Essentia (22 page)

    She takes her right hand and puts it under the guard’s chin and lifts his head up and says "you are forgiven" then douses him in all of the water she had formed. All of the other guards are still shocked by what they have seen, But the guys and I are dying laughing.

    "Your wife is amazing brother," Thegan says to me

    "That she is Brother," I say in return. Very amazing.

    Aiden then says to the wet guard "go dry yourself off and join us all for a drink." he stands up and heads off to change. We all sit down around the bomb fire and start talking to all of the guards, telling them all what we found out about Molven and his men. While we are all talking strategy, I notice that Terra has fallen asleep leaning against me.

    I ask Aiden "where are we sleeping tonight Aiden?" he looks over and smiles seeing terra fast asleep in my arms and motions me to follow him, he turns to Thegan and tells him that he will be right back. just a small piece away from the bonfire there was a small barn that we were to stay in. when we go in I, lay terra down on a large pile of hay that has been shaped into bed almost. after that I cover her up and kiss her forehead, returning to the strategy talks. soon after we all decide to call it a night and get some sleep. We all had beds made for us in the barn, but I choose to sleep beside my wife. I crawl in the hay bed, and as soon as I lay down, she curls up to me and throws her arm over my stomach. I pull her close and kiss the top of her head. I fall asleep faster than I expected.

    When I wake up, I find that I am the only one in the barn. Where is everyone? Where is Terra? I start to panic. I quickly stand up and head out of the barn looking for her. I soon find her just outside the barn sparring with Yan and the guard that she soaked with water. As I stood there watching, she notices me and smiles at me. I walk over to her and say "Good morning My love, what are you doing?"

    She smiled at me and says "I didn't want to be the only one that couldn't use a sword" then she giggles.

    I look at Yan and say "I will take it from here" he bows as well as the other guard, and they walk off. "you should have asked my love I would have taught you" I say to her.

    "I know you would have, but you were sleeping so well I did not want to wake you" Hmm... I pull out my sword and point it at her. A huge grin shows on her face as she raises her sword as well. Yan showed her well, she has good form. "if you need to stop Princess let me know alright" she nods her head and swings her sword, catching me off guard. When the metal connects it, sparks and I swing at her. She parries my sword with a quick movement. While we are exchanging blows, I notice that we have drawn a crowd of people. In that split second that I look away, she sweeps her foot behind mine knocking me to the ground pointing her sword at my neck.

    She giggled and says "I win." the small crowd cheers her on. I am glad she has their support. She will make a fine queen one day.

    After I get up, I smile at her and say "Yan has taught you well, I will have to thank him" remarkably well in such a short time.

    She leans in close and whispers "I didn't hurt you did I?". Still a worrisome creature.

    "No my dear, you did just what you supposed to, I am proud of you." Maybe my pride a little. She smiled up at me, and I say to her "let us go get something to eat my love, then we will have to get on the road" she nods, and we both make our way over to where the others are eating. We both grab a plate and sit down to eat.

    Thegan comes over to us and says " The scouts came back this morning and most of the way to the castle is clear after you get done eating we will leave for Rosewyvrn" I honestly can not wait to be back in our castle. I have missed it very much since we have been gone.

    "Rosewyvrn?" Terra asks me.

    "That is the name of our castle my dear," I tell her.

    She grinned and said "It’s a beautiful name." We finish our breakfast and put the plates up.

    We all walk with Aiden over to a stable where a man is standing with a Huge black and white horse with a really long white mane. The man says "My name is Ronoh, it is a pleasure to meet you your highness's" then he bows at us.

    I tell him "That is an excellent stead you have there Ronoh." He was a big and sturdy horse indeed.

    The man smiles and says "thank you, my lord, his name is Saber, he has a solid black brother named Slate" Magnificent animals.

    Aiden says to Ronoh "Thank you very much for helping us."     Ronoh waves his hand and says "anything I can do to be of service my lords." A couple of the guards are bringing out horses that are already packed up. They all look similar to Saber, but they are all of different colors. Yan brings out a solid black one that I am guessing is Slate. Ronoh heads in and brings out a Grey spotted one with black hair and a solid white one. They already have saddles on them, and all of our gear has been strapped on as well.

    I look over at Terra, she is petting Saber on the nose, smiling. "do you like that one My love?" I ask her.

    She smiles at me and says "Yes, He is gentle." When she says that the horse whinnied and rubbed his nose on her hand.

    "We will be riding Saber," I say to Ronoh. I figured Terra would be scared of the large animals, but she has surprised me again.

    "Saber is a fine horse My lord, but he is not completely broken."

    Terra looks at me and says "he will be just fine." She must sense something in him. If she says it will be alright, then I am sure it will be.

    I walk over to Saber and ask him "May I ride you as well?" as I pet him on the neck. He turns his head and kneels down touching his nose to the ground. I guess that he approves.

    "that is amazing," Ronoh says. As I climb up on the back of Saber, he stands up, and Ronoh says " Saber has never willingly allowed anyone to ride him my lord" I reach down to Terra, and she is a little hesitant but saber uses his head to push her towards me. "Thank you, Saber," I say snickering. Terra puts her hand in mine and I pull her up to sit in front of me. "are you comfortable My love?"

    "yes I am fine." Thegan picks Slate, and Aiden picked out the gray spotted one named Shade. The white one that we have with us is called Artros. As far as the other go Ronoh did not tell us their names.

    After thanking Ronoh for the horses, we all leave for Rosewyvrn. Saber is doing great. He is not jarring us to bad, and Terra has seemed to have calmed down. She leans back into my chest, and I wrap an arm around her waist holding her close. Everyone rides in silence for a quite a while before Thegan says "Let's rest the horses here for a minute" There was a small creek nearby that some of the guards that we have with us take the animals to drink. Saber kneels down letting us off of him.

