Sounds like a Story or The Runaway


The horses’ hooves pound behind me as I sprint down the forest road.  My legs threaten to buckle underneath me and I clench my teeth to push myself farther down the path.  Only a few more feet… There it is!  Lunging behind a fallen tree, I begin to cover myself with litter.  Horses pound by my hiding spot and I sigh.  
“They didn’t find me.  Ha.”  I tense and wait for the horses and their riders to return, but I don’t hear the pounding of hooves.  Crickets start to chirp and I begin to nod off to their song.  “I’ll sleep for a while.”  I mumble to myself lying down on the forest floor.  “I’ve been running so long…” And I fall into the darkness.

                                               *----*----*----*----*----*

CRUNCH.  CRUNCH.  “Why is that noise so loud?”  I mumble.  Peeking under the fallen elm, I notice a pair of boots, right in front of me.  'NO!'  My mind screams out.  'Not now, not after escaping that hell!  I’d rather die!'  
“Come out. Come out.  Where ever you are….”  The person’s voice was deep and oddly familiar.  “Come out my dear.  I know you’re here.  Where else would you hide in this wood?  Did you not think I would remember?”  The person continued to call out for me while I finally realized who the voice belonged to.  
'Tracker? No… but who else would know this spot?  Why did they have to drag Tracker into this mess?   Of all the low things they could have done… Damn them!'  
Tracker stopped calling out and started to move away from my tree.  I silently watched as his boots disappear from my line of vision and start as I hear him begin to speak again.
“Hmm.  I guess she’s not here.  Oh well!  I might as well catch up to those fools to help.”  
'WHAT?  He’s giving up?  Maybe he is still my friend!  Yes!  He’s still my friend!  This way I can get away and still live!  Yes!'  My mind is grabbing onto strings by now.  Spending several days in a dungeon and running away from dear old Mum’s soldiers is not the most pleasant thing in the world.
“Giddy-up Dark.”  I focus back to look through my peek hole to see the horse gallop off.  The hoof beats fade and I rise with my back to the road.  
“Finally I’m safe.  Thank God!”  I sigh and begin to brush off all the leaves and twigs off my clothes.  I begin to turn towards the road.  “That was really… OH MY GOD!”  I scream.  Tracker stood in front of me.  “You’re supposed to be gone!”  I sputter and point down the road.  “Down the road!  Why in hell are you standing here?”  'Holy mother of God!  When did he get taller?'  I first think then I begin to plan of a way to escape if this conversation doesn’t turn the way I want it to.  'Okay so the Lake is behind me through the woods.  I drown myself as a last resort.  I will not go back to that Hell!'
       “Apparently someone body wanted someone found,” he answered back.
   “You find this funny don’t you?”  I ask placing my hands on my hips.  
“Yes, I do,” Tracker grinned, then frowned and stated seriously, “I taught you to disguise your tracks and hide better than this.  I told you not to use the same spot twice.”
I snorted and replied, “No, you told me, ‘As long as no one knows the place you hide every time, it’s a safe bet to go back.’  I thought they were only using soldiers, not old friends.”  I sneered.  “If I knew you were on my trail, I would be gone, and swimming the Lake by now.”  I began to shift my weight from foot to foot to disguise my inching backward toward the said place.
“Oh really?”  His eyes glittered.
'Dang… He’s trying not to laugh!'  I frown and answer, “Yes, I would and you know it.”  I tilt my chin up and shift back.  “But you knew I didn’t expect you,” shift. “So you checked at my favorite hiding spot,” shift.  The next one I will take off!  “So it was only logical to find me here.”  'GO!'  My mind screams.  I break for the Lake behind me.  
     “Oh, you’re not going any where my dear.”  I felt his hand grab my wrist and pull me back toward him.  The force of the pull makes me stumble and I fall at Tracker’s feet.
Laughing, Tracker picks me up and tosses me over his shoulder.
“I am not a sack of potatoes!”  I protest pounding on his back.  “At least let me walk!”
“And let you run away?  I don’t think so my dear.”
“Please Tracker!  Don’t take me home!  My father, he’s gone mad!  Home is nothing like it used to be!”  I quit my pounding realizing that it would not help my situation.  And also because it was beginning to hurt my fists.  'Damn him!'
“And you are telling me this because??? Your father told me quite sanely that you ran away because you are getting married!”  Replied Tracker jovially.
“WHAT??  Where in God’s name...”
“Don’t use the Lord’s name in vain.”  Tracker interjected.
“OH!  Be quiet!”  I angrily reply.  'He’s always said that…'  “Where in the world did you hear that ridiculous idea?  Is that what my father is saying now?”  'More accurately, dear old Mum.'  Twisting around, I look up at Tracker’s face.  He stares down at me, flabbergasted.  
“You’re joking right?”  I ask.  “I mean it was a total joke.  Right?  Tracker?”
“No, it wasn’t.”  He answers quietly as places me on his horse, Dark.  “Apparently you are to become a blushing bride as soon as you return to the manor.”
