Sector 21

Chapter Seven

They rode though the whole night, stopping every now and then to water the horses when they came to a stream or river. As dawn crept over the horizon the sky danced with colour and the dew on the grass shone in the light. Pink, orange and blue flashed across the sky as they reached a wide glen.

As a child she had always been warned about the dangers of leaving London. She was told of the creatures that lived beyond the walls of the city, all man eating abominations of nature. So far she had been scared witless at how flippant Xavier had been when she had told him about the creatures that apparently roam there.

They reached the edge of the glen, ate, refreshed the horses and then carried on. When dusk fell they lay on the grass and slept, without a fire. He said fire would attract attention that would only slow them down. The stars watched as Octavia slept, watching the rise and fall of her chest in the moon light.

Xavier did not sleep but watched what the stars watched, he wondered what was so special about her that he had sent to get her. Of course he was told nothing, he did not expect to be told anything like usual. Her hair moved across her face as the breeze picked up. She was quite pathetic, never had much experience in the outside world, probably did not finish her education in school or even know what to do if she was captured. The King who ruled over the whole continent had banished him, his kind and anything not human to the wastes but even there they were not safe. Once they were banished the King had then offered rewards to anyone who would bring the head of any banished creature. Previous to being caught, Xavier had been looking for Octavia for nearly a year. Sent by his ruler, he was forbade to return without her.

Eventually he fell asleep, content that he could finally return but e did not know what would come of Octavia when they got to the fortress.

--

The sun began to creep over the horizon when Octavia woke up, to her surprise Xavier was still asleep and breathing heavily. It had been four days since they had left London MC and she wondered if the government had been to her apartment to look for her. They had exchanged some of Octavia's things for food, bedrolls and a cloak each to shield them from the rain. She grabbed her bag and headed to the waterfall that was close to where they had slept that night. There was no one around apart from Xavier and she assumed he would not wake for some time.

The wind dropped as she stripped herself of her clothes and jumped into the pool below the waterfall, she smelt of horse sweat, smoke and dirt. Hoping the water would was off most of the dirt and smell she swam under the small waterfall and let the water run through her hair and down her back. She had acquired a gash down her back when her mare- she called Firefoot- had bolted and caused her to fall off into a large rock. Although her riding had improved significantly, she wasn't anywhere good enough to rival Xavier's.

Eventually the water chilled her through and she got out to get changed. She had just put on her undergarments and jeans when Xavier went running down to the waterfall with the horses in tow.

"We've been spotted" She whisper shouted as he began cramming all of her things into the bag.

As quickly as possible she pulled on her shirt, put her boots on, fastened her cloak, mounted Firefoot and the pair galloped across the flatland to the forest. Xavier had taken her bag and was now urging his mare faster next to Firefoot. He said there was no point in naming the horse as 'it was a stupid animal' but Octavia had called her Hasufel.

They continued to race through the woods, taking different paths until they were sure they had lost whoever was following them. When they slowed to a walk they headed through the woods, the trees seemed to part as they walked through the path. They carried on through the forest for another day, only stopping to give her horses a rest but not for either of the riders to sleep. The path was forever climbing and winding. It was half way through the second day of being in the forest when they spotted civilization in the form of smoke rising above the trees. It could have been mistaken for a forest fire but Xavier had said it was the fortress, the place they were going.

"My legs are hurting now" Octavia moaned, the five days she had been in the saddle had not been all that pleasant

"If you keep moaning, I will cut your tongue out" Xavier hissed.

"That's the first thing I've said to you in almost two days and then I only asked you what the smoke was" She said in a huff.

He did not answer but just urged his mare into a trot, he new exactly how to pull her strings. She did not like that at all. They trotted through the forest until they came to a stone wall. Fae like Xavier were stood on the wall, all bearing long bows and a sword. It made Octavia uneasy. Dropping behind Hasufel, Octavia followed them through huge wooden doors and into a courtyard. Two fae wearing only what could be described as light armor took the horses away when they dismounted.

"Come with me" Xavier growled as he walked towards the end of the courtyard, and into a stone building.

She followed silently, the bag cut into her shoulders once again as she walked behind Xavier with wobbly legs. They came to what looked like a large throne room without a throne, a fire was lit to each side of the hall and there were more fae with swords at every door and pillar. She walked forwards looking at everything that wasn't in front of her, she walked straight into Xavier and staggered a few steps before managing to steady herself. The high ceiling with wooden beams supporting the walls reminded her of the halls of Rohan in the books she much loved. The small amount of chatter that previously occupied the hall was immediately silenced when a door creaked open.