One More Chance

Chapter 12

Sorry for the delay!

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Chapter 12

Christian left Catherine in her room to pack her belongings as he went to get his men to prepare for the upcoming journey. He planned to leave within this afternoon so that they could cover some distance in the remaining daylight. The journey to the palace would take about a week and the quicker it was made the better it was. Even last night, one of his messengers appointed to keep watch over the surrounding areas and rebels had come over to warn him that they were getting restless and would likely attack soon.

As he made his way down the stairs, his mind strayed to his beautiful bride. When he had first laid his eyes on her today, he had almost lost himself completely. If he wasn't careful, he would really fall for her hard and he couldn't afford to put himself in such a vulnerable situation. No, not after all he had been through. He had to keep his distance and ensure that he didn't grow too attached to her. That is precisely why he had callously left her in her room without a word not a moment after their wedding. She would get used to it. It was how their lives were going to be after all.

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Catherine was shocked and anxious at the same time. Christian hadn't spoken anything personal to her. He had just left her in her room and told her to get ready to leave within another 2 hours. How could he be so heartless? One would think that the wedding that had happened had no consequence at all when it was just the opposite. Her life had just changed within a moment. She was now irrevocably bound to a stranger for life and he had nothing to say about it? Was he the same empathetic person from yesterday? Had he just manipulated her to suit his needs? Could she trust him? She didn't know the answer to any of her questions and was terribly confused. Tears threatened to flow.

"Congratulations, my girl," Maggie chirped as she bustled into the room. Catherine quickly wiped her tears and schooled her face to an expression of delight. She didn't want Maggie to know how unhappy she was. Maggie would just worry and Cathy didn't want to put her through that. "Thank you," Cathy replied and gave her a hug.

"Come on, you need to change out of the gown and need to hurry and pack," she replied.

"Pack what? I have nothing except my maid uniforms and servant tunics."

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. That husband of yours had ordered the tailor to make some suitable traveling clothes for you by today. So, sweet of him. I'll go and get it from the tailor," she bustled out of the room again.

Christian cared enough to order clothes for her? Then why did he ignore her just now? This was confusing. Who was Christian?

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Christian gave the command to leave. Everything had happened smoothly and they were almost ready to leave at the time he had anticipated. The only problem was that countless number of villagers and knights had come to bid their farewell to Catherine. She was apparently well loved by them all. She was teary eyed as she said her goodbyes to them, especially the housekeeper and her daughter. That delayed his plans by a half hour and put him in a very bad mood. Although, in a corner of his heart he admired the fact that she had managed to gain the love and respect of her people, he wasn't going to acknowledge it he told himself firmly. He rode at the front of the group and strived to drive her thoughts away from his mind.

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They had rode for nearly four hours now and Christian hadn't said a word to her. It was just fine with her. She decided that she was going to ignore him as well. He rode at the front of his group of fifty men and she was somewhere in the middle. The only problem was that she was growing tired and bored. While she knew how to ride a horse, she had never ridden for such long hours at such grueling pace. Her thighs were aching and her back was sore from having to keep to the same position for so long. More importantly she was dying of boredom. She craved for some company or a few hours of solitude where she could escape into her father's library and indulge herself in some books as she would do in the past.

"Hi, fair lady, how are you doing today?" a voice asked breaking through her thoughts. It was the same guy who was with Christian the day she engaged in a sword fight with him.

"Good... and you are?"

"Sir Frederick Woodworth, first in command to Christian. You can call me Fred through. Everyone does."

"Hi Fred, please call me Cathy."

"Cathy, so how has the journey been so far?"

"Boring!"

Fred through back his head and laughed. It made his boyish face look even younger and his carefree laughter floated in the air, tugging a smile from the corner of her mouth.

"Why such a reaction?"

"Forgive me my lady, I mean Catherine. Of all the things that you could have said, the first choice of word was boring! It was rather amusing and portrays your strong personality more than you think. Pray tell me, am I right to say this is probably your longest ride on a horse? Aren't you feeling tired perhaps? Sore?"

"Yes, I have never ridden this long before. I admit its quite tiring..." She admitted with a shrug.

"Yet, I don't see you complaining. Very admirable indeed."

"Not unbearable....yet. But, when do we stop?"

"Should be soon, the sun is setting. We cannot travel in the dark. If the horses trip, it would slow us down significantly and we don't want that to happen. I assume Christian has shared with you the dangers of this journey?"

She nodded. 

Just then, Christian called for everyone to stop. "We'll camp here! You all know what to do," his voice boomed.

Immediately, the men stopped and followed his orders. Everyone seemed to know what to do. There was a group of people who tended to the horses. There was another group, building a fire and starting to cook. The third group started setting up tents and the final group started patrolling the area. Fred had ridden off to have a word with Christian. Everything happened so smoothly that the reality of how trained these men were and how easily they accepted and followed Christian's orders dawned on her. She dismounted her horse and stared at her surroundings wondering what she should do. Just then, a young knight came toward her and gave her a respectful bow. "My lady, may I please have your horse to cool her down?"

Cathy thanked him and handed her horse over. It was a beautiful mare that was completely as white as the snow. It had been a gift from her father for her twentieth birthday. Of course, Cecelia had been very angry. But she couldn't do anything about it.

"May I know her name?"

"She is called Eve, I named her thus for her beauty."

The young knight stared openly back at her.

"What?" She asked self-consciously.

"Do you see that horse there?" He asked pointing to one that was the colour of midnight black. It was a warrior horse that looked extremely strong and healthy. It was the horse that Christian rode on. 

"Hmm, yes," she replied not getting his meaning.

"That's Sir Ashford's stallion. He named it Adam for its strength. I was just surprised at the coincidence of the names of the 2 horses and their starkly contrasting appearances," he chuckled and led her mare away.

Cathy was very much surprised by the coincidence. Was it written in her destiny that they were made for each other? How was it possible that their horses had the names Adam and Eve?

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Sorry! This chapter isn't very interesting. Look out for the next one, I promise it would be a lot more fun!