Envoys Of The Vow

Chapter 2

The man who approached Sara wore a green tweed cap and jacket over his shirt and tie, yellow cord trousers reached down to the leather shoes on his feet.  He had a walking stick of about six feet long that had clearly once been just a sturdy branch it had now been sun bleached almost white over the years.  He had a shuffling gait that surprised her slightly.  Although beautiful this wood was not an easy route to walk, twisted roots hid themselves in the grass and could trip you up without warning.

 As she neared the man he looked up at her and smiled.  Shock registered with Sara as she saw this man was not just old he was ancient.  His face was a mass of deep lines and wrinkles, his hair was completely white and trimmed neatly in the old school military short back and sides.  He wore round glasses that framed the only young thing about him, his eyes.  A deep chocolate brown in colour, though framed with the signs of age, they twinkled at her through his glasses with both intelligence and kindness.

 "My dear sweet girl it would appear I'm quite lost.  Would you help me?"  His voice was bright as bird song.  He smiled at her revealing a set of perfect teeth.

 Quite taken by surprise Sara had to gather her thoughts again "Of course where are you heading to?"

 "Well a seat would be lovely right about now but I was looking for the pub" He smiled at her again in the disarming way.

 "Ah I see well you are heading in the wrong direction for the pub but a seat I can help you with" Sara was getting more and more enchanted with this lovely man.  He reminded her in a way of her beloved grandfather, he had the same mild mannered but formal speech. 

 Sara led the old man back down the way he had come and took a small path to the right.  Set just a few yards down the path was a wooden bench where many a local girl had experienced their first kiss Sara included.  Sara held the man’s elbow as he lowered himself onto the seat.

 Sara was glad of the seat herself as her legs still had the jelly like feeling that a huge hit of adrenaline gave you.  Rubbing her bare legs she ironed out the last of the goosebumps.  Even now she scanned the wood for any sign of a black fog or a low growl.  She really wanted to get out of the wood and get home.

 “Are you ok my dear?  You look quite shaken.”  He looked kindly at her.

 “Yes thank you, I just got a bit spooked for a bit from being in here alone.”  She didn’t want to elaborate too much and bring back the flighty feeling that made her want to run for home.  Again her eyes scanned the wood around them.

 The man pulled out an antique looking hip flask took a sip and offered it to Sara.  “Take a sip of this it will help.” 

 Sara took the flask, flipped the cap open and took a swig expecting the whack of port and brandy or another heady alcohol.  It didn’t taste alcoholic, the drink had a wonderful soothing honey flavor to it that warmed without the alcohol burn she was expecting.  It soothed her frayed nerves and she felt instantly more composed.

Sara looked closer at the flask.  It was a standard hip flask shape, the shoulders of it were circled with heavily scripted writing which appeared to have etched into the polished silver metal then filled with gold.  The words were meaningless even if they hadn’t been written in a beautiful but heavily scripted text they were so foreign with many letters having strange symbols above them.  Sara passed the beautiful flask back with some reluctance.