A/N:Six?!? SIX?! Six whole reviews!!! *Dances around in a circle* I feel so loved… anyways I just noticed that I was spacing a little too much. Somebody told me in my first story (Escaping the Cold) that I needed to space. Heh… as you can see I space a lot now. So… I'll try to write more before spacing, my chapters are really really short without spacing them. So that means I'll write more too :P. Yeah okay, you don't care I'll get on with it already.
Chapter 3: Love, Life and Horses
Aina turned the doorknob, opening it a crack… and very slowly. She peeked out, seeing no one was there she opened it wider and stepped out.
"Hello?" She called out into the darkness. There was no answer.
"Who's there?" She called out again, her eyes adjusting to the darkness. "I… I'm sorry if I startled you…" She continued, feeling like she was actually talking to somebody. A figure slowly stepped out of the darkness, he nodded.
"It's alright, but I feel that I startled you more than you did me." He laughed softly. Aiana was calmed immediately, laughter almost always calmed her… but there was something about his laugh.
'It's nice…' She thought to herself… just staring at him through the darkness.
"Errr… I'm Rian…" Rian said stepping towards her and reaching out to shake her hand. She took it, and he shook it firmly.
"I'm Aiana…" She said, finding the handshake very strange. 'These days you didn't shake hands with girls or women…' Aiana thought again, mentally shrugging it off.
"Would you like to come inside? …Rian?" Rian almost immediately nodded, "I've been walking for hours, it would be nice to sit down…"
Aiana smiled weakly at him, stepping back through the door and holding it open for him. He stepped inside, the light flooding all of his features, letting Aiana see him properly.
He had short, black hair and chocholate colored eyes. The girl motioned him to sit down in one of the wooden chairs by a large table. She moved over to the fireplace, making some tea for him.
"So…" Aiana started, grabbing a cup and pouring some tea for him. "Where are you headed?"
"Well… the castle I guess." Rian said as she set down the tea in front of him.
"You guess?" She raised an eyebrow at him. "What do you plan to do at the castle?"
Rian shrugged, "I want to know who I am… where I was born…" Aiana interrupted him. "You don't know who you are? Who are your parents."
Rian picked up his tea, taking a sip. He fought down the urge to sigh as the hot liquid slid down his throat. "This is great!" He exclaimed, the best thing him ever having was a bite of fish.
Aiana found herself sitting in the chair across from Rian. She smiled at him, "It's just normal everyday tea."
They both looked at each other for a long time. After awhile Rian cleared his throat, and Aiana turned away, blushing. 'Must be tired…' She thought to herself.
"Um… would you like a place to stay for the night?" She asked softly, looking up at him again.
Rian nodded, "That would be nice… but only if you have room for me."
"Well… you could sleep in the barn in some hay, I'm sure the horses wouldn't bother you…" She started to say brushing her soft brown hair behind her ear.
"Horses? You have horses?" Rian almost exclaimed, he had always wanted to see a horse ever since he was little.
Aiana giggled a little, "Most people do these days…"
The boy stood up, forgetting about his tea, "The barn is fine with me." He said quickly as she stood up to.
"Okay… follow me." She grabbed a lantern, hanging on a hook by the door. She lit it carefully and opened the door stepping outside into the darkness, with Rian close behind.
They walked around the side of the house, heading towards another building, that didn't seem to have any light in it.
Suddenly, Aiana stopped, making Rian bump into her. "Wha…" He said in surprise. She had frozen, staring off into the darkness ahead of her. "Why did you…" He started, but looked in front of her. There was a big wolfo with glowing red eyes, tearing the meat off of a stray cow's bones, making snarling sounds.
Aiana opened her mouth to scream, but Rian saw this and quickly covered his hand over her mouth. He quickly blew out the lighted lantern and snuck through the darkness towards the barn, half carrying Aiana with him.
Rian ran towards the barn door, but right before he got there, he tripped falling and landing on the ground with a cry. He quickly pushed Aiana off of him and whispered, "Go! Now!" She hesitated, seeing him laying on the ground. She knew… the wolfo had to have heard his cry.
He practically shoved her to get her moving, "I'll be fine! Just go!" Biting her lip, Aiana ran quickly towards the barn and snuck into the barn, closing the door quietly behind her and kneeling by the wall, looking through the crack in it.
A dark four-legged creature walked towards Rian. She bit harder into her lip, there was nothing she could do… and Rian didn't have a weapon. He was totally helpless.
The wolfo stopped, sniffing the air, it turned towards Rian, letting out a low growl… of fierce hatred. The boy saw this, and tried to stay as still as he could.
The growling became louder and it snarled and lunged at Rian. He grabbed a stick, that was on the ground next to him and thrust it at the Wolfo. It somehow stuck in it, wounding it. Rian backed up a little, pulling the stick out and slashing across the Wolfo's face. It snarled again, and reached out it's claw and slashed Rian across the chest.
He cried out, his good leg kicking out and smashing into the Wolfo's head. The Wolfo continued to slash at Rian, his cries seeming to echo through the darkness. The Wolfo raised it's claw to knock Rian out, but he somehow managed to use both of his legs to kick out violently, knocking the Wolfo onto it's back. It landed on the rock Rian had tripped over.
A loud snap emitted from the Wolfo. It whined for the last time and died.
Rian fell back onto the ground… unconscious.
A/N: That's it for chapter 3. How'd I do on the spacing thing? Plz review again? Reviews get you chapter 4 ;). 'Till next chapter, Byies.
