9

They had already spent half of the previous night searching every place from the village up to this hill, but without any luck. Now, however, they decided to check the nearby hills. If they could find any signs that her family were there, then they could at least start looking further away from where they were. They were going to the same hill as before. This time, they weren't alone. There were two horses tied to a tree, with packs strapped onto their backs. When they had arrived at the other side of the mountain a few weeks ago, they had left their horses outside the trees. Since that day, the two of them had always brought theirs with them wherever they went. At first, they were planning to return them to their owners as soon as possible, but that plan quickly died away since it wasn't the right time to bring them along. Their owner wouldn't like it and neither would they, so they left them behind, along with the horses as well as their gear.

"We better start heading towards that direction," he spoke after a moment, pulling his horse's reins. They both moved forward, each of them leading their steeds and keeping them hidden under bushes and rocks as much as they could. Even though none of them had seen any knights patrolling the area recently, they weren't exactly confident that they'd be safe.

The trip to the top of the hill had been quiet, neither of them wanting to make conversation. There were several times where they were about to say something to each other, but each time their lips remained shut tight and refused to speak. It wasn't until the second time, when she heard the sound of hoof steps approaching from behind, when she couldn't stand the tension anymore.

"Did your people find us?" she asked quietly as she glanced towards him, waiting to hear what he would say.

He nodded. She wondered how long the patrols stayed in place, if they even stopped for a minute or two sometimes just for a breath of fresh air, or if they just stayed on duty for eternity.

"Then we can continue moving," she stated. Her voice was still shaky. It was clear she didn't want to be anywhere near them. She didn't understand what he had done to make them think that he was bad. That they should stay away from him as much as possible. Of course, she never said that out loud - they were still in the middle of a forest after all, and there wasn't really any danger lurking around. But her actions were clearly written all over her face, and his eyes narrowed as he glared at her. 'Of course, she knew it was wrong.' He sighed. He didn't have any idea how she managed to hide that she hated him.

"