Don't you love summer? School's OUT!!! Sorry for the late chapter, finals were killing me. I will be quite busy this summer, but I will make time to write. Thank you to all who reviewed:
Canadian-Girl14, LadyJaime178, alfalfa7, Nelarun, Galbatorix123, Knight Vampire, DragonRider2000, sweetblonde15, Tori Gend, luvthefluf, and Wolflady13
One reviewer mentioned that a part did not make sense, I must explain that it meant the Varden were not guarding Surda to the south, which they will be passing through. It was not meant to be Furnost. Hope that clears something up!
---Fight or Flight---
by: ElfLuver13
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Caitrin could feel the tension between them like a physical pull. It's palpable presence unnerved them both as they galloped as far south of Furnost as they could in one day. The woods surrounding the east side of the lake made a perfect spot for hiding and getting back their bearings.
The small little space they had come upon had room for them both, Thorn would be able to hide himself in some caves near the forest. Caitrin sat on a rock studying a map intently, a quizzical look on her brow. Murtagh stood nearby brushing down the horse.
"Why are there no caves marked on this map?" She said, turning the map upside down and scrutinizing it even more.
"Perhaps it is an outdated map, or the caves are not known to everyone, including the mapmaker," Murtagh shrugged. "At any rate, we better hope the Varden don't have their hands on a map that does show those caves, it screams hiding place for dragons."
"I wonder what else isn't on here..." she trailed off, trying to think of the things they had passed and then looking at the map for them.
"There's a small pond not far from here, Thorn saw it when he was circling overhead," Murtagh added. Caitrin immediately brightened.
"Wonderful, I can cleanse myself of at least four days of dirt then," she stood and grabbed her pack from the saddle Murtagh had dumped near her. Murtagh raised one slim, dark eyebrow at her. "What?"
"We just spent an entire day of riding to rid ourselves of any spies, and now you want to go right back out there and lead more of them in?" He asked increduously. Caitrin rolled her eyes, remarking silently to herself what a childish habit it was.
"I'm sure the Varden spies are nowhere near us. They don't even know we're here!" She retorted.
"That depends on how convincing you were as a lover, from my perspective-" she cut him off.
"From your perspective?! You coudn't see anything either! You were too busy eating my face, what makes you think you saw anything of them?"
"-out of the corner of my eye, the older one seemed a bit suspicious. If you really do have your heart set on bathing then I'm coming with you, to make sure you don't get into any trouble." Caitrin scoffed. The man was insufferable. Her stomach may have flipped when he threw that surprise kiss on her, but that was quickly discarded.
"Fine. I'm sure you have enough decency to turn your eyes?"
Murtagh smirked, a devilish grin on his face. "Of course, why would I not? Besides, I had been thinking of bathing as well."
"Where is this pond?" She asked, gathering up a few more things to take. She tried unsuccessfully to rid her mind of an image of Murtagh bathing. Ignoring the odd spark she felt, she gathered a few things to take. She found some soap and a clean pair of leggings and a shirt from her pack. Murtagh had a similar bundle under his arm as she followed him from their camp.
The forest had enormous trees with long branches, unlike any Caitrin had ever seen. The atmosphere felt ancient, with a calm and peaceful resonance to it. She looked ahead and saw Murtagh had sped up, leaving her behind with a significant gap between them.
"So much for staying with me to keep me out of trouble," she muttered. He jumped up onto a rock and stood overlooking something. She scurried up the rock herself and her eyes widened at what she saw.
A clear blue pond sat serenely about six feet below them. It's smooth surface looked like glass, with not a ripple breaking on it. Looking through the transparent waters, Caitrin could see rounded stones along the edges of the pond and nothing but sand covering the bottom. It was nothing like any other ponds she had seen or bathed in.
"So you're going first then?" She heard Murtagh ask beside her. Before she could answer, he had placed a hand on her back and pushed her in with a quick shove. She had no time to utter expletives at him as she hit the water and felt its icy coldness. As she came up, breaking the surface, she could hear Murtagh laughing above her.
"What was that for! You could have killed me!" Her mind ran with innumerable curses she could call him, and many ideas of revenge came her way. Instead of answering her, he jumped in as well, hitting her with a wave of cold water as he hit the surface of the pond.
"The water's nice," he said pleasantly. She glared at him from five feet away. "It's not like you weren't going to get wet anyways."
She turned around to find where her bundle of clothes and soap had gone. They sat innocently on the bank, next to Murtagh's. When she turned back around, Murtagh was nowhere in sight. A panic went through her even though she knew the Varden coudn't have come and kidnapped him when she was standing five feet away. Why was she worrying about him anyways? Hadn't he just shoved her into a pond without permission?
She gasped as he shot up behind her, grabbing her around the waist and hoisting her over his shoulder.
"Did you miss me?" He asked, making her shiver involuntarily as his warm breath heated the skin up on her thigh. And in other places.
