Thirty-Two - Tarka

"Who was THAT?" I asked Alden, walking away from our interesting encounter with his so-called "friend."

He rolled his eyes and let out a huffy breath. "Nobody important. All he cares about is getting girls. I should have known he hadn't changed a bit."

"Huh," was all I could say about that.

"I didn't want him to get any ideas about you."

"That bad, huh?"

"Pretty much. I don't want anyone getting any ideas about you." I turned to look at him and raised my eyebrows. He realized what he had said and blushed. "I mean, uhh, you're such an awesome girl, and a good friend, and I'd hate to see you get tangled up in a love-mess and get hurt somehow."

"Riiiight. Not like I haven't already been hurt." I scoffed and looked at my feet as they went in front of each other.

"I'm sorry," Alden was sincere.

"It's getting better. But I'm not completely over Damian yet."

"Oh," Alden sounded surprised and disappointed. "I guess it's going to take a while, huh?"

"Well, yeah. We were in love. Nobody gets over something like that quickly."

"I wouldn't know, I've never had that happen to me before. I've never loved a girl before."

I stopped. My eyes got wide. "Never? Not even a crush?"

"Well, yeah, I've had a crush on a girl. But she never knew. I'm not the aggressive type." He avoided eye contact.

"I guess I should give you some pointers then."

Alden grinned. "I'd like that," he said warmly.

We continued walking and talking, and we continued to search for potential food. The whole time, I was hoping and wishing he would really take these pieces of advice to heart. Because even though I wasn't completely over Damian yet, this Palkin boy, this young man was growing on me, and I was wrapped around his finger like a vine on a tree trunk. Even if he wasn't as masculine as the other men in his country, he had a heart of gold. He was protective, caring, and brave, whether he believed that for himself or not.

We finally came to another field, where there were large wild birds trying to scavenge for their own food. We stood really still, and lowered ourselves as close to the ground as we could. Alden whispered, "Do you have something to kill one or two of those? They would make a feast compared to what we've been eating lately."

I nodded and lifted my bow and arrow ever so slowly, so I wouldn't be noticed. 1... 2....

Something hit my back like a brick wall, and I let the arrow fly, of course missing the bird I had been aiming for. Before I could turn around, a gloved hand flew over my mouth and one over Alden's. Another set of hands tied our flailing hands, and then we were gagged and dragged away from the scene.

I looked up to see who had kidnapped us and couldn't believe who it was.