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Authors: Auriane Bell
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it. Please.”
Adrijan turned off the light to make her feel less watched and took a look at his mobile. There was still no sound from the immortal. With a deep sigh he activated the key lock and put the phone into his pocket. Necessary as it had been, treating his wound had taken up a lot of time. “I’m afraid we will have to move on as soon as you’re done. I own a cottage near the forest – if we ride Nebel half the way and walk the rest we should be able to get there around dawn.” “Mhm.”
The girl surely didn’t seem to be the talkative type. After she had put away the first aid kit and Adrijan concluded that she was done treating her wound he untied the grey, led it closer to the bench and mounted it.
“If you climb on the bench I should be able to pull you up on the horse,” he explained. The girl seemed to be reluctant to follow his plan.
“But...” she mumbled.
“There is no time for hesitating. Nebel won’t bite and neither will I.”
Adrijan tried to make it sound like a joke, while he was aware that getting closer to him was probably the last thing the girl wanted. He watched Mairin slowly climb on the bench and hoped that the use of his mobile’s flash light hadn’t alarmed the pursuers. The small wayside shrine had been chosen carefully for treating the wound since a source of light could easily be expected here. Luckily there was always someone who kept Virgin Mary from being forgotten in the dark – today it had been Adrijan himself. Carefully he reached out for Mairin and helped her get on the horse. Her constant effort not to reveal her chest and not to let go of the blanket she had still tightly wrapped around her shoulders made the process even more difficult and put an additional strain on his wounded arm. Even so Adrijan didn’t complain and when she was finally positioned, her back leaning against his healthy arm that also held the reins and with her feet tangling down the other side of the horse, he signalled Nebel to start moving.
Mairin wasn’t sure if he was a fanatic priest or a total lunatic. On second thought she considered the option that he was both. After what she had seen, she was still uncertain if the immortal’s servant was a threat to her but she was aware that Adrijan was her only chance of leaving Traumstadt behind. There was no guarantee that her life on the other side would turn out to be heavenly instead of hellish, but Mairin tried to keep her hopes up. And anyhow, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Meanwhile they had left the small path and cut across country travelling over patches of high grass. The stallion wasn’t moving as fast as Mairin wanted it to, yet she was glad that the alleged priest paid attention to its wellbeing. If he was good to the mount there was a slight chance he would do the same for her.
Mairin felt silly being reminded of having imagined this kind of situation at least a hundred times – sharing a horse with her saviour, being held tenderly in his arms and gently brought to safety. Of course reality had its flaws: Adrijan was a priest or at least a servant and no Prince Charming. Furthermore he wasn’t very gentle and – to her relief – instead of trying to stay close to her, giving her as much space as possible whilst supporting her back with his arm to prevent her from simply falling off the stallion. In her dreams she hadn’t been wounded either and escaping the villain had not left her shaking but had only been a small yet essential detail to her fantasies. If there was no danger, one couldn’t be rescued after all.
Secretly she had also hoped that the immortal would turn out to be her knight in shining armour…
To sum it up, the horse was probably the only thing her dream had in common with reality. Mairin quietly sighed. After today she wasn’t so sure she wanted to get close to a man anyway. Maybe the stories she had read hadn’t been more than just that – stories. Maybe all men were like that. Maybe
Adrijan turned off the light to make her feel less watched and took a look at his mobile. There was still no sound from the immortal. With a deep sigh he activated the key lock and put the phone into his pocket. Necessary as it had been, treating his wound had taken up a lot of time. “I’m afraid we will have to move on as soon as you’re done. I own a cottage near the forest – if we ride Nebel half the way and walk the rest we should be able to get there around dawn.” “Mhm.”
The girl surely didn’t seem to be the talkative type. After she had put away the first aid kit and Adrijan concluded that she was done treating her wound he untied the grey, led it closer to the bench and mounted it.
“If you climb on the bench I should be able to pull you up on the horse,” he explained. The girl seemed to be reluctant to follow his plan.
“But...” she mumbled.
“There is no time for hesitating. Nebel won’t bite and neither will I.”
Adrijan tried to make it sound like a joke, while he was aware that getting closer to him was probably the last thing the girl wanted. He watched Mairin slowly climb on the bench and hoped that the use of his mobile’s flash light hadn’t alarmed the pursuers. The small wayside shrine had been chosen carefully for treating the wound since a source of light could easily be expected here. Luckily there was always someone who kept Virgin Mary from being forgotten in the dark – today it had been Adrijan himself. Carefully he reached out for Mairin and helped her get on the horse. Her constant effort not to reveal her chest and not to let go of the blanket she had still tightly wrapped around her shoulders made the process even more difficult and put an additional strain on his wounded arm. Even so Adrijan didn’t complain and when she was finally positioned, her back leaning against his healthy arm that also held the reins and with her feet tangling down the other side of the horse, he signalled Nebel to start moving.
Mairin wasn’t sure if he was a fanatic priest or a total lunatic. On second thought she considered the option that he was both. After what she had seen, she was still uncertain if the immortal’s servant was a threat to her but she was aware that Adrijan was her only chance of leaving Traumstadt behind. There was no guarantee that her life on the other side would turn out to be heavenly instead of hellish, but Mairin tried to keep her hopes up. And anyhow, beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Meanwhile they had left the small path and cut across country travelling over patches of high grass. The stallion wasn’t moving as fast as Mairin wanted it to, yet she was glad that the alleged priest paid attention to its wellbeing. If he was good to the mount there was a slight chance he would do the same for her.
Mairin felt silly being reminded of having imagined this kind of situation at least a hundred times – sharing a horse with her saviour, being held tenderly in his arms and gently brought to safety. Of course reality had its flaws: Adrijan was a priest or at least a servant and no Prince Charming. Furthermore he wasn’t very gentle and – to her relief – instead of trying to stay close to her, giving her as much space as possible whilst supporting her back with his arm to prevent her from simply falling off the stallion. In her dreams she hadn’t been wounded either and escaping the villain had not left her shaking but had only been a small yet essential detail to her fantasies. If there was no danger, one couldn’t be rescued after all.
Secretly she had also hoped that the immortal would turn out to be her knight in shining armour…
To sum it up, the horse was probably the only thing her dream had in common with reality. Mairin quietly sighed. After today she wasn’t so sure she wanted to get close to a man anyway. Maybe the stories she had read hadn’t been more than just that – stories. Maybe all men were like that. Maybe
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