A Love Unveiled

Chapter Two

"Alana please, you must make haste!" wailed her distressed cousin. Alana McKenna paused long enough in her pursuit of picking wild berries to cast an exasperated leer at Lynette as her older cousin paced a groove into the ground, her eyes, a cerulean blue, resembling the azure sky, moved warily around the forest engaging them.

"I won't be long now, Nettie, just let me gather a basket full and we'll be on our way. Agatha's husband is still very ill and I must have these berries to finish my elixir."

Lynette heaved a sigh of frustration as she glared at Alana's back as she bent to pluck handfuls of berries from the surrounding thickets. "Alana 'tis rumored that there are Norman soldiers in the area!" she hissed beneath her breath.

"Nettie!"

Lynette snorted impatiently but refrained from saying anything further; knowing full well that once Alana was set on something there was nothing that would deter her from her purpose, especially when it came to tending the ill for she had the ability to heal with her exceptional knowledge of herbs and medicines.

Alana was a patient woman, having learned to master that emotion when dealing with the unwell, but Lynette however was not, especially in such an area rumored to be swarming with the enemy.

There little village was nestled quite comfortably in the midst of a dense wooded region and 'twas said that a colossal army of opposing enemies had battled not far from where they resided and that Norman warriors still roamed the area.

Having personally dealt with the likes of Norman pigs, she was sorely aware of their barbarism and distinguishing nature of cruelty that prompted violence and bloodshed. She had first handedly witnessed such savagery as a child, remembering woefully the massacre left in their aftermath.

'I've gathered enough berries for now." Alana's voice penetrated her thoughts and Lynette quickly dismissed the images that would surely resurface from recognition. She had no desire to think of that day or dwell on the pain kept buried beneath an overwhelming magnitude of hatred.

Cradling her basket of berries, Alana made her way to where their horses grazed beneath a peculiar willowing tree.

"Tis almost dusk." Lynette said with a deal of concern. "There will not be much daylight left to lead us back to the village."

"We'll manage just fine." Alana said reassuringly, sensing her cousin's unease. "I know a surrogate route that we can take that will save us some time."

Lynette mounted her horse; eager to return and Alana followed, taking caution to not overturn her berries that she had worked so diligently to retrieve.

The dirt path they trailed twined the forest, interlacing trees with streams of twilight emitting through the canopy of vegetation. Small woodland creatures scurried at their approach, fleeing to a burrow within the ground or to a suspended branch, well above their reach.

Alana smiled inwardly, delighted in her surroundings as a feeling of contentment came over her. She relished in nature and the sense of liberation. She savored the solitude, the freedom to do as she pleased, collecting herbs, frolicking in the river, all to which she had no one to make demands of her.

She did not waste time thinking on the follies of war, the absurd notion that the land belonged to one man in particular sitting upon a dais. It was absolutely senseless.

The land belonged to no one; as did she.

"Alana!" the warning was issued beneath Lynette's breath as her horse jolted to a stop.