Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

CHAPTER 27

Previously...

"Wait!" It was Ezu, calling back out to the gang of robbers. "Wait. Actually... yes, your presence would be much appreciated." He said through grit teeth. He obviously loathed the idea of asking the highway men who had waylayed us for help, but the fact of the matter was, the company of a helpful gang of cutthroats was much more preferable to that of a ravenous wolf or hungry ogre.

The Black Thief turned back to us, a certain twinkle in his eyes. "Wonderful. And where exactly is it you are headed, young master?"

"King Francis's Kingdom." Ezu muttered bitterly.
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The Black Thief was indeed "taken with" me, as he had said before. So much so, that he had insisted that I ride with him on his horse despite my protests, and resulted with me perched rather awkwardly in between the horses snorting, tossing head, and the Black Thief's straight backed, too-close-for-comfort body.

I mean, don't get me wrong, he was an attractive guy, but he was also probably like thirty, and the whole "I'm a murderous Robbing Highway Man" thing he had going on is just a tad bit too close to the heart of the bad boy scene for me.

It also didn't help that Jack and Ezu, who were crammed awkwardly behind two riders themselves, kept shooting both the Black Thief and me dark looks during the entire trip. Though what it was that I[/] had done wrong was beyond me.

So rather than meet their accusing glares, I tried to strike up a conversation with my... um, escort.

"So." I began, trying to sound nonchalant. "Come here often?" I almost kicked myself. That sounded like a pick up line. Apparently agreeing, the Black Thief snorted.

"Not exactly. How about you?" He asked glancing down at me. I shrugged.

"This will be my first- and hopefully last- time." I said, knowing that with my luck we'd probably never even make it there.

"What brings you and your... friends this way? This is a route more commonly driven by merchants than travelers." He asked. Now it was my turn to snort.

"Do you really wanna know?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"You make it sound bad." The Black Thief half smiled.

"You have no idea." I groaned.

"Come now, it can't be that bad."

"You'd be surprised." I warned.

"Oh really? How much damage can a pretty little creature like you do?" He pressed.

"Well, I killed a midget, for one." I mentioned coolly. For a moment, the Black Thief said nothing.

"Well. Never mind then." He finally said.

"Oh, I didn't do it on purpose." I insisted. "It's not like I slit his throat or anything. I just sort of... talked to him, and he sort of... committed suicide." I trailed off. Once again, I was met with momentary silence.

"I don't see how that's any better." The Black Thief pointed out. "It wasn't even on purpose? How would you like to join my team? We could us someone with skills like yours."

"Uh, thanks for the offer, but I'm going to have to pass." I half laughed, not sure if I should be complimented or worried. "Besides, because the guy accidentally died, I now have to go save a princess-to-be, or suffer the guilt of her murder on my hands for the rest of my life." I pointed out. The Black Thief shook his head.

"Alright, alright, I get it. I won't underestimate you anymore." Ha. If only he knew half of the damage I could cause in less than a week. "You must have one hell of a plan though, if you're planning of rescuing a princess. King Francis is well known in these parts known for his fondness of execution." The Black Thief added.

"...A plan?" I choked out. I cleared my throat and tried again. "A plan... Um... to be honest, I was kind of hoping Ezu had a plan..." The Black Thief raised an eyebrow and shot a look at Ezu, who was slumped in his seat, glaring fiercely at nothing in particular.

"Him?" The Black Thief sounded almost incredulous.

"Yeah. He's the... the leader I guess." I defended. Sure, he had caused me a lot of headaches, was misogynistic, rude, bipolar, and argumentative, but if it weren't for him, I'd have been eaten by wolves the moment I arrived. Literally.

"He's the leader? Hm. I thought you were." The Thief commented thoughtfully.

"Me?" I scoffed. "No, I'm the one that gets us into trouble in the first place. Ezu usually gets me out of it."

"And the other one?" The Black Thief asked.

"Jack?" I thought for a moment. "He's the comic relief."

"What?"

"I mean... he's the one that keeps me sane. He's the only mentally and emotionally stable person here." I said, loudly enough for Ezu to hear. He spared me a dirty look and a rude hand gesture. I responded with one of my own.

"What a productive relationship." The Black Thief commented sarcastically.

"It keeps things interesting." I growled.

"And are you sure you and your Ezu aren't anything more than savior and damsel?" He asked with a slight smile playing on his mouth.

I, being me, immediately began to choke on nothing at all. The Black Thief patted my back until I recovered enough to wheeze, "What? Not you too! How come everybody assumes Ezu and I have... have... a thing!"

"You two seem to fight like cats and dogs."

"And since when has that ever actually ended in romance in the real world? Maybe in romance novels, but not-"

"And he seemed very protective of you when we first encountered each other."

"Yeah, because like I said, I always manage to make situations worse. And, for your information, Jack was just as protective of my clumsy ass!"

"And he's obviously madly enamored by you."

I choked again.

"What?" I coughed. "What is it with you? No, we're friends! Not even friends really, more like acquaintances! I've only known him- them- everyone for a few days!"

