I was certainly not expecting Arius to continue and make good his promise to try and change my mind but he did. The next day, I was awoken by a knock on the door and opening the door to find Arius on the other side, I was seriously tempted to slam the door shut in his face.
“Hunting.” He offered when he saw the glare on my face and just like that, my mood became better.
“Give me five minutes.” I responded and still took the pleasure in slamming the door at his face.
Some minutes certainly longer than five minutes later when I hurried out of my room, in the process of tying my hair in a ponytail, I came to a sudden stop when I saw Arius rest on the wall beside my door.
I was not expecting that. What I thought was that he would be outside the palace building but still in the compound, on his horse, huffing and puffing about how much time women took in getting ready.
“I watched as Arius eyes took in my assemble but his lips crooked in an approving smile.
“I like this, you didn’t take much time.”
“I took more than five minutes.” I retorted and he nodded.
“Yes you did and still you didn’t take as much time as other women when it comes to getting ready.”
I ignored him and the look his sent my way, the look that managed to turn my cheeks red.
“Where are we going?” I asked as he smiled.
“The place where the best game is found.” He responded as we started walking.
“Why did you stay outside my door?” I asked him and he shrugged.
“Where else was I supposed to stay when you were inside?” He asked and that minute was when I knew that I was in trouble.
He was going to be relentless in pursuing me and I didn’t want that, not when it will just lead to more sadness in the future. I was still lost in my thoughts when we got to the stables, not the front courtyard like I was expecting and when Sorens came forward with two horses. I smiled.
“Thank you.” Arius replied Sorens as Sorens gave him a stiff bow.
“Do you like her Gwenn?” Arius asked me as I looked at the horse whose rein was being held out to me.
“She is a beauty.” I said, watching the horse just as the horse watched me too. She was fit for a queen but not a warrior.
“What’s the problem?” Arius asked.
“She is not for me…” Was the simple reply I gave.
“On the contrary, she is for you. Her name is Talis.” Arius said as I smiled.
“Thank you for the gift my king.” I bowed my head to Arius who lost his smile.
“You don’t like her do you?” Arius asked as I shook my head.
“She will make a graceful horse and she is an amazing gift, she is fit for a queen but not a warrior. I am thankful for her Arius but…”
Arius nodded. “She is not for you.” he repeated my earlier words and I smiled at him.
“She will do for today though, as from tomorrow, we will get you a horse that represents you.” he added and I didn’t say anything.
I didn’t want to argue with him that I didn’t want more than two horses, the one I used for travels was the best since she was used to Adela, I was sure that this horse was not going to stand Adela running close to her.
Turning to Sorens who was standing beside us and not saying anything, which was very strange for him, if he was in front of Arius, he was never quiet before and neither had that influenced his mood.
“Where is your horse?” I asked Sorens.
“He is not coming with us.” Arius replied as he helped me up into the saddle on the back of Talis. “He has a lot of chores to do today.” Arius added as I looked at Arius confused.
“Chores?” I repeated.
“In relation to the legion.” Sorens forced out as Arius smiled.
“See, he is busy. Can we go?” Arius asked and I nodded.
Arius led the way and I followed him.
“No other person?’ I asked, suspecting Arius who smiled.
“You found me out Gwenn. Yes, I want it to be just between us.” He confessed and as much as I wanted to turn my horse back and head to the Palace and back to bed, I didn’t because he knew the right bait to dangle in front of me.
“Well at least you know the right thing to use to get me to agree.” I said as he smiled.
“Yes I do, I wanted to use shopping but…” Arius started and I couldn’t help the snort that escaped me.
“Please, you would have better luck getting me to sleep using that.” I replied with a roll of my eyes as Arius smiled.
We continued with making small talks, Talks which didn’t frizzle into uncomfortable silence between the two of us like I thought it would. The only time when we were silent was when one of us mistakenly talked about something in relation to Faye and then we all became quiet because we didn’t know how to deal with the awkwardness. He would restart the conversation and then we started to avoid Faye when talking.
This Arius was one which I wished that I had met because he was someone whom I saw myself being friends with and I also knew that he was one which would not last.
“What are you thinking of?” Arius asked me as he brought his horse close to mine.
“Nothing worth mentioning.” I replied with as I looked around to see scanty trees surely when he said hunting, I was thinking of bigger preys that rabbit and a bigger place too.
“We are here.” He said as I glared at him.
“Don’t play with me, where are my preys, this place can only hold at best rabbits or hares.” I said as Arius chuckled.
“Gwenn, this is Northshore, when will you realize to stop using your eyes, there are more to Northshore than what the eyes sees.” Arius teased and that was when I understood.
“A boundary?” I asked and he nodded.
When he moved forward again, I was beside him this time and the moment we passed through two narrow trees, we were in a densely populated forest with Tree and outgrown roots but something was not right about this place.
No birds were singing, nothing crawled, the only thing that was alive was the trees and plants.
“There is no animals here too.” I said irritated as Arius looked at me.
He could probably sense that something was not right too but not up to the level which I could.
“That shouldn’t be.” Arius replied. “This is the biggest forest in the whole of Northshore. Where sis all the animals go?” He asked confused.
I reexamined the feeling I got, something clearly was not right.
“The better question will be, what took them?” I said instead, seeing some blood and scratches on a tree.
What was going on?