His Ocean Blue Eyes

♔Chapter Seven

"It may be time that we have to give up on him, Liam," a woman spoke, ignoring the cries beside her.

"No! Not yet," the boy cried. I couldn't see him, everything was dark. I could only hear them and an annoying beeping around me.

"We gave him a year," the woman spoke, "it's been almost two."

"And yet, he's still alive and well, just needs to fucking wake up," the boy spoke again, his voice holding anger this time. The woman scoffed.

"You know he might not."

"But I also know he might."

My breathing was uneven as I shot up from my laying position. My heart was quickly beating and my mind was racing. My eyes darted around, realizing I was in the woods still.

I sighed, taking a moment for my mind and heart to calm down as Mare walked over, watching me with investigating eyes. I reached out, putting my hand to her, feeling like this was all a dream.

I pinched myself; it definitely wasn't a dream. I pushed myself up, the small blanket falling off of me as stretched. It was still pitch black out, the moonlight doing no relief to the dark forest.

I bent down to grab the small blanket, folding it up before placing it into Mare's saddlebag. She lowered her head to the ground, not caring what I was doing and instead was more interested in eating the grass.

I mounted her, grabbing her reins and guiding her towards the path. I had read through the writings and found that Ottoman had wrote on the article about hid plans. He was a charismatic fool.

I had questioned how the article had gotten into the journal, but concluded that he had given the page to the missiongivers to allow them to know his information. And they had, in turn, put it in the journal forgetting about having to give it to me.

"Mare, halt," I whispered, looking around us at the darkness. Something was off, it was too silent for night. The crickets weren't chirping and the owls weren't hooting.

No slithering was heard or footprints on the grass. Everything was just as I had described it, silent.

Mare took off at the sound of a stick breaking behind us. I leant down, not daring to test my luck with the low hanging branches above me.

Ahead of us laid a silhouette of a town, pitched in dark and very few lanterns lit about. Mare refused to slow down, racing throughout the town, and getting shouts of anger in return.

I pulled hard on the reins, making Mare slow before stopping, almost throwing me off as I kept hold on the saddle. Her head whipped around, looking for what had caused the sound before realizing she was nowhere near it.

I clicked my tongue, having to command her for the first time in a while. She slowly walked, passing the edge of town within minutes.

"See, we're fine," I spoke, my voice silent as I looked over my shoulder, searching the darkness behind me to make sure my words were true. From what I could tell, they were.

I sighed, my body relaxing as my face rested against Mare's mane, the horn of her saddle practically stabbing my abdomen, but I didn't care, I was lost in thought.

I heard the sound of a carriage ahead and sat up, succeeding in hitting my head against a low branch. "I need another phrase other than bad luck," I mumbled to myself, rubbing the sore spot.

Mare stopped when the carriage cut us off, the passengers and coachmen looking at me like I wad a fool.

"Boy, why are you out here alone?" I looked at the lady as they came adjacent to Mare, their carriage making them about the same height as I on Mare. My mouth formed into a frown at her words; I was more than just a mere boy.

"I learned my sister's with child, my parents were too sick to make the trip with me," I spoke, half lying to the family beside me. I looked over at them, just noticing the small child that sat beside the man, holding onto his arm as her eyes watched me.

She didn't trust me, however, her parents did. "That's a shame, take care and be mindful with the raiders about," the woman said, her voice full of care. I forced a smile to my lips.

"It all started with that O'Livedrop raid years ago," the man mumbled as the coachmen guided the horses off. I growled, they had no idea what they were talking about.

"Your daughter is smarter than either of you!" I yelled back, Mare taking off when she was given the signal to. I frowned, shaking my head and trying to calm down. They had no right to blame my the raids on my family's death.

We passed through a town by about noon, and I bought a map that showed I still had at least a half of a day of journey left before I got to my sister's kingdom.

I stopped at the next town, getting Mare a supply of water and food as I walked through to the market, buying goods that would help on the long trip there and back.

"She's about to see me for the first time since before the raid," I spoke, pushing my fingers through Mare's knotted mane. She jerked her head from me, and I shrunk back, apologizing to her.

I walked in front of her, grabbing the underside of her muzzle and bringing her face up, putting my hand to her nose. She relaxed, breathing out onto the palm of my hand as I extracted it.

"She will probably kill me for not telling her that I was alive," I said, shaking my head as I pulled myself up into the saddle.

Mare looked around at people who passed her side, not comfortable with them being so close and slowly walked instead of galloping or, at least, trotting.

Women of fancy dresses and men in gold buttoned clothes gathered the streets, showing the wealth of themselves. I watched ad their children stayed at their sides, watching the other children play in the streets.

Never, in my life, would I be able to announce so freely to anybody that I was rich. I wouldn't want to be a constant target of torture and mistreatment by thieves or raiders. Even hunters at times.

Mare sprinted into a gallop once we left the town. I guided her through trails as we continued on our adventure to save my sister.