Fire's Grace (Being Edited)

Chapter 15

"Emma. Let's go. I have Hope ready."

"Okay Cal. I am on my way," I stand up from where I was laying and start to walk over to Cal.

"Are you sure you are going to be okay Emma?"

"Yeah. I'll be fine. We should get on our way now."

"Yeah, you're right. I'll help you mount up."

Cal gets me into the saddle. He grabs Hope's reins and starts walking. Hope follows. We need to stop a few times, mainly for Cal. We have walked for miles and Cal hasn't rested much. One time that we stop is by a stream. Cal and I are sitting and talking to each other. Hope is standing in the gentle flowing stream. I feel a sudden feeling of exhaustion. I nearly pass out.

"Emma? What's wrong?"

"I just got really tired. But it's gone now."

"We should stay here for the night. You need to rest."

"Only if you think it is best."

"I do."

"Okay."

"I'll go start a fire. You lay down."

I follow Cal's instructions and lay down. It feels good. I feel myself start to fall asleep. I force myself to stay awake. Cal walks to the woods, comes back after a few minutes with an armload of dry wood for a fire. He bends down and stacks the wood nicely. Two rocks are at his feet. Cal picks them up and quickly strikes them together causing sparks to fly onto the wood. He does this multiple times until the fire lights. My vision blurs and I fall asleep.

Ben. He is sitting so close to me. His head is bent down. His shaggy hair falls into his face, obscuring his eyes from view. Ben's arms are hugging his knees. I walk towards him. It feels like I have been walking for awhile, but Ben is no closer than when I started. "Ben!" I call out. "Ben!" No response.

He can't hear me. I try running to him. I don't get close to him. Eventually I give up. I sit down and start to cry. The tears fall down my face. I hear a door closing next to me. I look over my shoulder. The person I see standing at it is no one other than the Captain of the guard. He smiles. Then laughs. I stand up suddenly. He walks towards me. I try to back up. I don't go anywhere. My legs won't move. The Captain gets closer and I can feel the fear building. He is right on top of me. He grabs my arm. I start screaming. He drags me and throws me into a jail cell.

I wake up with a start. There are trees surrounding me. There is the soft sound of the stream behind me. I feel pressure on my arm so I pull it. My throat hurts and I can't figure out why. My face is also wet.

"Emma! Emma, it's just me."

"Ca- Cal?"

"Yes."

"What happened? I feel asleep and now my throat hurts and you were grabbing my arm."

"I don't know. One minutes you are sleeping peacefully. Then next, you are screaming your head off. I tried to come wake you up. I grabbed your arm. You started screaming more. I don't know what you were dreaming, but I know it is going to bug you for a while."

"They were there. Ben and the captain. I tried to get to Ben, but I couldn't get any closer. The Captain came in through a door and walked towards me. I tried to back up but I couldn't move. The Captain got closer and grabbed my arm and through me into a cell."

"Emma, I wouldn't let that happen. You are just scared and worried. Scared that the Captain will find you, but worried that something terrible will happen to your brother if you don't do anything. Am I right?"

"Yeah. We need to go to him."

"We will. I promise. But for now, I think you need to rest for a little while longer."

"Okay. We will go to him as soon as possible, right?

"Right. As soon as you are ready to go."

"Okay."

I try to fall back asleep. That dream keeps coming back to haunt me. I close my eyes. I see the captain's smile, I see Ben bent over, I see a jail cell. Eventually I give up. Instead, I focus on how we will get Ben to safety. I could turn myself in, but that will only devastate Cal. Cal and I could attempt to sneak in, after all, he knows that place better than I do. But if other guards see us, would they arrest both of us? Or only one of us? Maybe Cal knows someway to get in.

I end up falling into a dreamless sleep before I can come up with any ideas. The next time I wake up, Cal is laying next to me. He appears to be staring at the trees. I roll over, closer to him, and he turns his head to me. I can see his smile. I decide that this is not a good time to talk about Ben.

"How did you sleep that time?"

"A little better. That time I had no dreams at least."

"Well, you didn't have to worry about the Captain then."

"Yeah."

"Well, it is early evening. We could start towards the capitol again, or we could stay here until tomorrow morning. What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. How are do you think we could get?"

"Maybe about five or six miles until it gets dark."

"Let's go. I don't think I will be able to wait for much longer. Besides, I don't think I will be able to go back to sleep for a while."

"Okay. I'll go get Hope ready," Cal gets up and starts walking towards the horse. I start to feel cold without him next to me. He was like a fire next to me, keeping me warm and safe from anything that would come to get me. Now, that fire is gone and I am open for any beast to come get me.