The Heirs

Ethan: First Night

Chapter 5

(Ethan POV) -Albuquerque-

We rode well into the night neither of us speaking. I felt my eyelids growing heavier. For a moment they closed and then I quickly shook myself back awake. We needed to continue. But then Damira finally stopped, "We are going to make camp here for the rest of the night. We'll continue in the morning." She got off her horse and tied the reigns to a tree. I did the same, "I can keep going, you don't need to stop on my account." I really wanted to keep going and get Emma and Mia. She turned to look at me, "This is the first clearing I've see in miles that will work for the night. Plus where we are going we can't go this late anyway. We will get there, first thing in the morning." She moved back over to her saddle bag and pulled out a large tarp. "Do you think you could gather wood for a fire?" She called out not even looking over at me. "Yeah, no problem," I said. I stayed near the area picking up the fallen sticks and branches before coming back over. She had tied to corner of the tarp to branches on the trees and it went down to the ground where she had rocks keeping it stable.

"It looks great," I commented. "It will do for the night," she said still not turning to face me. "Were you able to find enough wood?" She asked. I looked over the pile I had stacked on the ground, "I think so." She turned and looked over. Her face was analyzing everything, "Yeah, that will work." She finally looked at me, "I'm going to get the fire started, you can get some shuteye if you want." She then began working on building the fire. I decided to sit next to her, it didn't feel right sleeping when I knew she was still going to be awake. She took another rock and began sliding her sword against it trying to get a spark. Within minutes she got the fire going. She scooted back and just started staring at the light. I thought back to all the almost burned out candles. Around the castle there are always some type of torches burning that is why she had so many shadows to hide behind. She looked almost mesmerized by the light, "You don't like the dark much do you?" She brought her knees into her chest and kept her eyes on the fire, "Not particularly." I scooted over closer and she didn't move away. "Can I ask why?" She looked over at me, "You can but, I won't guarantee you will get an answer." I nodded my head and stayed nearby.

She took a breath, "You should get some rest we are going to be leaving early in the morning." I nodded my head and made my way toward the tarp when I noticed she hadn't moved, "Aren't you coming?" She turned and gave me a smirk, "Someone has to stay guard." I nodded my head, "That's true but, wouldn't it be easier to guard from the tarp?" She sighed, "You aren't going to let this go are you?" I thought about it for a moment and did her classic head bounce from side to side before I said, "No." She crawled closer until her head was under the tarp. She briefly looked at me, "Now sleep." I laid down and slowly went to sleep.

(Damira POV)

I kept guard most of the night with my hand firmly holding onto my sword. After he went to sleep I went back out to the fire. I needed to see the light that was emitting, I needed to feel it's warmth. I needed to feel safe. I kept looking back over at Ethan throughout the night. He looked so exhausted that all that mattered was that he was getting rest. It didn't seem to matter that the ground was hard or that he may have been cold. He just needed to sleep. I smiled to myself as I watched how peaceful he looked before I quickly shook it off.

I started talking off some of my gear, as it started weighing down more and more as I grew tired. I decided to take out my ponytail soon after as I started getting a headache. Soon enough I was laying down looking up at the sky with the fire to my right. I decided that it would be alright if I rested my eyes for a moment. Soon enough I began hearing birds chirp and felt the sun on my face. I shot up and looked over at the tarp. Ethan wasn't there. I looked around and the horses were still there, there was only our footprints that I could visibly see. My breath quickened. This couldn't be happening.

I heard twigs snap coming towards me and I looked in their direction. I fumbled for my sword and lifted it up and held it up and tried to calm myself down but my breaths continued to come out heavy. The branches began to move, "Damira, I found some, Woah." Ethan came forward holding something. He looked wide eyed at my sword and I quickly dropped it down to the ground, "WHAT THE HELL ETHAN? WHERE WERE YOU?" He looked down at what was in his hands before looking back up at me confused., "I was looking for some food and found a pond down the path. Figured we could stock up." I went towards him, "You don't leave without telling me. Do you understand? I thought something...I thought..." I ran my hand through my hair and took another deep breath, "You can't disappear on me." Ethan put down whatever food he had found and came over putting a hand on my shoulder, "Ok. I will let you know from now on, but I'm Ok. I promise." I put my hand on top of his, closed my eyes and finally regained control of my breathing again.

(Ethan POV)

I woke up the next morning and saw Damira wasn't under the tarp. As I crawled out I saw her asleep next to the remnants of the fire. It burned itself out not too long ago from what I could tell. I made my way over to her. She tucked herself into as small a ball as possible facing the fire. Her hair flowed behind her and it was the first time I had ever seen it down. I thought about waking her up but, she looked so peaceful. I looked around and decided to explore a bit see what I could find. I wasn't sure what food and how much water Damira had packed but, we were probably going to need more.

I found a pond and a decent amount of food and I realized that the sun was coming up meaning Damira was probably awake. I started making my way back. I pulled back the final branch before I reached our camp and was greeted with Damira holding out her sword. She started yelling and I hadn't realized I did something wrong. "You don't leave without telling me. Do you understand? I thought something...I thought..." her voice was breaking and it dawned on me, she was worried. My sisters had been kidnapped and then I just disappeared of course she was worried. She took an audible breath, "You can't disappear on me." i put down the berries I had found and went over to her. I placed my hand on her shoulder, "Ok. I will let you know from now on, but I'm Ok. I promise." She put her hand on top of mine and squeezed it and I smiled.

Just as quickly as it happened though it went away even faster. She stepped away, "Well let's load up the canteens with the water that you found and head out. We might be able to make it to the cottage before nightfall tonight." "Cottage?" I asked. She turned to face me, "Right one of our stops. I understand." I caught a glimpse of a smile on her lips, "Come on let's move."

(Damira POV)

We rode down to the pond that Ethan found and I began filling up our canteens. I looked over at Ethan and he was just staring out at the water behind me, "You alright?" He nodded his head, "Yeah, do you need help with those?" I looked down at the two filled canteens, "I'm good." He nodded his head again but, it was clear that there was still a lot on his mind. I walked over and put the canteens in my saddle bag before walking back over. "We are going to get them back, ok?" This snapped him back, "Yeah of course we are. Let's go". I nodded my head and we rode off. Something still seemed off with Ethan but, I couldn't figure out what. I needed to stop, I reminded myself. Ethan wasn't the priority. He couldn't be the priority. I needed to focus especially now with what was coming. I took a breath again and snapped the reigns.

Author's Note:

From this point forward the chapters are going to be a bit shorter. Trying to write so much in each chapter is throwing off the pacing and making things feel more rushed and forced. Thank you for understanding.