Yay! The fiftieth chapter!!
Nathan-
For most of the night, I couldn't sleep. I felt so guilty for pressing Lyra. If we had just stayed out on the cliffs and taken a break, she wouldn't have been injured. I was supposed to protect her, not put her life in danger.
I looked at the woman in my arms. How could I be so dense? I think we should find shelter now. Can we stop here? I don't like the look of the sky...Why didn't I listen? She's been doing this for years and I just blew off her experience so we could walk another mile. Perfect.
Lyra mumbled in her sleep, throwing her leg over mine and pressing her face into my chest. She threw the blanket off and snuggled to me.
I eyed her thigh unhappily. She had taken my sweatpants off when they rubbed her burn painfully. The skin outside the wrap was red and inflamed. I could still hear her cry of pain. My mind immediately went to the worst and imagined her being surrounded by fire. I shook my head and held onto her tighter.
The outside of the tent began to glow and I knew it was probably sunrise. Lyra would wake up in a while. Like a creep, I'd been just gazing at her for a few hours. There was no telling how exhausted she was.
I pushed her hard yesterday, she got injured and then she stayed up late to check her star charts. The Big Dipper was almost overhead now, meaning we were close. But I wasn't concerned about that at the moment.
A shadow flashed outside the tent and I knew Baine was awake. Too bad, we're sleeping in today. Well, at least Lyra was. I was too on edge at the moment.
I leaned away from her to grab the blanket and froze when she grabbed my shirt in a panic. My worries increased when a little whimper escaped her lips and her face twisted into a look of fear.
I laid back and let her cuddle to me. Her grip on my shirt tightened and I watched as a tear ran down her cheek. I sat up and pulled her into my lap hurriedly, "Jay? Jay, wake up."
She curled up in a tight ball against me, tears rolling down her cheeks. I shook her slightly, "Lyra wake up."
Her eyes shot open and she looked dazed. When she focused on me, she smiled slightly and relaxed, "It was a dream....thank God it was a dream."
"Yeah, what happened?" I asked worriedly, keeping her pressed against me.
"Fire," she mumbled softly. Great, now I was giving her nightmares.
"Wanna talk about it?" I asked. It always helps to tell someone after you wake up, it makes you feel relieved.
"What's there to talk about?" She chuckled emotionlessly, "I couldn't get to you. A burning tree fell and you were gone. It felt so real."
I hugged her to my chest and a second later, her arms went around me to squeeze back. I pulled away far enough to kiss her tears away, "Well, this is reality. It was just a bad dream."
She leaned her head on my shoulder and sighed, "Thank God, I was dying because I thought you were dead."
"I'm okay, you're okay. We're alive," I reassured her.
"Good. I don't think I could handle your death," Lyra said quietly.
"I couldn't bear it if you died. Hell, I go berserk when you get scratched. I can't imagine loosing you," I whispered to her.
She sighed and sat back, searching my face before looking at me suspiciously. I raised an eyebrow, "What?"
"Did you even sleep last night?" She asked knowingly.
"Yes..." I lied.
"Liar. Why didn't you sleep?"
"I just...couldn't," I took her hand and studied her delicate fingers.
"Okay, well you need to go to sleep," She shrugged and started to get up. I quickly grabbed her waist to keep her down.
"No, we either need to get moving or get ready to get moving," I yawned.
"No, I'm not letting you walk off a cliff because you're dozing. Take a quick nap and then we'll go. I need to stretch out my leg anyway," Lyra went to stand up again.
I got up and straightened as much as I could in the tent, offering my hand to Lyra. She took it and let me help her up.
We both climbed out of the tent and took in the sunrise in front of us. It was incredible. And blinding.
Lyra stiffly walked to a patch of short grass and stretched. She bent in all sorts of angles to stretch out her leg. It was a mighty fine view and I was no longer looking at the sunrise. We both soaked up the warmth of the sun that cut though the crisp air.
"You okay?" I asked Lyra after she hissed in pain.
"Yeah, just stiff. I'm going to have to tear the new skin a little so I can move freely," She grumbled. I watched as she bent her knee slowly, pulling the skin and probably tearing the scab under the wrap carefully. She grimaced but kept going until she could swing her leg back and forth without too much pain. I got out the kit and handed it to her so she could change her wrap.
She pointed at the tent, "Sleep."
"But I don't wanna..." I whined.
"I'll join you here in a minute. I'm exhausted too," She yawned and I leaned towards going for a nap a little more.
"But what about getting to the cabin?" I asked.
Lyra smirked at me, "Does it have legs? It's not going anywhere, we'll get there when we get there. A nap isn't going to change much."
I shrugged and headed back to the tent. I never realized how tired I felt until I was crawling back into the warm blankets we left behind. I waited on Lyra though, I couldn't sleep without her.
She reappeared in the tent with a new bandage around her thigh. I scooted over to give her some room. She didn't hesitate and climbed in, going straight for my side. I kissed her forehead as we both started to doze.
I fell asleep listening to Lyra's steady, reassuring breathing. She's still here and she's fine.
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Lyra-
"Let's stop here for a little bit," Nathan suggested.
