I still wanted to talk to Yazdan about taking it slow. It hasn't even been a full day since I rescued Daphne from her prison, she needed her rest to gather her strength.
As we walked, I could feel the bandages that Daphne tightly wrapped around my wound, moving back and forth uncomfortably. I don't see why such a small wound needed bandages. As we walked I thought about what Daphne had said, about how she wanted to be my arrow if I became her sword, when moments before she talked about heading back to the orphanage and leaving me behind. What made her change her mind? I would have to ask her when we stop to take a rest.
I looked back to see how Daphne was doing and noticed her starting to slow down. I didn't think too much about it except that she was probably tired so I continued walking. A few minutes later I felt a tug at my tunic. I once again looked behind me to see that Daphne was now trudging along, barely able to lift her feet up. I stopped. She wasn't looking too good. I held her up with both hands gripped on the side of her arms and she leaned on me to keep herself supported. "Yazdan," I yelled ahead.
"No stopping!" He replied quickly and sternly.
"Daphne needs to take a rest! She can barely stand on her own!"
"I told you to leave her behind! It's your fault she's exhausted!"
I growled at this statement. I looked back down at Daphne who was now looking up at me with her fawn-like brown eyes, sweat rolling down her forehead. I took a cloth out of my bag and lightly dapped the sweat off her forehead. I turned my head back toward the men who were slowly getting further and further away. "Come on," I said as I faced my back to the exhausted girl and bent down so she could get on my back.
"N-no," she stammered in a soft whisper, "I can keep going."
"No you can not, you can hardly even stand." I backed up even further so I was closer to Daphne and forcefully helped her on my back.
"Foolish boy." Yazdan seemed to pop out of nowhere right beside me, making me jump a little. "Your father isn't going to like this behavior, you're better off leaving her in the woods."
"I will not," I said in a deep growl.
"Don't you use that tone with me boy, Darab will hear about this." Yazdan once again disappeared into the shadows.
"Bahar," Daphne whispered, "Leave me."
I didn't answer, instead I repositioned her on my back and began walking. With her arms draped over my shoulders and her heart pounding on my back, I walked. I didn't care what everyone else said, I didn't care what my father would do once he found out, I didn't care. I was not going to leave the girl I searched for so long for out in the woods to possibly die.
I was able to catch up with the men and the sun soon began to rise. I hadn't realized we had already been walking for so long. Daphne ended up falling asleep on my back but I could tell that at first she was trying to fight it and stay awake but she needed her rest. My arms and legs were sore and tired from carrying so much extra weight but I had to keep going. So, as the sun slowly arose, casting a warm rose gold light on the dew covered ground, I continued on, Daphne making a slight purring sound as she slept comfortably on my back. That noise alone was enough to keep me going till Yazdan told us to rest for a bit. He picked an open area in a small patch of woods right on top of a ridge. Would have been nice if we could have stopped by a water source of some sort but we long left the creek behind and I wasn't familiar with this part of the country.
I needed to sit down and take a rest myself but I was afraid of waking Daphne up. She needed more rest than I did but I wouldn't be able to keep going if I didn't get my strength back so I had no choice. I leaned her gently up against the closest tree, trying my best not to move her too much so that I wouldbt have to wake her up and she could continue to rest peacefully. My attempt didn't work for as soon as I set her down she began to stir. Her eyes peaked opened and she slowly examined our surroundings.
"Where are we?" she asked sleepily.
"About two mansions south of Darab's campsite," Yazdan yelled from the other side of the hillside as he looked up at the sky.
Daphne noticed him looking up at the sky and looked up as well. Under the tree her face was shaded but her fawn-like brown eyes shown as she looked up at the vast blue sky. "The clouds look beautiful," she said almost dreamily. I too looked up at them and she was right, they were so majestic and puffy, towering above the green yellow and red color of the slowly turning autumn leaves. The clouds as pure white as freshly fallen snow and as dense as cotton, just like a bed in the sky. I sat down next to Daphne under the great fur tree that shielded her from the sun. I couldn't help but stare at her as she dreamily looked up into the sky. She seemed so at peace, as if she was lost in her own little world, I too wished to be lost in that little world.
I searched through my bag until I had found the leftover berries from yesterday. I silently offered them to Daphne. She smiled at me and gracefully took the red cloth out of my hand, the soft skin of her hand gently brushing up against mine. We just sat there, eating the berries, watching the clouds, and just enjoying the moment until Yazdan told us we were continuing on. I didn't want to keep going, I wanted to keep sitting next to Daphne and not have to worry about anything else in the world. I knew as soon as we reached my father we would have trouble. My father does take very kindly to the Greeks, and Yazdan knows this, maybe that's why he keeps trying to make me leave Daphne behind, it'll be less trouble for all of us if I left her behind… except for her, and that's why I can't. I can't leave her behind, there's know way she can get back home by herself. Plus I made a promise to her, I will be her sword, I won't let anything or anyone harm her, and I always keep my promises.
