December 21, 1052
Ewoun hul unlvokos!
Eric came!!
It was early yesterday afternoon, and I was still praying to Ewoun, because I was more used to it, although I was going to start praying to the Crarinian gods, when I heard sounds of a scuffle. I tried to look through the bars on the top of the door, but I couldn't see anything. Then it was quiet.
"Tell me where Queen Linda is kept, or I'll kill you." I was positive that Eric was the one talking.
"Never. I am under orders from King Ferdinand."
"Are you sure? I can make your death more painful than I was planning to."
I was so positive that it was Eric, I said as loudly as I dared, "I'm right here!"
"Linda! Is that her?" Eric asked the guard.
"Yes, but if you are going to get her out, I don't want to face the consequences. Ferdinand will be angry with me. Will you kill me?"
"Very well," Eric said, and I heard the man fall to the floor, presumably from being stabbed. Then I heard footsteps running to my cell, and Eric looked through the bars. His eyes looked like large bowls of water.
"Linda, are you all right? Are the children alright?"
"Yes. Oh, Eric, I have been praying to Ewoun that I would be rescued... Are you going to let me out or not?"
Eric looked at me affectionately as if I was crazy, as he unlocked the door and opened it. I kissed him and said, "Thank you for coming."
"Linda, now that I killed him, I have to rescue you now, unless you want to leave tonight and make it much harder because there will be ten guards here. Of course, it would be easier-"
"What do you think I've been doing here?! Ferdinand has been practically attacking me and asking me to leave you, and you think I can wait to leave? We need to leave this second! Just help me bundle up the children and we can get out of this horrible place."
"I'm sorry," he said back as he picked up Lillian. She looked at him and said, "Papa?"
"Yes, Lillian. It's me. Now we have to leave this place and be outside for a long time. It's very cold outside so we need to have extra clothes on. Wrap yourself in a blanket and whatever else you have," he replied, hugging her happily.
We wrapped up the children as much as possible, and I held them both as I followed Eric out of the cell to the dim passageway. I gave my diary to Eric, which he put into his belt. We met several guards, but Eric managed to either kill or disable them all, but one began to shout, so we had to start running. I could hear different guards yelling and shouting, all the same, "They're getting away!"
We got outside and headed for the woods, nearly half a mile away. We ran by the road leading to the fort and I saw what I dreaded most; Ferdinand's carriage. I glanced at it, and I saw his incredulous face looking out, and I saw him yell at the driver. I couldn't hear anything, I was so shocked. Eric stopped running too, and when I looked at him, his face was a mixture of pain, regret, anger, and a need for revenge. I knew we had to keep going. I grabbed Eric's shoulders and faced him.
"Eric, I know that I would like to see him dead as much as you, but we can't stay long enough to kill him. We have to keep going. Please, Eric, I don't want you killed because of this. If you get killed and Ferdinand survives, I will have to marry him, and there is nothing I want to avoid more. We have to run, Eric," I pleaded, as Ferdinand's coach stopped and he opened the door to jump out. He had a sword in his hand. He was yelling in the direction of the fort and the pursuing guards and soldiers. They stopped chasing us, but we were running again. Ferdinand had cut a horse from his carriage and jumped on it with surprising agility. He was chasing us, forcing his horse faster and faster, and we had to keep running. Eric was holding Lillian then so I could run faster, and he spoke quietly.
"Take the children to the woods. Whatever happens, keep running. I arranged for some help 400 feet in, so you will be taken into a safe place and you won't be captured again. Tell them, if I haven't caught up, that I need some help, but don't go back for me yourself." He handed Lillian back to me and started just walking, while telling me to keep running. "Run, Linda!" he called, getting farther and farther away. I looked back once in a while, and saw Ferdinand gaining on Eric, but he didn't slow down to fight with Eric. He went past Eric, and I realized that he was trying to get me/i>.
I started to panic, and I ran faster, without looking back. I heard the horse snorting as it ran and I tried to run away from it. I saw the horse next to me and I saw Ferdinand reaching down to grab me. I ducked so he couldn't reach me, so he had to slow his horse and turn around. It gave Eric enough time to get closer to me. Ferdinand started towards me again, but when he saw the two of us together, he slowed down again. Until then, it had been a silent chase, except for Ferdinand swearing when I ducked.
"So, the two lovers are together, with their children, too," he sneered. "If I kill you all, the Cranora family will be finished, and I can have an empire larger than Boncoru. How romantic. But I don't want to kill you all, of course. You know who I want, Eric. You can always be the one to abandon her, because she won't leave you."
"I will not leave her. She doesn't deserve you, anyways," Eric replied bravely.
"Well, it appears we have reached an impasse. Two men want the same beautiful woman, and neither will back down. She wants you, but she already has given you two children, or at least I hope they are yours. Are they his, Linda?"
