The town we found ourselves in was apparently the small village of Havensport, near Bristol. Complete with thatched roof homes and cobblestone streets, the village was vintage England. Numerous pedestrians walked passed us in their hats and scarves offering strange looks as we made our way through the streets, cuffed to each other. Wishing to stay inconspicuous, I stepped closer to Kael as we walked. Between Kael's mild limp and the cuffs, there wasn't a person in the village that wouldn't remember us if Madeline bothered to ask around.

Finally, we came across an inn a few blocks away from the station. The establishment had little to boast as far as appeal or amenities. The ceiling was dripping water in the entranceway from a shower earlier that day, and the smell of mildew overtook my senses. However, the proprietor was just gullible enough to believe that the cuffs had been a cruel party joke. As an apology for having nothing resembling a pick, he offered us an excellent rate on a room for a few hours to wash up and rest.

Once we were shown to a room, the sun had nearly set. The street lamps shone through dated floral curtains. The flowers didn't stop there either. The walls were covered in dated floral wallpaper with varying shades of browns and gold. There was scarcely a square inch of the paper that wasn't ripped or worn. A wooden desk stood to the side at the entry. A simple double bed with an old television opposite completed the tiny room. Across from the hall table was the bathroom. I glanced inside. Sink, shower, toilet and floral wallpaper had never in my life made me so happy.

"Ok, we have to get these off," I said, mostly to myself. I moved as I spoke, checking the hall table first, flinging open one of the draws. I felt like I hadn't relieved myself in days, and the thought of a hot shower nearly made me swoon. Bible. Notepad. Pen. Pulling out the pen I examined it. I turned, holding up my find, hopefully. "Can you use this?"

He frowned studying the pen. He reached up dragging my arm with him and took it. I noticed the perspiration on his brow, the damp spot on his shirt where blood had saturated it. He looked at pen a moment longer with glazed eyes before tossing on the desk. My heart sank.

"No. Harper, can we sit down a second?"

"Sure." I felt a twinge of guilt for having already forgotten my comrade's injuries. We headed for the bed and sat down, Kael wincing with the movement. He leaned on his left arm, pulling my hand with his to hold his side. I patted his shoulder awkwardly with my free arm. I found the silence tortuous, although he didn't seem to mind at all. Eyes closed he leaned forward slightly, holding his injury.

"Did you break a rib?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Yeah. I just need a minute." He wiped his brow without thinking, slapping my attached hand into his face. He dropped his arm and mine. "You're right; we've got to get these off."

I lifted our cuffed hands between us, tilting my head sideways. "You sure there was no other way?" He laughed briefly at my question, causing him to wince in pain again. I frowned empathetically, "sorry."

"No, I'm fine. I just thought..." He indicated toward the cuffs. His voice was low, quieter now than it had been when he spoke to Madeline. "I didn't want her to have the option of taking you without me. She's a mess Harper, and while she wouldn't have killed you, she may have done worse." I shuddered, trying not to imagine what he meant.

I slid the fingers of my free arm along the blood stained rag on my wrist. "Why did you have cuffs? Are you with the police?"

His bloodshot eyes slid sideways to meet mine. "Not technically." He seemed to be choosing his words wisely, speaking slowly. "I'm not playing twenty questions with you again."

I felt him watching me and shifted my weight on the bed. I had been in my share of uncomfortable situations before to be sure, but this one was quickly making its way to the top of the list. In an attempt to shift the focus off me, I looked back at his injury, pointing out that the red spot on his shirt was getting larger.

His eyes slid to mine. "Are you a nurse?"

"You know I'm not." I glared at him, wishing I knew how he seemed to know so much about me. In contrast, I knew nothing more than his name.

"I really just need an ace bandage to bind these ribs and stop this pain..." Kael's voice drifted off.

Realization struck me. "Is all the blood coming from an exposed rib?" Unconsciously, I shifted away from him, horrified at the thought.

