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Johnny dozed off in his chair beside the door. No one dared try to get passed him even when he slept. He was a very light sleeper.
After what seemed to be a few moments, Johnny jerked awake. No one had moved in the room. But something was different. He looked around the room. Someone was missing. Johnny jumped up and unlocked the door. He went inside and shut the door, looking around. But, no one was here, either. Except the princess. Johnny breathed a sigh of relief. He leaned against the door and slid to the ground. He leaned his head back against the door. Maybe it woudl be better if he stayed in here to guard her. He might be a little less paranoid. |
Opening her eyes, Selena sat up and glanced around the room quickly. Though she found it hard to believe, she had almost forgotten where she was, even if she wasn't quite sure where that was exactly. Looking at the door, she frowned as she spotted Johnny. "Well don't you seem enthusiastic?" She stated as she stood up and ran a hand through her hair. "What time is it anyway?" She highly doubted that she could have slept that long even if her sleep had been surprisingly peaceful. |
Johnny flicked his arm at her, as if saying go away. "Not enthusiastic," he said rather raggedly. "Just paranoid." He scratched his head. She seemed less hostile than the last time he came in here. That was a good sign. Johnny felt a twinge of guilt. He really couldn't kill the princess. He had gotten to know her too much now.
That was his first mistake. He should have just killed her when he first saw her. That was one of the first rules in assissination. Don't hesitate. And now, because he had hesitated, and gotten to know her, he wasn't going to get his money. Well, maybe he could still opt out for ransom. "It's early morning," Johnny said. He wasn't exactly sure what time it was, so he just estimated. |
Selena said nothing as she ran a hand through her hair once more and fingered the jewel hanging from the necklace she wore with the other. She wanted to ask why he had thought to bring her here rather than just killing her when he had the chance. Part of her had no desire to know the answer, knowing that were plenty of answers that she would never want to hear. Never would have thought of hearing until she had been brought here. "So," She began quietly and after a few moments she continued, "Talk about awkward silences." This was certainly not how she wanted to spend her night, morning, whatever the hell it was. She remained silent for a moment, trying to swallow her curiosity but forced a small smile and looked at him. "So can I ask why you brought me here? I'm pretty sure you could have killed me a long time ago." It wasn't a statement that she said calmly, there was a trace of anxiety hidden in her voice, and she watched him as she waited for her answer. |
Johnny rolled his head to the side to look at her. He was exhausted and he didn't know why. It just all seemed to plop down on him as soon as he sat down. "Wha-?" He asked, but then shook his head to clear it. "Oh, right. Well, firstly there's the whole thing of, they need a body or I don't get my money. It would be kind of awkward, me walking around with a dead body. So if I have to, I will wait until I can get in to see the king, and kill you there. But, then, there's always the option of sending a ransom to your father. Hopefully he will pay more for you that I'm supposed to get for killing you. You'd better hope so, for your sake. But really, right now, I'm just not up to it." There was not a hint of sarcasm or humor in his voice, while earlier, he had been so lively.
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[Hey, sorrry for not replying. I've been busy with school and all.....>.<] Selena grimaced and said nothing as she glanced around. Well that was certainly lovely. Of course, there was always hope he would at least have common sense and go for the latter. After all, in the case he decided to demand a ransom, well after he was caught he would probably only get a few years in prison or drafted into the army. Not to mention all of her problems would be solved. But with the former, well she really would have been happy to keep from thinking about that option. "Well, even though you didn't ask, I'd just thought I'd let you know....I kind of like that last option best." She said quietly. |
[[It's okay. I understand things like that.]]
Johnny rolled his eyes. "That's always the way the person feels. Unless they're suicidal, but I never pinned you to be the suicidal type, in the..." he looked at his arm, and then realized he didn't have a watch on. "...few short hours I've known you," he said absent-mindedly as he looked at his wrist. He dropped his hand and leaned his head back against the door again. As much as Johnny hated killing her, the idea of leaving her alive didn't seem that great of an idea, either. She could squeal on their hideout. He ran a hand through his hair and stood up as an idea came to him. "Alright, get up. We're leaving now." |
Selena frowned as she stood up and watched Johnny. Turning her gaze away. Her eyes narrowed as she approached the door but she forced a small smile and looked at him once more. "All right, am I allowed to ask where we are going now? Or would you prefer it if I played the part of a good hostage and shut up completely, granted I wouldn't really count on the last option." [Yeah, now I just can't wait until graduation. Only a year and a half left. XD] |
[[Two and a half. You a junior?]]
