Paths to destiny.

Chapter 8. Young and vibrant.

Now it was evening and the sun was setting. Abby had returned some minutes ago. She came alone.

About an hour after her return, there was a heavy knock on the door though it did sound as a threat to Mueller and Abby. So Gabriel stayed calm even though his instinct had told him to run. He just concluded that since Mueller and Abby were not curious about the hard knock on the door, then it would be that they were expecting some visitors and they would be nice people just like them.

Abby went and opened the door as they knocked the second time.

"Welcome sire," She greeted them at the door post yet Gabriel hadn't seen who it was. Through her salutation, he could tell that the person or people at the door were not mare civilians. So he stands from his seat about to excuse himself.

Then the people at the door walked into the house as she made way for them. It was three men. Huron Haas was in the middle.

As he saw Byron, Gabriel hastened up to depart from the room as he backed them.

"Excuse me." Byron said as he noticed the movement of Gabriel. He hasn't seen the face but the reaction alone told him that he should be the one they have come for and that was why he wanted to escape.

Gabriel froze as Byron spoke, still refusing to make the turn because he did not want them to behold his face.

"You are welcome to my humble home, Lord Byron. Please have a seat." Mueller said as Byron sat on one of the chairs yet the two guards that had come with him were still standing.

"Thanks for receiving me, Mueller." Byron said then Gabriel took a slow move to leave as he thought Byron's attention was no longer on him. As he made the step, Byron said to him again. "Excuse me boy, would you do me the favor of turning around?"

So Gabriel slowly turned around but his face was buried to the ground like one who was making a bow. "Good evening my lord."

"You can raise your head now."

"I'm sorry my lord, but I should go now. I have unfinished business inside."

"Raising your face so I could take a look won't stop you from completing whatever it was that you were doing."

That comment of Byron made Gabriel know that something was not right. He instantly had the feeling that they were now going house to house in search of him. Since he knew that Byron could recognize him, he did not think twice to run. If it were some other person who had now seen him before then he would have summoned the courage to raise his face and pretend he was somebody else.

He took the door leading to the kitchen and then outside the building through another exit.

Immediately he took to his heels, the two guards with Byron did not wait for an instruction before they followed him.

"He is the one, right?" Byron asked Mueller and Abby. He had not seen the face so he was not sure if it was the person he had come for.

"Yes, that's him." Abby answered.

At once, Byron did not waste anymore minutes with them inside the house. He too ran out through the main entrance and turned around the house to follow his men who had first gone after Gabriel. Two men who had waited outside while Byron and the other two went into the house also followed their master without asking why he was running and who he was after.

Mueller and Abby also came out of the house but the soldiers were all gone. It was then at this point that Abby began to think twice on what she had done. She was surprised as to why Gabriel had taken off like that and the soldiers even followed him without waiting a second.

"What is going on, grandpa?" She asked with a worrisome face.

But Mueller was unable to answer that question. He too was as confused as Abby. Byron had gone after Gabriel like one chasing a prey. Whereas he believed and thought Byron to be the only good ruler in all of Tadeas. He saw Byron to be someone who would stand for justice and reinstall Gabriel as king over Tadeas.

What just played out before them made both Mueller and Abby feel very guilty of their actions. They were the ones who told Byron about Gabriel and they also called them to pick him up at their house. They have literally told Gabriel's enemy about him and now he is surely going to be caught.

*****

If there was one thing Gabriel was very good at, it was race. He was a very fast runner. The magnitude of speed which he used in jumping some obstacles like fences and some others was too technical for someone of his stand. It made the two soldiers who were closing on him to take him to be a well trained and experienced thief.

But all the same, they were trained soldiers, so they did their best to follow his tracks with their eyes on him even though he was quite distant from them.

While he ran, he thought of so many means of losing the soldiers. As he was in this thought, he took a wrong turn which led to the path which Byron and the others had taken to compass him.

Gabriel was quick to notice them, so he took another turn. Even though he did not know his way around Mayca, he made use of every route in order to lose his pursuers.

Now the five of them were all chasing him from one direction with no sign of giving up. Their chase continued until the cloud was dark, and it was difficult for the soldiers to continue following his tracks. They finally lost him due to the darkest of the sky. So they said to themselves that they would continue the search when the sky was bright again.

Gabriel, noticing that his pursuers had taken a break from the chase even though they were not too far from him. They had lit a lamp where they camped for the night. It was in the middle of the woods where he had led them into so they believed that he too would rest for the night at some spot.

But their thoughts were wrong, Gabriel was young and vibrant, adding to the fact that he had taken a good rest at the house of Mueller before they came. So he ceased that moment and left the woods while they rested from the chase.