to walk. I felt like I was gonna fall off and I began to wobble. Luke’s hands were at my side in an instant, holding me up. I began to wiggle my butt with the horse and it worked. I didn’t feel like I would fall off. I smiled.

“This is kinda neat”

“See? Not hard at all”

He moved his hand off of my waist so that I could move without the support.

            After being taught how to ride a horse without a saddle, Luke took me to a spot near the barn and we ate apples off of a tree for lunch. We shared with Deputy, who snarfed down the apple quickly and promptly sneezed on me. It was gross but I couldn’t help but giggle. Luke smiled at me in wonder as he shook his head slowly.

            We didn’t arrive back to the castle until almost dusk. I was laughing when we walked out of the forest. Deputy had gone back inside his stable for the night and we had been walking for quite a while, just talking. Luke seemed… Nice, for a kidnapper. I tripped on a root of a tree and was about to fall over when he caught me. He smiled and helped me up and we gazed into eachothers eyes for a moment. He smiled at me and I cleared my throat before walking forward. I stopped when I got to the field in front of the door we had earlier used to escape. I looked out at the horizon and smiled. The scene was beautiful. Against the horizon line the sky was a beautiful pink. The farther up it went, the darker it turned into. A few stars had just begun to poke out. I smiled and sighed.

“It’s so beautiful”

Luke was suddenly next to me.

“Yeah, it is, huh?”

We both sat down and looked up at the sky, watching as it turned colors and stars began to appear. I didn’t realize how cold it had gotten until I had been shivering for a few minutes. Luke gave me a look.

“You cold?”

“A little”

“Come on, let’s go back inside”

 

            He had successfully gotten me back into my cell without getting caught. He brought me dinner and said goodnight before disappearing. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I finally lay down and closed my eyes.

            I woke to the door opening and shutting. I sat up and yawned. Luke was in the room, holding a tray.

“You up yet?”

“Now I am”

“Here’s your food. When you’re done, if you want, we can go outside again”

“Again with making me sound like a dog”

“You’re more like a kid. There are so many things you haven't seen or done. I couldn’t believe you’d never ridden a horse before”

I smiled as I dug into my breakfast.

“Yeah, I guess there is a lot of stuff I haven't done yet”

“So your parents are more pissed than anything you’re missing”

I jumped.

“You heard from my parents?”

He nodded.

“They are sending out search parties right now. That prince guy you’re supposed to marry is upset more than anyone”

I rolled my eyes and he continued.

“The search party thing is normal with princesses. They think they can find them without having to spend money. They’ll give up in a while and eventually pay. Then you can go home”

I rolled my eyes.

“They won’t pay”

“You really think so?”

“I know so”

“Jeesh, what did you do to piss them off that bad?”

I shrugged.

“Been selfish. I don’t want to marry the guy they want me to. They’d rather have me dead than not married”

“You’re only seventeen”

“I know”

“That’s stupid”

“I know”

I finished my breakfast quickly and we headed outside.

 

            We almost got caught by a man I had never seen before, but we managed to evade him without being noticed. By the time we got to the forest we were laughing. He shook his head.

“I sware, you are the weirdest princess I have ever met”

I shrugged.

“I think I don’t belong to royalty. I keep hoping I’m adopted or something”
I smiled and he shook his head.

“Wow. I still can’t think of what those people could do to you to make you hate being spoiled so much”

“Oh, spoiled sucks. Sure, my room was the best room in the kingdom. I had the biggest, softest bed with the warmest blankets. I had a grand fireplace at the foot of it and any piece of clothing a girl could ask for, as long as it was expensive. I hated it. I wanted to have normal things, like normal people”

“Well if you hate it that much you should send some of it our way when they come and get you”

I shuddered.

“I’m not looking forward to that”

“What? Why? You really like being a prisoner more than being a princess?”

“You don’t make it feel like a prison. If I wasn’t allowed out I’d probably just be bored to death. The rest I guess I don’t mind”

“You really are weird”

I hit him in the ribs.

“You are too. You’re supposed to be this criminal who’s all mean and tough and your nice to me”

He rolled his eyes.

“Only because I want to be. You don’t annoy the s**t out of me like most people. I’ve almost punched my dad in the face a few times for just asking me to do something. It really depends on my mood”

“What's your mood now?”

“Relaxed, kinda. My dad’s probably gonna start noticing me going missing all day”

“We don’t have to go missing all day. We could just hangout in my prison cell”

I giggled at how it sounded and he suddenly seemed happier. I got serious for a moment.

“So, besides kidnapping princesses for ransom, what else do you do?”

“You really don’t wanna know”

“But I do”

He gave me an unsure look and rolled his eyes.

“We usually just kidnap royalty, not only princesses, but we can only do three at a time. Right now we only have you, so we’re kinda counting on the ransom. Some people that work for the boss steal chickens and cows and then sell them and their products. Some kidnap children, it really depends”

“What do you do?”

“Whatever my dad tells me”

“Which consists of?”

“Taking care of the occasional princess. Your number eight, that I’ve seen. You’re the second one they’ve left to me fully”

“What was the first one like?”

“A royal pain. I hated her. She was twenty two, a real pain in a*s. The only person that was left alive to get a ransom from was her husband, and we didn’t know he didn’t want her”

“So what happened to her?”

He shrugged and grabbed my hand, pulling me through some bushes. He didn’t let go until we were at a small river.

“This is one of Deputy’s favorite spots to come to. When it gets really hot it’s a great place to swim. Today would probably be a nice day to, but it’s not warm enough yet”

I gave him a look.

“Luke, what happened to the princess?”

He sighed and looked away.

“Look, you really don’t need to know the crap that goes on in the criminal world, ok? Leave it at that”

“Luke”

“I said leave it”

I jumped at his harsh tone. He looked down into the water.

“I used to try to catch the fish here”

“You’re not going to be able to change the subject that easily”

He glared at me.

“What if I ask nicely?”

“I don’t know. It depends how that sounds”

I smiled and he rolled his eyes.

“Princess Elizabeth, please drop it?”

I thought about it for a moment.

“Naah, not gonna work”

“Damn, you’re almost as stubborn as I am”

I smiled.

“Is that good or bad?”

“Depends on the day”

“Today?”

He shrugged.

“May get you tossed in the river”

I giggled and he smiled at me.

“I’m serious”

“So am I. Please tell me?”

“Liz, come on! I’m not gonna tell you, so drop it.”

I smiled at that. No one had ever called me Liz before. I liked it. He looked at me curiously.

“What?”

“Why did you call me Liz?”

“Cause Elizabeth is a mouthful, why?”

“No reason. So are you going to tell me what happened or not?”

“Not”

I jumped on him and rolled him toward the river. He was caught off guard. His face lit up as he rolled me toward the shore. I giggled and screamed playfully and pushed back.

“You’re going in the river!”

“No!”

I laughed harder and he began to laugh too. When we finally stopped rolling, he was on top of me. He smiled down at me and picked up one of my curls in his hand and played with it. I smiled up at him, breathing heavily from our wrestling game. He smiled back down at me and slowly moved forward. I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes as our lips touched. It lasted a few moments before he sat up and looked back at the river.

 

 

 

 

Author's Note

comments/ideas? too fast, too anticipated?

Reviews

[Short.Nerd]

Its kinda fast but I really like it (: