The Journey (A Caspian love story) - BEING EDITED

Chapter 9: Sparring

That night Adelaide had slept better than ever. Her dreams weren't filled with eerie shadows but with joy. The smell of fresh baked bread and honey woke her up.

'Breakfast is ready!'

While yawning and rubbing her eyes she limped towards the kitchen. Trufflehunter was standing behind a rich table with all kinds of foodstuffs.
A proud smile pasted upon his face.

This is where he got most satisfaction from. Taking care of others.

'Do you mind?' she asked while sitting down. Maybe she should wait for Nikabrik or Caspian.

'Please, please. Make yourself at home!' He hurried to get a plate.

He handed her a plate and she attacked the food, trying to make sure she was completely stuffed. She really wanted togain soem weight and get her strength back. Halfway through her tirade Caspian entered.

'Morning' He gave her a small smile and lifted his eyebrows. 'Enjoying yourself, aren't you?'

Her whole plate looked like a battlefield. Red jam and brown crumbles of bread where seen, not even on her plate, but on the whole table.

'What is your plan for today?' Trying to change the subject.

He sat down opposite to her, like he didn't want to be to close. Like she was something fragile that could break at any time, just like Peter always thought.

She could have expected that after tonight, maybe she shouldn't have told him about her jailtime.

'I think I should find the narnians, I'll be leaving this afternoon.' She raised an eyebrow.

'I, not we?' She replied. He was not going to keep her out of this. 'Without me they will shoot you at first sight!'

'I will not let you and trufflehunter get hurt because of me' He looked her dead in the eye.

She stood up. 'You can't tell me what to do. You can't stop me.' She was fed up with men that treated her like she was nothing. She was strong and independent.

'Aid..' He whispered in his telmar accent. 'Don't'

He had never called her 'aid' before. Only her closest friends called her that.

'Let me show you. Let me show you that I can defend myself, Caspian.' She looked at him pleadingly.

He smirked.

'Three hours, outside' He ordered.

————————————————————
Trufflehunter didn't think it was a good idea for them to go sparring. After dinner Adelaide had come to him, asking if he could tend to her ankle.

Bloody children. Never wanting to losse face. He had seen her ankle only quickly but now he was examining it closely.

'Is it really that bad?' Adelaide looked up at him with an apologetic face. He had been makin faces.

'You are lucky that it's still in the right angle, otherwise nothing but magic could heal it.' He sighed.

The ankle was a mess of overlapping flesh and small scars. Dried blood was painted all over her foot and the veins popped out. It would take decades for her to be able to walk normally.

'I will need to clean and disinfect this. Then we'll need to remove the loose pieces of flesh. That's going to hurt. a lot.' He looked serious. 'After that we can bondage it.'

'I can take it' she said stubbornly. He didn't believe her for a second and gave her a cloth.

'Bite on this' He ordered her.