**OLD DRAFT**Protectors: Book 1 of Protectors **OLD DRAFT**

Chapter 4

The men were silent as they rode. Jade found that wherever she looked one of them would be looking at her and then look away. An hour after leaving the village the captain finally broke the silence. “What is your name, anyway?”

                “Jade,” she replied, relieved to have someone to talk to. She needed a way to distract herself, to keep the panic at bay. This was never a situation she had been trained for, or ever thought she’d find herself in.

                “My name is Captain Lander, under different circumstances I’d say it was a pleasure to meet you.”

                “Captain,” Merek glared at the captain. Jade noticed that they were around the same age, and something about their exchange made Jade think that they were friends.

                “Keep your pants on Merek, she’s a poacher not a murderer, and on top of that she is a stranger here, give her some slack.” Merek simply looked away and sniffed; Lander smiled at him then turned in his saddle to look at Jade.

                “So what’s your story Jade, we know you ran away from your home, but how’d you end up here? You’re horse it’s a fine quality animal, so it makes me curious as to who you are exactly.”

                “Most would assume I stole the horse captain.”

                He shook his head, “The horse listens and observes you. You are her master.”

                “You’re observant.”

                “It comes with the job,” he winked. The man to Jade’s right coughed and Jade looked at him. He rolled his eyes. “I saw that Peter.”

                “Yes sir.”

                “I believe this unit has plans for a mutiny, Merek.”

                “I will lead them proudly sir.”

                Lander narrowed his eyes at Merek, but Merek he kept his eyes on the road ahead of them. Jade saw his lip twitch slightly. “Well, why don’t you tell us a story Jade? Tell us how you and your horse got to be so dirty.”

                Jade looked around and found that all the men of the unit were suddenly looking at her. She realized that they all wanted to know, they were all curious. Even Merek, she noticed, had tilted his ear towards her. So Jade swallowed, and told her story. She saw no reason to lie, but she didn’t tell the whole truth either. Instead of wolves chasing her, she made them large trained dogs. She never spoke of where she came from, simply that it was north. When she finished her story everyone was silent again.

                “I’m not sure I believe all of that,” Lander admitted.

                “You don’t have to, all that matters is that life has brought me here, to this moment. The details are irrelevant.”

                “I’ve never met a woman who was as good of a fighter as she claimed,” Lander confessed.

                Jade shrugged, “There aren’t many that I know of. I come from a strange place ruled by even stranger traditions. But in this one thing I am grateful for it, for if I had been treated like a normal girl I wouldn’t be able to survive on my own. I would always be dependent on others, and that to me, is a depressing thought.”

                “You’re a strange woman Jade and I truly do wish it were under different circumstances that we could have met.” Lander turned away from Jade and sat back in his saddle. The rest of the unit seemed to ignore Jade, either they didn’t believe her story or were intimidated by her. She gripped Chances mane a little tighter and looked at the metal around her wrists. She had been foolish when she had left home. Jade had thought this journey would be simpler, it was humbling, to realize that the world cannot be learned simply from books and others teachings, that it must be experienced.