Chapter 15
America's POV
I split apart from Bryan as soon as I heard the crunching of wheels over the gravel. We looked at each other in alarm.

Bryan shook his head, clearly confused. "No-one ever comes here by wagon. Especially unannounced and uninvited."

Bryan walks carefully over to the door, and I stand to follow him. Together we quietly stepped into the bright sun, and looked for the source of the noise, but it had stopped. Nonetheless, there was a wheeled vehicle parked in the center of our camp, a limp body lain next to it, facedown.

I yelped in surprise, but quickly smothered it when I saw who stepped out of the car. It was a robust man, who was covered in black from head to toe. A matching hood obscured his face from view. A red insignia of a skull was engraved on the right shoulder or his jacket.

I glanced over at Bryan. His eyes were wide with fear. He looked like he was a deer in headlights.

The man turned to scan the crowd gathered around him, but by then Bryan and I had shrunk to the back.

"Ladies and gentleman," the man called, his voice booming throughout the village square, "I have brought upon you an opportunity to put us, the Northern and Southern rebels, at piece for the time being."

The man waited, expecting applause or oohs and aahs. No one was going to give any indication they were interested though. That would just give the man reason to higher his demands if we acted desperate.

When there was no reaction, the man grunted and mumbled something, then continued. "You have an enemy of our in your midst. He promised something to us when he was a child, and failed."

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. They couldn't be talking about Bryan, right? Bryan said he was a go-between for the two sides of the rebels.

A chill went down my spine as I realized something. This man, rebel, whomever, might want to hurt Bryan. I couldn't let that happen.

The man continued. "Our proposal, give us the one we are looking for, and your can have the glory of returning him to the throne." He gestures to the ground. "Or, you can let your prince die."

Now it was my turn to be confused. This feeble man was a prince? I sucked in a breath as I realized who this was.

"Maxon?" I mouthed, unable to believe my eyes. I may not be in love with Maxon, but if he was still my friend after all this, then I had a right to be worried about him.

I turned to Bryan, and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "I have to do this. Don't try and stop me."

With my parting words I dashed to the front of the group gathered, just barely eluding Bryans out reaching hand. I slowly raised my hands as I presented myself to the man.

"I am the one you are looking for. Take me and leave this prince alone."
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A/N: I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever! I'm been busy with my Fifth Wave role play. I'll try to update as often as I can though! Comment feedback and let me know if you are enjoying this story so far. 😃