Brenda looked at the berries in her hand and then back up at Jax’s panic-stricken face. "Oh, my God!" she cried, dropping the rest of the berries. "Are they poison? Am I going to die?"

Brenda’s hands began to tremble and Jax closed the space between them, taking her hands in his. "They’re *not* poison, Brenda, but they can make a person pretty sick." She began to nod her head but she was still breathing deeply and her eyes brimmed with tears. "Now, sweetie, just tell me how many you ate."

Suddenly, her defense mechanisms kicked in. She pulled her hands from his grasp and back up a few steps. "Well, how was *I* supposed to know if they were bad for me or not? You never told me that I shouldn’t eat the d*mn berries!"

Jax put his hands on his hips and swore under his breath. "Brenda, that’s not important right now. Just tell me…."

"I DON’T KNOW HOW MANY FRICKING BERRIES I ATE!!" Brenda stamped both feet for emphasis, half in anger and half in fear. She folded her arms as Jax put his hands to his head in frustration. "Besides, maybe they won’t have that effect on me. I mean, I feel fine." She smiled at Jax but then her body suddenly contracted as though someone had punched her in the stomach.

"Fine?" Jax arched an eyebrow at her.

"Fine," she answered in a determined voice. She smiled at him again, but then, not two seconds elapsed before she doubled over and was violently sick in front of him.

Jax rushed forward as soon as he saw her buckle. He tried to hold her upper body as the spasms racked her, but Brenda pushed him away with one hand. When she finished vomiting, she cleared her throat and pushed her hair off her forehead. "That doesn’t mean anything."

Jax stood up next to the still-crouching Brenda and shook his head in exasperation. "Brenda……"

"It could have been the cheese, Jax." She looked up at him with fire in her eyes. "You may be some hot shot spy guy and you may know all there is to know about this stinking country, but you’re no doctor." She wiped her hands together and then put them to her hips, trying to stand. "After all, everyone’s body is different. Maybe my stomach is stronger than most." She took a deep breath and rose to her full height. "See – I feel fine now. Don’t you remember how I always could eat more of those awful tacos that Jose sold down at the beach than you could?"

"Brenda, I really don’t think this is the time to be tripping down memory lane about our gastric experiences….."

"You’re right …. It’s not." She clapped her hands together and then rubbed them together briskly. "We should be moving on so that Rashid’s men don’t….."

Jax watched in sympathy as Brenda stopped short and her face turned white. She clutched her stomach and doubled over again, this time turning away from him as she retched. Jax was at her side in an instant, trying to pull her hair away from her face and hold it out of her way until everything emptied out of her stomach.

"Brenda," he whispered, "please….let me help you."

Brenda looked up at him with venom in her eyes, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. "I’ll be fine, Jax … really I will." She took a deep but shaky breath. "Now that the berries are out and can’t bother me anymore, I’ll be just peachy."

"Uh-huh, yeah." Jax tried to wipe her face with his hand but she pulled back from him immediately. He looked around and then yanked his shirt free of the waistband of his pants.

"What do you think you’re doing?"

"I was going to cut off a strip of my shirt – I thought I could soak it in some water and you could use it to bathe your face." Jax reached for her face again but Brenda jerked away and tried to stand.

"I don’t need a nursemaid, Jax." She rose to her feet, wobbling a little as she blinked her eyes twice. Then she shook her head and looked around. "Come on. Let’s get out of here."

"Brenda!" But Jax’s call was too late. She was already stomping back in the direction of her horse and he had to run to catch up to her. He finally managed to snag her arm as she reached her horse and tried to mount. "Brenda! What the bloody h*ll do you think you’re doing?"

"I’m getting up on my horse, Jax," she answered smartly. "Now I suggest you do the same and we move on. Didn’t you say you wanted to get to some ravine before dark?"

Jax’s eyes narrowed and he looked at her intently. "Are you sure you feel well enough to travel?"

"Jax, I feel……" Brenda put her hand to her mouth but then gave Jax a superior smile. "See – just a burp. I really feel….."

Brenda never finished as she doubled over and began to vomit again. Jax caught her in his arms, reaching for the piece of string she had saved from the cheese. As she continued to heave, he efficiently tied her hair back, away from her face.

