Discovery (Revisioned)

Chapter 19

"Please, don’t leave. I'm real sorry. I didn't mean to yell. Winnie has been my horse since I was seven. I know that is not an excuse, but it is just one more problem. I have to kill her. I don't have any way to help her, where we are going, and she will just slowly die."

I crawl over to Winnie and slowly soothe her. I see Joseph walk slowly towards her with his sword drawn. I don’t want her to see me crying, so I lay my head down on her cheek. I can feel her labored breathing, due to the pain, and I try to keep the tears from falling.

Joseph is quick and smooth. I don't know that he’s done it until he pulls me up into his arms. He carries me to his horse and sets me down beside his horse. I watch as he pulls all the rations off of Winnie and attaches them on his horse.

"This is Georgie. She's my Dad's mare. Winnie was her baby. We will ride her together."

He climbs up in the saddle and offers his hand to me. When I get up behind him, he wraps a rope around us. Then he sets off back down the mountain, without another word.

It starts raining really heavy once we reach the bottom of the mountain. Using the trees as cover we set up camp. Joseph sets a canvas over our heads and a fire underneath the canvas. I use some leaves to make a bed. Even with fire, I can’t stop myself from shivering.

The coldness is enough to keep us from conversation. We move and work through the camp, eat our food, and I lay down for bed. I curl up on my bedding while Joseph stares out into the night. I can’t help but wonder what he’s thinking about.

Is he looking out for enemies, thinking about Winnie, or his Dad? I’m so cold that my teeth are chattering and all I can think about is getting warm.

Joseph finally stirs from his statuesque posture and I quickly shut my eyes. I’m praying that he didn’t notice me staring. I lay there trying to pretend to sleep, but my teeth chattering doesn’t help.

I hear Joseph sigh before he reluctantly lays beside me. I hold my breath, while I wait for him to speak. When he doesn’t I let it out my breath and feel a cold chill run down my spine. I can’t stop myself from shuddering and, to my embarrassment, Joseph notices.

"It's okay; we are safe, for now. I won't hurt you."

That thought hadn't crossed my mind, which was a shock because it means that I trust him after all. Even after all that I’ve been through, I still trust this stranger who helped keep me captive.

A small part of me is telling myself that it isn't fair to put him in that category. But it’s the truth, good intentions or not. I wasn't raised to hold a grudge, so I look at all the facts. My father trusted him, he took care of me when I was in prison, he tried to help Dad and I escape, and he was with me here when he could have given me to Zarius.

He is even hiding because of me, unable to see his dying father. The least I can do is to start trusting him. I roll over towards him. He’s facing me, so I pull myself closer to him and snuggle against his chest. He hesitates for a moment before he wraps his arms around me. Soon, I’m warm enough to fall asleep.

When I wake, Joseph is already packing up camp. He left breakfast waiting for me over the fire. I move the leaves around to hide the evidence that we were here. After I eat, we head into the woods. It’s still raining, but it’s light. I wrap my hands around his waist and keep my face on his back. This provides me with much needed warmth.

"We should reach our destination by nightfall.” I jump at the sound of his voice. “It is my hope that we get there in time to get everything set up. My Dad and I would go there to have our 'men time'. At least that is what he called it."

I nod so that he knows that I heard him. He doesn’t say anything else. Instead, he pays close attention to his surroundings. I didn’t mind because I prefer to watch the different scenery as we pass. There are some of the most beautiful flowers. I can’t help notice the animals are just as curious about us as I am about them. I notice a hill just on the outside of the trees and by the way Joseph picks up his pace; I assume this is the area that we are looking for.

When we arrive at the bottom of the hill, we don’t climb up it. Instead, Joseph take us to the side, where a hidden tunnel is, first. We don’t go in the tunnel, though, which confuses me again. Joseph climbs off of Georgie and moves some boulders out of the way using some sort of a pulley system off of a nearby tree. Georgie takes me into the tunnel as soon as the boulders are removed.

I dismount off of Georgie and wait for Joseph to show up. He lights up a torch and wordlessly leads me into the cave. It’s too clean to be a cave.

While Joseph leads Georgie towards the back of the cave, I examine it.. There’s dust, bugs, and some old wood. We can make three bedrooms, a living room, and a kitchen out of this cave. I stand in awe while glance at the cleanliness and size of where I’m at. Joseph feeds Georgie before finally looking at me.

He’s nervous for some reason that I can’t figure out. I wonder if someone is following us, and that’s the source of his nervousness, but I don't have the time to ask. He asks me to take everything off of Georgie and set up a living space that I’ll feel comfortable in. His voice was a little shaky, which confuses me as well. I glance at him to try and determine the cause.

He didn’t give me long to figure it out because after he gave me the instructions, he walks back out of the cave. Every now and then, he comes back with some wood. The last time he went out, he took something that I couldn't see with him.

He doesn’t come back for a while. In his absence, I make two beds out of the canvas. They are separate but not too far apart. I make a small set up of a kitchen, using a fire pit and organize the rations. I use two logs to create benches near a pit in the center for the living room.

When I’m finished with the tasks, I glance around smiling before I brush Georgie and wipe the sweat off of her.

I never heard Joseph return but suddenly I smell the fish. I walk back to where he’s sitting. I smile as I see that he’s using the living room pit to cook the fish. I don't know why I find this amusing, but I smile shake my head. His look of confusion makes me smile wider. I take the fish off and hold up my hand for him to halt when he’s about to protest. I transfer it over to my make shift kitchen.

He follows me over there and I point everything out to him. I’m hoping that he understands. Then I walk him back to the living room.

We sit there in silence. I want to talk but know that I can’t, which makes me very frustrated. So instead, when the fish is finished, we eat in silence. Joseph still looks nervous, making me nervous, and I need to know what is wrong. Since he isn't talking, I just take a deep breath to control my frustration.

I notice that he does look towards me every once in a while. But when he sees me notice, he looks quickly away. I’m tired of being frustrated so I finish my fish and head to bed. He follows me with his eyes and notices where they are and how close that I had laid them.

"You don't have to sleep so close to me. We do have enough space to create another room.”

He looks at me more sincerely. “We are safe in here. I have closed the opening and no one knows of this place besides those I trust."

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I shake my head, pat his bed, and wave him over. When he doesn’t move, I just lay down in my bed and watch as he lowers the flames in the fires.

When he finishes, he slowly comes to lie down in the bed that I made him. I roll over to face him and smile. He smiles back and seems to relax with it. I reach out with my hand and he grabs it. I give his hand a light squeeze to say good night before I remove it. Just before I fall asleep, I hear Joseph say,

"Good night, my Princess."