The Queen & Her Knight

Chapter 18

You sit in the dark and all your energy has escaped you but your hands are still firmly busy trying to get you out of the ropes that have been clinging so tightly around your wrists. You're moving them up and down and left and right, trying to loosen them. Every so often you fall asleep and then wakes up again, continuing with what you're trying to accomplish. You're not known to give up, as a matter of fact, people don't want to play any games with you, because they know that you'll give it your all just to win and see it through.

Then a glimmer of hope shoots into your core and as you feel one of the ropes loosening. You put all the energy that you have left into that one piece of hope and wiggle it even more, to become completely loose. You hear the heavy rope falling from your wrist and you know now that it's only a matter of time before the others fall off too. You start to shake your chair to get more movement on your now bloody wrists.

Finally, you have a breakthrough and your hands are loose. You don't think of looking around just focusing on loosening your feet on the chair. You make quick work of it and then start to run pulling off the blindfold. Your eyes need some time to adjust to the dark and light but you feel all around the walls of a window or door you can escape to. You almost run into what looks like a workbench of some sort and then the light on the ground from the small opening underneath the door attracts your attention.

You run as fast as you can to the door and tries to open it. It's locked securely and you fall on the floor in hopelessness. You start to cry uncontrollably when you see something through your tears. It's something that looks like a wrench but on a larger scale. You jump up and grab the wrench and pull it through the handle of the door. You put your foot on the door and pull for all you're worth.

Suddenly the handle falls on the floor and so do you but you jump up immediately and get your focus back on the door. You inspect the door and see that lock has been broken. You look for another tool and jam it in the door to open it. Finally, you hear a "click" sound and the door opens.

You feel the joy and even laughter the fills you and run out the door. What you see, shocks you. All you see is fields for miles and miles. He wasn't joking when he said that no one would hear you scream. You look around what looks like some old factory and all you see are fields of corn. You don't know which way to run but you feel you need to run as far away from this factory as possible.

Then you see a road far in the distance and you decide to run towards the road, maybe you could find help on the road. You run as fast as your legs can carry you but the road isn't getting any closer. You feel your adrenaline leaving you and there's nothing left to make you carry on. You fall in the middle of the field and all that's left to do is crying.

It's almost pitch dark and it feels like all you've been doing today was crying. You can't believe that your body still has tears left. You look at your wrists as it draws your attention by the burning sensation that radiates from it. The blood has become sticky and some of the corn's leaves started to stuck to it. You can't help the feeling of helplessness to once more reside within you. Then a thought pops into your mind.

(James…I need to be with James…)

It's like he's given you the will to carry on. It's like the thought alone makes you want to get up and just walk closer to the road. You think of the moments that you've shared together and how he must be looking for you and even worry about you. You start to move even faster with the thoughts of him filling your mind.

"I'm coming, James, I'm coming"

You hear the sound of your own voice and it hoarse as you haven't had water for almost ten hours. You almost break down and cry again but then you pull yourself together again and try to make it closer to the road. You don't even know if you're going in the right direction but you just keep on going forward.

You've been walking for almost forty-five minutes and you finally see a glimpse of the road ahead. Then you see a carriage in the distance riding on the road. You want to run out and stop them and ask for help but you stop yourself.

(What if he's the one took me captive in the first place? What if he just takes me back from where I'm coming from? I can't go back, I won't go back!)

You see a stick laying on the ground. It has a sharp edge, sharp enough to hurt someone for long enough so you can run away again. You take the stick put in the back of your belt around your waist. Thank God for all the accessories that a woman needs to dress up. You run onto the road and wave your hands in the air like a crazy woman but etiquette is very far from your mind right now.

The driver of the carriage maneuvers it to pass you. You know why they pass you. People don't want to get involved with other people's problems. But then something amazing happens. The driver turns around and stops right next to you. You can't believe the miracle that just happened. Then the door opens and Lord Walton gets out of the carriage.

"Lord Walton! Thank God!"

He runs toward you and you fall into his arms.

"Lady Winters?!"