The Sword Bearer

Chapter 30

I didn’t really sleep that night. I was really trying to but sleep wasn’t coming. I wasn’t even close to being tired. I was excited and there was an adrenaline in my blood that wouldn’t let me sleep. My brain wanted to start searching for the sword right at that second but my body was tired. I lay there trying to get even a second of sleep but it didn’t come. I saw Daren move a couple of times but he didn’t seem as restless as I was or maybe he was. I couldn’t be sure because he was turned around so that I could see his face. After what I assumed was hours I heard him say my name. So I had assumed wrong and he was still awake. “Ya,” I answered him turning back around to face him. He was looking my way with a weird look on his face. He sat up and patted the ground next to him. I gave up on trying to sleep and decided to go sit with him. I leaned my head on his shoulder. He took my hand into his. “Having trouble sleeping?” he asked me looking down at me. “Yes” I said. Well I guess it wasn’t abnormal since he wasn’t asleep too. “I’m just scared how much things might change after tomorrow,” I said sighing. “Nothing would really change except the extra weight we will be carrying,” he said trying to break the tense mood. “You know that’s not true” I said lifting my head off of his shoulder. He looked at me with confusion in his eyes. “What would change? No matter what happens tomorrow I’m not going to change the way I feel about you and there is really nobody else here,” he said. I knew he was trying to be sincere but his tone was a little bit uncertain. “It okay” I said moving closer to him, “I won’t change the way I feel about you either”. If he only knew how I felt about him. After liking him I felt like I wouldn’t ever like anyone else but who knows if I would. I didn’t even think I could like someone so much unless I loved him. No I couldn’t. How could you love someone who didn’t love you back? He had obviously meant how he felt about me as a friend. “You okay?” he said snapping me out of my thoughts. I nodded bleakly. I again rested my head on his shoulder. “Hey, don’t worry” he said smiling at me. He squeezed my hand. I looked up at him. He didn’t seem worried anymore. I didn’t answer him but I just squeezed his hand back. I suddenly got very tired and before I knew I fell asleep on his shoulder.

When I woke up I felt there was something under my head that was acting as a cushion. I looked at it and realized that it was Daren’s arm. This time when I turned toward him his eyes were open. He was looking at me. I took my head off his arm and he quickly removed his arm. He rubbed it unconsciously and said “I didn’t want to wake you so I didn’t move”. “Okay” I said. It was kind of weird. Usually he would have removed his arm lightly. He knew I was a deep sleeper and I wouldn’t have woken up. I forgot about that a second later when I remembered that we needed to look for the sword. I leapt up looking around. “Lets go look,” I said pulling Daren up. He just nodded he started to look around like I was. I saw a bush and I started to peek down into it. I frowned because there was nothing there. I knew I was being a little too impatient since this sword had been hidden for centuries so that no one would be able to find it. I just needed to give it a little more time. However after about an hour I sat down frustrated. It was obvious I wasn’t going to find it without giving it a little thought. Maybe the stone had shown something different for a second. I took it and stared at it. We were still on the x. I sighed heavily. There had to be something else that could help us. This place looked no different than all the places we had walked past. I had checked all the places it could have hidden but they were where anyone would check. It wouldn’t be hidden in such obvious places. I looked down at the stone and I saw that another message carved itself onto it. ‘When it isn’t around you it may be under you’. I stared at it confused. I called Daren over so he could look at it. After a few minutes the letters were filled in so that they weren’t visible anymore. “Any idea what that meant?” I asked Daren breathlessly. He didn’t answer but I could see he was working on it. His jaw was clenched and his forhead scrunched up. He was thinking very hard. It was definitely the sword but what did it mean under. Then I understood what it meant. “Its underground” I said to him. His eyes widened in recognition. “Where do we dig though?” he asked me confused. I understood what he meant. We could dig up this whole area to find it. Maybe it was buried under one of the hiding spots I had checked before but I could be sure which. I looked down at the stone and realized that it showed that we were at the edge of the x. I knew where it was now. It was underground in the middle of the x.