    Terra pets his head and says "Thank you Saber" He whinnied and walked off towards the creek by himself.

    "That is a very smart horse," I say.

    Terra looks at me and says "I don't think he is a Real horse." huh. Not a real horse.

    "Why do you say that My love?" I ask her.

    She looks at me shyly and whispers to me "Because I can understand what he is thinking." Hmm... Could it be? 

    "Is he a guardian?" I ask.

    "I think he may be," she says then she looks around and says, "I believe that they all are" That's amazing. I wonder if they were sent to help us with our quest. I don't say anything else about it to Terra because she was really close to her last guardian and he was slaughtered, I don't want to upset her. When the horses are led back to us Saber walks straight over to Terra and Kneels down for her to climb on. She only hesitates for a moment then climbs on him. Artros, the white horse, walks up to me and nudges me with his nose. I turn around and pet him down the sides of his face.

    I ask him in a low voice "Was you sent here to help us" Artros nods his head. "Thank you," I say to him, and he whinnied bending down for me. It looks like I am riding Artros. I climb up on him, and he stands, walking over beside Saber. I look at Terra and say "Are you alright to ride alone My love."

    "yes Saber will take care of me" she leans down and pets his neck. her eyes widen, and she has a look of panic on her face.

    I ask her "What is it?"

    "We have to go, Now. There is trouble coming" she says.

    As soon as she stated that I holler at the others and tell them "We have to go NOW." They did not hesitate. Jumping up on their horses we all take off. The horses running as fast as they can. I am worried about Terra riding alone. I glance back at her, and she is right behind me holding on tight to Saber. Artros darts off the path, and the other horses follow. This is the wrong way. I tell Artros "this is not the way."

    He neighed, and I heard Terra say "It’s a safer way" she always seems to amaze me. I relax a little Knowing that the horses are taking us a more secure way. We start to slow down close to Heriwin falls. Saber walks up close to Artros and Terra says to me "we will be safe here" she smiles as Saber walks her away. After we all get off of the horses.

    Thegan says "Why did we come this way?"  him being as confused as I am.

    I look at him and say with a snicker "it was the horse’s idea brother." He looks at me with a grim face. I tell him in a quiet voice "Calm down, they are guardians, they told Terra that there was trouble, and they brought us this way because it was safer, still mad?" he has a confused look on his face as he is looking at all of the horses. Slate, the jet black one that Thegan has been riding bows his head at him and Thegan nods his head back.

    "This many guardians, the goddess's must surely be on our side Brother," Thegan says, still astonished.

    "Yes, I believe so Brother." I watch Terra as she walks over to the water’s edge. I follow close behind her. The curse has not done as much damage here as in other parts of the realm. So it is rather pretty here. Flowers are still blooming, and the water is clear with a few fish swimming in it. They have a slight glow to them as they dart around in the water. She is watching them as they swim around. I know that the last couple of weeks has been hard on her. But she isn't really showing it, she really looks at peace here. I ask her "is everything alright My love?"

    She looks up at me and says "Everything is fine; I was just thinking about the past few days" I knew it was bothering her. And I feel as though it is all my fault

    "I am sorry for getting you involved in all of this my love," I say to her.

    "Don't apologize Enre, this has been my destiny from the beginning. I just didn't know it. It is all new and is going to take some getting use to but, with you by my side, everything is going to be alright". She is a lot stronger that I am. I smile at her and wrap my arm around her shoulder. We sit there by the water’s edge for a bit longer.

    Thegan comes over and says "Do you think we should camp here Brother?"

    I look at Terra, and she nods her head and says "There is an opening behind those falls that has a leads to small meadow and cave that we can camp in. It will be safe Brother" she says to Thegan with a smile.

    "Very well sister" he replies. "how did you know there was a cave behind there?" he asks her.

    "Saber told me”. She tells him. Thegan just smiles and walks away.

    "I guess we need to go help them set the camp up My dear" she nods, and I stand up giving her my hand to help her up. When she stands, she stumbles and falls into my chest. I wrap my arms around her to support her. Her face turns pink. I am at a loss of words. Looking into her mesmerizing eyes. I decide to do the one thing I have thought about doing since arriving here in Aelmere. I place my lips on hers, stealing her breath. She returns the gesture with a little nibble on my bottom lip. The sensation driving me insane. After a short time, I pull away, fully aware of the arousal that is stirring up inside me.  I say to her "As much as I want to continue this, my love, we need to go help before we get yelled at." she giggles and grabs my hand and braids her fingers with mine.

    We walk over to where the others are and get on our horses. Terra says to Saber "lead the way" The beautiful horse and rider walk off slowly as the others follow. Seeing her on top of the horse is a beautiful sight to behold. She just about glows with radiance.

    Chapter Twenty-Eight

            Terra

              Saber leads us down a small pathway hidden behind the falls. I wasn't too sure about riding a horse before I came here, being that I have never ridden one. But Saber had put my mind at ease. It's strange hearing a horse's thoughts. For a moment I had thought that I was losing my mind. Saber told me that all of the horses were guardians and that they were sent here to help us. I sent up a silent prayer, Thanking the gods and goddesses for their help.

    Soon the pathway that runs behind the falls opens up, and there is a beautiful lush green meadow before us. This place looks untouched by the curse. It’s a stunning sight to behold. All of the flowers are bright and in full bloom, and the vines are full of leaves. He Bends down so I can dismount him safely. Saber wonders off to eat some tall grass as the other dismount and head my way. "after we set up camp we will go have a look around if you want my love" Enre says to me.