I said condescendingly, "Yes. I have already told you that he and I both know that the other is faithful because of a certain occurrence," then I said to Eric, "Do you remember what happened right before our wedding, when one of my family members...?"
"Yes, I remember," Eric said to me, and then he said to Ferdinand, "I think that you are a fool to think that simply because I have an heir, I will give up Linda.
"But if you and I are not going to give up, I suggest a duel. That is what all great men do, is it not? I know that in Fasoria, it is tradition for two men to duel in show for a woman. In Crarina, many hundreds of years ago, my ancestor, King Andre, dueled for his queen. My point being, a duel would be quite fitting for this situation. Do you agree with me?"
"It may be the second thing that we agree upon. The first being of course our adoration for Linda. Let us duel. Linda may hold the horse and declare it finished when one of us in dead," Ferdinand said gleefully. He dismounted and led the horse partway to me. I had an idea, and I could tell that Eric had the same idea, so I looked at him, asking with my eyes. He nodded and I slowly ventured towards the horse, which Ferdinand was standing away from. Then Eric drew a line in the snow and stepped ten paces back from it. Ferdinand stepped ten paces opposite, and I said dutifully and halfheartedly, "The duel has begun."
They rushed towards each other and met at the line. Their swords clashed together and made sparks that flew into the snow. The horse became nervous, so I knew I would have an easy time of getting it to leave the area as soon as I got on. I used the lines and straps of the harness to tie Napoleon and Lillian securely to the horse as I watched my two suitors battle. Eric, being much younger and used to fighting than Ferdinand seemed to be winning, but Ferdinand was clearly more experienced, so they were equally matched. At one point, Eric forced Ferdinand to the ground, and prepared to end it all, and it really would have been the end of the war and everything, but Ferdinand rolled out from under the blade, and got up faster than I thought possible. Later, Ferdinand nearly sliced Eric's arm off, but only scratched it and Eric managed to bruise Ferdinand badly in the leg. I saw both of them starting to tire, so I decided that the next time Ferdinand had his back turned to me, I would mount the horse and run away. Eric was expecting that Ferdinand would be so shocked, he would pause and Eric could kill him then.
Ferdinand's back was to me, so I climbed onto the horse and rode it some way away. I knew that I was now safe from him, so I stayed nearby. Ferdinand saw me far away the next time he turned in my direction, and he stopped fighting for a short time. Eric stopped, too, although he had planned to kill Ferdinand then. I rode towards them as fast as I dared, and slowed down long enough for Eric to jump on. Eric tried to cut off Ferdinand's head from atop the horse, but his sword was angled incorrectly, so he hit Ferdinand's head and neck with the flat of his blade rather than the edge, knocking him to the ground. Eric swore in annoyance with himself.
"I'm sorry, Linda, I was going to kill him."
"I would rather both of you alive than both dead. Look, Eric!"
I could see a large amount of soldiers on horses gaining on us fast, so I goaded the horse on.
"I don't think our help can manage that many horsemen. Go left and then we have to hide somewhere else... Why are you the one controlling the horse?"
I laughed a little. "Do you want to switch places, or shall we stay away from the Fasorians?"
"We can keep going,� Eric said, hugging me. "Are you alright? You were more talkative last time you were rescued."
"...Yes. Eric, never give me a present that is green. I can't stand to see the color green anymore. Not after so long in that room. I was so lonely there, and sad because I thought no one would come until spring. This winter seems so much colder than usual," I said.
"You with your Rospian upbringing think this is cold?" Eric laughed. "You've been here a long time. I'll admit, this is the coldest winter in memory. I've been talking to those older than me, and they agree. But I would do anything to get you back and away from Ferdinand. As soon as we learned that you were being held here, I decided to get you out. I didn't want you to be alone anymore. And you said you were lonely... in what way?"
"Every way. The children weren't enough in that place. I need more to get through that. Eric, never leave me again."
"You know I won't." Eric kissed me and I felt better.
I guided the galloping horse for a long time and finally we slowed down to a walk. Eric told me where to go and finally we entered the dark and barren forest. It made me unusually nervous, I'm not sure why. We kept going for a long time, it felt like hours. The sun started to set in the west, to our back, and we had to decide whether to keep going.
"I know a farmer who will take us in, but he is fifteen miles away, and it is going to be cold tonight," Eric said, "We can set up a camp and we can keep warm until morning, but we have to start now. Do you want to keep going?�
I though for a long time. I didn't think that the children could keep going in the cold, but a night outside wasn't very appealing either.
"We shall continue. Do you have a lantern?" I queried hopefully.
"I'm afraid not. I didn't bring anything besides a sword and whatever weapons I would need. I didn't think that I would be tramping around in the woods at night. I'm sorry," he replied regretfully. Then he joked, "Your hair can guide us with its beauty."