After the spasms had passed again, Brenda didn’t try to get up. Like a boxer down for the count, she just lay down and whimpered on the ground. Jax crouched next to her for a moment, but then he rose and went to her saddle bag. He pulled out an old T-shirt and ripped off a section. He took one more look at her before jogging away towards the stream.

When Jax returned, Brenda was still lying in a fetal position next to her horse. Just as he crouched down next to her, dry heaves racked her body again. Jax held her tenderly and tried to mop her face between the spells of awful nausea.

"Jax," she finally whispered, "I can’t hold you back like this. We have to keep moving or Rashid’s men will catch up to us."

"I know, princess." Jax looked around grimly. "Will you be alright for a few minutes? I’m going to hitch your horse to mine." Brenda nodded weakly and Jax rose to accomplish what he had described. When he returned, he knelt down and scooped her body off the ground, cradling her to his chest.

"Jax? What are you…." Brenda buried her head against Jax’s chest and just held her stomach, moaning loudly with pain.

"I know, love. I know it hurts." Jax rubbed her head against the side of his cheek and inhaled her fragrance. "Hold on now, I’m going to try to get us up on the horse."

Somehow, Jax managed to mount his horse with Brenda in his arms. He held her tightly and then clucked at the horse, urging it forward with his knees. Glancing back once to make sure the other horse was following, they began moving slowly back to the main road.

Jax had to stop two more times so that Brenda could hug the ground as spasms gripped her stomach. He tried to keep her forehead moist and soothe her as much as he could, but as he suspected, it wasn’t long before she was crying and begging him to shoot her. "Jax, please," she groaned, "we’re not going to make it out of here alive, anyway." She started to cry softly. "I’m stupid and naive, just like my father always said, and now I’m only going to get you killed because of it."

Jax held Brenda to him and tried to mop her brow again. "I’m sure you feel like dying would be a blessing right now, Brenda, but I guarantee you – this will pass in a few hours." He chuckled a little. "And I have no intention of dying in this h*llhole, sweetie, so don’t give up on us yet."

"You always were a little Jaxxy sunshine," she growled, to Jax’s delight. Jax lifted her to him again and as she moaned loudly, he mounted the horse again. They rode together that way for almost an hour, with Brenda occasionally grabbing Jax’s shirt as another cramp attacked her.

It seemed like an eternity before Brenda felt the horses come to a stop. "Jax? Did I die yet?" She just about got the words out of her mouth when she flinched in his arms with another bout of cramps.

"Not yet, duchess." Jax rose a little in the saddle and then held Brenda more tightly. "I’ve got an idea. Hold on." He dismounted the horse and walked a few paces before placing Brenda gently down on the grass. "Stay here and don’t……"

"….I know, I know…." Brenda waved a hand at him, her eyes still closed. "I’ll just have to tell Antonio Banderas to come back later for that quickie I promised him."

"That’s my girl." Jax smiled grimly and was gone before Brenda could even open her eyes. About ten minutes later, she heard his footsteps returning. She weakly opened her eyes and saw he was holding something in his cupped hand.

"Jax? What are you doing?"

"Don’t ask questions, love." He knelt down next to her and pulled her into a sitting position in his arms. "Now just open your mouth and close your eyes."

Brenda opened one eye despite his instructions. "Why? What are you going to do? Feed me more berries so I can finally die in peace?"

"Hopefully heal that poor stomach of yours." Jax pulled her tighter to him. "Now do what I said and open up."

"But Jax…." Brenda never finished the thought as Jax seized the opportunity and poured the contents of his cupped hand into her mouth. Brenda’s eyes immediately flew wide open and she bolted upright, trying to spit out the offensive stuff. But Jax held her lips closed with one hand while he gripped her shoulders with the other.

"Don’t fight it, Brenda. Just swallow." Jax slid one hand up to start to pinch her nose shut but before he could do that, Brenda swallowed hard. "That’s my girl," Jax crooned, laying her back in his arms and swabbing her forehead with another damp cloth.

Brenda was taking such deep breaths that she thought she might hyperventilate. "Jax! What *was* that nasty tasting …… thing?"

"It was a raw egg, Brenda. Hair of the dog, so to speak. " He watched her face get even more pale and as she sat up straight again, she clutched her stomach and faced away from him to heave. But the bout of nausea didn’t last as long as the others, and when she turned back to him, she grimaced.

