(17) Fugitives
The two hid in an abandoned barn on the outskirts of Tajjavy, and Dalí peered through the cracks in the wooden bars to see what was going on outside, and as the night wore on, the caravan with torches thinned out.
He threw the wagon in the city and dragged Janine into the suburbs, which were filled with fugitive caravans of murderers, who had to flee to the abandoned barn for the night.
Jane Ning was exhausted, she lay on the straw pile and fell asleep, her face covered with sweat, and she let out a series of dream whispers:
"William, don't go, I'm here, I'm here ......"
Dalí sighed sadly, and he looked at his beloved with pity, wiping away the sweat for her.
Even dreams could not escape this cruel reality, and nightmares haunted her endlessly, and God knows how she, a weak girl, survived these difficult days.
Dalí was in excellent physical condition at the moment, and even after a long day's work, he was able to stay awake and think about how to escape from the territory of the League of Nobles.
His archenemy, Siska Newman, must have learned that he was still alive, and in addition to the police and gendarmerie of the League of Nobles looking for him, he also had to watch out for the Newman family's forces.
Dalí has been completely opposed to the Noble League, and he is now a wanted deserter, a traitor, and a murderer, each of which is enough to send him to the gallows.
A native of Tadjavy, he loved his homeland deeply, but the rulers of his homeland could no longer tolerate him, and the only way out was to go to the Principality to join his father's pen pal.
Dalí had always secretly hated the high-ranking official of the Duchy who corresponded with his father, whose name was Simon Gallieni, who was the director of the National Military Academy of the Duchy of Valstad and the duke's top military adviser......
If...... If...... If, it's a pity that it's too late to say anything now, and Dalí himself is very supportive of his father's idea, and the cause of national unification conceived by the Duke of Valstad deeply attracted their father and son, especially William, who likes to dance and play with swords. But just as they were about to transfer their property to the principality, their father was reported and arrested, and then the family was broken up and displaced.
His blood relatives have all died, leaving only his sleeping sister Jian Ning beside him, for the sake of her happiness, Dali must be cautious, if they are caught by the search team, what will be the consequences for them? Dali himself would definitely be sent to the gallows, it didn't matter, he had already died once, but Janine ...... It was hard to imagine how tragic what would happen to her, and he would never allow it to happen.
Dalí stayed up all night, he stayed by Janing's side, watching her sleep, how much he wished to be with the person he loved forever, to make this moment eternal, but they had no choice but to leave.
At dawn, the sun shone on Janine's face, and her large amber eyes gradually opened, and she saw Dalí, whose eyes were bloodshot, sitting beside her, watching her.
She was a little embarrassed, and her pretty face flushed: "Brother, didn't you sleep all night?" ”
"I've been listening to the movement outside, I'm fine, I slept in the alley before I rescued you, but you didn't rest well, you kept talking in your dreams in the first half of the night, and you had nightmares again?"
"Yes...... I dreamed of William, the gallows...... He ...... her eyes moistened again.
Dali hugged her: "I know you love my brother, I love him, it's all over, we have to live well." ”
"Brother, there is something I wanted to ask you yesterday, why has your voice changed, your face has become so pale, are you sick? How did you get out of prison? I feel...... You have changed a lot. ”
Dali sighed, grabbed her hand, and looked her in the eye: "I've been through a lot of strange things, and when we get to the principality, when we get to a safe place, I'll tell you all about it, okay?" ”
She nodded, "Shall we leave now?"
Dali felt a little guilty: "I'm sorry, I fled too quickly yesterday, and I didn't get food and water, can you still walk?" ”
"No problem, brother, I'm fine."
Dali knew she was lying, he had already heard Janine's stomach gurgling, and her lips were a little chapped, she must be hungry and thirsty at the moment.
However, staying where it was not going to solve the problem, Dalí carefully opened the wooden door of the barn, looked around, there was no one around, and the two set out on a journey to escape.
They need to escape from the territory of the League of Nobles as soon as possible, there is still a long way to go, and it is imperative to find food and horses.
Dalí knew how to tell where to go, and after leaving the outskirts of Tajavi, they had to travel west, through the entire county of Herbes, looking for an opportunity to cross the border to the Duchy of Valstad.
Fortunately, he had enough money to travel, and the two of them walked along the road for a while to reach a small town, where they went to the market to buy the coarse cloth clothes worn by the peasants and changed their clothes.
The two stayed at an inn in the town to eat and rest, prepared enough dry food and water bladders, bought a carriage and two pack horses, and continued westward disguised as farmers.
Everything went so smoothly that Dalí learned how to suppress the non-human part of his body during the journey, and the animals would no longer be afraid of him, but as long as Dalí deliberately showed a murderous aura in his heart when facing the animals, the animals would quickly detect the dangerous aura on him and flee in fear.
After a few days of journey, the borders of the League of Nobles and the Duchy of Valstad were in sight, but they were forced to stop.
From the border ahead, there was the sound of artillery and dense gunfire, and Dalí knew that there was fighting ahead, and it sounded like there were still quite a few people on both sides, and the road was full of villagers fleeing with their families, and it seemed that they had to bypass here and cross the border from other places.
So they turned and walked back, and just then, what Dali had feared most happened, and a party of fugitives was getting closer and closer to them.
It turned out that not long after they walked out of the barn, a passer-by saw that the two were the fugitives they were looking for and reported the news to the police, and the gendarmerie of Tagarvi City quickly organized an elite pursuit party, all of which were heavily armed, and they followed the trail left by the two on swift horses, and finally chased the fugitives to the vicinity before they crossed the border.
Dalí was alerted to a group of riders in front of him, dressed in dark green chasseur uniforms, red feathers and badges on their bowler hats, and black capes fluttering in the wind, belonging to the gendarmerie unit in Tadjavi City to assist in policing.
The team was checking the faces of passers-by one as if they were looking for someone, and soon it would be their turn to be in their carriage.
Dali hurriedly untied the two horses from the cart, and fortunately he had saddled them and stirrups in advance, so he picked up Janine and shouted to her:
"You just run in the direction of the cannons! I'll follow you! Be sure to hold on to the reins! So saying, he himself turned on his horse and followed.
"Look over there, those two people suddenly got on their horses and turned around and ran! It's a fugitive! Pursue! "The gendarmes stopped checking passers-by and chased after them.
The pack horses that Dalí and Janine were riding were bought from the town, and they were no match for the military horses, and the two were soon brought closer.
"Stop! We're going to shoot! Seeing that the fugitive showed no sign of giving up, several of the gendarmerie knights who were chasing after him drew their carbines hanging from the side of the saddle and pulled the trigger on the fugitive's back.
Projectiles from behind whistled past their ears, and the sound of artillery in front of them sounded clearer and clearer, and they were already approaching the battlefield.
At this time, the road ahead came to an abrupt end, and Dalí thought it was a downhill road, but he did not expect that a steep slope suddenly appeared, and they could not dodge it, and even the men and horses fell heavily into the river below.
Seeing that the gendarmerie knights on the steep slope did not jump down, Dalí hurried around the flanks with their whips in an attempt to cut off their retreat.
Unable to care about it so much, Dali pulled up the soaked Jane Ning, and the two ran desperately in the direction of the battlefield.
At last, the chasing knights reined in their horses, and they chose to give up, because there were craters and corpses everywhere in front of them, and they had chased them to the edge of the battlefield, and the fugitives ran towards the center of the battlefield where the fierce battle was raging, and the gendarmes did not want to lose their lives for the pursuit, they cursed the damned fugitive to die on the battlefield, and then returned the way he came.