The Fox Witch

Part 38

Part 38

When they ran for four hours straight and the sun was midway through, they took another break. Brett got off immediately and guided his horse to the water.

"I think we will stop here tonight. It's a good spot and we can cover more grounds tomorrow. The horses on the carriages are tired and need to rest. Tomorrow we will swap them out more times so we will run tomorrow the whole day. It will get quite boring on the horse, so you can ride in a carriage if you want."

That way, they made up for the lost time. They would probably cover more ground tomorrow than today. Brett cracked his shoulder and neck.

"It's quite tensing up there."

"Want me to massage your shoulders for you?" Eddy asked, he liked being helpful where he could be. And helping tension out of Brett's back and shoulders may be the way to do it.

He smiled down at the shorter male.

"That would be awesome if you could do it a bit later. Now we will start cooking - more or less fish stew again. No bread probably. I can't imagine the women make bread now. But afterwards we will huddle around the fire and then you can massage me if you want. I would appreciate it."

Brett shot him a smile and helped Eddy off the horse. He took off the saddle and placed it on the ground near the first stacks of wood. There would be a fire in less than an hour roaring.

Neha came to them and smiled at Eddy.

Eddy looked to Neha when she approached, and smiled back at the older witch. He would get to the convo of massaging Brett later but right now he hadn't seen Neha in awhile, "Long time no see, how have you been?"

"I have been great. How about you? I took charge of the women you spared, so that kept me busy, while you were busy 'helping' our dear Khanzadeh here."

At that Brett held up his hand and shook his head.

"Thanks and bye. I am going to talk to my parents for further plans."

He quickly gave Eddy a kiss on the cheek before practically running off. Neha laughed at that and shook her head before she turned to Eddy.

"So, how has almost-married life been to you? Do you want to talk about what happened in the other tribe? I am here for you, you know."

Concern was clear as day in her eyes. She knew it was not easy for Eddy, and she wanted to be a good friend and help him.

"I'm just trying to shove everything that happened when kidnapped down the memory drain," Eddy ran a hand through his hair as he looked at Neha, it wasn't all too bad but others were very disturbing, "Almost married life is good, we're getting better at communicating with one another."

Neha pulled Eddy in a hug and sighed.

"I am so sorry it happened to you. But it was a trial right? My heart almost breaks. If you ever need someone to talk to - about anything or everything, please seek me out. I will always have an open ear for you."

She kissed his temple and took his head in her hands. Her wrinkled fingers caressed the cheeks and she smiled lopsidedly.

"And please talk to me. Don't shove everything down. It will boil over if you are not careful."

"It was a trail, yes. A scary one, and a saddening one." Eddy sighed slightly, he would try not to think about it too much though. It probably wouldn't do him any good, "I'm just glad the women and children are finally free from such an awful place."