"Put me down at once! What do you think you are doing?" She was glad he couldn't see her furiously blushing face or feel the strange pleasure she was receiving. She was vaguely aware of his warm hand resting on her backside to keep her from falling.
"As you wish," he dropped her, letting her fall into the water in front of him and come up sputtering to clear her mouth of water. She stood up and splashed him, but it barely seemed to effect him. He laughed at her futile attempts at revenge, sending her a splash back.
They stood in the water silent for a moment. The once still pond seemed to be moving on its own with all the waves and ripples they had created. A breeze came through and Caitrin shivered at the chill.
"I'll be on this side," Murtagh said, moving over to the bank. He picked up her bundle and threw it across the clear waters to her. She barely caught it.
"What do you mean?" She asked, setting the bundle on an opposite bank.
"I think we can trust each other to not look, we'll face the other way and finish what we have to do quickly," Murtagh explained. To prove his point, he immediately turned around and stripped himself of his shirt. Caitrin caught a glance of a well muscled back before she turned as well. Self-consciously she began bathe, hurrying through it to avoid the chance of being seen. She was sorely tempted to turn around and see if Murtagh was watching her, but she resisted it. She could hear the noises of him moving in the water behind her.
She stepped out of the river, wringing out her hair and reaching for the clean clothes. She tried to dry as much of herself as she could with an extra length of cloth she had brought. The leather clothes stuck slightly to her damp skin as she pulled them on, resisting every curve. After braiding her hair and sweeping it up into a knot, she gathered her things and turned around. Murtagh sat on the grass and moss covered bank with a lazy tomcat smile playing across his face.
"How long have you been watching?" Her voice asked with deadly calm. His smile grew wider at her tone.
"Not long enough to see anything," he replied, standing up and walking towards her. Something inside her didn't believe him. She stared icily at him as he waited for her to catch up with him. Together they began the trek back to the makeshift camp, Murtagh attentive and tuned for any noises that would alert them to danger.
"Was it worth it?" He asked from ahead of her.
"Yes, though I doubt that you did much good coming along. I could have done without you," she answered smoothly. He glanced over his shoulder and shot her a dubious look. "You think you would have been useful?" She countered.
"I did it more for myself, to be sure of your protection," he said.
"Ah, so the real objective wasn't to bathe?"
"That was an added plus, along with the nice view," he commented arrogantly. He tried to duck as her bundle of sopping wet clothes came flying at him from behind. Laughing, he picked them up and pitched them over his shoulder back at her. She caught them and jogged a bit to walk next to him.
"You didn't mean that did you?" She asked warily. Her mind silently pleaded for him to say no. She looked up at him when she didn't hear an answer and noticed he had a distracted look on his face. She sighed and continued walking next to him. He seemed to do that a lot.
"You're speaking with your dragon, aren't you?" Caitrin asked. His eyes seemed to snap back into focus as he turned to look at her.
"Yes, I was. He thinks there might be a small party approaching these woods, and those same spies we met in Furnost could be traveling with them," he told her. He didn't mention another aspect of their conversation.
"Then this is our chance to get rid of them. We can easily stalk them and take them out in less than a day if they're as close as your dragon says," she reasoned. Murtagh shook his head.
"That would alert them of our presence. I think the Varden might notice if two of their top informers are missing or out of contact," he said. "We'll just have to avoid them, keep out of their way and hope they don't recognize us."
"What if they do? Recognize us, I mean," she clarified.
"We can continue our feigned relationship and make up a story about ourselves," he said. Caitrin pondered this as they continued walking, silence settling between them.
They soon reached the camp, and Caitrin set about to making dinner. She roasted thin strips of meat over the fire she had made and beneath the meat she cooked a corn meal mixed with herbs. Murtagh reclined on the ground near her, watching her with a hooded expression. Caitrin felt eyes upon her and cast him a confused look. He looked away then, but remained preoccupied with his thoughts.
After they ate, they let the fire begin to die down. Caitrin fell asleep quickly, tired from the day's events. Murtagh sat opposite her on the other side of the fire, watching the flames intently and occasionally looking up to glance at Caitrin.
Are you busy now? Thorn invaded his thoughts.
No.
Good. We can continue our conversation.
What of it?
The girl. You are beginning to like her. I can feel it everytime you let a stray thought about her pass your through your mind.
Murtagh closed his eyes briefly, cursing his open thoughts.
Oh yes, did you think I would not notice? And I have also not failed to notice something else you aren't telling her, about your musings to join-
Don't say it. It's not definite. It's an idea, an escape route to save our skins, nothing more.
Whatever you say, Rider.
Murtagh sighed and stood up, moving to sleep a few feet away from Caitrin and trying to clear his thoughts to sleep.
Review please. They are much loved and cherished. Any thoughts, ideas, or criticisms are welcome.
-ElfLuver13