Johnny sighed. "Asking questions is fine. But, your annoying little comments are not appreciated." He debated whether he should tell her anything. It would ruin the surprise, but then, it's not exactly a surprise she would want. "We're travelling to the tip of the continent." Hundreds of miles away, and through a few other countries. With that, Selena should have a good hint at his plan. The south was infamous for it's slave trades, that along with it's abundance of almost any other crime. Johnny grabbed Selena by the wrist and threw open the door. He began pulling her again as he'd done earlier. |
[Yep. and even though this year has had its bad points, I have to say I think its been the best so far. =) Well as long as we exclude the fact I'm sick of all my classes aside from Drama and American History. ^^; But the man things I'm excited for are the opportunities to leave sunny 'ole Florida, and storm chasing!~ I'm headed for a degree in meteorology, but before I do that I plan on taking part in the Extreme Tornado Tours that tornadovideos.net hosts. ^^; Ok, my ranting is done. ^^;] Selena stared at him increduously as he dragged her out. He had to be kidding, granted then again, she found it highly unlikely that he actually was. The tip of the continent? She had barely been out of her own home, there was absolutely no way that she would be able to pass through other countries. Not to mention the rumors she had heard about the south, as well as its history hd been apalling to say the least. "Listen, very carefully." She said quietly. "How about you just take me home right now, and then you don't have to worry about having a bounty placed on your head? Taking me here was enough to irritate me, but there is absolutely no possibility of me leaving the country." Of course, she knew that she probably didn't sound all too threatening, she still felt she needed to get it said. |
[[Ranting is fine, as long as you don't mind my ranting. I'm a sophomore (in case you didn'tnotice when I said 2.5 years.). This year has been my favorite year, too. Even though we've had a whole bunch of drama. But I love this year because last year our band/choir teacher quit, and now we have an amazing choir teacher, who also teaches drama (i'm in drama next semester). I"m sad 'cause I'm not going to be in choir next semester, but I'm going to be in band (also a new teacher here) because I don't want to be in welding anymore. I'm excited to leave Washington. I'm going to be a writer.
Why do you want a degree in meteorology? That's like, a weather man, right?]] Johnny screamed in frustration. "Okay, now is a good time to be the good little hostage and shut up completely before I do something worse. I will not take you back. I may not kill you, and I may not hand you over to my king, but I will also not take you back." He eyed her long hair for a moment. Surely she must treasure it. He flipped out his knife and grabbed her by the hair. Haphazardly, he hacked off her long golden tresses till they were just brushing her shoulders. He let the rest fall to the ground. "People will be looking for a princess with long hair, and just to make sure I mean business." He jerked on her arm and turned away from her. As they walked through the city, he kept his knife out. For brute intimidation, you could say. |
[Ah, I see. I've been taking drama since I was in the eighth grade, and I moved to where I am now about a year ago. This year though, I've really been considering dropping the subject next year. I'm in the performance class and the woman is psychotic; last year she was kind of..eh but over the summer she just got so much worse. But it is pretty fun sometimes. We were supposed to be performing A Midsummer Night's Dream yesterday, but she cancelled it because of districts. -.- So I highly doubt that is ever going to be picked up again because of the elementary school show and spring showcase. And yep, but what I want to do is actually be out in the storms and collect information. For me, that would be absolutely amazing, I mean I would love to be able to say that I've been maybe one hundred meters away from a tornado, if not closer. ^^; Granted I told my friend that, and she thought I was insane, even though I did explain that there are safe methods of storm chasing and data collecting. But oh well. ^^;] Selena glanced at the hair on the ground with wide eyes before looking at Johnny once more. As vain as she was, her hair had been precious to her and well he had simply ruined it. Running her free hand through her hair she frowned and wiped a tear out of her eye. There was no way that she would let herself cry; especially not in front of him. She looked around before glancing at the knife he held. She did still have plenty of options after all. But the true question was which was the best, and safest option. The fact that he overpowered her was more than disconcerting and she looked around nervously once more. Maybe, she'd at least have a chance of outrunning him? And then possibly she could find somebody who could help her out? Yanking herself away from him, she stumbled back for a moment but didn't hesitate to regain her balance and begin running the other way, |
[[I'm sorry about your drama teacher. Ours is the coolest. But I've only had him for choir so far. I'm gonna be in our spring play and dinner theater. We're doing The Comic Book Artist. We chose a funny one because we haven't had a drama section for several years, and we decided a funny one would be best to start off with.
Well that's cool. I love storms, but onyl thunder and lightning storms.]] Johnny held tight to his knife and ran after her. She had only had a small headstart, and he was pretty fast. He had to be to be a thief. After a moment of running, he jumped and tackled her. He flipped her over onto her back and sat on her, holding her hands above her head. "Princess, you do not want to mess with me right now. I know these streets, and I am the only thing keeping you safe right now. You wont make it two minutes here on your own, and what people here will do to you would be much worse than dying," he growled. He let go of one of her hands and twirled her hair around his index finger. "I assume you are still a virgin, are you not? A virgin as pretty as yourself on these streets is hard to find. Even the dead women are not pure. Especially the dead girls. |
Selena bit her lip and shuttered as he finished speaking. She was silent as she watched him for a moment. Well neither situation was very comforting. Though she just wasn't sure of which situation she would prefer to keep herself in. "Well let me tell you, being stuck here with is certainly enough to keep me from worrying." She spat out, her tone was sarcastic of course, it often was anyway. [I kind of despise writer's block at the moment. But anyway, that sounds pretty cool. ^^; I haven't actually had a chance to do an actual comedy, since my drama show case when my friend and I did a little scene last year. It was interesting, it was basically like we were both in sync, and it looked like we were in the same place but really weren't. It's kind of hard to explain. ^^;] |
Johnny slapped her. "I would keep that tongue still if I were you," he said and climbed off of her. He jerked her up, keeping a tight grip on her wrist.