I offered my hand to help Daphne off the ground but she ignored it and stood up on her own, she brushed herself off. She repositioned her bow and quiver on her back and then stared up at me, "I'll walk the rest by myself, you don't need to help me." Then before I could answer she walked away, leaving me standing there watching as she walked away, I let out a sigh before following her. She's been through a lot, I just have to let her adjust.
As we walked I could tell some of the other guys in the group started to slow down, most of them were not used to Yazdan's strict control, now that I think about it, I didn't even recognize most of them. I had to jog to catch up with Yazdan. "Who are these guys?" I asked him, "I've never seen them before."
"They're the rookies I've been put in charge of," He answered bluntly. My eyes widened.
"You brought rookies on this mission?! They haven't had nearly enough training for something like this, they're going to die from exhaustion!"
"They'll never learn if they are not pushed. Im just thinning out the heard."
"You are going to kill them," I growled.
"You are going to kill that girl!" Yazdan yelled while pointing back at her. She was looking up at the trees when she heard him yell and looked down and met my eyes.
"I will never let that happen," I said quietly in a low growl.
"We both know your father is not going to like this, she is going to cause you more pain and trouble then if you had just left her. You're thinking with your heart, not your brain.Your father will kill her and then us for bringing her back, you are the only one who won't be affected by this, how bad would it look if the best swordsman of the century killed his very own son."
"I won't be affected by this?! I have been looking for her for ten years, I made finding her my purpose in this life. Even as a child she saw the world differently, she saw the good in everything while all I was taught was to see the bad in everything and strike it down without mercy. I searched for ten years and then magically she shows up after being captured by some of our men? I won't let that opportunity just slip by."
"You selfish boy! Do you not care about my life and all these men? Your father will kill us all!"
"You obviously don't, you're trying to kill them as we speak."
"These men have more willpower than you think, I am making them stronger. You said your purpose was to find her, you found her, now move on. You've trained your whole life to become a swordsman, focus on that, turn that into your purpose instead of this silly fairytale dream."
"We both know I did not want to become a swordsman," I whispered under my breath, "Besides, it is not a silly fairytale dream, I found her didn't I?"
"On sheer luck, but she is as good as dead now that you have brought her along. You better believe me that by tomorrow morning she will no longer have life in her body."
"You dare-"
Yazdan moved his hand up quickly, thinking he was reaching for me, I moved back, but instead he caught a flying arrow in his bare hands. A cold expression hit his face and he jerked his head so he was looking back at the men. Standing there, bow in hand and arrow cocked back, was Daphne, a madened expression plastered on her face. "Shut up both of you," she scolded, "I can't even tell what you're arguing about but I will leave if I have to."
"It's too late for you to leave," Yazdan said, throwing the arrow on the ground, "A girl like you in the woods by yourself, you would get tortured and killed."
"Fine then shut up and keep moving, your men are exhausted and we need to get to your camp before they fall over dead." Daphne demanded. I picked up her arrow Yazdan had thrown on the forest floor and walked it back to her. I went to speak but she stopped me. "Why didn't you listen when we told you to leave me behind."
"I couldn't-"
"Yes you could, now you have endangered all of these men. Now, I will not have these men risking their lives just for me, so when we get close to your fathers camp, you will tie me with a rope and act as if I am your prisoner."
"My father doesn't like us taking prisoners."
"Well you got a better idea?'' She looked up at me with a stern look on her face as we continued to walk through the woods. I didn't realize just how cold it had gotten till she looked at me, with those big eyes boring a hole into me. She turned back around and continued walking, I fell silent as I slowly followed behind her.
We continued on for about another parasang before Daphne slowed down and began walking beside me. "I decided to stay with you because being out here and being away from the orphanage made me realize how much of the real world I've missed. I've been cooped up in that small house for almost my entire life, only leaving to go to the market or to hunt in the woods. I liked being out here in the real world and didn't want to go back to the orphanage. But I didn't realize me wanting to stay with you would cause so much trouble, so I guess we were both being selfish."
I didn't say anything except, "You're scary when you're mad." she just rolled her eyes, shook her head and looked away. This made me smile a little. "You know you're better with that bow than you give yourself credit for. With some practice I bet you'll be great."