He laughed softly and simultaneously winced in pain. I reminded myself to consider my words before speaking them, silencing any thoughts he may find humorous. "No, her knife nicked me."

We sat there in silence again, him leaning on his arm, my hand with his pressed against his injured side. Sitting here doing nothing was absurd. As the only one in the company not delirious from pain and blood loss, I took it upon myself to think of a solution. I reached for the phone.

"Harper, what are you doing?" He reached for the phone, but too late. I was already speaking to the lady at the desk, requesting she bring up a first aid kit for my friend who'd had a little accident. I even remembered to ask for the ace bandage at the last minute.

I smiled slightly as I hung up the phone, pleased to finally contribute something to our dismal situation. Kael looked less than pleased, however, as he scooted back to lean against the headboard. I moved with him, trying to explain myself. "Listen, I'm not going to just sit here while you bleed to death." I added, "You may thank me later."

"If Madeline finds us, I may not." He growled, clearly paranoid. I didn't see how calling the front desk would alert her to our whereabouts. Rather than argue, I remained silent.

The lady at the desk was remarkably quick with retrieving the kit. Kael identified what he needed, covering his knife wound with gauze before moving to the ace wrap. He started unbuttoning his shirt. As I removed the plastic wrap from the bandage, I decided I had better start with the questions now. Whether he liked it or not, there may not be another chance.

I tried to keep my voice as casual as possible, favoring a lunchtime chat between coworkers rather than an interrogation by an investigative reporter. "So who's Madeline?" I handed him the bandage. He left his shirt on, but I could see enough of his muscular torso to realize it was badly bruised. I tried to ignore the queasy feeling in my stomach and focus on our conversation.

"Just hold the start here, and I'll start wrapping." He said, ignoring my question.

"Was she... your girlfriend at one time? Woman's intuition you know, I could tell she liked you." I smiled at my own joke, forgetting my promise to myself to quell my humor and spare his rib. Fortunately, he did not seem to find me funny.

After a moment of silent wrapping he replied. "She was," his voice was solemn as he pulled the bandage tightly over his injured side, "but that was before I realized she was insane."

"Are you serious?" I dropped my end in my surprise. Looking up apologetically, I was grateful he didn't comment. We started rewrapping. "How did you two meet?"

"At work." He kept his eyes on the bandage.

Although I was convinced he was being intentionally difficult, he had always been evasive. "Where did you work?" I asked, hoping I wasn't pushing him too hard.

"We worked for your dad." He glanced up, noticing my face light up he added, "Who is also daft in case I haven't mentioned that."

When we finished wrapping, he immediately started thumbing through the contents of the kit. I tried to stay on topic, despite his shift in focus. "When you were, um, asking her 'where is he' was that about my father?"

"Yes!" He wore a self-satisfied grin as he pulled a large pin out of the kit.

I breathed a sigh of relief, no longer minding his distraction. The metal clanking onto the wood floors was the most beautiful sound I had ever heard. I jumped up and ran for the bathroom. I heard Kael laugh and consequently groan behind me.

When I came out, he was standing off to the side of the window, peering out between the blinds.

"What is it?" I was afraid to ask, and when he didn't reply, I became even more distraught. Suddenly, every aching muscle in my body screamed for attention. "Please no," I moaned. I was just starting to rationalize the situation, just beginning to feel like everything was going to work itself out. Walking to the window, I looked where he pointed. Below us, talking to a woman outside of our hotel, was Madeline.

"How did she find us?" I was frustrated, dirty and hungry. Her returned presence threatened to be the breaking point for me.

Kael eyed the lamp lit streets below as Madeline moved into the shadows. "She's a bloodhound, Harper, I swear." He turned toward me. "We have to leave now. You alright to travel? Just few hours from the manor."

I blinked in surprise. "Harper Manor?"

"That's the one." He didn't look at me as he went back to the bed and dug through the first aid kit. He stuffed a fistful of bandages and a tube of antibiotic ointment into the empty bag we had found earlier on Madeline.