They needed to find a faster, more efficient way to travel. A horse would do for now. Johnny dragged her to the city stables and stole a horse. He lifted the princess onto the horse's back and climbed on behind her. He wrapped is arms around her to grab the horse's mane, and kicked it into a trot. [[Yeah, I hate writer's block, too. It's horrible. But sometimes, you just have to force yourself through it.]] |
Selena held one hand against her face and glanced at the ground as they past it. She had learned how to ride a horse when she was younger, but still had never been exactly fond of it. Vaguely she wondered how long it would take to get wherever they were headed and kicked herself mentally for even trying to run off. That had been a moronic idea. Running a hand through her hair, she closed her eyes and tried to forget about the fact that Johnny was seated so close to her. Of course, that wasn't nearly as easy as she would have hoped and she found herself uncomfortably aware of his presence. Opening her eyes she grimaced before glancing back at him. "Um, what happens if they find out you stole this....horse and they catch up to you?" She mumbled. |
Johnny decided to answer her, since she hadn't had much attitude in her voice this time. He was surprised at that fact. He couldn't ever remember hearing her voice without that little factor. "They were throw me in jail, and you as my accomplise and chop off our hands. After the ends of our arms heal up, they would release us. And sometimes healing can take a while. In that dirty cell with rats carrying all sorts of diseases, and open wounds like that, you may not even live long enough to be let out." He shrugged. "I don't plan on getting caught. Ever." He'd been a thief for quite a few years now, and he'd never been caught.
By sun-up the next morning, they finally neared crossing the first border. |
Once again, Selena was on the verge of sleep, travelling this was certainly had been less than comfortable and it was no surprise to her that she was ready to go to bed. Forcing her eyes to stay open, she stared off into the horizon and a frown played at her lips. This particular area was nothing like the areas she had travelled through up to now. It seemed that desert wasteland, and the occasional irrigated field spanned for miles, rather than the lush green fields and forests that she was accustomed too. She spotted what appeared to be a small town off in the horizon, ahead of a large range of mountains. From what she knew of geography, the only true mountains were found in the next country over, which meant that they had to be near the border if not past it. Still, due to the war she was surprised not to see anything even remotely close to a border control. Perhaps she couldn't get that lucky. Selena allowed her mind to wander for a few moments and shuddered as she remember her history lessons. She had been told that around the borders, savage natives were allowed to roam free, as well rogues as and the like. It seemed that wherever she wound up with this Johnny it wouldn't be pleasant. Unable to keep her eyes open, she closed them, telling herself that she would merely rest them, rather than sleep. Still, she dozed off and managed to lean back against Johnny. |
Johnny wrapped one arm around the princess's waist to keep her from falling off the horse as it raced through the danger zone. Johnny had always been able to buy off the savages, but now he was travelling with a pretty female, and there was always a possibility of violence.
He kept his eye on the horizon, hoping to get to the mountains as fast as possible. The savages didn't dare go near the mountains. It was too civilized; villages spattered the mountains here and there. At the rate they were going, they would be to their destination within the week. |
Waking up a couple of hours later, Selena looked around and frowned. Sitting up straight she glanced at Johnny before looking ahead of her. "Where are we now?" she asked. This little trip was beginning to irritate her once more. She was sore, never having spent so much time on a horse in her life, let alone outside, and though she was tempted to take up an attitude with Johnny once more, she really did not see it as a wise idea. After all, what if he grew tired of her and decided to dump her in the middle of nowhere? "And is there any place we could stop soon?" |
Johnny rolled his eyes and sighed. The silence had been great while it lasted. BUt, now he did owe her some answers. "We are almost to a mountain base village. The savages won't try anything on us once there. We should be there with in a few minutes." He pointed ahead of them to a growing bulge in the skyline. "See? We'll stop once there. And we'll use the bathroom, gather food, rest for the night. The king's jurisdiction does not travel to these parts. He can not come this far." Johnny himself was getting kind of sore, and shared her sentiments on wanting to stop. But they would be there soon enough.
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"Oh thank God," She mumbled as she watched the village gradually come into view. Still she grimaced as she took note of the mountains, she had certainly hoped somebody would catch up to them by the time they managed to get this far, if not sooner. [Sorry its so short. >.< Massive case of writer's block. >.<] |
[[That's okay.]]
Johnny pushed the horse into a gallop, even though the bounces hurt him and made him want to fall off. Normally, he was a good rider, but that didn't help much when you'd been riding non-stop after having little to no rest for quite a while. They were soon to the village, and Johnny was off the horse. He led it through the town and tied it off in front of an inn. There, he helped the princess off the horse. "Alright," he said, blinking his eyes to keep himself awake long enough to get to the room. "We're here. Now, I don't want you doing anything naughty. And you certainly can't try running back to your daddy, because it's dangerous enough in those plains for a man, let alone a woman. Especially a princess. You wouldn't last a minute." He took her by the hand and pulled her inside the inn. |
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