The Un-Rescued Princess; Chapter 2

by Maryam in A Land Of Desert And Sun

Argh.
What WAS this? All rocky - and hard - and bumpy - Uurgh, her bed was nothing like THIS!
Jolinda sat bolt upright when she remembered being knocked over by the unknown person, only to be knocked over again as the moving vehicle she was in sharply rounded a turn.
Or, at least, that was what it felt like.
But how'd she ended up in THIS? She surveyed her surroundings in disgust. From what she could see of it, as the only opening was a narrow thing in the front, which was covered with a cloth, so it didn't really count. Flat on her back, she could see that the interior was wooden so - no, it couldn't be - she was in -
A WAGON?!
Of all the disrespect, Jolinda huffed to herself as she made another attempt to stand up amid the violent swerves and bumps the wagon - yuck - was making. At the very least, her kidnappers would be considerate to put her in some decent place, not a moving wagon! She bit her lip hard as she fell again.
Well, as it obviously wouldn't be any use, she decided to sit here and wait the horrid thing out.

Five minutes later, Jolinda was getting impatient. How long did it TAKE, for heaven's sake, to make people stop a moving vehicle? Shaking her head, she got up, making sure to have her hands positioned on both sides of the narrow wagon.
Stumbling all the while, she made it to the other end. Stepping through the cloth, foot reaching for more wood, it instead met something that was -
Tripping over someone else, she fell head-over-heels, rolled to the left of the person, and got a mouthful of straw. Spitting it out, she sat up, noticing that the movement of the wagon had come to an abrupt halt, due to the halting of the horses, whose behinds were suddenly very close. Shuddering, she turned, sighing in relief that she had not rolled of the edge of the wagon entirely, and came face-to-face with the - boy, she now saw - whom she had tripped over.
He was dusty all over - probably from sitting in the front of the wagon, she mused - and had a shabby-looking brown shirt on. His hair was a light brown that was very light in some places, probably due to the sun. He wasn't bad-looking, concentrating on his face, and his eyes were a queer color that she couldn't really discern in this light.
Eyes that were scrunched up in annoyance.
'So, you've finally come out, eh?' This came from above, and she automatically squinted as an old man with a large hat came into sight. Evidently, he was sitting on the top of the wagon, which jutted out a bit, and he was holding the reins of the horses in his hands.
'I demand you stop this wagon immediately and tell me where I am and what I am doing here!'
She had to admit, even to herself her voice sounded a bit shrill. Jolinda cleared her throat, and was about to start again, but was cut off by a snort.
Whipping her head around, she discovered that this snort in particular came from the boy, who was regarding her with a raised eyebrow. 'We've got it stopped,' he said, exaggeratingly, 'Why on earth would you ask that?'
'Well, I' - 'It's all right, Adair,' the man said warningly, shaking a finger at the boy.
He scowled and looked away from both of them, and the man commenced talking.
'I suppose you should know what you are doing here, so allow me to introduce myself.'