When I Next Wake (On Hiatus)

When I Next Wake - Chapter 6: The Borrowed Ones

Chapter 6: The Borrowed Ones:



The long, cold night had ended, and the Sun was beginning to rise. The air was slowly getting warmer, and spiders’ webs that decorated the caves were shining in the sunlight as the dew began to dry off. In the middle of all of the Warrior’s tents lay Oliver in his human form, who had fallen asleep while he was helping to guard their tents.

The pack had begun their morning duties. The only person whose schedule had changed was Oliver. It was his job to guard their tents at night and do whatever they asked during the day. It would appear to be a hard job with little rest, but it turned out that the warriors guarded their tents in shifts, and they only needed Oliver to do simple jobs like collected water for their store.

It was the impatient champing of bits, the stamping of hooves and a girl with ice blue eyes and dark brown corkscrew hair that awoke him.

"Good mornin’, sleepin’ beauty," she shouted in his ear as she chucked a whole bucket of water in his face. "Y’ fell asleep on the job, di’n’t y’? Well, I ain’t gonna tell nobody, don’t you worry."

Oliver’s sleepy eyes gazed around the camp, unsure about what had changed about the camp.

"Why are there horses here?" he finally asked.

The girl only laughed. "I’m Erika, by the way. We didn’t ‘ave time to borrow ‘em on the way ‘ere"

"Huh?"

"I haven’t ridden Utrka in years," she began, pointing at a pretty chestnut mare with three white socks. "She’s the quickest we got. Anyway, I best be goin’, don’t want Leila to get angry at me for not tendin’ ‘er, like I’d forget." She rolled her eyes, tightened her black sash around her blue tunic and walked off, swinging the bucket in her right hand. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks. "Oh, boy." she said, turning round to face Oliver again with wide eyes. "I forgot mornin' drill! Oliver, ge' some wa'er for me while I go," she threw the bucket at Oliver, which he caught, and vaulted onto her horse, taking the mare's reins in one hand. "Six buckets would do," she hurriedly said, while kicking her horse into a canter towards one of the fields.

　

Oliver stared after her, completely confused. He slowly got to his feet and stretched his stiff limbs, smacking his lips together, before grabbing three more buckets from around the site and walking up to the waterfall.

He carefully filled each of the buckets almost to the brim, and waited for the water to still slightly before taking it back down to the camp. He balanced one bucket on his head, and held one bucket in one hand and two in the other. He was progressing well, only spilling a few drops occasionally, until he was harshly nudged in the back and the bucket on his head spilt down him.

A horse neighed behind him, and he could hear a child laughing hysterically. "Well done, Vjera!" The child cried, playfully hugging a small bay mare while grinning at Oliver.

Oliver snarled lightly, before smiling. It was his own fault for carrying it on his head, no matter how sensible it had seemed at the time.

A sharp whistle sounded, and Oliver turned his head immediately. There were eight horses that stood in the field, Leila stood a few metres in front of them, facing them and watching their every move carefully. There was no clear order, but they seemed to know what they were doing. They moved into a zig-zag pattern, and Leila nodded in satisfaction.

Oliver looked over each of the horses and their riders:

Javina, a large, black mare with a white stripe down the centre of her nose, was ridden by Jessica, who had straight, blond hair and blue eyes, and she wore a blue tunic was a brown tie around it. She held Javina's reins with poise and care; the mare didn't need rough treatment.