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Days Left: 23

Chapter Eight

"I hate to sound pushy, but do you have a plan yet?" Jonathan asked, leaning against the wall of their small jail. It was morning now, light seeped in through the cracks in the wood and the two could finally make each other out.
Zeal was silent for a moment, collecting her thoughts. "Make friends with the King, convince him that we mean no harm. Do everything he says."

"Doesn’t sound like a great plan."

"Then you make one, and leave me alone."

Jonathan, of course, couldn’t think to do anything differently than what Zeal had just suggested. "Um... could you maybe ask for some food?"

Zeal sighed, and without moving started banging on the wall. "Sebbeq!"

Jonathan waited, and nothing happened.

"Could you maybe-"

"No, now leave me alone."

"We’re going to starve to death in here."

"They won’t let us starve."

"How do you know?"

Zeal didn’t answer.

Jonathan leaned his head back and sighed. He tried to think of all the bright sides to this, but couldn’t think of any. He was locked up, he was cold, he was thistry and hungry and he was stuck with Zeal.

Before the list could get any longer thw door suddenly opened, a large man stood in the doorway.

"Urer," the man said as he set down a pitcher and a loaf of bread. Here.

Jonathan scrambled towards it, reaching it just as the man slamed the door in his face. He began to tear the loaf apart, scarfing it down hungrily. It was stale, but he was too hungry to care, then he went for the pitcher of water. It was ice cold, but Jonathan didn’t even notice, not even when it dribbled down his chin.

"Jonathan."

"Hm?" Jonathan lowered the pitcher, a mouthful of bread in his mouth.

She raised her eyesbrows. Jonathan looked down at the picther and loaf.

"Oh!" He handed her the pitcher and then ripped the loaf in half - taking into account of what he had already eaten - and handed that to her as well. "It’s a little stale," he said, taking another bite.

"You expected a four course meal?"

"Well... I was hoping for something warm."

"Don’t speak with your mouth full."

He swallowed. "Sorry."

The two sat in silence for a while, eating the stale bread and feeling all the better for it. They didn’t care how stale it was, so long as they kept giving it to them.

"Think we’re gonna get out of here soon?"Jonathan asked after he took the last bite of bread.

"I hope so."

An hour passed before someone opened the door again. Much to Jonathan’s disappointment, he didn’t have food for them this time. Instead he grunted at them and through two furs inside.

"Leaving," he muttered, and moved away from the door.

"Where are we going?" Joanthan asked, as he took the fur off the floor. He wasn’t sure he approuved of the smell, but once he had it around his shoulders, he felt all the warmer.

The man shruged at them, not udnerstanding what he had just asked.

"?" Zeal asked.

"Zenva," the man replied.

"What he say?"

"Where going to their capitol."

"Where’s that?"

"East."

Jonathan groaned. "We’re never going to get home if we kept traveling int he opposite direction."

"It was your idea to stay here for winter, might as well stay in the capitol," Zeal had her fur cloak on and was out the door just as soon as she said that. Jonathan quickly followed.

"Look Zeal, the sun came out. This should be a good sign."

They didn’t bind their hands like Jonathan thought they would, but they were surrounded by larger men with swords.

There must have been at least one hundred men gathered for the march. The King was at the front, riding one of the few wooly mounts, while they were kept in the middle, and a carriage of supplies was taking up the rear.

As soon as Zeal and Jonathan joined the group they started walking, a slow and easy pace and every once in a while some crackers and bread were passed around. Sometimes the guards took enough pity on their prisoners to actually share with them, but there were a few guards who seemed to enjoy the hungry look of Jonathan’s face as he watched them eat.

Occasionaly Jonathan tried starting up a conversion with someone, but that was always futile and got him shoved away from the man in question more often than he was comfortable with. If he complained to Zeal, she would just smile at him. It seemed as though everyone in the world was against him.

"I wish that translator were here, maybe he could tell us how far it Zenny is." They were in a forest now, though not the thick brush they were used to. Here all the trees were far apart and the light was no different.

"Zenva, not Zenny."

"You really think I care Zeal?"

"No," she wasn’t paying attention to him anymore, something was happening. The guards were talking to each other nervously, the pace was quickening. Jonathan even noticed that something was wrong.

"You understand anything they’re saying?"

She shook her head. "A few words, but I still have no clue what they’re talking about."

"Something’s up," he looked around nervously. "Are there any... predators here?"

"How should I know?"

"I don’t know! But I do know that you know more about these people than I do."

"You know nothing about these people."

"I know they don’t like strangers."

One of the guards turn back to Zeal with a stern look on his face. He said something to Zeal.

"What’d he say?"

"Something about traders..."

"What’s that supposed to mean?"