"What kind of raw egg?" she whispered, pushing her hair back off her forehead and batting away his hand.

Jax chuckled a little, pushing the hair away anyway. "Ignorance is bliss sometimes, duchess." He tipped her chin up so that her eyes met his. "But you *do* feel better, don’t you?"

Brenda put her flat hand to her forehead and closed her eyes. "Well……maybe." She sighed. "The entire forest is still going around in circles but at least my stomach doesn’t hurt as bad."

"The dizziness will fade soon, Brenda." Jax scooped her up into his arms again. "So let’s get going again. I want to make it to that ravine before dark."

Brenda wrapped her arms around Jax’s neck and only groaned a little as he mounted his horse with her. They rode in silence for over an hour, and Brenda finally fell asleep, falling victim to the rigors of the day, the warm comfort of Jax’s arms, and the swaying motion of the horse.

When she finally woke, the moon was shining brightly but they were still moving. "Jax?" she mumbled, trying to push her hair out of her eyes.

"Careful, duchess," Jax murmured. "Don’t wiggle around too much or you’ll make both of us lose our balance and fall off this poor horse."

"Where are we?"

"The ravine I was telling you about is about 200 feet ahead," Jax replied. "Do you think you can stay seated on this horse by yourself?"

"Why?" Brenda was suddenly alert and tense. "What are you going to do?"

"I’m going to make sure that we don’t crash somebody else’s party in there," Jax shot back as he slid down off the horse. "This ravine provides a lot of natural protection – I’m sure a lot of the locals know about it and use it as a convenient camping grounds." He flexed at the knees once or twice and then patted the horse’s rump, handing the reins back to Brenda. "Stay here until I come back for you." He pulled his weapon from inside his jacket and cocked it, causing Brenda to flinch. "If you hear any shots fired, just take off in the other direction h*ll for leather and don’t look back."

"Jax, I….."

Jax held up a hand. "Don’t argue with me, Brenda. Now for once in your life, just do what I tell you." Before she could protest that she wouldn’t leave without him, he had disappeared into the night.

It seemed like hours but it was actually only about ten minutes when Jax returned. "Coast’s clear. It doesn’t look like anyone’s used the facilities for quite some time, in fact." He took the reins of his horse and began leading it towards the mouth of the ravine. Jax glanced back up at Brenda once. "See – I told you that raw egg would do the trick."

"Don’t rub it in, you overgrown Boy Scout," she replied sourly. "Right now, I’d give anything for a Whopper with cheese."

"Well, I’ll give you one thing, duchess," Jax grinned. "You’re an equal opportunity junk food fanatic." He glanced around as they entered the ravine. "We’ll be able to risk a fire in here tonight, so I think you can have some of that freeze-dried stew if you feel up to it."

Jax finally brought the horses to a stop next to a stream that shone like liquid silver in the moonlight. "This looks like as good a place as any to make camp for the night." He put his hands up to Brenda. "There’s a natural spring just around that bend," he said, inclining his head towards the right. "The water’s pretty warm if I remember correctly. It might make you feel human again."

"Thanks." Brenda moved shyly towards her own horse and backpack. She finally looked back at Jax as he began to build a fire. "And Jax?" He looked up. "Thanks …… well, thanks for taking care of me….." She stammered awkwardly and pushed around the dirt at her feet with her toe.

Jax smiled in understanding. "That’s OK, Brenda. It was an innocent mistake." As she turned to head towards the stream with her bar of soap, toothbrush, and the robe Jax had gotten for her earlier in the day, he called out to her. "But if you see anything growing anywhere near the stream – DON’T EAT IT!!!"

Brenda gave him a mock salute. "Yes, sir!!" She found the bubbling natural spring with little trouble and after disrobing, sank her aching body into the warm water with a sigh. It almost seemed idyllic – the warm, frothy water, lit by only the thousands of stars in the clear night sky. She looked around once, not sure if she heard a noise, but then when everything seemed silent again, she finished washing herself and shampooing her hair quickly.

When she came back to the campsite, it was lit by a brightly glowing fire. She arched an eyebrow when Jax looked up at her from his crouched position beside the fire. "I’m surprised you weren’t afraid for me to be down at the spring by myself."

