Rosetta's Journey

Chapter 2: Rosetta

    Three days have passed since the day she began her journey. Rosetta has only stopped to take quick breaks, but never for more than a couple of hours. The exhaustion is starting to set in as Rosetta rides through a thick forest.  She still has about a day left of traveling to go and does not really want to stop to rest for long.  She contemplates how much it would impact her traveling if she makes camp this evening.  She tries to convince herself that she is just worried about delaying her arrival though another part of her is concerned about how safe she is in the forest.  This area is known to be a meeting place for all sorts of people particularly those who are criminals.  For the last couple of years people who have come through here have been robbed, beaten, or killed.  Things have become so bad that the stories of the forest have made their way to her own kingdom. 

    Rosetta shakes her head because she knows no matter what she has heard about this forest she needs to make camp.  Not that she wants to, but her horse isn't going to last much longer.  She needs him to be strong in order for her to make it to the palace in a decent amount of time.  Rosetta's thoughts drift to Fredrick as she makes her way down the winding path.      

    It is almost nightfall now.  Rosetta stops her horse then gets down.  She tugs on the horse's reins to lead him off the patch and through the trees.  She walks with him for about a mile then stops when she comes across a small area where she can make camp.  She ties the horse up before starting to gather her things from the saddle bags.  It doesn't take long for her to start a fire.  Rosetta then picks up a long piece of wood and walks over to sit in front of the fire.  She starts to strip the wood with her knife.  An hour later she had created a bow with the wood and string she had brought with her.  She sets to work on crafting her arrows next.  Rosetta finishes creating a handful of arrows before she feels tired.  She knows she won't be able to stay up much longer.  She decides to rest.  She lays down on her blanket and falls asleep looking at the stars in the sky.  

    Rosetta wakes as the sun is still rising in the sky.  She checks on her horse before going hunting.  Rosetta thinks back to the days when her father first took her camping.  He would tell her that she needed to be calm any time she was hunting.  When she was younger she didn't quite understand why her father would tell her that if she didn't keep still she would scare off their dinner.  Now she knows the importance of being quiet, patience, and taking deep breaths.  As soon as she spotted a rabbit.  She instantly shot and killed it.  Rosetta walked out from behind the tree she was hiding behind and picked up the rabbit.  When she arrived back at camp she started the fire and prepared the rabbit to be eaten.  Now that she was done eating. She went to her saddle bag and pulled out an apple to feed her horse.  She was still feeding him when she heard the sounds of snapping of twigs from around her.  She knew that people were going to be upon her any minute.  Rosetta thought about hoping on her horse and leaving, but decided that it might be more fun to see who thought they could sneak up on her.  So she walked back over to the fire and sat down to wait.  Five minutes later three bandits entered into her camp area grinning. The one in the middle walked closer to her and then spoke.  

    "Oh look boys what we have here! A woman who is all alone. I bet we could have some fun with her . Looks like she has some things we could use as well."  he said to Rosetta.

    "If you think I'm going to be giving you guys any of my stuff or spend a single minute of my time with you then there must be something wrong with your head.  Did you by any chance get dropped on it as a child?" Rosetta responded to the ugly man. 

    "You think that you actually have a choice in this matter? You must not realize the situation you’re in." 

    "Oh, I understand the situation perfectly fine.  You three despicable guys think you will be able to harm me and steal from me just because I’m a  woman." She says while laughing when she gets to the last part. 

    "Okay I’m tired of this. Boys get her and tie her up." 

    The rugged man that was to the left of the leader is the first one to attack her.  She easily evades him, grabs his shoulder and pulls her knee up so it is with his chin.  The man instantly falls to the ground.  Just as she was about to turn around another person tries to grab her.  She grabs his arm and then slams her foot down on the side of his knee hearing a loud snap.  He falls to the ground yelling.  Rosetta looks up ready to walk over and take down the man who was speaking to her earlier, but is surprised to see he is lying on the ground knocked out.  Above him stands a handsome man. He is muscular about six feet tall with short brown hair and blue eyes.  It takes her a moment to pull her eyes away from his body before she realizes he is walking over to her.  She backs up and gets into a defensive position.  Not sure if he is going to try and attack her.  

    "No need to worry, I’m not going to hurt you. I saw the men attacking you from over there" the handsome man turns and points back to the where he had just come from. "I thought you could use some help.  My name is Nathaniel by the way, but you can call me Nate." he finishes saying when he comes to stop in front of Rosetta. Another man that Rosetta did not even notice was there came to stand beside Nathaniel. "This here is my best friend, Marcus." Nathaniel introduces.

    Noticing that they mean her no harm Rosetta instantly relaxes and starts to brush off her clothes. She notices that they are watching her. Probably expecting her to thank them or something. She sighs before looking back to them. 

    "Thanks for the help, but I could have handled it on my own." she says, starts to pack up her things to get ready to go. 

    "I’m sure you could have, but I couldn't stand there in good conscience and do nothing while a lady was being attacked. What is your name by the way? I have never seen a woman who could fight like you before." Nate said. 

    Rosetta could see he was curious about her.  He kept giving her a strange look.  One filled with interest and something else she couldn't quite place. She shook her head.  She wasn't even sure why she cared what this man thought anyway. She had only just met him.  It's not like she was going to ever see them again anyway.  Though her mind was telling her to stop thinking about him her body was telling her something else.  Rosetta clenched her fist when she realized her mind was wandering off again. She needed to focus and get back on the road as soon as possible. 

    "Rosetta is my name. Now I really have to go.  I already wasted too much time here as it is." She said then walked over to her horse and got in the saddle.

    "Wait, why don't you spend some time with us for a bit longer. Whatever it is you have to do I’m sure you can spare an hour away from.  How about as a way to repay us for earlier?" Nate quickly added the last part probably hoping she would say yes to his request. 

    'Umm let me think...how about no.  Like I said I can't waste anymore time." with that Rosetta had her horse turn around. Then signaled to the horse to go. 

    She turned around to see Marcus laughing and Nathaniel scowling at him.  Rosetta thought to herself that Nate must not really have people blow him off before.  Right before she turned back around she saw Nate elbow Marcus in the side. She chuckled a bit as she led her horse back to the road.