We’d woken early and done more searching but we came up with nothing. I sighed and stuck my sword in the ground as I sat down for lunch.
“Sire?” Sir Dawson spoke up.
“Yes?” I asked, rubbing my face.
“I was wondering…What if we got back to camp and picked up some more men? They’d help us find him faster.” He said. I was unsure, a betrayal is just what we needed right now…
“I don’t kno-“
“Sir Gonthad is an excellent tracker.” He said.
“He hates Jack and he’s not too fond of Balthazar either.” I said.
“He’s probably more scared of you though.” Dawson shrugged. I thought about my options for a moment and decided that he was right. We’d been searching for three days and came up with nothing. Maybe we did need more hands.
“Alright. We’ll place markers on the way back so that we don’t lose our spot. Let’s go.” I ordered before jumping onto my horse and riding back.

---

It took us a few hours to get back to camp and once we arrived, a bunch of servants and knights rushed up to us asking if we were alright.
“Yes, yes we’re fine. I request an audience with King Lance.” I said to one of the knights who nodded and ran off to inform his king. A few minutes later, the king himself meeted me and lead me to his tent.
“What do you need?” He asked.
“With your permission, I want to take Sir Gonthad with me to help track my servant Jack and my knight Sir Balthazar.” I replied, praying he’d say yes. He looked at me with an expression of confusion and he braced his hands on the back of his chair.
“I can see why you would be concerned for your knight, but why are you so concerned for this mere servant?” He asked.
“He knows sensitive information and also…He’s my friend.” I answered. The whole ‘friend’ thing was probably a little sketchy since he hates me now, and I didn’t blame him.
“Why were you so kind to him in the first place?” He asked, not as if he was surprised someone of my stature would be, more like he was genuinely intrigued.
“A man is judged on how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.” I replied.
“Well said. My men are at your disposal.” He grinned as if the whole thing was a test.
“Thank you your majesty.” I said before rushing out of his tent and giving orders to my knights to round everyone up. Most of them where fine with helping but as expected, Sir Gonthad wasn’t too keen on the idea.
“Gonthad, you get on that horse and find my men or I will cut off your tongue, strap it to your forehead, and you will be forced to wear it for the rest of the day.” I threatened, not bluffing one bit.
“My king would never allow that.” He replied confidently.
“Take a look at me. What makes you think I give a damn about what your king would allow?” I asked, glaring up at him. He was a few inches taller than me, but he still took one look and knew I was serious. He glared at me and got on his horse as I’d previously ordered.
“Alright let’s go!” I cried, jumping onto mine and leading everyone back to our stop down in the woods. I followed the trail of fabric and we arrived to our makeshift camp by mid day.
“Okay everyone fan out. There will be no not finding him.” I said, not realizing that I’d said ‘him’, not ‘them. I went forward through the bracken and searched for any trace go them. A low rumble in the sky made my stomach drop. Thunder. Thunder meant rain. And rain will wash away any evidence of Jack.
“Please no.” I whispered to the sky as it rumbled again, this time louder.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck

I searched more frantically, trying to find any trace what so ever. Then I felt a drop on my nose.
No don’t rain. Please don’t rain.
“SIRE!” I heard a man’s voice call through the woods. I urged my horse into a gallop in the direction of the voice, the drops getting more frequent.
“Yes?” I said breathless.
“Look.” Sir Gonthad pointed at the ground. It took me a moment to see it, but then I recognized a few sets of footprints and another indentation in the dirt that showed they’d been dragging something…Or someone… But wait. If Jack and Balthazar where both together, then why are there only signs of one person being dragged? I assumed it was just because the other men had the other at blade point or something.
I brought my fingers to my lips and blew one long loud whistle signaling that everyone should come to me.
“They went that way.” Sir Gonthad said, pointing between the trees and now that I looked, I could see a faint trail and branches that had been broken.
“Good work.” I praised. Once the last man arrived, we cantered down the trail quickly, trying to beat the rain. Then we lost it. This time it took a while for Sir Gonthad to find it again and by the time he did, the drops where getting bigger and I knew that at any moment, it could turn into an utter downpour.

Please hold off…Please.

We rode and then slowly the forrest got less and less thick.
Sir Gonthad lead us up a hill and the tree line ended right at the center of the top. If you looked forward, you could see one of Cenrid’s outposts.
“As far as I can tell, it leads up to there.” He said, pointing at it. This was perfect. Since we know the location of the outpost, we’ll be able to attack it. If it had been the Cenrid’s castle, we wouldn’t have stood a chance.
“Let’s go.” I spoke.
“With all due respect but Sire, are you insane?” Sir Dawson spoke up.
“Jack is in there right now, being tortured. We have to save him.” I said through gritted teeth, ignoring the fact that Balthazar was missing too.
“We have twenty men with us, Alex! Against at least fifty! We have to regroup and we can’t do it now because everyone is still injured and exhausted from our last battle!” He cried.
“I don’t think you understand. Jack is being tortured as we speak. We have to save him!”
“He’ll hold till morning.” Dawson said.
“You don’t know that!” I hissed. “He’s been there for five days, Dawson!”
“Alex, I want to save him just as much as you do,”

Yeah right. You’re not hopelessly in love with him.

“But if we go in there now, we’ll all be killed and most likely, so will Jack and Balthazar! We’ll have no chance at saving them if we’re dead. If we regroup tomorrow morning, we’ll be able to get them out and hopefully take the post.” He said. I glared at him, then at the outpost. I could almost hear his screams. I was so close but so far away. I knew where he was, but I couldn’t do anything about it and that knowledge drowned me. Funnily enough, that’s exactly when the downpour started. I looked to Dawson who had almost a begging expression and nodded.
“Let’s go.” He said to the others over the rain and they went off. I looked back at the post and my heart ached. I missed him so much, what I wouldn’t give to hold him right now.
"I'll come back" I whispered to him.
“Alex?” Dawson’s voice sounded, I looked to see him not have moved.
“I’m coming.” I looked at the outpost one last time, before turning around and galloping off with Dawson after the others.

Notes

Title Cred: The Call Regina Spektor (I've used this song in a few of the song titles and you guys really need to listen to it like wow it's so beautiful and amazing and just listen to it okay)

oooo we're getting closseerrrr

thank you for all the love and support this story is getting, you are truly amazing <3

This is the playlist for the story if you haven't listened to it yet:

https://play.spotify.com/user/thereckless_andthebrave/playlist/3lsB1BqmTakvY00zlMs40F