The Golden Circle (on hold)

Chapter 2

"Are you sure you packed all the things I told you about." asked Arman as they slowly rode their white horse Lafley.

"Yes father, I checked it several times." Emily responded.

They had set off for their trip and were roughly half an hour in. The final farewell to their extended family was not as long as they would have imagined it to be. It also seemed more like a funeral than a farewell.

They traveled slowly in the rougher landscapes of the vast forest wilderness. They would then continue to do this until they were clear of the forests and on to the clear high lands. That was when Arman commanded Lafley to run faster.

The land was moist that day and the smell of of wet grass and leaves dominated the air. It had been raining a couple of nights before but was fairly dry and humid for the day. Despite the fairly warm weather a wind would breeze by every once in a while to give them a bitter sweet chill.

It was'nt the first time they travelled out of Kameras  but it felt so strange under the circumstances. Emily kept staring backwards to check if anyone or anything had been following them.

The night started to close in on them and they sped up to reach a familiar area where they had camped before.

Despite making a couple of stops to rest and respond to nature's call, they managed to get to their safe spot before the night settled in completely.

They unpacked the bags that were strapped on Lafley and set up a mini tent with some blanket clothe and  small wooden beams. They then gathered some wood and started a fire to keep themselves warm.

"How is it over their in Galespear?" asked Emily as she eat a loaf of baked bread.

"You don't remember? you went their four years ago. Or was it five...either ways you have been their before" said Arman with a little sigh of laughter.

"Father, I barely remember things that happened a couple of years ago, my memory is'nt the best, mom always use to tell me I got that from you." she said with gentle smile.

Arman chuckled before replying "Well you were definitely young at the time, Galespear was a much larger village, some considered it more of a town. But anyways you seemed to get quite a kick out of it, you wondered off by yourself several times."

"Did I? I don't remember a single moment."

Arman was about to respond until something caught his attention, something he saw from far out in the direction they just came from. A chill ran down his spine as he stared at a moving object less than a quarter mile away.

He had been in the area several times at night before and knew the landscape almost by heart, and tonight with a nearly full moon beaming on forest it was even clearer to tell something was out of place.

"Father is their something wrong?" asked Emily as she stepped closer to her father wondering what had just caught his attention. She too started to feel the anxiety that ran through her father's veins.

He saw the figure standing by a small hill south of where he and his daughter were camping. If he hadn't known the area he would have thought it to be some tree and might not have even noticed, but he knew very well there were no trees at that particular spot.  Whether it was a person or a demon did not matter, all Arman knew was something or someone was following them and  at that moment, watched as he and his daughter camped.

Emily started to get scared as she crawled towards her father to try to find some sense of comfort.

"Father is their someone following us?" she said quietly as she stared directly at her father, too terrified to even look back at what momentarily paralyzed her father with fear.

Arman then slowly hugged his daughter and quietly told her " sweetheart we have to pack our things and leave, it might not be safe here tonight."

He released Emily and slowly got up and grabbed a bucket of water they were saving for other uses. He then splashed it over the fire.

Emily Glanced for a moment at the spot her father was staring at as he slowly started to pack the tents they had set up. She could not quite pin point the figure her father gazed at but was none the less worried, as she could only imagine the worst.

 Arman then suddenly stopped the unpacking and dropped the items he had in his hand.  To his horror, the dark figure had appeared to move down the small hill towards their direction.

He clenched his sweaty palms and stood in silence for a couple of seconds and then glanced over at his daughter, she just noticed his sudden change in demeanor. He breathed heavily in and out to come himself down as he thought the situation through.

He slowly walked over to Emily and leaned his head close to her ears.

"Emily, I want you to get on Lafley right now, and quick and...." he said before being interrupted by a sudden sound.

His heart started racing rapidly and the anxiety thrusted his chest.  The sound he heard was like that of a herd of animals running, In this case Arman was sure it was a group of horses.

"Lay low Emily." He said as he gently guided her to bend downward.  Emily started breathing loudly as she was drowning in worry at that point. She knew the situation was serious from the look in her father's face.

The noise started to become more clear and at that point they were certain that it was the footsteps of horses.

"Emily, I am going to carry you to the horse and we will run off immediately okay? " said Arman with a very low tone voice.

"Yes Father." replied Emily 

Arman paused momentarily as his eyes were locked on the direction of the noise. He took a deep breath, grabbed Emily and carried her, he then made a run towards the horse.

"Stop right there or I shall kill you" shouted someone.