Her Portrait

The End

Sir Denver wasted no time. Drawing his sword and with a mighty battle cry he urged his horse towards the soldiers and struck several of them down with only two blows.
"Go!" He screamed to Arianthe who didn't need to be told twice and at once she galloped through the gate and out into the fields.
She galloped for a while without stopping, the cool midnight air flowed through her long brown hair and filled her lungs until they felt like they would burst.
Presently, she suddenly acknowledged she was alone. Sir Denver was not anywhere to be seen. The moon slipped behind a cloud and immediately the whole moor was blanketed in complete darkness, not a sound was to be heard and nothing could be seen. Arianthe halted Heloise and sat panting in the saddle, trying to get her breath back. She turned and peered through the gloom, trying to see any shape that would resemble a knight on a horse. Nothing. Heloise pawed the ground and champed on the bit; she was rather annoyed she'd been taken out of her stable and forced on this night adventure.
"There, there, old girl," Arianthe consoled "we just need to ride somewhere safe and you can rest for the night."
"Arianthe?" Came a sudden voice from behind her "is that you?"
"Who is there?!" cried the girl in fear.
A horse trotted up and stood next to her, breathing loud and hard.
"It's only me," a familiar voice chuckled.
"Denver!" Exclaimed Arianthe in relief and she turned to greet her companion. "How on earth did you get out."
"I'll tell you as we go along," he replied "let's make the most of the darkness. No doubt someone will follow us."
Arianthe nodded - even though he couldn't see - and pushed Heloise to trot quickly across the moor.
As they went Sir Denver told Arianthe how he had fought all of the knights and had nearly been killed himself. And Arianthe noticed he put way too much emphasis on the amount of danger he was in - there had only been four knights as far as she knew but she let him show off for now.
She smiled to herself and barely noticed how pleased she was that he had gone to an extreme effort to make himself look braver for her.
~~~
They continued after that in silence. The moon had come out now and they could see the stretched wasteland of the moor which seemed so much longer than Arianthe could have ever anticipated. There was no noise except the soft thuds of hooves on grass and the jingling of the bridles and saddles as they went along. It was cold.
"Not long now." said Sir Denver, making Arianthe jump as it was the first sound she'd heard in hours.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"To an old friends house, they'll give us shelter for the night."
"Denver?"
"Yes?"
"I am glad you are here with me."