"Don't you believe in love at first sight?"

"Stop saying that word!"

"That's the first time I've said it.

"But that's the third time you have implied it!"

"This subject makes you very angry."

"Then don't bring it up!"

"I wont again. But you'll still have to deal with it."

"With what? With nothing! Nothing is going on! Between any of us!"

"Well, good luck to you then."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing at all."

"But you-"

"I thought you wanted to change to subject?" The Black Thief cut me off. I glowered at him.

"I change my mind." I snapped.

"You do want to talk about it?"

"No." I grabbed the Black Thief's horse's reigns and jerked it to a stop. "I'm walking." I slid off the horse and landed unsteadily on my feet. Without looking back at the Thief, I started walking determinedly away.

I didn't get far before I heard the stamping of hooves and the Black Thief pulled his horse up beside me, steering it in my path so he cut me off.

"You're not serious, are you?" He asked incredulously.

"I've never been more serious in my life." I shot at him, trying to move around the huge animal.

"We still won't be at the kingdom for another few hours." He pointed out, leading his horse around and yet again blocking my path.

"I don't care." I tried ducking past him, but the Thief jumped off his horse, barring my way, arms crossed over his chest and brow furrowed.

"Don't you think you're over reacting?" He asked.

"Actually, no." I spat, trying to push him away fruitlessly.

"Let her walk." Came Ezu's voice. I spun around angrily to face him. He was still sitting on the back of a horse, and somehow managed to look bored while doing so.

"What?" The Black Thief asked, as if daring Ezu to say that again.

"Let her walk." Ezu repeated, with more force. A small smirk played across the Black Thief's lips.

"Defending her honor, boy?" He said quietly, almost threateningly.

Ezu snorted.

"No. If the stupid girl wants to walk all the way to the kingdom, let her. Maybe that way she'll learn to think before she lets her pride run away with her."

I gaped open mouthed at him, while the Black Thief's mouth clamped shut in surprise.

"You son of a bitch..." I scoffed. I bent down and grabbed a good sized rock off the ground and chucked it at Ezu with all my might. It missed him narrowly, but startled the horse he rode into rearing up on it's hind legs. The Robber managed to keep his seat, but Ezu was thrown off and landed hard on his back in the dirt.

"My pride?" I continued while Ezu pushed himself to his feet. "Excuse me, but for your information, you are one of the most haughty, boastful, self absorbed, patronizing, inconsiderate assholes I've ever had the misfortune of meeting!" Ezu, now on his feet, glared at me and took a menacing step in my direction.

"Like you're one to talk. From the moment I've met you, you have caused me nothing but trouble. I've had to put up with your incessant whining, complaining, judgmental, attitude, your mood swings, your sheer bad luck from the moment you decided you had nothing better to do than make my life difficult and showed up practically gift wrapped at my doorstep!"

"You're such a boorish, pigheaded-" I began, taking a step towards Ezu with ever word.

"You spoiled, high and mighty-" Ezu interrupted coming to meet me as well.

"Egotistical-"

"Deluded-"

"Disrespectful-"

"Pretentious-"

"Conceited-"

"Self centered-"

"Insufferable-"

"InTOLERABLE!"

Slap!

The sound of my hand smacking across Ezu's face rang out unnaturally loud in the otherwise silent air. For what seemed like and eternity, nobody moved or made a sound. I stood frozen, my hand still poised in the air. Ezu's cheek glowed an angry red, and his own hand was pressed on the spot, as if he couldn't believe what had just happened. Jack, the Black Thief, and the gang of robbers all stood or sat motionless, their mouths agape.

"You slapped me," Ezu finally stuttered, his eyebrows raised so high they disappeared into his hair.

"Damn straight." I said slightly breathlessly. There was another moment of silence, and then...

Smack!

Ezu hit me right back, open palmed, across my cheek without any warning. Tenderly, I touched my stinging cheek with my fingertips.

"You hit me back," I blinked.

"Damn straight." Ezu replied quietly. "No offense." He added.

"None taken." I whispered back.

The Black Thief cleared his throat and stepped forward, hands raised non-threateningly in the air.

"Alright, I think we're done here." He said carefully. "Now, despite whatever just happened here, we have to get moving before night falls. So why don't we just calm down and take a step back-" He trailed off as he gently took me by my shoulders and pulled me away from Ezu, while Jack slid off if his horse and did the same with Ezu.

"Yeah..." Ezu breathed, not taking his eyes off of mine. "Yeah, we need to get going..."

"So we can save the princess..." I finished, meeting him stare for stare.

Interestingly enough, somehow Ezu and I ended up on the same horse when we mounted again. Though neither of us spoke, or even looked at each other for the entire remainder of the ride to the Kingdom, there was something... different about our presence. As if a weight had been lifted off my chest, I suddenly realized a load of tension had been released between us. It was as if we had literally cleared the air, and I was amazed at how much easier it seemed to breathe. Though I wasn't entirely sure about how I felt towards Ezu now, I did know one thing. I had been right when I had told myself this was going to be one hell of a journey.