Bartholomew Nelson and the World of Zathya: The Prince and The Heir

Chapter 18

The cold air and the loud whistles of the wind woke Bart up as he lie slumped on the cave wall. Charlotte had somehow started a small fire and was crouched over it trying to stay warm. Bart realized she had put a blanket over him, and he felt bad for taking all of the warmth.

"How long was I out?" he asked as he brought the blanket over to Charlotte. He didn't even remember falling asleep. The last thing he remembered was looking out at the rain pouring down. It had stopped, but it couldn't have been too long ago because the ground outside was still wet.

"It's been a couple hours I think. It's the middle of the night, but I don't know exactly what time. It's kind of hard to keep track of what time it is with no watches or clocks." Bart looked at his watch and hadn't realized that the screen was just blinking "00:00".

"Yeah, that sucks." Bart looked down at the fire and was wondering how Charlotte managed to pull this off. "So you wielded us a fire?" he asked with a smile.

"No," she said with a laugh. "I went and got wood from further in the cave. It's not that deep and there isn't another entrance so I figured it was a good idea. I did it the old fashioned way." Bart laughed it off and sat down. Something about Charlotte seemed off and Bart couldn't quite put his finger on it. Even though she had laughed lightly, there was this look on her face that suggested something had gone terribly wrong.

"Is everything okay?" he asked finally. She didn't immediately respond but when she did her face looked scared.

"Bart," she said. "What if we can't make it out of this forest? We keep losing our guides, which in some way seems to be some kind of bad joke because we are really good at losing them and seeing that we are in a place that we know nothing about that is becoming a very bad habit of ours." Bart could clearly see that she was starting to lose her cool and he raised his hand to calm her down.

"Look, Char, we can do this," he started calmly. "We've got this map and we aren't completely helpless anymore. As long as we follow the map, we will be out of the woods in three days just like Mr. Phinnly said. So don't worry." Bart's words must've had a positive effect on Charlotte because she managed a smile and then took a deep breath. Bart was a little worried, too but after all the things they had been through, getting through the woods with a perfectly set path didn't seem like the biggest of their worries.

"Well I guess we should eat some before we set out," said Charlotte.

"Don't you think traveling in the middle of the night is a bad idea?" Bart asked. In his mind, trying to navigate through an enchanted forest with a map in the dark didn't seem like a good idea.

"That's probably a good call," Charlotte said, agreeing with him. "They will probably be searching for us and if we are going to make it out, we need all the light and help we can get." Bart nodded and the two friends opened the bag to see what they could eat.

"Just bread and water," Bart said after cleaning out the entire bag.

"I don't think we have room to be picky right now," Charlotte said. "I mean yeah it's not an all you can eat buffet but it's definitely better than nothing at all." Bart knew she was right. Being picky was not one of their options, and since the old man could've given them nothing, he decided he could be a little more appreciative. They started to eat and after about thirty minutes, Charlotte dozed off, and it was Bart's turn to be the lookout again. He sat near the entrance of the cave and began to think. Over a month ago, he was avoiding doing his chores and helping his mom with the Festival. Now he was sitting inside a dark cave avoiding crazy henchman and probable death. It's crazy how he was wishing to go back to those chores now.