The Evil Hour

05: The Evil Hour

.:. Katanya’s POV .:.

I woke up for a second time, only to be surrounded by darkness. I wondered what time it was? How long was I out? An endless stream of questions ran through my mind, but was effectively cut off when I tried to get up.

A sharp searing pain cut through my leg. I looked down to see a big bandage wrapped around my left thigh. I tentatively touched it. I don’t know what it is about myself, but I always liked touching things. When the tip of my finger touched the bandage with the lightest of touches the pain shot through my body once more.

I let out a whimper of pain because I didn’t want to wake anyone up. It seemed that not everyone was asleep. Asher seemed to be on guard duty. He didn’t hear me, so I began to half crawl half limp towards him. As soon as I started -whatever it was- moving towards him I felt the sudden urge to use the bathroom. Great. I thought. This is going to be so much fun trying to go!

I then changed direction and headed for a bunch of trees. Once relieving my bladder -which took all of 10 minutes and a lot of pain- I began to head in Asher’s direction for a second time. He turned towards me when he finally heard me coming.

Either I was really really quiet -which I can tell you I wasn’t- or he was deep in thought about something. I knew he wasn’t a terrible guard, my father wouldn’t have hired him otherwise.

“Hi. Um, how long was I asleep?” I tentatively asked him. I was nervous. What did he think of me when he saw me fight? I knew for a fact that Lady Angelica would never do anything like that in fear of breaking a nail.

“About a day. I would personally like to thank you for saving my parents lives, and your fighting skills made me realise, had I given you a weapon you would have whipped my but.” He said to lighten our serious mood.

“You very welcome and absolutely right. My father used to say that I was the best fighter that he had ever seen, man or women.” I told him sadly. I realised now that I would never hear my father or my mother praise me again.

“Your father sounds like a nice man. By the way, where did you get the weapon from?” He questioned me.

“He was the best. And, um, I, maybe, stole, the dagger out of your rust sack ...” I mumbled the last part feeling ashamed of myself.

He then did something that surprised me. He laughed. A good hearty laugh, that made me want to laugh too. So I did. After we calmed down he said. “Well I’m glad you did. So in thanks for saving my family, you are no longer my prisoner. Although I don’t think you ever were.” He stated thoughtfully scratching the back of his head.

I noticed that he did that whenever he was nervous. “I don’t think I was either. Would it be alright if I left you and your family. I don’t want anything to happen to them, but I must get to the Western Border.” I had seen what had happened in these woods, and they weren’t nearly as safe as I had originally thought. To think what would have happened if I wasn’t there to stop it. Not good things, thats for sure.

“It should be alright, and I’m sure my family will be safe. They are traveling East. It is just this part of the woods that isn’t safe.” He then looked around nervously and scratching his head he said, 

“I think that I should accompany you to the Western Border just as a safety pro-caution. I know that you can defend yourself, but you don’t know your way around these woods. I do. Think of how long it would take you to reach the Western Border without knowing where to find them.”

He was right though. I had no idea which direction to even start looking without the sun, so to have someone who knew exactly how to get there would be good. It would take a lot less time, maybe even save more lives.

“Alright. Just make sure that your family is okay with it first. Your right, I have absolutely no clue where I’m going whatsoever.”

He smiled at that and nodded. He seemed to be happy with my answer. “I will clear it with them when they wake up. But as for you, you need to go back to bed and rest. We have a long journey ahead of us, and your going to need all the rest you can get. Your leg is going to be hurting a lot as well and will slow us down a great deal.” He then looked over at me and smirked.

“I suppose I could always carry you. You don’t look that heavy anyways.” I swear after that comment I could have hit him. So I did. Hard too.

Then smiling sweetly at him I said, “Oh I think I can keep up, I once had to fight ten men at once and had one leg broken but I still managed to run, well limp five miles afterwards. So I think you can keep your offer.”

With that comment I got up and limped back to my makeshift bed, but not before I looked back to see him watching me with an expression filled with amusement, wonder and love?

No it wasn’t love, he couldn’t love me. We barely know each other. Yet why does that expression have my heart racing and palms sweating. 

Because you find him attractive and don’t deny it. 

My subconscious said. Yes I couldn’t deny that he was a good looking person, but he was my kidnapper. A bad one I might add. But just because he was an attractive guy didn’t mean that I was attracted to him. Did it?

And with that thought I closed my eyes and welcomed the darkness of sleep ...

This time instead of falling asleep to darkness or one of those dreams with the creepy man, I had a dream about Asher. 

We were talking and laughing. He had the same look on his face that he had before. He started to learn towards me and my heart sped up. He looked into my eyes and it felt like he was looking into my eyes. I started to blush because his gaze was that intense.

He then asked me, “Katanya, can I kiss you?” I was a little bit shocked by his words, but nodded anyway. I wanted him to kiss me. He leaned in further and lightly touched his lips to mine. I felt like there were fireworks going off inside of me. It was a brief kiss. He pulled back with a sheepish expression on his face.

My lips were still tingling and it felt like the fireworks were still going off. He smiled at me and if my heart could go any faster, it did. That was when I realised something. I was most certainly attracted to Asher, if not more.

.........

A/N: So this is just a filler chapter as well to kick start Asher and Katanya's romance. Let me know what you think! Thanks for reading! Remember to Vote, Comment & Love! ~ Owlet.