The Orphan Boy

Unexpected Dangers

Rayhanna rode nearly all night down out of the mountains from the Star's castles. She wasn't quite out of the mountains and onto the high moorlands yet but after a night of hard riding she was much closer than she had been. The thought occurred to her that she may want to press on but both she and Cloudjumper were tired and she quickly discarded the idea.

Soon, she realized, that as the sun was rising Laina would come to look for her and then find that she wasn't there. That would be when Laina would run and tell the small council that was in charge of the Stars earthly affairs in that particular castle. They would probably send out a search party or several at once and they wouldn't find her anywhere close. Once they had reported back and given the news to the council they would most undoubtedly send out ravens to all of the other castles and to all of the Star's allies. After that they would probably send out another search party with instructions to not come back until they had found her. Rayhanna smiled at the thought of the entire castle in such a commotion all because of her.

Her plan was to have slept during this time and once the larger search party had been sent out she would already be awake and riding even farther away. She was light and Cloudjumper was reasonable fast, they would make good time. The Star people were, most probably, not who would catch her. But Rayhanna was sure that the council would send out ravens to their allies and that was a much broader circle of people who would return her home. Rayhanna had no intention of letting them.

When she and Cloudjumper came to a small depression in the earth that was surrounded on one side by a little thicket of bushes she pulled up on the reins. Once Cloudjumper had come to a stop beside it she lead her, by the reins, around beside the depression. With weary and trembling fingers she took the saddle off of her horse and hung in on the branch of a nearby tree. Then she pulled her pack off and walked around the brambles and sat down in the depression.From where she sat Rayhanna could see Cloudjumper. The horse was grazing nearby.

Of her food she decided to eat a bite of the cheese and a little of the bread since these would spoil the fastest. The food was by no means good or filling but it was good to not be hungry for a change. With her food she also had a sip of water from her canteen. After Rayhanna had eaten her food she fell asleep almost immediately.

When she woke up again the sun was already sinking. Cloudjumper had laid down under a large tree. Rayhanna yawned and stretched. She pulled the cheese and bread out of her pack and ate more of both. After that she shouldered her pack, whistled to her mare, then re-saddled her. Both of them were soon riding down out of the last stretch of mountainous region and onto the high moors.

Like the night before it was cold and windy. Rayhanna's blonde hair whipped around, she kept brushing it out of her face but it wouldn't stay back. The cold wind blowing in her face and the small raindrops that started falling quickly woke her up.

 If nature had it's way no one would sleep long. Rayhanna thought. Or perhaps nature would have us all go to sleep for the rest of our lives. She puzzled over it for sometime. If it was more natural for people to never be asleep or for people to sleep every hour of every day away. It was an odd thing to think about but it was what she thought about then. Granted her mind often wondered and this was nothing particularly strange to think abut for Rayhanna.

After a while the forest thicken and Rayhanna had to slow their pace. With Cloudjumper's hoof beats a great deal quieter Rayhanna could hear the trickle of a stream nearby. Once they found it Rayhanna dismounted and refilled her canteen. Even though it had hardly any less water than it had when she had first filled it up, but Rayhanna didn't know when she would find water again and had decided that she didn't want to risk it.

When she stood next to the stream, putting the plug back in the canteen's spout, she heard a noise. It sounded very faint and at first she couldn't make out what it was. But the noise grew steadily louder and she soon recognized it as hoof beats.