"I would be better if I wasn't clumsy."
"I've never been good with a bow, that's why my father gave me knives. But I've watched as my father trained some archers, and he's had some clumsy archers, what he always told them was, embrace the fact that you're clumsy and use it, you just have to adjust the bow to match your imperfection."
"For someone who might kill me in less than a day, your father sounds pretty nice," she gave a half hearted laugh.
"He can be when he wants to. Well we still have about half a day of walking still, we might as well make it interesting, can I see your bow?" with a curious face, she unslung her bow and handed it to me. I pulled an arrow out of her quiver and notched the arrow in the bow. I shot it and it went about one pace before taking a nose dive into the ground. I turned back towards Daphne who was trying to hide her face and hold in her laughter
"I told you," I laughed. As we walked passed the arrow, I picked it up and placed it back into her quiver.
"Let me show you how it's done," she said slyly. She grabbed the bow back from me and grabbed a new arrow out, cocked it back and sent it whizzing through the air, it stuck in a tree next to the path we were now following about eight paces away.
"See, you're really good at that!" I exclaimed.
"Well the reason we got into this whole mess is because I missed a doe after my chlamys got caught on a bush," she said rather annoyed at herself.
I smiled to make her feel better and bent down to her level, "Hey it happens to the best of us."
She stared at me for a little while before saying, "Did you really just lean down to look me in the face?"
I stared blankly back and straightened my legs back out. "Um, no," I said, putting a fake innocent face on.
"You totally did," she said as she punched me in the arm and laughed slightly.
"Not my fault, you're like three hands shorter than me. I can put my chin comfortably on your head."
"Maybe it's not my fault for being short but your fault for being built like a tree."
"Trust me I only look like a tree from your perspective."
She gave a little pout and as we walked up to the tree she had embedded her arrow into, she dramatically pulled it out. Obviously trying to just put on a show to make it look like she was more angry than she actually was. When in reality her face was scrunched up from her trying not to smirk. Once she put the arrow back in her quiver she continued to stare out into the woods when suddenly her face lit up.
"What?" I asked, but she didn't answer me. I couldn't tell what she was looking at when she ran off into the woods and away from the trail. I saw Yazdan watch her for a moment and then he turned to look at me. I just shrugged at him then turned and slowly followed behind her. She didn't look like she was in danger so I just watched her until she came to a stop at a large berry bush. She's just hungry, I thought as I rolled my eyes. As I reached her I noticed she was trying to hold them all in her chlamas. I pulled my bandanna out of my bag and handed it to her so she could store them more easily.
"Thanks," she smiled softly as she dumped the berries she had been gathering in the cloth. She plopped one in her mouth and her eyes closed as she took in the taste of the berry. She opened her eyes back up, looked up at me and handed me one. I took it and ate it, no words were exchanged, but no words were needed. I just continued to watch her as she plucked and gathered berries. She was so beautiful…
I felt ashamed of myself. I had only just met her, was it wrong of me to have feelings for her? Was it love or lust? No, I wouldn't have searched for her if it wasn't love. Yet she said herself that she wasn't in love. So, here I am, falling for a girl who doesn't feel the same, how pathetic.
I was broken out of my little pity party when Daphne tapped me on the shoulder. "Are you alright?" she asked, a look of concern spread across her face.
I plastered on a fake smile. "Yes i'm fine," I lied.
By the face she made I could tell she wasn't convinced but decided not to push me. Daphne continued to pick berries till the cloth was so full it wouldn't hold any more. Satisfied with her haul she tied the cloth up and smiled at it as she held it in both of her hands. It's moments like these where I can see that happy little girl again from all those years ago. Daphne smiled up at me, her face shining in the sunlight. But Her cute childish smile soon turned to a suspicious grin as she looked me up and down.
"What?" I asked, a little scared about what she might be thinking.
"Oh nothing," she replied, wish didn't help my suspicions. That goofy grin was still spread across her face as she handed me the cloth of berries to put into my bag.
I grabbed the berries out of her hand and my curiosity got the best of me, "Oh come on what is it?"
She took a moment to think then took off running back towards the trail, "I'll race you!"
I was dumbstruck, still trying to put the berries in my sack, I ran after her, hearing her laugh all the way. "Hey!" I yelled as I picked up the pace. I could have easily caught her. But I didn't want to take the joy away from her face when I did. So I let her stay a head of me, watching at a distance as she laughed and ran as fast as her legs could take her. Until she yelled back to me "catch me if you can!"
"Oh it's on!" I had the biggest smile on my face as I chased after her, slowly gaining ground.