The Bastard; Loyal to One Ch. 03

And here is chapter 3!


“Wake up.”
The horse she sat on snorted, and restlessly moved its feet. There was a broad chest she leaned back on and an arms around her waist. Larissa tried to remember why she was here, and who the chest and arm belonged to. Then the soft voice behind her sounded again.
“Wake up. We have to walk from here on. They are not far behind us.”
With these last words it all came back. She was still on the run and the voice that whispered into her ear must belong to the young man who rescued her.
She opened her eyes to see they were on the edge of the forest.
“Ah, finally. You are awake.”
Her back rest disappeared when the young man behind her dismounted. A loud splash was to be heard as his boots dropped into the river.
He removed his duffle-bag from the saddle and swung it on his back. Larissa was still seated high upon the horse.
“Hurry woman! We have to move fast,” he said in an urgent tone.
At this she snapped out of it and dismounted as well.
Once she had two feet on the ground, he smacked the horse’s behind, and it ran off.
“Why did you do that? I thought we had to move fast,” was the second thing Larissa said to her rescuer.
“Hopefully it will lead our pursuers on a wrong track. Now start running,” the answer was. “I assume you know where to leave the creek?
“Yes, at a waterfall about half an hour from here.”
Then the two started running.
They had been doing so for twenty minutes when it became clear the freed horse had not deceived the men behind them. They heard a faint sound of hooves splashing in water.
“We are not going to make it,” the young man said and grabbed her hand.
The left bank was much steeper and there was an overhanging rock. Her rescuer freed himself of his bag, crawled under the rock, and pulled her after him. There was nearly enough room for both them and the bag. He lay with his back in the water and pressed chest to chest, cheek to cheek with Larissa who he had pulled on top of him.
After a minute or two they heard the horsemen pass. The young man’s slow and steady breathing was contrasted greatly with Larissa’s rapid chest movement.
Larissa started to crawl out of their hiding spot, but she got pulled back upon him.
“They’ll comeback,” was all he said.
Ten minutes went by and then he was proven to be right.
“I could have sworn that had been a false trail!” an unseen horsemen said.
“We better not have lost them on account of your mistake, or the captain will be very pissed!” another one answered.
Then they passed.
“Can we go now?” Larissa asked.
“No, there were four horses in that group.”
“How do you know that?”
“Trust me,” was all she got back.
Trust him she did and she was better off by doing so, because after five minutes another group passed in silence.
“Was that the last group?”
“You are very impatient, woman.