I ran till it was near damn impossible to continue. My lungs felt like they were lined with pebbles and my lips clattered with the violence of a windy storm…maybe because it was a windy storm.
The thunder and lightning sent chills down my weak spine but I didn't stop. Stopping meant a fate worse than death.
The cloak I was wearing weighed me down. It was soaked and heavy, the rain water it accumulated dragged me back as I fought to take another step forward and another step…. a step towards freedom. I clutched the little satchel tightly…too tightly.
It had everything in this whole wide world.
It was everything, I had to my name.
Everything.
I could hear the sound of horses behind and voices too far away to be audible and I knew at once the new baron of bluestone had sent out a search party and if I am found, my punishment would be worse than death.
I took a deep breath that I regretted instantly because it caused my throat to burn which reminded me of a flu portion Nanny Josie always made for me when I was sick that tasted like cow dung and Cheyenne peppers. I would give anything to be that girl who took the flu portion because that girl smiled and she laughed…she was naughty and she was mischievous.
She was awkward and she was naïve in a sweet way. She didn't have to fend for herself and she didn't have to run for her dear life under a windy storm or have skilled horsemen chase her down like a common criminal.
The girl I used to be was gone and if I am to make it, I have to do away with the only protective covers shielding me from the monstrous downpour. I pulled at the laces holding my cloak to my neck as hard as I could, and I left it behind.
The cold bit through my bare skin and it sent shivers down my already clenched up spine. The lightning struck and it brightened the sky momentarily, and once again I was reminded that a yellow dress lined with real rubies and gold threads wasn't the right attire for someone trying to stay hidden…it was too yellow to blend and I stood out like a sore thumb.
The horses were getting closer now and I ran faster hoping to reach the old tunnels towards the southern end of the blue stone manor, I didn't think I would make it because I could feel the horsemen approaching but then something grabbed and pulled me to the ground and just like that I was covered with hay.
"Stay still, miss!" the voice whispered to me.
I could hear my heart pound like an out-of-control drum with a crazed drummer at work.
Okay!
Okay! Breath, Abigail!
Breath!
What is the worst thing that could happen?
The question opened a floodgate of very dark scenarios in an over imaginative mind of mine.
My captor could be my husband and he chased me back her from our previous life, it could be a bandit that has been robbing the rich and powerful…except I am either rich or powerful right now.
He could be a mad man who wishes me harm! He could be the bloody ghost of the scarecrow man! I do not know!
I am hardly rational right now! I am Abigail, I have never been rational!
I was reminded of what the footboy told me about his encounter with a bandit. He said to remind them that you are a human being with hopes that they might spare you from a world of pain.
"I am the honorable Abigail Spencer!"
Bloody hell! Way to go, Abby! You just reminded a bandit that you are titled! I scolded myself in my head.
Oh great!
Oh goodness, is this how I die? I escape my ruthless husband and my ruthless cousin Baron Winslow and his band of ruthless enforcers to die at the hand of…wait! Who the hell is this bandit that was holding me down and…? protecting me?
This is so confusing!
"Please, don't kill me. I might be titled but I have no money!" except the one in my satchel I was tempted to add but I didn't, thank goodness!
"I have nothing. I am not worth much to you, sir…. I am just a girl and I am fighting for my…."
"Abigail?" the voice called out curtly.
"Yes"
"Stop talking!" he snapped. "The horsemen…they are closer. Stay still, child"
As my panic subsided, I realized that the voice sounded familiar. It was farmer Jones; he lives with his wife Mary by the southern corner of Bluestone. He was a tenant.
I kept quiet until the horsemen passed and suddenly farmer jones was pulling me out of his bed of hays.
"I think we are safe, miss" he said.
I exhaled and ignored every rule in the book and hugged him. Just held on to him like he was a piece of security and comfort in the world. This old man whom I have known for as long as I was born…yet a total stranger to me.
I held him and all hell broke loose.
"I can't find my parents, Farmer Jones…No one can find them. Where are they? They can stop the new Baron!" Tears ran down my face as I cried freely now.
"If they were here, I don't need this ridiculous plan. I will just stay unmarried and save my self from a doomed future"
The pain the cold didn't let me feel, came in full force and it all but took my breath away.
My parents are gone and I am left fighting for dear life, fighting to not be a pawn in Baron Winslow's scheme for more power... fighting to escape a husband I know neither his face nor name.
Hello! I am Abigail and I am awkward and naïve.
I am more friends with animals than humans, I have no skills a girl should have and now, they leave me on my own even though they promise to be with me through hell and firestorm?!
"I have seen my future, I am not going to survive. I need my parents!" I yelled at Farmer Jones like he was the cause of all my problems.
"Well, you have to!" He yelled and it quieted me out. "You have to because many of us are placing our lives on the chopping block to help you, Miss Spencer"
I sniffed back tears. "My nanny…I am supposed to meet my nanny!"
"Well, she's not coming!" he announced
"What? No…no, I can't do this without her…I can't. I can't make this journey without her!" I shook my head as the panic that left me previously returned.
"Well, you have to. The new Baron threw her in the dungeon but not before she got word out to the tenants pleading for help…for you even though we would likely lose our lands and our source of livelihood if caught"
"Yet here you are" I whispered.
"Yes. I owe house Spencer everything" Farmer Jones said.
"What should I do, farmer Jones?" I asked.
I didn't know that terror existed till this very moment. I never thought I would one day hope to get guidance from the man who supplied my family with corn and sweet potatoes yet here I was begging for help.
"What should I do?" I asked again.
"The Nanny Josette said to tell you to follow the plan…she said grow up, Abby. She said run for your dear life and she said never look back or come home till you have accomplished your mission"
I exhaled.
Follow the plan…it is simple enough except the plan was to make the impossible trip to the capital, Zurich, demand to see the tyrant king who killed people for fun, show him the Raven seal Nanny Josie stole from the new Baron (A seal that bounds the tyrant King Aldous to honor a wish from the bond bearer) A seal that Baron Winslow planned to redeem himself and is currently looking to get his hands on even if it meant killing me….that is the seal I am supposed to somehow get to the other side of the hemisphere while dodging bandits and thieves then force the king to wed me to his heir, the first prince of Zurich! heir to the throne…future ruler of the seven kingdoms of the southern hemisphere of Dakar and the newly acquired Midlands.
And hope to all the Gods of creation that he doesn't order my execution.
Yeah, that plan is terrible!
Yet I picked up my dress and ran.