She got about four spoonfuls down her throat before she heard footsteps coming toward the campsite, the dry needles crunching under foot. She didn’t have her knife or her sword, so she had no way to defend herself, and she was so weak she doubted she could fist fight someone, or worse, many. She turned back toward the way she had come but not before being seen. A man came through the shadows of the trees and saw her. He took a couple of quick steps toward her, and she bolted. She jumped over a fallen log and headed off into the trees, hoping to lose whomever was behind her in the darkness. No such luck. An arm swung in from behind and pulled her off her feet. The man backed up and went into the light of the campsite again. Melenthia kicked and squirmed, trying with all her might to loosen the grip of her captor. She elbowed him in the groin, and he humphed and loosened his grip just enough. She slipped from out of his grasp and slid to the forest floor. She was up and running again before he could recover fully. She ran as fast as she could but tripped over a root and fell face first into the dirt. She was dazed for a moment, then shook it off and got up. She was dizzy, and her ankle hurt from tripping. She was not fast enough to get away. The stranger grabbed her from behind again and dragged her kicking and squirming back to the campsite.
“Enough! Stop your thrashing around or so help me I’ll hurt you.”
“I won’t go with you. I won’t let you take me to him alive.”
“Well, you’re alive right now, which is a good thing. I cannot take back a corpse. Someone would be very put out if I let you get killed.”
The firelight illuminated the campsite but it was hidden mostly in shadow. She could make out his outline, but not much detail. She wondered if it was because of the dark or because she was delirious. She flailed around some more and managed to hit him square in the face. He rubbed his free hand over his chin where she had clocked him and squeezed tighter with the arm holding her.
“You’ll stay put and get some rest. That head wound is nasty and needs attention. However, I should cut off your hand for stealing.”
“I didn’t steal anything,” she said, squirming more. The more she wiggled, the tighter his grip became. She was starting to feel suffocated.
“You stole my food. If I let you, you may have stolen my horse, or my pack, who knows.”
“I merely wanted a bite.”
“Should I let you go then?”
She thought about that. She had to convince him that she would not steal anything and would behave, or he may just crush her to death.
“I’m sorry I ate your dinner without asking. If you let me go, I promise I won’t be any trouble.”
His grip loosened from around her waist, and he gently set her on the ground. She made her move. She reached across him and pulled his sword from out of its scabbard and lifted it to his neck.
He crossed his arms over his chest, obviously amused. “If you’re going to kill me, go ahead, but I assure you there are worse things out there than me.”
“I don’t want to kill you, but I can’t let you keep me detained. I must be on my way.”
She looked up at him, and he said nothing, just stared at her. She felt a wave of dizziness overtake her, and she teetered on her feet. She dropped the sword on the ground and tried to keep herself from passing out. She threw up, then blackness overtook her.
***
When she opened her eyes again, it was still dark. She still felt sick to her stomach, and her eyes didn’t want to cooperate and focus. She was still dizzy, and her head was pounding. She touched her head wound. It had been sewn and had clean dressings. The man who had her was lying a few feet from her, in front of the fire, which was still putting off heat, but not blazing. His eyes were closed; she could hear a rhythmic breathing coming from him. He was asleep. It was now or never. She got on her hands and knees and started to crawl across the campsite, hoping that would be quieter than walking. She got just passed him and thought she would make it, but a hand snaked out and grabbed her foot.
“Going somewhere?”
She started to kick at him. That was the last straw. He was tired and sore from riding so long, he just wanted a rest. He’d had enough. He didn’t want to hurt her, but she needed to behave. He grabbed her by the waist again and set her roughly down on the ground. She reeled again and retched.
“If you don’t calm yourself, you’re going to do more damage to your body than you have already sustained.”
“I don’t care!”
“Well I do. I made a promise and will stick to it.”
He pulled out some cords from his cloak pocket and proceeded to tie up her feet. The campsite was spinning, and her heart was racing. She felt sick, tired and cold. She was still damp from her swim in the river, and all she wanted was for her head to stop throbbing. She watched him tie her legs, then the whole world started spinning, and she passed out again.