I internally groaned, we're never going to get there at this pace. This is the fourth time we've stopped. Nathan's really concerned about my leg but it's not that bad. It'll heal. It's already doing well, the skin is turning pink and the cut was stitching itself up.
But it was throbbing and I was tired, so I dropped under the lone tree he pointed out. We were back out in the open, leaving that section of forest behind.
I pushed my bag to the side and took a drink out of my canteen. Baine plopped down beside me. He was tired too. Probably because he was literally running circles around us. He'd dart off in one direction and find us an hour later.
I rubbed his ears before pulling out my map and binoculars. Nathan munched on some quail we'd shot down a few hours ago and scanned the horizon.
We were still following the river, just on the other side. I can't tell you how relieved we were when we left the blackened forest behind.
I looked over my map and traced my finger in the general direction we were going. Putting the binoculars up, I looked through them and focused on the horizon. I saw deer playing in a little valley, turkeys roosting and a squirrel.
I continued to look out of boredom.
"Maybe we should camp here for tonight? I like it here and it's going to be dark in a little bit," Nathan said.
"Mmhmm," I hummed disinterestedly.
He rambled on about my leg and I chose to tune him out for my own sanity. His worrying was starting to get to me.
That's an odd shape, I thought when I came across a flat, slanted...something. I pulled the binoculars away to look but it was too far away for my eyes to see alone. I looked through them again and studied the shape.
It was tucked into a woodsy area only meters from the river. It was all flat...it had stairs leading up to the porch. I grinned and bounced with excitement in my spot. It was, like, five miles away! We could make that, probably.
I turned to Nathan, who was still jabbering, and climbed into his lap excitedly. He looked down at me with a raised eyebrow but continued to talk. I shook my head and raised the binoculars to his eyes. He stopped talking, "What? What is it??"
"What does that look like?" I pointed.
"I don't see anything...is it a bear?" He hugged me to him tightly.
"Nathan, follow my finger," I pointed to it.
I think he found it because he dropped the binoculars and started grinning wildly. He picked them back up and looked again, "That's it! That's my cabin!"
I grinned, "If we hurry, we can be there just after dark."
"I don't want you out on these rocks after dark.." He bit his lip, contemplating.
"Please? I'm dying to get there," I whined and put my hands on his chest, making my eyes go wide.
Nathan quickly tried to avoid my gaze, "I don't know Lyra..."
"Please Nate?" I whimpered with a pout.
His eyes softened significantly and he sighed. I grinned and whooped in triumph. Grabbing the sides of his face, I pulled him in for a hard, happy kiss. Before I could pull away, his arms tightened around my waist. I let my fingers run through his soft hair, mussing it up.
He smiled against my lips before deepening the kiss and laying back so I was on top of him.
I pulled away for oxygen and smiled at him, "You know we should get going right?"
"Yeah but I'd rather finish this," He smirked.
"We can finish it there," I smiled mischievously and pointed at the cabin.
Nathan grinned broadly and jumped up, taking me with him, "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get moving."
I chuckled and shrugged my bag back on, pulling the bow onto my shoulder. We started off at a fast pace, moving quickly in the direction of the cabin. As long as we state by the river, we'd go right past it. Perfect!
Baine loped beside us, catching our excitement. The cabin was on this side of the river, which was far deeper now and I was glad we had to cross when we did. Our travel slowed as we paced ourselves.
Darkness soon fell and all the light we had was the moon. Nathan was being extra careful with me. Helping me down, leading me by the hand, and pointing out obvious objects in the dark so I wouldn't trip. It was sweet and annoying at the same time. I couldn't imagine what it would be like if my leg was worse.
"How long has it been?" Nathan groaned.
"Two hours maybe," I shrugged, avoiding a large rock.
"We should've seen it by now, right?" He asked, pulling me around a large rock.
"Well, it's dark and it was pretty far away," I offered.
"Think we should stop?" He paused and tugged on my hand.
"No, we're too close now," I pulled slightly and he reluctantly followed.
"How can we tell how close we were to it?" We walked down a steep slope and Nathan grabbed my waist to help me down a little drop off.
"Well, we're getting to the forest and that's where your cabin is. Plus, there was a wide spot in the river like a pool," I mumbled, threading my fingers with his as I remembered a landmark to look for.
The forest was right in front of us and I was set on edge as we stepped into it. It was dark and we could barely see anything. A twig snapping made me flinch and grab Nathan's arm. He wrapped an arm around my waist and kept walking.
I called Baine and he came to my other side. Now I had protection on both sides.
I took my time walking around trees and jutting earth. We'll get there eventually.
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Y'all excited? Cause I am. I'm ready to get this show on the road! Now I know things are pretty mushy between Lyra and Nathan but that's because he wuvs her.
Technically, I'm trying to portray his over protectiveness as, well, over protectiveness. Think about it, you've survived with one person for months. They're all you have. You've both been through hell and it's pretty traumatizing. And, on top of it all, you love that person and realize you don't want to let them go. It's hard.
Lyra and Nathan are almost therapeutic for each other. People who are lost in the wilderness for months on end are known for going crazy, especially in the winter. They keep each other sane. They are each other's only shred of reality. So give Nathan some slack for acting like a tight-wad. ;)
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-KJ