“To whom?”  I ask curiously as he swings up onto Dark behind me.  
“I...” Tracker starts to answer me but a faint sound causes him to quit.
Pop-pop-pop.  “Um… what’s that?” The sound began to grow louder. POP-POP-POP-POP.  Oh that can’t be… “Oh my God, my Lord and Savior please let it not be…”
My group of horsemen had returned and they were galloping down the path with their guns firing straight at me.  
   “Holy Mother of God!  Tracker, MOVE!”  I screech.
Tracker digs his heels into Dark sides and we tear off through the trees. Branches scrape my arms and face as we plow through the woods.  
“So… those guys friends of yours, Windy?”  Tracker asks as he ducks to ignore a low branch.
“No.”  I replied disgusted.  “They’re soldiers that are after me to bring me back home to dear old mum and dad.  They really weren’t specific on whether or not they wanted me dead or alive.  So that’s why they are shooting.  They are hoping to kill me so they don’t have to drag me back home kicking and screaming.”  I smirk grimly and add sarcastically.  “Ah, I just love my parents so much!” I feel Tracker shake his head.   “What are you shaking your head for?  It’s the truth!”  'Like YOU know what has happened sense you left the manor… 'I think as I guard my face as we pass by another low tree limb.  
“No, not that. Those soldiers, they’re not from here, are they?”  Tracker turns Dark down another path.
“Yep!  They are dear old Mum’s!”  I answer with fake enthusiasm.
“ ‘Dear old Mum’s?’  Windy, your mother’s dead and gone, so what in the world are you blathering on about?”  Tracker’s voice sounded confused.
I laugh.  “Oh yes!  You don’t know dear old Mum!  She’s new and -”
“Well apparently, if I don’t know her.”  Tracker interjected.  He turned down another path.  I began to smell the fishiness of the Lake.  'The Lake? Why are we headed there?'
I continued on,” She’s a witch.  And she doesn’t like me.  End of story.”
“What are you…” The roaring of the falls drowns out the rest of Tracker’s words.  I twist around in the saddle and shrug. Pointing to my ear, I mouth, ‘I can’t hear you’ to him and smirk.  Tracker purses his lips at me and I turn back around.  I feel Tracker dig his heels into Dark’s sides and urge the horse straight toward the waterfall.  
“TRACKER WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”  I scream as he continues to urge Dark to gallop full speed towards the waterfall.  “THERE’S A WATERFALL THERE!”  I point and turn my head around.  'He’s smiling?  What in the world?'  
Tracker smiles and shouts back, “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”  And continues to gallop on toward the waterfall still.
I close my eyes as the mist begins to surround us and begin to pray.  'Oh, Mary, holy mother of God, please let me survive this.  If I do I’ll…'
“HOLD ON!”  Tracker shouts in my ear.  I automatically tighten my hold on the saddle horn and I feel him place his left arm around my middle and -.
Water.  Pounding water.  'Any moment now we will hit solid rock and die.'  I think.  Then I feel nothing.  All I hear is the roaring of the falls and dripping water.  'Huh?'  I open my eyes to see where we are.  Blackness is all around us.  Tracker swings down from Dark and pulls me down and sets me on a seat of some kind.  'Apparently he’s been here before…'  I hear a scratching and then a soft glow illuminates our surroundings.
“A cave?  We are in a CAVE?  Behind a waterfall?”  I ask as I look around the said cave, wringing out my drenched clothes.  
“Yep.  Home sweet home.”
“You live in a cave?”  I asked flabbergasted.  Riding through the waterfall had damaged my thinking process.
Tracker sighs, “Yes, I live in a cave for the time being.  Now here.”  He hands me a shirt and pants and pushes me toward the other end of the cave.  “Change.”
I take the shirt and pants and walk to the end of the cave. “So what’s the reason you really came to find me Tracker?”  The marriage arrangement bit was just to motivate Tracker to find me; I knew the real reason.  I shed my wet clothes and wrung them out more.  “I mean, what reason did Father give to tell you I “ran off”?”  I pulled the shirt over my head and jerked the pants into place and tied them into place.  'A little long but they’ll do…' I think as I bring my wet clothes back to the fire Tracker started.  
“That you ran off because you didn’t want to get married,” He answered. “But from your reaction earlier that wasn’t it… Was it?”
“Nope, the real reason was that I was to be killed, actually.” I stare into the red flames and shutter.  “Dear old Mum’s doesn’t like me.  I’m in the way of what she wants for herself.”  I state.  'That doesn’t even begin to describe dear old Mum...' And continued on with my story, “So I ‘supposedly’ plotted to assassinate my father.  I was supposed to be hung a couple days ago.  That’s why the horsemen were shooting.  They didn’t care if I died or not.  I’m going to die anyway…” I trail off and continued to watch the fire.
KR-PLUNK!  KR-PLUNK!  
   “What was that?”  I glace suspiciously at Tracker and then toward the entrance of the cave.     
Frowning, Tracker gets up and walks to the entrance and begins to laugh.  “The idiots jumped in.  I guess they thought you turned yourself into a fish.”  
