King And Lionheart

Chapter 2- Oak

Oak-

I hurried along the wooden bridge. My footsteps made vibrations rock the bridge. I stopped at the end of it and looked either way. Arthur followed me, footsteps thundering.

“Cole?” I called, once I was sure we were alone. There was silence for a minute. “Cole!”

“Oak?”

There was a rustling in the trees above my head. I looked up just in time to hear-

“Look out!”

A boy with a mess of black hair jumped down in front of me. I stepped backwards slightly.

“Cole!” I grinned.

“Who’s this?” Cole asked, gesturing at Arthur.

“Oh, um… this is Arthur,” I introduced him. Cole’s eyes widened.

“So we found him?” he asked. “At last!”

“Arthur, this is Cole.” I finished the introductions.

Cole nodded. “Hey. Oak, we’ve got to get back to Camelot. Ivere and Mor are waiting.”

“Yeah. Um, Arthur. You’d better come with us,” I shrugged. I pulled my old mobile phone that Ivere had given me from an inside pocket in my long brown coat. “Ivere? We’re coming back… yeah, we found him.”

I snapped the phone shut and slipped it back into my pocket. “Ready? Arthur, have you ever ridden before?”

“No,” Arthur shook his head.

“Great,” I muttered. “Just what we needed.”

“Oak,” Cole warned. He smiled at Arthur. “Ignore Oak. He’s always like this- sensible.”

Three horses appeared from the trees- two plain brown, one sleek black. I walked forwards and took the reins of the black horse, holding it still. I gestured to Arthur.

“Cole, give him a leg up,” I instructed. Cole walked to the side of the black horse and helped Arthur up. I handed him the reins and showed him how to hold them before turning to one of the brown horses- my gelding, Albion.

“Ready?” I asked Cole, once I was sat on Albion. He nodded from the back of his gelding Hunter and I glanced at Arthur. “Just follow us. It’s not that hard. Caliburn will follow Albion.”

Arthur nodded. I tapped Albion’s sides and pushed him forwards.