Nightwalker

Chapter Thirty-Nine

We rode for the entire night with only a two-hour rest for the horses. Now the morning light warmed the dirt under their hooves and woke the birds who sung their morning greetings. I sat on Ruddy with my face up towards the early sun rays, eyes closed.

I use to always do this in the mornings, even when I was a child. I learnt it from my father who'd do exactly the same thing. Every morning just before the sun rose we'd go outside the cabin and put our faces towards the early sun and breath in the fresh air. I remember asking him once why we did it. His answer has kept with me even when I forgot it.

He said that it was a thank you. A thank you to the new day that has come and allowed us to live another day and move forward. The sun's rays that warmed our faces then and now was the suns reply to our thank you, a protective kiss to our forehead like a loving parent telling us to live on.

I breathed in and silently thanked the new day for arriving. I opened my eyes and looked around us. When we headed off we had started towards the mountain but was soon covered in forest foliage so I couldn't tell if we were still heading towards the mountain or not.

We were on a dirt path that was just big enough for two horses to walk side by side and no more. Orrick, the messenger fairy, was at the lead followed by Georgia, then Ashwini, then myself and lastly Beatrice. I didn't want Beatrice to be behind me but she insisted for some reason but I didn't argue all that hard since she obviously had some reason.

I was deep in thought when something hit me, literally. I immediately looked up and then around me after a felt something hit the top of my head. I looked up but couldn't see anything besides for open sky becoming lighter by the minute as the sun rose.

I looked behind me at Beatrice but all I got was a raised eyebrow like she was wondering what I was doing. I tilted my head thoughtfully wondering what could have hit me. I turned back around and stopped worrying about it... until something hit me again.

"What the...?" I questioned out loud looking around to the sides where the dense forest bracketed the path. I lifted my hand and touched my head to find something hard caught in my hair. It was small and rough easily pinched between my thumb and pointer finger. I untangled it from my hair and looked at it. It was a small brown seed looking thing. I looked around again and saw a small amount of them hanging from branches on some of the trees that hung over the path. But I couldn't see where they could be hitting me from.

I shook my head and frowned in confusion. I huffed loudly when I was hit again. "What the hell!" I exclaimed making Ashwini turn in her saddle to look at me in confusion. That's when I heard giggling from behind me. I turned in my own saddle to see Beatrice with a hand covering her mouth as her shoulders shook slightly while her silver eyes sparkled with amusement. That's when I saw a bunch of the seeds in her other hand.

My face dropped as the mystery was solved and I gave her a bland look while inside I was highly amused, she looks so beautiful with her mischievous look and playful smile. I almost was shocked by how childlike she suddenly was looking. When I first met Beatrice I would have thought she was a serious all work no play kind of woman.

I like this though.

"Really?" I asked her with a smirk and slightly challengingly.

"What?" She asked innocently, dropping her hand while a grin that showed slightly longer canines shouted out her teasing dare.

I shook my head at her with an amused smirk. "Is this why you wouldn't ride in front of me?"

"Maybe... I've been to the fairy realm a few times for business reasons since Aviva can't do it herself, so I knew these were here. If you crack them open they have a sweet seed inside that you can eat." Beatrice laughed at me while nudging her horse forward so that we were now riding side by side.