I laughed a little, but it was hard to laugh when we were facing a situation in which we could get killed from the cold. We were quiet again for a long time, and we had our separate thoughts. I was thinking about the children. I didn't want them to be hurt from the cold. The two of them were securely tied with the straps of the harness, and they were wrapped only in their thin clothes and blankets. They didn't even have shoes, just blankets tightly wrapped around them. I was wondering then how Napoleon would react to Eric. He doesn't know Eric. He might never really be close with him, as he should be. Eric broke my thoughts with questions.
"How are the children, really? Are they all right? Did they ever get sick? They seem so quiet." He took Napoleon into his arms and hugged him lovingly.
"I don't really know. Lillian had a cold, but she got better. They were never hurt, but they are very quiet and they don't smile as much as they should, I think. Napoleon has smiled two or three times..." I told Eric how Napoleon smiled when Ferdinand left, and he laughed.
"I wish I had been there," Eric said wistfully, still hugging Napoleon. "It's a pity that I've missed the first few months of both of their lives."
I started crying a little, and Eric said gently, "Maybe I should guide the horse." I decided that I didn't want to have to hold the reins anymore, so I agreed. Eric moved to just behind the horse's shoulders, and I sat close behind them, holding Napoleon because I didn't want him to be too cold. Eric guided the horse through the pitch dark woods. Then suddenly he stopped.
"Did you hear that?"
"Yes." It was a sound like the crunching of snow under many feet. It sounded like horses and men walking in the snow.
"Could it be Fasorians?"
Eric nodded and he urged the horse to move faster. We heard some voices then, and one was very loud, saying, "It's probably them, you fools! Get them!"
Eric forced the horse to gallop as fast as possible, so they sped up to match. I was glad that we were so far ahead, for it was so dark that it was hard to navigate through the woods and Eric had to slow down to swerve out of the path of a tree several times.
"Eric, we can't keep this up. What if we stop and run on foot? We could hide," I whispered so that the Fasorians would not hear me.
"They would see our tracks. The horse would go faster if one or two of us got off. Maybe we can trick them. I've got an idea." Eric stopped the horse suddenly close to a tree. "Now get off and walk two steps quickly, and put Napoleon in the snow, then pick him up. Walk back to the horse, and make it look like you got back on. Now climb the tree if you can. I'll help you," he directed. I did so, although I was afraid Napoleon would be frozen. I got to the first few branches in the tree and stayed there.
"Eric, what should I do if they come here and look around?" I asked.
"Just let them search and see the message we left them. Napoleon fell off. Now, I have to leave. Don't let them see you!" he said, and rode off with one hand on Lillian.
I climbed higher up the tree and waited. All that time we could hear the horsemen coming closer and I was afraid they would see me, although I was at least twelve feet above the ground. I was thankful that I had inherited my father's legendary bravery, especially for heights. Most Rospians seem to have a fear of heights, but not my father, and not me. The horses tore past me and the tree, and I sighed in relief. Then I heard more footsteps, of the men not on horses. I climbed higher up so that they wouldn't see me if they chanced to look up. I felt snowy branches brushing against my back and I prayed to Ewoun not to let the snow fall and be seen by the soldiers. If they saw snow falling from the tree, they would probably know that I was there. They reached the tree and saw the tracks in the ground.
vIt looks like the littlest one fell and the Queen got it. It looks like she just got back on the horse and they went off. Let's go," the one in command said.
"Wait," said another, and I froze. "The tracks here look like the horse backed up to be against this tree here. What do you think?"
A third man looked at the ground and said, "The horse was probably skittish. That was the best horse to ever pull His Highness' carriage, a very timid horse, but willing to please. Now let's keep going."
"Yes, I want to be there when the King is killed. It will be exciting," a fourth man agreed.
"If we hurry, we can take part. And the Queen will then be free for other things," the second man said gleefully.
"Are you crazy?" the leader said, "She would tell King Ferdinand and he would have our heads. That woman is crazy as well as beautiful. She should simply spare her country all this and let us go home. If not, King Ferdinand should just give up. Even if she is extremely... comely, a woman that devoted to another would never make a good wife."
The other men laughed as they ran off and discussed my beauty and what they would like to do with me.
"Idiots," I said to myself when they left. I decided to stay in the tree for sometime so that if they came back, they wouldn't see my tracks in the snow. I rocked Napoleon back and forth, trying to keep him warm. I hoped he wouldn't be frozen by the time we got to shelter. After some time, I realized that I had no way to move around safely, and I didn't know where to go. I wished for someone to come and save me, but that wish didn't come true.