Jax stirred something in two tin cans over the fire. "I was pretty sure that you would be fine down there." He grinned wickedly but never looked up at her. "Although I did sneak down there once or twice, just to make sure you were safe."

Brenda’s eyes grew wide. "You watched me?!! You pervert, you!!!" She leaned down to pick up a small rock and tossed it at him, missing him by several feet.

"Geez, with aim like that, duchess, Rashid should have signed you up for his corps of sharpshooters!" He continued to chuckle as Brenda settled herself on a log near him.

She inhaled the fragrance coming from the cans. "Mmmm….either I’m just starved from barfing my brains out for 6 hours or that smells really good." She looked around in confusion. "But – isn’t it dangerous to have a fire like that? Won’t somebody notice it, I mean?"

"This ravine is pretty well sealed off from the rest of the mountain," Jax replied. "We’ll be OK." He held out a can to her. "Feel like giving it a taste test?"

"Only if it’s not those horrid berries." Brenda accepted the can and gave Jax a contrite smile. "Gosh, I guess when they gave you the assignment of getting me out of here, you probably had some choice words."

"It wasn’t exactly a matter of them telling me to do it, duchess." Jax poked at his stew with his fork, not looking up at her surprised face. "I think that unless I had volunteered to come over here, they would have figured you deserved whatever happened to you."

Brenda shook her head at her own naivete again, and Jax finally looked up. "Do you miss him?"

"Rashid?" Now it was Brenda’s turn to avoid Jax’s gaze. "I think I miss what we were supposed to be. What I *thought* my life was going to be."

"You looked like you were happy with him." Jax caught her shocked gaze. "I still have that subscription to People Magazine, you know."

Again, Brenda stabbed a piece of stew with a dejected grin. "Yeah, I’m sure daddy figured I finally found a place where I belonged when he saw that cover article." She held up her hands, framing an imaginary picture in the air. "The Crown Prince-elect and his bride-to-be, complete with fairy princess dress and tiara." She winked at Jax. "Cubic zirconia, of course." She shook her head again and stewed her tin can of supper. "I should have known there and then that something was wrong with the picture – the *big* picture."

Jax slapped his knees. "Well, what’s that they say about hindsight being 20/20?" He began moving towards the sleeping bags as he dumped out what was left in his can of stew.

"It sure is when it comes to whether or not to eat berries in a strange forest," Brenda said with a grimace. She watched Jax for a few moments and when she saw him zipping the sleeping bags together, she rose awkwardly. "Uh, Jax…..I really don’t think…..I mean, I’m pretty wiped out….after everything that happened today…."

Jax looked up momentarily but then went back to his work, shaking out his bedroll. "You won’t have to worry about me attacking you tonight, Brenda. I know that you’ve probably got the mother of all headaches." He looked up and she saw the pain in his eyes. "Besides, you were pretty clear this morning that our making love was a blunder, not to be repeated anytime soon."

"Jax…I never meant…" Brenda wrung her hands, but then just shook her head and threw away what was left of her supper. "Oh, forget it. I’m too tired to argue with you tonight."

She slipped her weary body inside the sleeping bag and Jax slid in beside her, placing his weapon on the ground near his head. Brenda rattled around for a few minutes trying to get comfortable, but then finally Jax pulled her back to his front, spooning her with his body. "Here. You can lay your head on my chest if it will stop your infernal wiggling."

Brenda looked up at him with soft velvet eyes, and Jax had to fight the rising desire that seized his body. But as he saw the lids desperately trying to stay up, he stroked her hair gently. "Good night, duchess."

"Good night, Jax." The sound of his heartbeat soon lulled her into a fitful sleep.

*^*^*^*

The sound of a twig snapping immediately brought Brenda out of her slumber. She felt Jax’s already-tense body behind her, and just as she was about to ask him what was going on, he pushed her down further into the sleeping bag. She heard a low voice speaking in a Drakarian dialect that she faintly recognized.

"Don’t move and nobody gets hurt."

She felt Jax’s hand begin to inch its way towards his pistol, which lay on the ground near his head. But then she felt his body tense again and as she managed to raise her head from beneath the sleeping bag, she saw the faint outline of a small man near the horses. Although he looked fairly short and was dressed in the costume of a Drakarian peasant, the rifle he had trained on Jax’s chest demanded her full attention.

