Lynn (Book One of the Lynn Saga)

Chapter Four

When we got to the lake, which was only minutes later, I noticed that there wasn't a lot of stuff. The only "big" items were two horses and a small tent. Everything else ranged from small daggers to piles of wood for fire.

Den headed toward the wood and began to start a small fire, lighting it on fire with magic. Ivan walked towards the horses with Nicole and Calvin, petting and caring for them. Landon and Payton headed to the lake with their spears, occasionally stabbing at the calm water.

Kyle and I looked around. In the break between the trees, the centaur camp, all I could see was a lake, some rocks by the water, and the centaurs' stuff.

"Let's hunt," suggested Kyle and nodded toward the thick forest beyond. "We used to hunt a lot, you know."

I smiled. "That'd be great."

Once we were far into the woods, Kyle got out his sword and I got out my bow, locking on an arrow the way Den described. I held up my left hand with the bow in it and aimed for a nearby tree, bring back the string near my ear. Holding a bow and arrow was harder than it looked!

I let go of the string and my right hand stand by my short hair as I watched the arrow fly a foot or so. Well, not really fly. It just kind of fell onto the grass.

Kyle laughed. "You need to let go instantly, not slowly," he said, walking over to the arrow that stuck out of the earth. He handed it to me and suggested, "try again."

I loaded again and pulled back the string. I took a deep breath, pointing my left fist at the tree trunk, and let go of the string.

Kyle laughed. The arrow had missed the trunk by two feet or so. "Don't worry. You'll be great in no time."

I smiled and stepped forward toward Kyle. Slowly, I leaned forward and kissed him.

Leaping backward, Kyle nearly fell. He caught himself and stammered some gibberish, then ran.

That night, I shared a tent with Nicole and Kyle shared a tent with Ivan. Nicole was a silent sleeper, but sometimes kicked me in the night. The night was rough, but the morning was worse.

"We're leaving," said Nicole, shaking me awake.

I groaned and turned over. Nicole kicked my side with her bare feet. "Up!" she demanded before marching out of the tent. Seconds later, the tent was brought down on me and I scrambled to get out, still half asleep.

When I got out of the tent, till surprised from what had just happened, I noticed that almost everything was gone. The other tent was already packed and all of the wood for the fire was gone. Each centaur had something in their hands: Ivan had his spear and some daggers Den and Landon both carried some wood that was meant for a camp fire; Red carried smoky blankets. Calvin and Nicole were the only ones with empty hands, and soon I learned why.

They both mounted the two horses, Nicole's horse the color of creamed coffee and Calvin's horse with a coat of dark hair. The horses walked slowly towards the centaurs as if greeting friends. After all, centaurs were part horse.

Red turned his head to face me. "You'll share a horse with Nicole." He looked around for Kyle, which I had just noticed was missing. He turned again to me, this time his whole body in my direction as well as his gaze. "Where's Kyle?" He said Kyle's name in a growl of some sort, one possibly not made by Elves.

I shrugged. Nicole sighed and Calvin smiled, probably happy he wouldn't have to share a horse with anyone.

Red grunted. "Oh, well. Lynn, chose a horse."

Thankful that I now got a choice and wasn't paired up with Nicole (who seemed a bit mysterious), I chose to share with Calvin, the only other person to choose. I thought of this as some kind of an opportunity to get to know him more.

Red nodded and I moved towards Calvin, who jumped off of his horse to help me on.

"Here," he said as he grabbed me by the waist and lifted me onto the horse gracefully, like we were dancers in a ballet. I blushed, embarrassed that he touched me.

Red declared, "off!" and the journey began.

There was only one thing I didn't know: where we were going.

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