After half an hour in the tree, I slowly made my way to the ground and I decided to follow the tracks of the Fasorians and Eric. I carefully stepped only in the footprints of the men walking, and I walked for almost a mile. Napoleon was quiet during that time, which worried me because he might be freezing and I wouldn't know. I kept walking and finally I came to a spot where the footprints were mixed and there was blood in the snow. I looked around and tried to find some proof of Eric or a Fasorian being killed. I couldn't find anything to suggest who had been killed or hurt until I looked behind a tree. There was a small pile of three Fasorians, all killed with a sword. There was a small stone set in the ground near them, and I knew that Eric had killed three men, but then he had to run away. I prayed for Lillian and Eric, and also for the dead men, even if I hated them. I took some of their clothing and wrapped Napoleon in it, making sure to remove the Fasorian coat-of-arms. Then I started running and I followed the hoof and footprints. I saw blood on either side of the trail, in evenly spaced drops. I knew that several men were bleeding, and I hoped it wasn't Eric, although he had already been hurt by Ferdinand earlier. I ran as fast as I could, and then I came to another clearing.
There had been a fight there as well, and I saw a dead horse, fortunately not our horse, and one man, another Fasorian. Then I tried to remember how many there had been. Four men on foot and five on horseback. Now there was still five on horseback; five against one. I hurried ahead and saw that now there was only one man bleeding, and it was a horrible cut on the left. I hurried, knowing that it was probably Eric. Eric always seems to get injured when fighting, but he is the one who ignores it and keeps going.
I hurried, making myself go faster and faster so that I nearly tripped over my own feet several times. I thought I could hear something ahead, so I slowed to a fast walk. I finally came to a third clearing, where there were two men with broken legs and also a horse that they were trying to get on.
"It's Queen Linda!" they said. "Please, help us, we'll do anything you say!" they pleaded.
"I will not help you beyond getting a fire started for you. Then I will be taking your horse. Where's the other horse?" I asked politely. I knew that they didn't need to die.
"Dead, over there," they pointed as I put some wood in a pile and used the flint they willingly gave to me. After there was a fire burning, I mounted the horse and urged it forward to wherever Eric and the soldiers had gone. I soon reached the edge of the woods. There was a large opening, probably a beautiful meadow in other times of the year, seemingly owned by no one. I looked around and tried to see where Eric was, but I only saw the barren, snow-covered ground in the moonlight.
Then, from behind a hill, I saw four horsemen. One was Eric, he was bleeding heavily, nevertheless he was swinging his sword around, trying to hit the men on horseback. It was hard to see how badly he was hurt in the darkness, but there was enough moonlight to identify him. He urged the horse to the right and stabbed the man while suddenly pulling away from him. The Fasorian fell off his horse and lay on the ground for a while, then he started crawling to the edge of the woods for shelter. The snow was flying under the feet of the horse as they fought for good ground for fighting. Eric continued to battle the two other men with his sword and he seemed to not to be winning or losing. He drew blood from the horses, but they faithfully kept going as their riders commanded. Finally Eric managed to slash at one rider and he fell off his horse and lay on the ground, stunned or dead, I couldn't tell. Then the two riders faced each other. Eric was clearly in much pain, but he held his head up bravely. He had been bruised and cut up during the ride, but he seemed to ignore it. The other rider had kept away from Eric mostly, he had good armor, wasn't injured, and his horse was in good shape. Both of them needed to win to get me, one to bring me to his king, the other to protect me and love me.
During this time, I had almost forgotten Lillian in my fear that Napoleon would freeze or Eric would be killed. Then I saw her on Eric's horse, tied flat so that she wouldn't be hurt and with a lot of layers to protect her from the cold or a sword. I noticed then that there were a lot of dark patches in the snow, and I realized that it was blood. Then I was really afraid. I hadn't thought it was that bad. Finally, Eric and the Fasorian horseman started towards each other. All of the sudden, Eric pulled up so that he was facing the same direction as the Fasorian, and then he shoved the sword into the horse's side. I watched in horror as the horse toppled down into Eric's horse, and Eric was almost thrown off. Lillian cried out and Eric turned around in the saddle to protect her. His mount fell to the ground and Eric got out from under the horse's side to fight the Fasorian. He battled briefly, and fortune smiled upon us by letting him finish the battle quickly. As soon as the Fasorian fell into the snow, I dismounted and ran to Eric, shouting so he would see me.
"Eric, I'm here! I saw it all, Eric, are you alright? Is Lillian still alive?"
Eric hugged me when I reached him and he untied Lillian, who had been crying. He gave her to me and said, "She's fine, just a little shaken. She might not like horses when she is older."
"Eric, you look terrible! We can't keep going if you're going to bleed to death!" I told him. I did the best I could to bandage his arms, side, and his head. I helped him back onto his horse, which had gotten up by itself and seemed to be fine. I chose the best looking of the other horses which had stayed in the field, and mounted it with the children. We rode off in the direction we had been trying to go all of that time, to the farmer who would help us.
My, I've written more than I imagined possible. My left hand is aching. I wish I could write with my right hand like most people.