Forgotten Memories

Chapter 4

Copyright ⓒ 2017 by NEVERENDINGMIND (of Wattpad)

All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.

"Sean?" she said as loud as she dared. She needed to talk to Sean but didn't want to wake the other guards. Besides, she didn't even know how to ask him want she wanted to ask him, or whether he would say yes.

"Princess? Is that you?" she heard Sean ask through the foliage.

"Yes," she responded coyly.

"What's wrong?" he asked voice full of concern.

"Nothing." she replied quickly. "I just have a favor to ask."

"What is it?" he replied slowly, cautiously.

"It's just that I feel kinda useless right now and I was wondering if you could maybe teach me how to scout and hunt and maybe even how to defend myself?" she said tentatively.

"I might be able to pull a few strings," he said a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Really?" she said excitedly.

"Maybe," he said jokingly.

She smiled from ear to ear, he was going to teach her! Maybe then she would start to feel less useless and more like the princess that the royal family and all of Trordan were counting on.

She just hoped that she wouldn't disappoint them, or her family. Oh god, she had forgotten about her family, after being dragged though the forest and scared half to death and then finding out the horrible dangerous truth to everything. She hoped they were ok and not wandering around the forest.

***

"Like this?" she asked sure that she was definitely not supposed to look how she surely looked.

He chuckled, his deep laugh carrying over the tops of the trees like a birds song. "Uhh, no, not exactly." he said humorously

Learning how to scout the forest was turning out to be way, way harder than she first thought it would be and she was definitely worse than she had hoped she would be.

"You should be lunged, right now it looks like you just fell into a really uncomfortable position." he said, authority ringing in his voice.

She tried to adjust her position as best she could, but she still felt uncomfortable.

"Better," he said. "Okay, now survey your surroundings."

She took a look around, trying to take in every piece of her surroundings. A bluejay was perched on a branch, ready to take off in a moments notice should someone come any nearer to it. A deer stood silently watching her ready to run off should she need to. A pile of leaves took residence next to an abnormally tall tree. Its trunk taking up more space than Sean and herself combined. A small set of tracks wandered towards a different tree. She noted the stride and straddle distance as well as the pitch and the claws. A fox?

"Okay," she said slowly, after taking everything in. "There is a bluejay in that tree, ready to take off. A deer in the little opening between a few of the trees. A pile of leaves next to that strange tree that could be hiding something, and a set of tracks wandering from the leaves to that tree over there. Based on the claw marks and the heel pad, I'm guessing it is a red fox."

"Very good, princess." Sean said smiling.

Charlotte returned the smile, finally she might actually be useful by the end of these lessons. She couldn't believe he was actually  teaching her. She looked back at him, he nodded thoughtfully while leaning against a tree. "What did I miss?" she said eagerly wanting to improve as much as she could so that Sean wouldn't feel like he was wasting his time on her.

"Well," he said slowly, "there are a few broken branches along the tree line which could mean an animal broke them as they were walking through here, like a bear, but there are no tracks that indicate that; it could have been a human breaking them on purpose to make sure they weren't going in circles, which may not be a good thing in our case; or it could have just been the wind.  There are also some fresh patches of grass that are more green than the rest of the grass which could mean an animal has recently gone through here and stopped along the way, or it could mean there is nearby water. Seeing as the deer is here I am guessing it might be a mixture of both of those. Also if you look closely to the bark of the trees you can see little holes along the bark, this indicates bugs and woodpeckers have taken residence in this area. But...over all I think you did really well for your first time."

"Okay, I can see some of those more clearly now. What else can I learn?" she asked eagerly once more.

"Easy trigger, don't want to get carried away," he replied teasingly, a smile spreading across his face.

"I want to learn more though." she said with slight bitterness coursing through her words. Maybe he did think he was wasting his time with her.

"Okay...How about what I like to call river hunting." he asked, amused at her dedication and drive for more knowledge.

"Teach me your ways." she joked, pleased with the new suggestion.

Hey all!!
Thank you all for continuing to read Forgotten memories! Please remember to give me any and all feed back and suggestions! I think it has a lot of potential and I am really excited to continue to write it. I have a lot of great ideas floating around head but I would love to hear yours as well.

Also, How do you feel about the lessons and Sean?

I would greatly appreciate a vote if you enjoyed this chapter! Thank you again for supporting me and reading Forgotten Memories!

- N E V E R E N D I N G M I N D