Chapter 18: Cat and Mouse (1)
The carriage hastily continued on its way long into the night. They didn't stop for one full day in hopes of putting as much distance as possible between them and the capital. The further away they were the safer they would be.
When the horses were unable to continue, they stopped off to the side of the road in a clearing to rest. The five men divided the labor amongst themselves. One unloaded the supplies and set up their camp, another went to gather firewood kindling, and the others went to hunt. Since they had left in a hurry, they had traveled lightly bringing only the bare minimum. They had sparse rations and only a few blankets.
A-Narah was barely better off. There was non tent for her to sleep in, but luckily the carriage was soft seats and would be more comfortable than sleeping on the hard ground.
A-Narah descended from the carriage. She watched the men go about their designated duties. She stood off to the side as they moved around, but none of the guards spoke to her, they would just walk past and ignore her. They didn't even look her way.
Feeling slighted she wanted to speak up and ask the questions she had been holding back, but they all looked so busy. She still felt nervous around them and ultimately didn't want to disturb them. Who knew what might happen if she accidently made them angry?
When one of the guards seemed to be taking a short break, she approached him, but stayed at a bit of a distance.
His back was facing her when she asked, "Excuse me, what should I be doing?"
After A-Narah spoke the man froze mid step, his left foot hanging in the air. All the mussels in his body tightened and he didn't dare to move at all.
"I asked you a question." A-Narah frowned at this odd display. This was going too far. She was the daughter of their master, and therefore a master of theirs' too. They shouldn't ever ignore her and they should answer any questions she asked.
The innocent guard, though, was terrified. Noble women and unrelated men should never interact. If it was found out that he spoke, looked, or touched A-Narah it would at best mean a slight punishment and at worst death. It was safest to pretend like she didn't exist at all.
So instead of answering her, he took a route which would not risk his life, he fled.
A-Narah watched incredulously as the guard ran away from her.
All of them were avoiding her. The only time they ever interacted with her at all was in situations that would affect their mission of protecting her. She also didn't prefer to socialize with them, but she didn't want to be left in the dark either. Also, this would be a long journey and she didn't want to spend the entire time keeping companying with just herself.
Throughout the rest of the day A-Narah tried to speak to the various guards as they came around, but as soon as they saw her coming, they ran. This cycle continued all the way to when the sun was lowering behind the trees and the air began to cool.
Tired, she decided to give up for the time being and try again tomorrow. So, without making any more trouble for the guards, she ate her dinner and went to sleep in the carriage.
*
The next morning, A-Narah woke filled with motivation to try again.
She had thought long into the night and had decided to make it her goal to get these men to recognize her. When she thought about it, she realized that she was no longer one of the most prized daughters in the kingdom, but now just a normal person. Even if it was hard for her to except her new identity, she had to change her way of thinking. Her new life would be different now and follow different rules. These men were now the closest people to her, and her life depended upon them. She now felt that the most important thing she could do to survive was to get these men to freely talk to her and except her.
So, to make it easier on herself she would make them her extended family. She would think of them like brothers. With this thought in mind, approaching the guards became a lot easier.
The problem was that the guards still wanted A-Narah to stay far away. They felt harassed every time she came up while they were cooking, or when they were loading and unloading the carriage, and when they stood guard. They were afraid that next she might pop up out of the bushes while they were relieving their personal matters. Such a thought stuck terror into their hearts. But they were too frightened of the consequences to even tell her to stop trying to cling to them. They saw avoidance as their solution, so any time they saw her approach and about to speak they escaped. They really wanted to cry. Why was this little girl making their lives so difficult?
After a few days of this torment the guards got together late one night to speak.
"How do we make this stop? It needs to stop," one guard whispered.
"I agree. The girl almost followed me into the river when I went to bathe. Luckily, I saw her in time and was able to hide under the water. I almost drowned."
"One of us needs to talk to her."
"But who?"
Silence. They all avoided each other's eyes. None of them wanted to be the one to volunteer.
"Let's do something fair to decide then," one of them finally said.
"Yes, let's draw lots."
"That sounds good."
"I agree."
The men were so intent on picking the sticks that they had failed to realize that someone had snuck up on them.
"Excuse me, what are you doing?"
All the men jumped and one even let out a shrill, high-pitched shriek. Standing behind them was a peeping, big-eyed A-Narah.
"Are those sticks? Are you perchance… Playing a game?"
The guard holding the sticks shoved them behind his back and tried to discreetly get rid of them by dropping them on the ground.
None of this escaped A-Narah's notice. But instead of being angry, she found it rather funny. She had realized that these big grown men were scared of her. In her eyes, these were skilled warriors who won't hesitate to kill or blink in the face of death, but were now somehow scared of the unthreatening her. It was… cute. A-Narah smiled and her eyes narrowed.
She took a step forward, and they all took one step back. She stepped forward again, and again they took one step backwards, maintaining the same distance. A-Narah's smile grew, her dimple showing, making her look even cuter and less harmful.
At the beginning they had all terrified her, but now looking at the men who were protecting her warmed her heart. At that moment she decided that these guards would be more than just her servants. They would be her people. People who she would protect in turn.
Finding this fun, she wanted to play with them some more. It was like a kitten playing with a mouse.
"So, are you all going to keep pretending that I don't exist? That you are only guarding precious air?"
Still none spoke, but at least all of them were now looking at her.
"You know if this continues it will make me very unhappy. If my father were to hear that you made my journey difficult, I wonder what would happen."
When the men heard this, their eyes widened and their fear grew. This was one frightening threat. A-Narah thought that they were still going to ignore her so she was prepared to continue, but before she could speak again one of the guards broke.
"Please my Lady. Don't make this harder on us. We promise to make you as comfortable as allowed while traveling," the guard begged.
"Oh, so you can speak."
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