I join in with his laughter and ask, “You suppose so?”
Tracker shrugs.  “Your guess is as good as mine.  I suppose since a witch is after you they assumed you have some power.”
“And we know were assuming can get us,” I added. “But shape shifting isn’t my specialty.  I like plants, remember?”  
“Yes, I do. Because if I remember right you tried several different potions and salves on me.  I still have nightmares.  But you did come up with some brilliant stuff later on after several… mishaps.”  I grinned at the memory and then it faded as I remembered something.
“Poison.” I stated.
“What? Where did that come from?” Tracker asked confused as he came around the fire to sit next to me.
“Poison.  It is what I was going to use to “assassinate” my Father,” I stated glumly.  “Mum had supposedly found it in my greenhouse or workshop.  I don’t remember.  All I knew that in the next second I was hauled off to the dungeons sentenced to death.”
“Oh.”  
“Yeah, ‘Oh.’ is right.  Now everyone thinks I tried to kill my father.”
“Oh, no they don’t.” Tracker replied forcefully.
“What?”  It was my turn to be confused.
“It makes sense now that you’ve just told me that.  You have supporters.  They told me not to believe whatever the she said.  At the time I thought they meant you, but they mean her, don’t they?”
“Yes.” I answered.
“But… I only talked to your Father.  Not her. I didn’t even… O God...” Tracker’s eyes widened and he stared at me.  “She’s using him as a puppet. Isn’t she?”
The tears began to fall as I nodded and I began to sob.  “It’s been getting worse lately.  I was trying to find something to counter it but…”  Tracker hugged me as I couldn’t continue on.  'It feels so good to talk to someone about this… but what if…' That "what if" stopped my crying and I jerked myself out of Tracker’s hold and I edged away from him.
“Windy, what’s wrong?”  Tracker asks  
“How do I know you’re not one of her puppets?” I demand standing up.  “How do I know that you won’t drag me out of here as soon as I fall asleep and take me to her so she can kill me or even turn me into one of her puppets?”  
Tracker looked shocked at my outburst and then calmly answered, “Ask me any question. About you.  Before she came.  She can’t answer what she doesn’t know right?”
I stared at him and then collapsed down next to him.  'That’s right!  She can’t answer anything that she doesn’t know!  Then that means it’s really him! It was a secret between me and him for me to test my experiments on him.  We never told anyone!'  I turned toward Tracker and stared at him.  He looked calmly back at me.  Then I asked, “What was the very first thing that I made you?”
Tracker smiled and answered, “A potion.” Then he grimaced. “It was absolutely the most disgusting thing you EVER made.  I couldn’t taste anything for weeks.” He eyed me.  “You have improved, I hope.”
And with that I knew it was him.  I smiled and hugged him.  Tracker paused before he hugged back.
“So, does this mean that your not taking me back to her?” I ask hopefully pulling away.
“Yes,” He answered smiling.
“Is this where we’re going to hide from her?”  I’m hoping again that it wasn’t.
“No, I have a different place where you can hide.”
“Really?”  
“Yes.  I’ll take you to my real home.  You’ll be safe until you can find something you can use to defeat your dear old mum so you can get your father back.”       
There is a slight pause and I begin to twirl my thumbs and change the subject.  “So, is there another way out?”
“Out of where?”  
“Here.  This cave.”  'DUH!'  I roll my eyes at him.
“Uh-huh.”  He pushes a log into the fire and points to the back of the cave where I changed earlier.  “Right back there, on your left.  We’ll head out in the morning.”
“Okay.  So where does your family live again?”  I ask standing.  
“South.”   
“Wow, warmth.”  I stick my hands out to the fire and my hands begin to tingle. I notice that my hair is almost dry and try to comb through with my fingers.  It doesn’t work.
Tracker laughs at my attempt and answers, “Yep, pretty much.  The horsemen can’t follow because it’s across the border.”
“That’s good.”  Then my stomach speaks up.  Loudly. I look over at Tracker and ask sheepishly, “Do you have any food?”
Tracker laughs again.  “You’re always hungry!”
“Hey it’s not my fault the only thing they gave me in the dungeon was water and bread!  I haven’t eaten in a couple of days!  I’ve been running from soldiers!”
“Okay, okay.  I’ll get you some food.”  He stands up and walks over to a box next to the wall. While he is over there, he pulls out a sack and tosses it toward me.  “Eat.  It’s bread.”
“Bread?  You gave me bread?”  'More bread?'  Breaking off a chunk off the loaf, I take a bite and swallow.  “Hey, it’s soft!” I exclaim.  I finish off the loaf in a few minutes.  My eyes begin to droop.  I lay down next to the fire, far enough away so I will stay warm but not catch fire.  “Goodnight, Tracker.”  I say as I settle down on the rock floor.
“Goodnight, Windy.”
I close my eyes and beginning to drop off when I feel a blanket dropped over me.  There is also something slid underneath my head.  
“Sweet dreams.”  I hear Tracker whisper as he walks away.  
“You too.”  I whisper back as I fall to sleep.