So sorry guys! A-levels happened and so I couldn't work on this :/ well have a chapter! Thanks for the views and the favourites guys, I really appreciate it :)
Pretty much all of the snow had melted by the morning, the air was fresh and crisp and the sun began to try and poke it's light through through the thin, wispy clouds. Ziio looked up at the sky as Haytham led her to the stables where they would proceed to New York by horseback. She looked at her horse, she truly was an amazing specimen. Fit and agile, sturdy and beautiful to look at, Haytham had often thought that this mare was a perfect representation of her, he chuckled at the thought as he led his own black mustang from his stable. Ziio followed suit, bringing her horse, Silver Wind out into the yard, tying her to a post in the middle so she could tack her up and put her supplies and weapons onto her strong back. Haytham was checking over his horse carefully, looking for any injuries and checking the straps to make sure that there would be no saddle slips during the ride to the capital city of this strange and divided nation. Ziio looks at her horse, realising that she did not know to check the straps if they were safe or where to look for any lumps and bumps on her horse. She looked at her horse befuddled, "Haytham, would you look over Silver please, I do not know how to make sure of these things" she asked him, her face blushing slightly at her disadvantage. He looked up and nodded, he wandered over to her, looking over her horse and checking all of the various straps, he had to loosen the throatlash as it was too tight and would have strangled Silver when they had picked up the pace. He nodded,
"she is as safe as houses, in perfect condition. When you do up the bridle, make sure you can at least fit three fingers between the leather and her skin, we wouldn't want her to be strangled, now do we?" he said with a chuckle before kissing her gently on the lips, "we should head off now, dawn is fast approaching and we need to be in New York by at least the eve" he said as he walked quickly back to his horse. They mounted their horses and walked briskly out of the stables, once they had gone past the frontier at the edge of the city, they broke into a swift canter, Silver kept pace easily with the midnight-coloured stallion beside her. Her Arabian descent made her swift like a bird through the forest that lay between them and their destination. When the ground had evened out and the trees had started to thin as they neared the coast, they picked up the pace, pushing the horses into an easy gallop.
The ride was long, saddle sores were starting to appear on Ziio's tender thighs from the tough saddle leather that her skin was accustomed to. She cursed under her breath in her native language with every stride that Silver took, the mare could feel her discomfort and pain and slowed down, trying to make her strides as smooth as possible. Ziio patted her neck to show her appreciation, Haytham noticed the mare slowing and brought his stallion to a steady walk, "are you feeling alright, my love?" he asked with genuine concern, she looked at him, her chestnut eyes almost brimming with tears as she tried to hold them back. He nodded and pulled his horse off the track and into a clearing, he dismounted and tied his horse to a nearby tree, doing the same with Ziio's horse. He helped her dismount and sat her on the ground, "if you were feeling sore you should have said" he said softly as he sat beside her and kissed her forehead. She nodded,
"I know, I just did not want to hinder us" she muttered, "I bought cream from a store in Boston that may be able to help with this" she said, wincing as she nodded to the first saddlebag, Haytham nodded and walked over to her mare, carefully taking out the cream, opening it and taking a sniff. He recoiled from it, screwing up his face and swiftly replaced the lid,
"what in heavens name is that?" he exclaimed as he handed to it to her. She chuckled, "it contains raspberry with some oil that is used specifically to help heal wounds" she said with a smile, "could you put it on for me please?" she asked as she looked up at him with her brown eyes, he sighed before he took it back and opened the lid,
"where are the sores?" he asked, she raised her brow,
"where do you usually get saddle sores Haytham?" she asked sarcastically, he sighed again and lifted the bottom of her skirt to reveal her extremely red and painful looking thighs, he frowned and gently began to rub the cream into her thighs, she hissed as the cool viscous substance made her skin sting. He finished and placed the lid back on the tub and put it back in her saddlebag, he returned to her side and sat down. They remained there until the cream had taken effect and Ziio felt able to re-mount her mare. She had tied bandages around her thighs to prevent any further damage, and also so that she could walk when she got to New York.
