"Hold on!" The man yelled all of a sudden, causing everyone to halt.
I turned and faced the smirking man, he must be up to something, I guess.
"It isn't time to spill blood so why are you all in a haste to do that?" He asked, still smirking. "There should be no need for that, that's if you are ready to negotiate with me, I'm ready to hand your miss over to you, but in exchange for that, you'll have to hand yourself over to me!"
"Negotiation, my foot!" Ruben impatiently spat out. "Who would want to negotiate with a greedy cow like you?"
"I have warned you to stop calling me a cow!" The man roared as he stared daggers at Ruben. "For the fact that I want a peaceful negotiation with your friend here, I won't deal with you but, don't you dare call me names again!" He spoke, trying to calm himself down.
While they were still arguing, I was trying to come up with a good plan that will benefit us without endangering our lives. As we came without any weapons, if we were to fight his men, I needed to plan carefully so that we won't be pushed into the corner. As for now, I don't know their plans or how many his men are, besides, I haven't set my eyes on Rina yet but if I have to see her, there is only one option.
"It's the negotiation you want, right?" I asked after concluding.
Everyone turned to look at me in surprise, Ruben rushed over to me and grabbed my arm, his face turning sour already.
"Don't tell me you are planning to accept the deal!" He spoke.
"You should understand me, Ruben. If I don't do this, how can I then save the miss? Remember, it's our choice to save her and it's me he wants so why put everyone in danger just because of me?" I responded calmly.
"But we can still save her without you accepting his offer, we can use our—"
"Enough, Ruben!" I spoke, abruptly shutting him up. At this point, I was beginning to think if he understands me at all. He stared at me in surprise and I could imagine his thoughts, this was definitely the first time I'm raising my voice at him but what can I do? It's the only thing I could resolve to stop him from talking further.
"Fine! I'll let you do what you want!" He said in a defeated voice and walked away from where I was standing. I watched him walk away with his shoulders dropped and I sighed inwardly.
I turned to the man who was silently watching us and spoke, "As I said, I'll comply as you want but before then, release the miss and bring her here!"
"How am I sure that you aren't up to anything?" The man asked, looking at me suspiciously.
"I am not like you, I'll hand myself over to you once I see that the miss is unharmed," I replied.
"Fine! Any mishap from any of you and none of you will leave here alive, it's a promise!" He agreed and whispered something to one of his men who nodded and walked away immediately. Minutes later, the man returned holding a blindfolded Rina.
"Miss!" Elsa cried as she wanted to rush over to her.
"Stop right there!" The man yelled, causing Elsa to halt. "She is here and unharmed as you can see, now it's time you do yours, come over here immediately!" He said, looking at me.
"That wouldn't be a problem," I replied and began to walk over to the man's side. "Elsa, come over and take the miss away!" I said to Elsa after I must have gotten to the man's side.
Elsa rushed over and removed the piece of cloth used in covering Rina's eyes.
"What are you all doing here?" Rina asked as she stared at the three of us. "Do you want to die so much?" She asked again, this time, the question was being directed at me.
"You better get ready to take me on a date after this," I whispered to her and then turned to Elsa, "I've done my part, now take her back to the inn!"
"What about you and Ruben?" She asked with a worried look.
"As long as he treats us nicely, we'll be fine and so you have nothing to worry about."
"Yes, we'll treat you two very nicely," the man replied and let out a chuckle.
"But—"
"No buts! You girls should leave immediately!" I responded, sounding more serious. The girls said no further and turned around, I watched as the two of them left and then glanced over at Ruben who had his face still squeezed in a frown.
Just as I was about to give him a sign, I noticed Rina halt and turn around.
"Why did you stop?" I asked with a raised brow as I was confused by her sudden action. It was time for me to take my plans into action and any mistake from her would no doubt destroy them all.
"I won't leave!" She blurted out to my surprise.
"Huh?" I asked, even the man seemed surprised and angered at the same time.
"I am not leaving you here to die alone! You are still a kid, and you've got many years to live, I wouldn't want to be the cause of your death and then live with that regret for the rest of my life!" She replied firmly.
"This isn't what we bargained for!" The man now angry, furiously yelled. "I warned you, kids, earlier on but it seems you want to know what I'm capable of, right? I won't let any of you leave here alive! Surround them immediately and make sure that no one leaves this place!"
The men as ordered, surrounded us immediately, placing us in the middle. This isn't what I planned and I didn't want any of this to happen but since it has started already, there was nothing I could do rather, I'll just have to go with the flow of things.
Ruben came and stood beside me, "How was my acting?" He asked with a smirk. "I bet you thought I didn't understand you."
So it was all acting? I felt relieved knowing that he understood me even without me telling him. "Nice try!" I whispered back with a smile.