Chapter 6

Since they don’t have a horse this is going to be one very long journey.

“I’m afraid, Sorbo.”

“It’s okay, girl, it’ll be okay.” He says, while holding her tiny trembling hand.

“Do you promise?” She asks, looking up at him with her beautiful blue eyes.

That stops Sorbo in his tracks. The last time he made a promise he didn’t uphold his end of the pledge. He stands there looking down at the petite and pretty princess and finally decides it is best to make her feel safe right now rather than letting old ghost dictate new actions. “I promise.”

As the night lingers the only sound outside that of the natural forest is Dakota’s boots that are at least four times too big as they flop about. Sorbo knows even though he has the leg part of the boot tied down so it fits her a little bit better, the foot part is going to start wearing sores on the princess very soon. They haven’t even got two stretches from the cottage and Sorbo is regretting letting his self get so badly out of shape. If he has to start carrying her again their journey is going to take years.

“And I’ll probably drop dead of a heart attack long before that.”

“What did you say, Sorbo?”

“Oh, nothing, sweetheart, I’m just annoyed with myself that I let myself get so far out of shape.”

“I think you look like a marvelous knight.”

Sorbo stops and kneels down beside her and looks at her angelic face and into her endless blue eyes and as he is pushing some of her hair out of her face he says with a smile, “Thank you, darling girl.” And then he gives her a big hug.

When Dakota pulls back she has a big smile on her face. “You know the goddess Andromeda told me you are one of the greatest knights to ever exist.”

“Did she?”

“Yep!”

“Once maybe, but now I’m just a forty-three year old nothing.”

“No your not! You’re not a nothing!” And then with tears in her eyes she says, “You’re all I got! You are my knight.”

Those words hurt worse than the hardest backhand from the biggest man. That is the exact same phrase the other princess who was in his charge used to proudly tell everybody. Sorbo shakes his head, stands up, and almost fearfully backs away from Dakota.

“I’m sorry; did I say something wrong again?”

Sorbo looks at her and decides it is time to start being a man again. He pulls himself together as he says, “You know what, darling girl? No you didn’t.”

Just as Sorbo is reaching out his left hand to take her right hand they hear horses coming in their direction off in the distance. Sorbo grabs up Dakota and they hurry over to a thick clump of bushes. Sorbo kneels there with his left knee on the ground with the right foot setting firmly on the ground so he can maneuver up quickly if he has to. He has his right hand resting on his sword that hangs on his left that is pointing out behind them. Dakota is between his legs half standing half leaning against his right thigh and stomach. Sorbo has his left arm holding Dakota tightly across her mid-section. His right arm also wraps around her as he is holding onto the hilt of his sword.

Sorbo can feel Dakota tremble. “It’ll be okay.” Just then the horses seem to turn more in their direction. “Shh.”

Ten seconds later a group of ten riders go flying by and they are all wearing gray robes.

“Hey, they are wearing the gray robes of neutrality. Maybe they will help us.”

“No, Dakota, those are the same people I saw leaving Lawson’s place when I found him dying.”

“Lawson is dead?” She twists to her left when she asks that question.

Sorbo doesn’t answer; he just nods his head yes with sad eyes. “But, Andromeda came and took him home.”

“Really?”

“Yes, he seemed at peace.”

“Oh, I’m glad for him.”

As Sorbo listens to the horses get further and further away he releases his sword and turns Dakota to face him. He once again pushes some hair out of her angelic face and he gazes into her beautiful blue eyes and they are full of love, trust and strength. This petite adorable little blonde-haired blue-eyed eight-year-old sweetheart of a girl just had her whole family murdered and yet she still has the capacity to care about others.

Sorbo shakes his head in amazement and Dakota asks, “What?”

Sorbo wraps her in his massive arms and whispers into her ear, “You are amazing!”

As they kneel and stand there in the middle of the wild woodlands with danger all around them they continue to hug and then Dakota pulls back and says, “I don’t understand why the followers of neutrality would want to hurt me and my family.”

“Dakota, they are most likely not followers of Aden. Dark forces are after you and they are deceivers and liars. If I had to guess I would say those people aren’t actually followers of Aden, the God of Neutrality, they are either followers of Loki or probably that religious cult that goes by the name of The Children of Method, Prophecy, and Design, and most likely they are being tricked by Loki’s forces.”

“What kind of stupid ass name is that?”

Sorbo tries to stifle his laugh and hide his smile as he says with fake shock, “Princess, such language!”

Dakota’s mouth falls open and then slowly a sheepish grin comes to her delicate face. Sorbo can no longer hide the smile on his angular face.

Sorbo pats her on the bottom and says, “Well, I think it should be safe now.” He stands up and takes her right hand into his left hand that way he can still draw his sword quickly if the need arises. As they look around and listen, as they are stepping around the bushes, Sorbo asks, “How are your feet?”

“They’re okay, but these boots are really heavy.”

“Yeah, we’ll have to find a safe place to hold up for a while and then maybe I can cut them down so they will fit you better.”

“Okay.” Hand in hand the petite eight-year-old princess and the six-foot-three knight disappear in the depths of the wild.

It isn’t but another two stretches and Sorbo is sweating and breathing hard, all of which are going to get much worse before they get better because very soon Sorbo will be going through alcohol withdraw and as much as he used to drink on a daily basis it can even be dangerous. If not for the fact that he had cut his drinking down by a significant percentage just in the week she was with him he’d really be in trouble.

As the night progresses the wind starts to pick up and the smell of rain is on the horizon.

“Sorbo?”

“Yeah, sweetheart.”

“I’m tired and my feet hurt.”

Sorbo can already start to feel the effects from the alcohol withdraw so he just nods his head yes. He looks around them in the gloom of night and finds a clump of trees that seem to be well hidden in amongst a massive wall of thorny bushes. Sorbo pulls out his sword and after he puts Dakota behind him he cuts them a little path. Sorbo still has to fight his way through the thorny brush and gets many scrapes for his efforts, but he just picks Dakota up over the natural wall. The canopy of this group of trees and in fact this whole area of the woods seem to be quite thick so if it does start raining again it should afford them some protection.