He was beginning to her on her nerves. "Please stop talking for just a few minutes."

Suddenly the ground came to a halt. Everyone was quiet and tense. Jonathan looked towards the front and saw that the King and over twenty guards on mounts had taken off at a gallop.

"Zeal, we’ve been abandoned," Jonathan whispered.

"My sword’s probably in the carriage," Zeal whispered back.

"So?"

"So, something’s going to happen, and that’s the direction I’m going."

"Oh, thanks for telling me."

A guard hissed something at them, and Jonathan was pretty sure that it was ‘shut up.’ He quickly nodded and did so. Zeal stood tense at his side, she was ready to take off at any second. Everything around them was quiet. He could hear everyone’s breathing, everyone’s heartbeat. At the drop of a pin chaos could break loose, and it did.

Suddenly yelling went up all around them. It was everywhere, all around them, and close - too close. It was almost like someone was standing right beside him and shouting into his ear. All the guards looked scared. Jonathan used all his will-power not to cower into a ball and clutch onto Zeal. Zeal was already inches towards the carriage.

He saw the men in the woods now, coming towards them on mounts at full charge, their yelling never pausing for a second, swords and ropes swinging in the air. All the men around Jonathan had their swords reading and were yelling back at them. They were going to fight, they were goin to fight and not only did he not have a weapon, he didn’t know how to fight.

Zeal was going to leave him to get her sword. He’d be alone.

It was then that he thought back to the inn for the first time since the actually conversation. Zeal had said it plainly enough, he could kill someone with his mind. Hope came to him for a brief second, maybe he could protect himself. Maybe he couldn’t exactly control it, and maybe he didn’t even know hot to use this power, but he was sure that if anyone attacked him he’d be able to use it.

Then all the men around him started charging, leaving him in their wake. He turned to find Zeal, but she was no where to be seen, and he lost all hope. He couldn’t kill people with his mind, that was just stupid fanciful talk. He was going to die. He was going to die. He was going to die. The words wouldn’t leave his mind, and all he could do was stand there as the men came towards and the killing began.

"ZEAL!!!" He called out into the battle, but of course no one herd him. He looked towards the carriage, that’s where she had gone, and he quickly took off running in that direction.

At first the battle had some distance from him, but now the men were starting to close in one him, he was starting to lose sight of the carriage even. He kept on running, trying to push himself faster and faster, but he knew that he wasn’t running fast enough.

"ZEAL!!!" He yeleld out again and suddenly he felt something ram against him and he was thrown to the ground. He looked up and saw that he was right in the middle of the battle. He tried to get when suddenly a body felt on him, the blood spraying onto his face and he screamed.

He pushed the body away and started to crawl, tried to crawl away. "ZEAL!!!" Someone grabbed the back of his collar and pulled him back. He yelled something at Jonathan, but he couldn't understand.

"ZEAL!!!" He could see her now. Her blonde hair shinning in the sun. She was making her way towards him, killing any man who got in her way. He felt himself smiling. She’d come and save him, and then everything went black.

"Where’d they take him!?!" Zeal yelled at the young man as she nearly throttled him. Those men, the Traders she imagined, had left moments after attacking. Leaving many dead on both sides. Still, there were only about fourty of them left. They had taken some people, and Zeal quickly found out that one of the people they had taken had been Jonathan.

"The... the port... to boat," the young man stuttered, it was the translator from the other night. "They go s-south..."

"Why!?!"

"Traders... trade men for money. Slaves..."

"You just let them do this!?! I thought your King was powerful!!!"

"Traders many... don’t come always... We go to Zenva, no hope for others."

"I won’t leave him to be traided off like that!"

"W-why?"

"Because I won’t be held responsible for changing the future."

She let the man go and walked over to a mount, his rider no doubt dead or missing. She was wuickly on him, she turned back to the man for a second.

"Tell your King that I’ll be back! We both will!"

"You can’t go alone!"

"Are you going to come?"

He shook his head. "Ab..." he mumbled, still shaken over the whole experience.

"Then what choice do I have!?!" She gave a swift kick to the side of the mount and it took off in a gallop.

She didn’t go alone though, behind her a few other men had grabbed loose mounts and were following. She didn’t care, the more men who came, the better chances she had or rescuing him. There had been hundreds of Traders, and there were less than ten people coming after them. Maybe if they came at night, freed those who had been taken, they might have a chance at fighting off the Traders to be able to make an escape.

She didn’t care about the other thought, she just had to get Jonathan back. How could the future be the way it was if Jonathan died or went missing? He had told her once that the future could be changed, and she knew if she just abandoned him, she might destroy their entire futures. She might destroy Serra’s future.

She would get him back.

(Feel the excitement. I feel a cold... as in I'm sick... I want soup... Maybe some love.)