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“How am I supposed to know? You’re the one who dragged us out here,” Zach snapped, just a little bitter about the door incident.
“Excuse me? Dragged you? I think not. If it hadn’t been for me, you’d be burned to a crisp. That is, if you lived long enough to see the flames.” she retorted. He had been like this from the moment they stepped out of the burning inn. And frankly, she was getting sick of it.
“Yeah, whatever.” Zach muttered. He was furious at himself for making such a stupid mistake. Not to mention how mad he was at Kristen for rubbing it in his face like that. Zach made his way around the side of the cabin, leaving Kristen standing at the door.
“And where do you think you are going?” Kristen asked, not all that thrilled at the prospect of being abandoned in the middle of nowhere.
“Well, the way I see it, you can either stay here, waiting for death to claim you, or you can go and get killed somewhere were somebody might actually care.” Zach said flatly, and continued walking.
“Oh, okay. Just making sure. Good to know that you’re being so optimistic.” Kristen responded dryly, grudgingly following him. They made their way along, not a clue as to where they were going or what they were going to do when they got there.
All of the sudden, Kristen grabbed Zach and shoved him behind what looked like some sort of trash pile.
“What the......?” he spat. He would have gone on, too, had Kristen not clamped her hand over his mouth and gestured to a small group of horsemen examining the cabin. The riders checked their mounts, the huge war-horses who shrieked and tried to run from the pile of boards that was the cabin. They were dressed in armor that was a deep black, an emblem of a gargoyle and a dragon clashed together in battle. There was a total of six soldiers, not including one who was quite possibly the most frightening of them all. He had dark hair, no unlike the rest of his group, but his clean shaven face allowed you to see the hard features. A sharp nose looked as if it could do as much damage as the cold steel that was strapped to his side. The blade was by far the largest and most intricate of the collection of weapons strapped to various steeds’ backs. His own charger, a dark bay (a bay is a brown horse with black on his nose, mane, tail, lower legs, and the tips of his ears for those who aren’t horse freaks), chomped the bit eagerly, awaiting his master’s next command. A plume of horse-hair dyed blood red jumped from his massive helmet.
“Do you think that finished them off?” one soldier, for that was clearly what they were, asked the dark warrior.
“You better hope it did. If Lord Triccan found out that you fouled up, well, let’s just say that you won’t live long enough to make excuses.” he snarled, not bothering to actually look at the underling. The swordsman roughly turned his he charger and began trotting round what was left of the cabin. “Search for survivors. Leave no rock unturned. Understood?”
After a sharp “Yes, sir!” from his men, the gladiator kicked his horse and rode around the side.
“You heard what the captain said, get going.” the first man who had spoken jeered. He rode off, following their leader. The fighters followed, making sure never to pass their superior officers.
“What was that about?” Zach asked, getting up,making sure that the horsemen were gone before he paraded out in plain sight. He moved out from behind the bins and began to pick the garbage from his clothes and hair,eying the garbage in disgrust.
“Who cares? Didn’t you hear them? ‘Survivors’! Oh Zach! There might be others! Maybe Sean is with them!” Kristen gushed, leaping out of the bags of muck. She was as garbage-covered as her counterpart. The only difference was that she was too excited to care.
“Yeah, and how’s that gonna help? Great, now you and Sean can be stuck in some fucked up world where people are trying to kill you. Great plan, genius. Now you and your lover can die together. You’re just so good at this stuff. Who gives a damn if we find them any ways? That, what’s his name, Trackin, Fraccin....”
“Triccan.” Kristen corrected.
“Whatever. Anyway, Triccan is gonna kill them any ways.” he spat back. Zach was pissed. That was understandible. After all, they were in a world where they didn’t know what was happening or why someone wanted them dead.
“I can’t believe you, Zachary. Amanda could be out there somewhere. Alone and scared. And what’s you’re opinion on it? ‘Screw her, it’s all about Zach.’ Well I’m not going to stand for it. I’m going to find them. Goodbye, Zach.” With her final words, Kristen spun on her heels and stormed out of the alley. Zach stood, stunned for a moment, before running after her and grabbing her arm.
“Whoa, there. If your going to go crashing into danger, the least you can do is let me protect you. You don’t know the streets. You could get hurt. And far be it for me to leave you to the wolves. So I’m coming with you.” Zach stated, apparently proud of his statement.
“To protect me.”
“Yup.”
“So I don’t get hurt.”
“Exactly.”
Kristen smiled, it had been her plan all along.