The Golden Rider Book 1: The Golden Traitor

Chapter 2.3

Chapter 2.3

I didn't really sleep well that night.  The things Rosie had said had me tossing and turning all night, and I just could not fall asleep.  It seemed like an eternity before I finally dozed off.  When I finally reached deep sleep, Adonis twitched in his sleep causing me to jump up in alarm.  Once I realized that we were not in danger, I sat down with a loud sigh.  Adonis grumbled in his sleep and began to swish his tail in his sleep.

"I guess I just won't sleep tonight," I muttered and got up.  I cracked my back before heading over to check on our supplies for the umpteenth time.  The silver helmet sat down at my side where I had placed it shortly before trying to fall asleep.  Rosie lay curled up in a ball near Adonis, but she was fast asleep, so I didn't have to worry about her seeing me.  I sighed loudly and looked up at the cavern's ceiling.  The large rocks loomed down, and the purple light cast by the crystals cast shadows all around.  I always wondered what the crystals were.  A while ago Adonis and I had figured out that they glow purple at night and white during the day.  I thought that they were the coolest thing; Adonis called them creepy time rocks.

I must have dozed off while looking at the crystals because the next thing I knew, they crystals were slowly turning white.  I waited a little for them to turn completely white before putting on the helmet again.  I figured that Rosie would be waking up any second now, and I really didn't want her to get scared and go running in the tunnels.  Adonis and I had explored them, but the mountains were huge, and there were still places that we wouldn't go.  One of the first times we went exploring, we came across another large cavern much like this one; however, inside that cavern was a large pack of wolves.  They did not come near us thanks to Adonis, but if I had been alone, I was certain they would have attacked.  The wolves stayed away from us because they recognized Adonis' scent and associated mine with his.  After that, we kept away from each other and minded our own business.  Luckily we hadn't run into any of the monsters that people claimed lived in the mountains.

I heard Adonis snort before he began to grumble and move around.  I let him do his thing as he got up and walked towards one of the tunnels and left to use the bathroom most likely.  He would probably go hunting too because he hadn't eaten in a while.  Adonis ususally hunted bears and goats that lived high up in the mountains, and he would occasionally go after the deer that sometimes came to the base of the mountain.  He only fed maybe once a week, but he could go a couple weeks without food as long as he didn't have to do a lot of physical activity.  He was beginning feed less frequently as his growth was slowing down.

I decided to start a fire and put some more of the meat on so that it would be ready when Rosie woke up.  The cavern began to smell of smoked deer, and Rosie woke up with a smile on her face.

"That smells really good," she said and walked over to me with the blanket over her shoulders.

"I'll bet," I said and gave her some of it.  She began eating, and I had a bit myself.  Ever since Adonis and I had been on our own, I had to start eating meat again.  There was no place for me to fish, and I could not always find fresh fruit or veggies to eat.  I had been sick for a while after first eating it, but my stomach soon got used to it when it realized that this was all I could eat.  After all, with a little bit of salt from around the cavern, it was easier to preserve the dried meat than it was to keep fresh vegetables.

"Where's your Dragon?"  She asked.

"Adonis went to go to the bathroom and eat.  He'll be back in a little bit." I answered.

"Adonis huh.  That's a nice name.  You never told me your name last night," she said.

"Oh, I didn't, did I?"  She shook her head.  I poked the fire with a stick and thought about it.  I couldn't just tell her my name was Valerie, or even Val.  It wasn't the most come name.  "You can call me Silver."