Lost

Kitty resumed creeping along behind the young man, yearning for the desert heat she’d been cursing that very morning—a lifetime ago, it seemed.  A jagged rock cut into her palm, causing her to wince. “For a king you have pretty crap guards,” Kitty muttered to herself, but he obviously heard because he retorted, “They are excellent guards. This is simply an extraordinary situation we were not prepared for.  I should have listened to their advice and remain in the castle.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Because the matter was of such critical importance I felt a need to be involved.”

Kitty mulled over several unkind responses to this but kept them to herself.  They just continued to crawl along in silence, until a thin branch whacked her in the face.  She swore softly to herself.  If only she could use her flashlight!  “Do you even know where we are?” she asked, after the King hesitated next to a narrow stream.

“I have an idea.  Shhh!” he suddenly hissed, and Kitty froze in place. Her breathing sounded thunderous in her ears, as she became suddenly aware of all the tiny noises around them.  Most seemed like the type one would expect to hear in a forest at night—even in a forest from another world—until she thought she heard the snapping of a twig nearby.  

The King had heard it, too, because he laid a light hand on her arm.  Without his saying so, Kitty knew he was telling her to run should they be ambushed.  But annoying or not, he was her guide. She had no intentions of leaving him here to duke it out alone, so that she could just get lost in this bitter cold forest full of prickly bushes and sharp rocks by herself.  Besides, Kitty refused to abandon him to his fate.  Whether he were a king or a university student, he deserved better than that.  Where he went, she would follow, no matter how annoying she found the whole situation.