Before the Battle

Reckoning 12/20

--Taira--

I had a dream.

A beautiful dream of which I recalled almost nothing. Just a warm feeling of peace and love. I opened my eyes to see Shira still holding me, running his fingers lightly over my face.

"Time to get up, Snow White," he smiled.

"Don't you mean Sleeping Beauty?" I corrected him, guiltily pulling myself out of his arms.

"Is there a difference?" He grinned.

Actually, there wasn't any difference. Both princesses in the story were asleep and left it to their prince to save them.

I did the same. Despite my decision, I fell asleep, leaving Shira to keep watch alone. Only for a few hours, but it still meant I got a few more hours of sleep than he did.

My limbs were stiff, my neck ached and I was shivering with cold. How much better I felt in Shira's arms.

The rocky shelter where we camped seemed inhospitable in the morning twilight, the tall trees hostile, what a remote place, far from any inhabited places.

Dawn was not far away, time to leave.

"Here," Shira handed me a bottle of water and half an energy bar in a shiny wrapper.

"I thought we didn't have any food."

"This is the last of it," he said, and I bit into my ration hungrily.

Of course, the next thing I realised was that we'd shared this bar yesterday morning, and while I ate my half, he got to keep his. And now he gave me the last piece.

"That was your share," I snapped, annoyed that he was treating me like a child, and shoved the rest of the bar I hadn't had time to eat into his mouth.

He took the last morsel from my fingers and before I could say anything about his well-meaning deception, he observed: "Tomorrow we'll have breakfast in the camp."

That seemed overly optimistic.

And once we were on the road and I could feel every muscle aching, I revised Shira's estimate as unrealistic.

We climbed up the deforested hillside to look out over the landscape. There was not much to see in the distance, just more impenetrable forest, hills, a glimpse of a valley and a flowing river.

Countless leagues ahead. The thought made me sick.

While Shira scanned the area with his binoculars, looking for our pursuers, I sat down on a convenient block of rock to rest. We had been walking for barely half an hour and I had had enough.

The sun was just rising.

The growing red rays pierced the grey clouds, gradually tinting them with shades of crimson.

"A red sunrise is supposed to be a bad omen," I said, looking at the beautiful play of colours.

"I don't believe in bad omens," Shira echoed, putting down the binoculars and coming over to me. "The red sky at dawn just means that there is a lot of humidity in the air and it might start to rain."

"You made that up," I pointed out, suspecting he was making fun of me.

"No," he smiled. "I don't know fairy tales, but I remember this."

He reached out a hand and pulled me to my feet. "I didn't see anyone. Let's go, break's over."

*

We reached the wide river.