"I said, keep your hand away from the gun and we won’t hurt you."

Jax’s voice was low as he matched the peasant’s dialect. "What do you want? We have no money."

"You have horses. That’s all we want."

"But if you take our horses, we have no way of getting to the border," Jax argued, inching his hand nearer the gun. "Just take some of the food and we’ll forget you were here."

Brenda had to stifle her gasp as she heard the sound of the rifle being cocked. "I said, keep your hand away from the weapon or I’ll shoot it off!" Brenda stuffed her fist in her mouth to prevent from screaming.

"All right, all right." Jax pulled his hand back to embrace a trembling Brenda. "I won’t touch the gun."

The peasant moved closer to the horses, unlacing the backpacks and saddles and throwing them on the ground. "We don’t care about your supplies or the woman." Brenda felt Jax inhale sharply. He hadn’t been sure if the rebel had seen Brenda, but obviously he had. "The horses come with me."

She felt Jax draw a breath to answer but she cut him off before he could. "Go ahead and take the horses. Just don’t hurt us," Brenda called. She heard Jax swear at her under his breath but then she elbowed him in the ribs and heard the peasant chuckle.

"She’s a smart woman." They lay frozen in place for a few minutes as they could hear the horses’ hoofs echoing in the night, the sound growing more and more distant. Finally, when they couldn’t hear the clip/clop any longer, Jax leaped from the sleeping bag and grabbed his pistol.

"D*mn, Brenda! It’s a fine mell of a hess you’ve gotten us into this time!"

"Me??!! It’s not *my* fault some runty little rebel managed to get the drop on the big, bad WSB agent!" She bristled and pulled the sleeping bag closer around her. "Don’t take it out on me just because you’re angry that he outsmarted you."

She heard Jax’s sigh as the wind left his lungs. "You still know me too well." He set the pistol back down again and climbed back into the sleeping bag next to her. "We might as well try to get some sleep. It’s going to be a long day tomorrow, between walking and carrying our own backpacks."

^*^*^

Brenda never realized how true that statement was until she had hiked behind Jax for over an hour. "Jax? Can we stop soon?"

"What’s the matter, love? Is there a Stuckey’s up ahead and you just can’t resist buying one more pecan log?"

Brenda stopped dead in her tracks and put her hands on her hips. "Jax, how many times are you going to make me apologize for something that wasn’t *my* fault?" She smirked at him. "You’re still p*ssed at yourself for letting that Barney Fife wannabe take away our horses."

Jax turned to look back at her and sighed. "Yeah, I know you apologized. And I know it’s not your fault." He ran his hands through his hair, rubbing it briskly. "All I *do* know is that if word of this ever gets back to Robert Scorpio, he’ll make me go through basic training again until I’m gray."

Brenda glanced at the trail ahead of them. "How far is it to the border, do you think?"

"I’m not sure, but maybe our skinny friend may have done us a favor." Jax peered at the trail, which forked about 20 feet ahead of them. "With the horses, we would have had to take the southern road." He shaded his eyes with his open hand. "But without them, we can follow the northern path. It’s too narrow for the horses to navigate, but we should be fine. Going over the ridge of the mountains should save us about a day’s travel."

Brenda tried to smile. "Great." She waved a hand in front of her. "Lead on, keemo-sabee."

But as they took the fork that Jax told her was the northern route, Brenda immediately began to doubt how wonderful time-saving really was. They traveled over rocky ground for about an hour, and then Brenda caught her breath when they broke through the trees.

"See – there we go. Just over that ridge is the main road towards Lontak."

Brenda swallowed hard. "That ridge" was a trail about 10 inches wide that hugged the side of the mountain. There was at least a 200 foot drop-off beneath the trail. She glanced back at her backpack, which could easily force her to lose balance.

Just what Brenda wanted. To cross a tightrope with a 40 pound weight on her back. Brenda Barrett – who was deathly afraid of heights.

To be continued……

Author’s Note: If you read the original novel, there IS a love scene between the hero and heroine by the campfire. But I found it difficult to write about a couple making passionate love after the heroine had just been "barfing her brains out" for the previous six hours. My apologies for the lack of nooky.