Tired of Waiting

Chapter 6

The next morning I was awake by dawn, huddled next to the dying embers of last night's fire. I sat up and ran my fingers through my dirty hair. I rubbed my eyes and looked over to where Kristopher was sleeping. Except, he wasn't there. I stood up and looked around to see if I could find him. He had left his horse and supplies, but was gone. Where in the high heck could he have gone? I ran my fingers through my hair again in frustration, but stopped after touching more than one indiscernible object. I would need to wash it soon. I glanced around and sat down. I heard the sound of sandy footsteps coming my way and whipped my head in the direction of the approacher. It was Kristopher.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Why? Did you miss me?" He replied playfully.

"Of course not. In fact I was quite counting on you not coming back," two can play at that game.

"I was thinking about it for a while but then I remembered what you said about me in your sleep," he said matter-of-factly.

"And what was that?" I asked with fake intrigue in my voice.

"Oh, it wasn't much really. Just a bit of mumbling about how much you need me, how unbearably attractive I am, you know, the usual stuff," He commented as he started pulling out some food, a smile playing on his lips.

"Oh really?" I asked quizzically, "Did I also say how much I absolutely love glitter and pixies?"

"Why yes, in fact, you did."

We both exchanged a glance that made us both fall over in laughter.

"So what do we plan on doing today, Mister 'unbearably attractive'?" I asked.

"Well Miss 'lover of glitter and pixies', the kingdom of Tennysen is just a mile or so north, and from there, who knows, maybe we'll get on a barge and fight a band of swashbuckling pirates for their ship, then maybe we can go loot the nearby kingdoms, and then we could take all of our booty and sail to a deserted island where we could start a new colony who speaks in colors." Kristopher said, acting it all out as he said it.

I laughed, "A language based on colors? What color would we use in emergencies? Orange? Would we just be going about our daily business when we accidentally cut ourselves and scream 'Orange!!!'?"

"Obviously. And brown would mean 'Oh crap, assistance is required'," Kristopher added.

I laughed and rolled around on the ground. Kristopher laughed too and came over to help me up. I took his hands, which were surprisingly soft and warm, and he pulled me up with his incredibly strong arms.

We ate breakfast by our long gone fire, finding new names for the random things in life. After we were done, we packed our bags and saddled up to leave.

We rode for about fifteen minutes when Kristopher's horse started picking up the pace. I too gently nudged Chestnut to go a little faster than Kristopher. He noticed my picking up of the pace, and began to trot. I gave Chestnut a tap of my heel and she began to gallop. Now it was a race. Both of our horses were running at full speed. His horse was obviously bred for speed, but Chestnut was determined. It was a close race, but when the horses both decided they were too tired to keep up the sport, I was the winner.

"Ha! You got schooled! Eat my dust!" I did a little happy dance in my saddle.

"No, I totally beat you by like, a second!" He countered.

"It is sad enough that you were beat by a girl, but it is even sadder that you won't admit defeat to one, who was the obvious winner."

"Fine," he scoffed, "You won, but don't tell that to Ebony, she's a real poor sport." He patted the black mare. I rolled my eyes and shook my head.