Jade Medieval

Chapter 30

After a day of rest I was finally able to stand up and walk. Not that I would need to because we had the horses. Fillip didn't want me to ride Ginger so ,against my wishes, at night in secret he tied Ginger a few feet behind his black horse. When I woke in the morning and went to the horses I found Fillip had turned Ginger into a load Horse and made room for me to ride with him of his horse who I learned was called Midnight.

We started off slow on Midnight because Fillip had wanted to make sure I could handle it.

"Stop babying me I am fine just hurry up and lets go home," I poked at him.

"Alright fine."

So the horses where forced into a trot.  We arrived back in the Kingdom just as the sun began to set. We had stopped to watch it hide behind the forest then kept going. The movement of the horses made it very hard to stay awake. I had forced myself to stay awake all day but now I knew I should rest. My eyelids became heavy and my breathing slowed slightly. I leaned forward resting my head on Fillip's back. I felt him chuckle and grinned.

"Goodnight," He whispered.

I yawned," Its just a nap," I said fixing my position to be more comfortable.

"You dont wanna lose your balance," He said quietly as I began to dose off," I'll make sure you dont fall off."

I wrapped my arms around his waist," now you won't have to worry so much."

A we rose through the night my small nap turned into a deep sleep. We rode on for a couple more hours then Fillip made camp. I was still asleep while this was happening. My one eye opened tiredly to see Fillip's body illuminated by the soft glow of a fire. He was humming a tune known in the countryside. I yawned and stretched out very content.

"Did i wake you?" He stopped humming.

"No," I said simply then realised I was on a floor mat with a blanket and rolled up shirt as a pillow.

I smiled at my sleeping section then looked at Fillip. He had given me the thickest blanket and left himself with a worn out mat and thin sheet. I frowned at that and crossed my arms. Fillip tilted his head confused then tugged on the sleeves of his coat to keep warm.

"You led the horses all this way while I did nothing and you think that mat is all you deserve?"

"I don't know," he looked away," I will be fine just sleep."

"I can't let you freeze, besides you need to be strong because I am not at my best right now," I shrugged then walked over to him,"grab your mat."

"What?" He looked at the mat then to me puzzled.

"I have the only good blanket and it is a fair size. We will share it, only makes sense in this situation," I looked at him with an odd look on his face," what is it?"

"Nothing," he said.

"I trust you enough to know you won't try anything," I said going back to my mat," now hurry before the sun comes back up."

"Right but just so you know I would have been fine."

"You'd have been a frozen bunch of bones and I'd woken up feeling guilty so shut up and get over here so I can sleep," I said teasingly and snuggled under the thick blanket.

Fillip came over a few seconds later and placed his mat down then his thinner blanket over top himself. I pushed half the blanket over to his side. We stared up at the stars dancing across the sky. Many colors ranging from deep blue to a relaxing purple. All these stars that nobody really knew much about. Isolated items seperate from us but yet we could see them. I began to dose off and curled over facing Fillip. My body was so sore and tired I just stayed there facing his side. After a few more moments he looked down an saw me. I had already closed my eyes but I was still awake.

"Goodnight," he said laying flat on his back arms stretched out in either direction.

"Night," I said pulling the blanket closer to my head.

It was a peaceful sleep and the fire had gone out deep into that night but we stayed reasonably warm. It smelt like evergreen but the scent wasn't from a tree. We had slept by a tree in a vare field. After dawn I began to stir head throbbing once more. I absently fixed the bandage and sighed. I woke up facing a man but it wasnt Fillip.

"Micheal?!" I shouted in a whisper seeing Fillip was still asleep," what are you doing here?"

His face was grave," What are you doing? With that man?!"

I scowled rubbing my eyes tiredly," I thought you'd of known me better than to assume what you did. We didn't do anything, honest, just calm down and answer me,"

"When I heard about you and your friends going to warn the king I thought I owed it to you to tell you something important," he said," Jade your of Royal Blood. Its been well documented that you are from the Kingdom of France. Your family is cousins of the King. He himself made it public knowledge that his brother Crigory went missing as a small child. Run off playing and something happened. There are documents that prove your Crigory's daughter kept secret with a trusted friend," Micheal whispered very serious," you can't return to the Kingdom. The king is desperate he plans to trade you to the Southerners. A desperate ploy to unite the kingdoms and avoid war."

"If, If, what you say is true. What good is a niece? There has to be many people in line for the throne before me."

" King Phillip II Agustus is has been searching for his brither for decades.  The King of Fleur Ridge awaits your return and seems willing to pay a great deal to bring you home," Micheal sighs," I learned of this while being held prisoner by the Southerners."

"You've advanced well in Spanish fro  our earlier lessons," I say.

"Father taught me in order to make certain deals. Damned bugger couldn't learn himself," Micheal pounded his fist on the ground.

Fillip srung awake and in the blink of an eye had his sword to Micheal's throat," what is going on?"

"I'm related to the King of France, " I said meekly.

"Never heard that one before," Fillip drew his sword back and I realised he wasn't wearing a shirt.

When he had wrapped the blanket around himself I had assumed he had been wearing a shirt. I looked from him to the shirt I had used as a pillow then tossed his shirt back at him.

"Everyone is out to kill you," Micheal said," be careful who you trust," he paused looking at my head," what happened?"

"She was thrown off her horse in a storm and hit her head on some rocks," Fillip answered for me.

"I am capable to answer questions Fillip," I shot him a look.

"So fill me in?" Fillip asked.

Micheal groaned standing up from kneeling," I have to get going before it is suspected I came to inform you," he said then took me aside," remember to be cautious of those you trust."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" I cocked my head," you hate me right now."

"I don't hate you but you did get be angry. I realised thanks to a little red head maid that you thought I was dead and moved on. Simple but it stung," he shrugged fixing his wollen hat.

"It took me weeks to be able to sleep without thinking of you," I said softly," the process was not simple or easy. I really truly thought you were dead."

I returned to Fillip waving goodbye to Micheal. He hitched his horse and ran back towards Dehlia's. After I could no longer see him I looked to Fillip who had been rambling on about Henry and the others.