The Horse in the Prince's Stables

Chp. 19

she interviewed me, which you can read if ya want. it's dedicated to me, or go to her page and look up "Answer This!" (chp 7) in her library :)

and the pic is another Misty_forest piece

la di da..

ok, and to answer the now common question about gabrielle's age.. she's like.. early/mid-twenties. she's not old. and henry's older than philip by a couple years, like... 20 or so... hope that clears some stuff up. ps: i may have goofed that up earlier in the story.. i can't remember? let me know, so i can fix it  =^..^=

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                                                                                =19=

=Philip=

          I felt her slip away from life.

          The moment she stopped breathing I knew the answers I needed were lost forever. As her muscles relaxed into the last stage of passing, my eyes wandered to her face. The pain that had once been so evident in her expression faded away, but not completely erasing every trace of her past discomfort.

          For a few minutes, I just sat there in the dark with dry eyes. The slowly growing hole in my heart halted it's process the moment I became the only living person in the forest...

          At least... that's how it felt.

          The coals were all that was left of the little fire I previously made hours before. They provided little warmth and even less light. I didn't care. The only thing I could really think about at the moment was how I would be able to get out of these damned woods... and what would happen to me now that Aurora was gone. 

          My thought process crumbled to pieces. How could Fate be so cruel? One moment I had a dying horse, and the next the girl I had dared to imagine a future with lay still in my arms. How does that even happen to someone like me? I have so many questions and forever they will remain unanswered. 

          Sighing, I began to loosen my hold on Aurora. I would have to figure out how to dig a grave. Despite the small, nagging bitter feelings creeping in the back of my mind, I could never leave her body out in the open. I couldn't do that to anybody.

          Besides, she deserved better. She deserved so much more.

          As I gently rested her on the ground, a loud strangled gasp erupted from Aurora. Scared out of my wits I leapt backwards about three feet. Landing and tripping over a root, I fell over backwards down a small slope and tumbled into a bush, my legs flying straight up into the air. Over the noise of crackling leaves, I could hear loud coughing.

          She's alive?!

          Scrambling around in the bush, my hope drowned out all other sensations. The branches and thorns torn and scratched at my skin, but I didn't care. I had to return to Aurora! Tripping and stumbling back to the path, her voice came to my ears like sweet music. Scratchy and weak, but nonetheless, still beautiful.

          "Philip?" She called out.

          "Here! I'm here!" I answered excitedly.

          "Philip! Phil-" Her voice cut off suddenly, and she began coughing again. Loud cracking sounds made me freeze. I've only heard those noises once before. I hurried up the slight slope with new strength.