Once they had gotten back onto the road, they had reached New York in no time. They trotted into the town, the horse's hooves clopped on the freshly rained-on, cobbled road, they stopped and tied their horses to a post in front of the jewellers. He held her hand and squeezed it before opening the door and leading them inside. A small bell jingled above them and an elderly man with small circular glasses appeared before them, "hello there, how can I help you?" he asked, his voice was kind and had a tinge of Scottish, which made Ziio smile. Haytham stepped forward, releasing Ziio's hand, "we need two rings made for us, we are to wed and it is very important that we get this right and fast and I heard from many people down in Boston that you were the man for the job" he said, the elderly man nodded and pushed his glasses further up the bridge of his nose,
"I was not aware that my work had reached Boston, but yes I am the best jeweller in New York" he said, "what type of rings are we talking about?" he asked bluntly, Haytham produced a piece of paper that included designs that Ziio and himself had created. For Ziio they wanted a ring made from silver, a stag head to be at the front to represent the leg of venison that would have been presented to her, on the inside would be written; 'nacacijin isdzan' meaning 'faithful woman' , and for Haytham a similar ring but the band was thicker and would have a piece of embalmed wheat so that it wouldn't rot interwoven into the silver, on the inside of this band would be written 'wakan tanan kici un' meaning 'May the Great Spirit bless you'. The elderly man nodded, "I can have those made for you within a week" he said, "but it'll cost you for the resources you want and the speed in which I'll have to work" he said, Haytham nodded,
"Money is no the problem, whether you can do this well and quickly is" he muttered at him. The elderly man nodded and took the page,
"I shall get to it right away" he said as he backed away into the back of the store. Haytham nodded and Ziio made their way back out of the shop and made their way to the nearest inn, leading their horses with their things.
They walked to an inn called the 'White Stag', a fitting name they thought. Haytham offered his arm to her, she took it gratefully. They led the horses into the stables, he tossed a gold coin to the stable boy, "make sure they're looked after, boy, water and oats" he said with a smile as he handed the young boy the reins to the horses. They walked inside and paid the inn-keeper for their room and went up the creaky wooden stairs and into their room. They were exhausted, riding from dawn until dusk was tough on the body. Ziio went to run a bath for them, the hot water mixing with some relaxing oils she had brought with them, guessing that they would be sore and aching by the time they had got to New York. While she was waiting for the bath to run she removed her dusty clothing, tossing them onto the floor and sitting on a chair so she could check to see whether her sores had become infected or not, she was happy to see that they hadn't but removed the bandages and applied some more cream. She heard Haytham enter the room, she looked round and saw that he was wearing nothing but his undergarments, she grinned and leaned up as he bent down to kiss her. He rubbed her shoulders gently, caressing her tense muscles, "how are you feeling now my dear?" he whispered into her ear, feeling his warm, tantalising breath made her skin come alight.
"I'm fine, just need to relax and get clean" she said with a smile as she reached up and covered his hand with hers as she leaned forward to turn off the old copper taps. She stood from the chair, her legs slightly apart so that they didn't touch and climbed into the tub. He took her seat on the chair, and handed her the sponge, she took it from him and began to clean herself, paying special attention to her tender thighs. She giggled and chatted to Haytham while she did so, he went and grabbed her a towel as she stood up and stepped out of the bath, her skin dripped wet onto the floor. She smiled up at him as he wrapped the towel around her, he wrapped his strong arms around her and leant down to kiss her gently before lifting her off her feet and carrying her to the large wooden double bed they had rented. He sat on the edge of the mattress with her on his lap, she cupped the side of his face with her hand as she looked up at him with her tired, and yet beautiful hazel-brown eyes and reached up to kiss him once again. He smiled and held her close, looking deeply into her eyes, "I love you Ziio, I really do" he said passionately, making sure that he put emotion into every word, she looked up at him with a smile,
"I love you too, Haytham. I want us to spend the rest of our lives together, the way we want to live it" she said with a smile. He laid her on the bed next to him, removing the last of his clothes and joined her on the bed. They fell asleep, curled up in each other's arms until the morning.