"Are you sure we can go there? Won't that be the first place she looks?" I walked to the bed, pulled the ointment out of the bag, and squirted some of the greasy substance on my wrist. Within seconds, the ointment dulled the throbbing pain in my wrist.

He took the tube from me, tossing it back into the bag. "Sure, but we will have protection and help," he said as he returned the gun to the back of his waistband.

I was growing tired of his half explanations. I went back to the window to look for Madeline, but she was gone. Turning back to him with folded arms across my chest, I didn't move from my spot. "Protection is wonderful, but who will help us? I don't understand. Why would anyone help us?"

He looked up at me. Waiting stubbornly, I was determined to not go anywhere without explanation.

"In your father's absence, I am running the manor. I wish I could explain." He ran his hand through his hair and came to stand by me at the window. When we looked down, the empty streets seemed farther beneath us, hiding unimaginable dangers in their shadows. I could sense his tension. "It will seem strange, and I might seem like the baddie in this, Harper, but you have to go with me, ok? I know I haven't given you a million reasons to, but can you please just trust me?"

"Why would you seem like the bad guy? What are you not telling me, Kael?" I tried again. I felt like he was about to give in, tell me whatever it was that he was hiding. His eyes shifted across the window, following no specific object, deep in thought. "You saved my life. Of course I trust you." For the most part, my thoughts interjected. I whispered desperately, "Just tell me. I promise, I can handle it."

He looked at me, shaking his head slowly, but for once answered my question. "Because your dad and I were running an illegal business through the manor."

Whether it was the words themselves or his ominous tone, I wasn't sure. Something made the hair on my arms raise. "What do you mean?" I tried to back away from him but collided with the wall near the window instead.

He made a rough, frustrated sound in the back of his throat, moving to look out the window again.

"Tell me." I whispered the words, but my look told of my determination, I was sure. "I'm not going anywhere unless you do."

Kael's jaw clenched, but my threat had its intended effect. "In short we are smugglers. We traffic goods, people, and basically any illegal contraband that needs to make its way invisibly into or out of Europe. It's a century old business. The manor makes the perfect place to transport the goods. He pretty much owns the whole bay and the caverns under her."

He saw my look of horror following his sudden onslaught of honesty but went on with strained patience. "It's very complicated, but I know my way around these people, and we can use them now. But if they suspect anything, if they so much as wonder if you might be uncomfortable with this, they will not hesitate to take you out of the equation. Do you understand? Just follow my lead. It's the only place we can go right now to regroup where she can't follow us."

He studied me, and when I didn't say anything, he asked simply, "Ok?"

I realized my hand was over my mouth. Dropping my hand to my neckline, I searched for words in a shaking voice. "So..." my voice faltered. "You said you and my father. You both. You do this too?"

"That's what I said. And if the old man's dead, I may have just inherited the business." My eyes widened, and he seemed to follow my train of thought.

He took a step backward. "I'm not your brother if that's what you are thinking."

My shoulders sank, relieved. I'm not sure why; I had always wanted a sibling. But somehow adding a sibling to this mess would just make a complicated situation worse.

"I've already told you too much. We should already be gone."

I stared. With this new information, I couldn't imagine traveling with him anymore. This put both him and my father in a new light. There had been many careers I had contrived for my father over the years. Smuggling had not been one of them.

Kael headed toward the door, and something told me that following him was no longer an option. I needed to get away from him. In my mind, I tried to think of a plan, even as I fought the moisture building behind my eyes. Not wanting him to see my cry, I turned away and slung Madeline's bag over my shoulder. I had to wait for the right moment.

I took a deep breath, bracing for what was to come. From now on, I had to appear to be compliant, both with him and those I would soon meet at the manor. I heard him wait at the door for me. Moving to follow, I called reassuringly, "I'm right behind you."

*****

Harper is already in over her head, but this adds a new layer to her troubles. What do you think of Kael's confession?  Please let me know in the comments and don't forget to vote!

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