Dreamwalker

4- Cat in the Shadows

Nathan shook Bell's shoulder vigorously. "Bell! Wake up!"

"Nn?" Bell wearily sat up. She was amazed to discover that she had fallen asleep on the ground for the first time, and even more amazed that she wanted to lie right back down to sleep some more. The grass was surprisingly comfortable.

Nathan woke up Emeric next, shaking his shoulder too and calling into his ear, "your majesty, it's time to leave!"

Emeric grunted and rolled over.

"Your majesty! Please!" Nathan shouted. "Oh, forget it. You wake him up, Bell. I'll make breakfast."

Bell stood up and stretched. The sun hadn't fully risen over the tops of the trees so the sky was bright red like her dress. Luckily, she didn't have Nathan's decorum when it came to addressing His Royal Highness Emeric Gerin-Lajoie. "Hey!" she yelled into Emeric's ear, and kicked him in the back.

He rolled over again, but this time he got up, mumbling, "ill-mannered peasant girl..."

"What did you call me?" she retorted.

"My bones ache. I thought I would be used to sleeping on the ground by now." Emeric leaned backwards so his spine cracked, and he winced a little. "Apparently not," he confirmed.

Bell picked up The Sacred Writings of Nisa from the ground. She must have fallen asleep while reading it since it was still open. "Here, you can have this back. I'll finish it tonight," she said, handing him the book.

"What do you think?"

"Nisa is starting to grow on me. She had some nice ideas. I liked the chapter about honesty and how it isn't just loyalty to the other person, it's loyalty to yourself."

Emeric smiled and picked up Bell's book from the ground too. "Baudoin is about to fight a monstrous fire-snake in the Caverns of Darkness," he said. "I stayed up nearly half the night trying to finish. My fatigue got the better of me and I had to put it down." He gave the book to her, which she tucked carefully in her bag.

Nathan's prepared 'breakfast' consisted of slices of stale bread with cold salted meat on top. He handed both Emeric and Bell a slice each. "What is this?" Emeric asked Nathan, pointing at the meat skeptically.

Nathan just shrugged. "I wasn't the one who packed our food. I have no idea."

Emeric picked up the meat between his thumb and forefinger and sniffed it. "Me neither," he replied.

"What?" Bell asked, as she had already finished eating both meat and bread in the time it took for Emeric to examine it.

"Never mind," Emeric said. He laid the meat across the bread and took a dainty bite while Nathan and Bell watched him chew and swallow for his final evaluation. "I must say, it is better than I anticipated," he finally remarked.

"Thank goodness for that," Bell muttered.

"Come on. Let's pack up and continue. We should be in Niege by tonight if we keep up this pace. Once we're there, we can get a proper meal," Nathan announced. Everyone packed up their things. Before they left, Bell took another piece of meat out of Nathan's bag when he wasn't looking and gave it to Bijoux. Like Bell, Bijoux didn't think twice about eating it, and Bell didn't know if this was a good thing or a bad thing.

They continued on their way. Nathan lead the other two as they went deeper and deeper into the woods. Bell had no idea where they were. They surely weren't that far from Terre Pur but the scenery was already completely different. Twisting trees lined the dirt path through which sunlight filtered. Bell could faintly hear distant sounds of rustling leaves and chirping birds, yet there were no signs of other humans. It was very disconcerting for her. She dozed off often even while she was at home, but out here in nature, it was hard to stay awake. Her mind wandered back and forth from guessing where Soutine was to what she would have for lunch, then to Baudoin Bain and if she would have an adventure just like him, and then to what Princess Aysal was like, and if Bell might die without ever seeing Terre Pur again, to once again thinking about lunch. Bell wasn't a dreamer, to be clear; just absentminded.