The Sword of Dreams

Chapter 6

The sunlight was bright and warm as it beamed through the canopy of the forest. It was instantly muggy, so much moisture left over from the night before. Zoe was still asleep and I was relieved she hadn’t snuck away in the night.

The air was damp, there was a bird calling loudly in the tree above my head. I felt like I had been drinking the night before, my head felt sluggish and heavy. Zoe seemed to stir as well, and she blinked, refocusing her eyes to the forest bed where she laid. The ground was still very damp, the moss growing thick on the log at her feet. She moved her swollen ankle and winced. It was still raw and painful and had started to go slightly purple. She sat up and looked around, getting bearings and working out where she was. I hid behind the tree to make sure she didn’t see me. I looked back a few moments later and saw that the sword was still in her hand and she held it tight, her fingers could wrap around the entire handle. She breathed in deeply, and I assumed it was to catch a waft of freshly cooked bread from the closest town. It was subtle, but she closed her eyes when she smelt it. I could smell it too, and my stomach grumbled. I hadn’t eaten in over a day, and I was hungry. Sword still in hand, she attempted to get up. She couldn’t put her entire weight on her ankle, but it wasn’t broken. She hobbled over the log that had caused her such distress, and literally followed her nose. I quickly got up. This wasn’t the time to make introductions, firstly because she was in a lot of pain, was hungry, and I wasn’t entirely sure how she would react, with me watching the entire drama the night before.

Although a beautiful place, deep in the forest every tree, looks the same, every fern is prickly, and every creature stares with blank looking eyes. I made sure I kept a safe distance from Zoe, and made sure I was extremely quiet on my feet.. I didn’t want to scare her completely by her finding out I was following her. I knew my chances of her coming back to rescue her father would be very slim if that happened. Darting in between trees and climbing over the logs, it didn’t take long to reach the outskirts of the forest. The warm sun could reach further and further into the canopy, dust particles reflecting on the light. The end of the forest where we came out was at the edge of a newly sowed field. I could still follow her but at even more of a distance now I could see further into the distance. I looked down at my clothes and feet because Zoe looked a mess, she was covered completely in mud, which had now dried in parts, clothes torn, hair in knots, but a perfectly clean sword in hand. I only looked slightly better.

When she reached the town, her messy appearance was hard to conceal, and the people stared as she tried to wander through the village quietly. I caught up, just to make sure I didn’t lose her in the crowd.  Scraggy young women were an often sight in these parts, so she knew they were staring because of the sword tightly clutched in her hand. My heart was racing as the townspeople are often unpredictable when it comes to strangers walking through their town, so I couldn’t imagine what she was feeling.  Thankfully no one bothered her and didn’t even notice me. She looked from left to right at the different market stalls, as if she was trying to remember where things were. I had a few coins in my pocket so I quickly grabbed a piece of bread and marmalade from a bakery. It was the most delicious thing I have ever had, although I am pretty sure it was because I was because I was so hungry.

I wished again that I could help her, because she was looking hungry and desperate. I could try, but I was so afraid of approaching her while she was in such a stressed state. We got to the end of the town markets and she wandered off and sat under a tree. She was waiting for the markets to close for the eve so that she could go back and steal food. Confident of her next move, I went back into the markets and ate more food and bought a glass of pale ale. It went down deliciously after such a eventful evening and a large walk. I only had one, to make sure I was sober enough to continue following Zoe. I befriended some of the townsfolk after telling them I was a servant of the Prince, and they fed me even more. They waved me off just before dusk and I had said that I needed to continue on my journey. I walked back towards the tree that Zoe was sitting under when I saw her last. I saw a figure approaching and I quickly worked out it was Zoe. The giveaway was the sword in her right hand. I put my head down so that she couldn’t recognise me and we crossed paths. She was going to get food, and I was going to wait for her to return. The tree where Zoe was sitting before looked large and dark enough so that she couldn’t see me begin to follow when she came back onto the path. I got out my notebook from my back pocket and began recalling my days events. Apart from my mothers ring, my notebook was one of my favourite possessions, and I wrote in it almost every day when I was at home.  I loved to get ideas out of my head about certain events, and I used it as a way to process the good and bad things that happened in my life. My notebook was leather bound, with paper inserted in the middle that I had made from scraps left over from the household tailor.