The first one was definitely caught and tortured, but the second one… what does he mean? Was he kidnapped or something? Is it possible that they’re working together with somebody else, someone whose goal is to capture all the villagers? The possibility intrigues and horrifies him simultaneously. He doesn’t know how to react to these sudden changes of events.
Javier breaks the awkward silence, his gaze never wavering from Hugo’s face. "We need to figure out what’s going on first before we discuss this. So let’s talk to everybody else." he says matter-of-factly. "We'll tell everybody we find that we're trying to rescue you, okay?" Hugo nods and follows Javier back to the camp where they all gather around.
They sit on the ground with the horses standing near them. Hector is sitting across from Hugo with his back leaning against the rock formation that he used to sit against when he watched him sleep.
“So, how does that sound? Are you guys ready for a rescue mission?” Hector asks excitedly. The others cheer excitedly, clearly wanting to know which direction to start looking for information from.
“Yeah, sounds fun.” Hector turns towards the boy beside him and grins happily, “Let’s go get started!”
Chapter 9
The three of them spend the rest of the day talking amongst each other about different ideas for finding out about these bandits that the other three were planning on capturing. Hector tells the boys that there is a good chance that they can still find some of the bandits without much trouble considering that they haven’t really moved out of their tents yet, but they still have to be careful because they might see the other bandits approaching them, and they can’t afford to have to hide in fear while dealing with them. Hector suggests that they go to the river and start investigating it for clues as to where the bandits came from and went, and also how they ended up getting lost in the forest. The other three boys quickly agree and decide that they can start investigating the river first. They agree to meet at the riverbank in the afternoon and head into the forest together so that they’ll get there as fast as possible before anybody sees them.
As the sun begins to set, Hugo and Hector make their way back towards the main road and towards the river. They walk through the trees slowly, listening out for the sound of footsteps behind them. Once they are a fair distance away from the camp, they begin running. Their boots crunch on dead leaves, twigs, branches, and mud in order to propel them faster.
They continue running until Hugo starts to feel his body grow tired from exertion and then, he decides to stop walking. He looks around for a place to lay low until nightfall before lying on top of the bushes beside the trail. His eyes close as the adrenaline rush subsides from his mind, making his eyelids heavy and threatening to fall closed. But just as he’s about to lose consciousness a strong smell of smoke enters his nostrils and wakes him up immediately.
‘Damn! Why are there fires burning?!’ Hugo thinks as he looks towards the camp. Smoke rises into the sky as orange flames flicker against the black of the night sky. Before the fire can burn completely out, Hugo quickly grabs hold of Hector’s cloak. With his free hand he pulls him along to a nearby bush while holding onto Hector’s sword and his daggers. As soon as they reach the bush they both collapse inside of it silently. A few seconds later a loud explosion occurs, causing the bushes that surround them to shake. Hugo’s eyes widen as he holds onto Hector’s cloak tighter, praying that nothing falls on his head. After several moments of complete silence, Hugo finally opens his mouth to speak.
“