EDWINA (Sample)

Chapter Six

He grabbed her arm and hauled her up on her feet, wrapping the reins of his horse around his other hand tightly, now that the horse was calm then he said to her again. "We need shelter."

Turning to the left and pulling her along with his horse and walking through the bush through the rain, he finally found a cave and he led them all inside. Luckily for him, there were dry twigs in the cave and he gathered what he could and started a fire in the middle of the cave to warm them up. The fire kindled quickly and was bright soon, eating away at the branch and twigs and flaming up to illuminate the cave. Edwina looked around and noticed that the cave had a high roof and was not very deep inside. There black things occupying the roof and when one of the things fluttered its wing and settled still again, she looked closely and she realized that the black images were bats hanging upside down and they seemed to be asleep with their wings wrapped, concealing their bodies and their tiny ears exposed. Some of them fluttered their wings restlessly when they seemed uncomfortable or were disturbed by the clap of thunder.

Edwina watched as Hector's white horse plodded around the fire in a circle and finally settled down not too far from it across from the opening of the cave with the fire between them when it found a comfortable spot, its oblong white- maned head laying on the floor in front of its folded forelegs and its eyes turned to stare blankly at the fire which obviously brought warmth to its wet coat and its ears twitched sometimes when the wind howled or when the rain changed its rhythm.

Sometimes, it would raise its head in alarm to listen when there was a sudden clap of thunder that was deafening or when there was a bright flash of lightening. These also unsettled the bats who fluttered their wings restlessly before folding their wings into place and drifting back into slumber.

Edwina sat down at the opposite side close to the cave entrance against the wall and very far from the fire and wrapped her arms around her knees as she tried to keep herself from trembling from the cold. Hector who was through with depositing more short branches and twigs into the fire to keep it going, sat down before the fire, leaning his back against the warmedup belly of his horse whose tail was swishing occasionally as it tried to get some sleep. He stared at the fire and heaved a heavy sigh as he listened to the sound of the rain outside. It was the first time he was spending a night in a cave far away from his kingdom but it didn't really bother him. What bothered him was the mute statue he had for company. It was that bad that he had the company of a striking woman who wouldn't even talk to him.

Watching the flickering flame and listening to the bursting sounds of the branches and the twigs which sent glowing sparks flying into the air, mixed with the sound of the trembling leaves that took the beating of the rain and the low rumbling of thunder some distances away in the belly of the grey clouds, Hector pulled out his dagger and decided to do something to while away some time since the night would obviously be spent in silence. He began to sharpen his dagger and soon slipped into his personal thoughts.

His thoughts traveled far, making him forget his present situation. The thought that occupied his mind were thoughts about his late mother, the true Queen of Avalon who had died more than a decade ago and who had given him his white horse on one of his birthdays and he had grown up with the horse as a companion who only answered to his call and only let him ride it and nobody else not even Cedric. The horse besides the few other gifts given to him was one of the last things his mother had left him before her sudden unexpected death. The sudden clap of thunder after a quick flash of lightening jolted him out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Edwina, wrap her arms tighter around her knees, still wet and cold, then he returned his full attention to his dagger again.

"You should come close to the fire or you will freeze to death." He advised, still sharpening his dagger, breaking the long silence between them without looking up at her. After noticing that she did not even acknowledge or heed his words, he looked up at her beneath his brows and met her glare. He wasn't surprised because he had grown quite accustomed to her unfriendly gaze. He studied her intently and spoke again. "Why do you always look at me in such a way?"