Chapter 68 Beautiful Mistakes {2}
{continuation}.... "I have no idea."
"Then you better start having one," Elianore put in as he started to examine the wound, his expression grim.
"She's badly infected. I need more equipment to treat her properly. I'll have to leave her for now."
Ryder nodded, knowing they had to be careful not to arouse suspicion.
As Elianore departed, Ryder couldn't shake the feeling that they had just stumbled into something much bigger than they had initially thought. The woman spy's presence, and her refusal to yield information, hinted at something sinister
{2}
Ryder Jenkins felt his skin tingle, something was wrong. Elianore had been gone for over twenty minutes, something was wrong.
"Where...is your friend?" The lad's voice cracked as she tried to move.
"Don't move," Ryder warned, walked over to the door, opened it and peeped.
In the far distance, lights from torches hinted at two familiar figures, Elianore and the captain. What was Elianore doing with the captain?
Wasn't Elianore supposed to get whatever equipment and report back to him?
This was insane, Ryder's stomach suddenly tightened. Elianore was betraying him.
It was only a matter of time before the captain and the rest of his colleagues walked into the room which was holding the enemy.
Ryder slapped a hand to his temple, what was he going to do?
This was treason punishable by death. He swiveled towards the woman at once.
"Can you walk?" he asked the woman.
The lady's lips curled up in a slow smile, revealing her feminine expression as the moonlight streaked across her face from the window.
"Your friend isn't coming?"
"No need to worry about that now. We need to be on the move. Now." He cast his gaze on the woman before him.
The lady struggled to her feet, wincing in pain as her feet wobbled. "My chest...it hurts."
Ryder instinctively knew that they both would not make it out of there if this young woman was to walk on her own.
He still couldn't believe why the young lad had been a woman in the first place and no one had been able to detect that.
His eyes sprinted to the window. Quickly, one of his hands held the curve of her back and the other, around her legs.
And in one quick lift, he carried her up and crossed over the window. Although he staggered with her in his arms, he was able to regain his balance and started to move out of the camp.
Was he doing the right thing? He had no idea.
"Why are you helping me?" the lady asked.
"I have no idea why I'm helping you." He answered her, looking over his back as he walked through the woods.
She was struggling to breathe and she needed medical attention urgently - it had been over four hours since she'd been shot.
"You think I'll make it?" She spluttered a splatter of blood from her mouth into her hand.
"You will make it," he assured her.
The moonlight was streaking through the woods, giving light to the dark paths. The lady's eyes kept fluttering - holding on to her last resort.
"Do not switch off on me now, stay with me." He clenched his hands around her tightly.
Her face had on a smug smile. "I can't die here," she coughed, turning to peer her blue eyes at him.
"I will be a joke if you die like this. You have to lead me back to your camp if you probably have one," he said to her.
She let out a dry, crackled laugh. "You blew out our base and you expect not to be killed at first sight by my people?"
"Don't tell me that we blowing up your camp base had merely been a trick. Are you trying to make us believe that we were winning this war?" he argued, his eyes glinted with fury.
"You're a smart man, whosoever you are but painfully too slow and too kind for this sort of lifestyle." She remarked.
He believed he had heard that a million times. Time and again, he had had to overlook many things because of how easily they got to him.
He was damn soft for a man - and worse for a soldier.
Now, that she'd exposed the damn truth, would he give her up and return to his camp - revealing what she'd just told him?
No one obviously would believe him, he would be held captive by his colleagues for helping an enemy escape.
He studied her face, almost losing his footing.
"Tell me, what are your plans after dropping me off?" her tongue flickered across her patched lips.
He groaned, his thoughts muddled by her words. "Will you just be quiet!" He bared his teeth at her.
He didn't know what he was doing. He shouldn't even be doing this - how was he to retract whatever wrong he had committed?
She was hyperventilating, her chest heaving deeply.
Ryder looked down at her sharply. "Don't," he shook her, "stay with me." He pleaded.
"There's a hidden...n safe house..e we ha...ve down the sl...ope, let's get to it," she said to him before shutting her eyes.
The sounds of his heartbeat meshing with his racing feet were the only things he heard. Fortunately for him, he was able to locate the place and walked into the building.
No one would have guessed that the uncomplicated building before them which was severely burnt on one part of the building was a hideout for supplies for the Kaelin Empire soldiers.
The safe house was equipped with medical supplies, and Ryder began to retrieve some morphine, and other pills to administer to her. He was lucky to acquire the basics of applying medical aid to an injured soldier.
How was he so stupid to have trusted Elianore? He would have applied whatever treatment on the lady, and he certainly wouldn't be in this mess.
But to get medics, he would have to go through Elianore who had whatever drugs in his care. And that was what he did, seeking Elianore.
He shouldn't blame himself, he was only doing what he thought was right.
The girl's eyes finally opened after thirty minutes had waltzed by. She looked down at her chest and then back at the man hovering over her.
"What is your name?" Ryder forced the question out of his mouth.
"Why are you curious to know my name?" Her eyes met his eyes.
"I should know the name of my enemy who I am helping, don't you think so?" His gaze was dark and probing.
She sighed, trying to sit up. She did feel better, although a little pain here and there but far better. She should at least be open to revealing her name. "My name is Tiana, Tee for short. Satisfied?"
Ryder moved a step away from her as his eyes still held her. "I have more, tell me why a woman would dress as a man, spying for the Kaelin Empire whose soldiers are men?"
The question stirred something within her. She winced holding a hand to her chest. Her head suddenly jerked up and she glanced towards the window.
Ryder heard it too. Faint barks of familiar hounds, someone was coming.