Yep, this is still going strong for now. Hope to keep it going through the summer months. Got just one more day of school, and you have no idea how excited I am. Got a final to pass still though. . . Anyways, here's the next chapter.
Once Gilan felt they had gained enough distance between themselves and their attackers, he eased Blaze down to a slow trot and then, eventually a walk. He glanced around, then glared over at Aaron, whom had kept behind and out of sight of Gilan since the long chase had started. Gilan was damn well pissed off, and he felt it right that he should be angry.
" When were you planning on telling me that you were being chased by armed fighters?" he asked, outright, using an unreadable tone. Aaron shrank visibly from this. Gilan wasn't smiling.
He took this as a bad sign.
" I was going to tell you, honest-!" Aaron insisted, but Gilan was unconvinced.
" And when would that have been, Aaron? When I find myself dead before breakfast?" he frowned greatly at Aaron, mad.
" Hey, I didn't ask you to tag along with me, alright? It's your own fault for getting involved in my business-"
" It would've been nice to know what I was getting myself into before I tagged along with you!" he snapped, losing his temper, but catching himself there. He worked to keep himself under control. " I can't go back now, they saw me with you. Since they're after you, and they saw you with me, now I'm their target as well." Aaron's eyes stretched wide at Gilan. " Didn't think of that, did you?" he spoke sarcastically.
Aaron hung his head and sighed. He deserved this, for not thinking of this sooner. Now there was no way to get Gilan out of this, and it was all Aaron's fault for not telling Gilan everything that was going on.
" Sorry. . ." Aaron murmured, softly. This was maybe the first few words Gilan actually thought the boy had spoken truthfully to him. However, that did nothing to make things better for either of them.
" Well, now I'm involved. Whether you like it or not, kid." he replied, and moved ahead, leaving Aaron to his thoughts for the time being. This was far from over, however. Gilan was more then sure of that fact now.
" When I left my Master and he gave me the message, we were attacked by these people," Aaron explained, feeling a bit more open with Gilan now that he'd gotten Gilan caught up in all of this, " I'm not sure exactly who they were, or what they wanted, but they were after my Master and I. It sounded like my Master knew something that they wanted to know. My Master didn't give them what they wanted. It was only the two of us at the time. He sent me away. Directed me to head this direction with his message."
Gilan nodded, eating his breakfast with a more stern face then he liked to have in the morning. Aaron was someone to be suspicious of now. He'd lied to Gilan the first time. What was stopping the boy from telling another lie again?
" What is the message?" Gilan persisted, and Aaron shook his head at Gilan, laughing ruefully once at him.
" The part about having a bad memory is actually true," he answered, laughing at his own inability then anything else.
This was a sour situation for the both of them now. Aaron had just planned to slip away in the night and disappear, leaving Gilan to simply head back the way he had come to his fief. Not only was Gilan completely caught in his problems, the older man had caught Aaron's lie. Now he would have to find a way to regain Gilan's trust, well, however much trust you have of someone you just met,
" I couldn't understand it when he gave it to me either. Knowing my Master it was probably some giant code message in place of the actual one so that it only made sense to a few people. The people who were meant to have it." Aaron shrugged, and nibbled at his food this morning. He found his appetite just wasn't there, and forced the food down his throat only so that he had substance for his body.
" A code?" Gilan inquired, and Aaron glanced up, then away again. He nodded, looking down at his half eaten food rather then around at anything else.
" My Master had a gift with such things as codes and puzzles. He took amusement by making me try them out first, then pointing out the key and telling me I'm a fool." he said the last sentence more to himself then to Gilan.
Gilan wasn't so sure of this. Then again, he didn't really have a say in it anymore.
" Ever think he might be right?" he asked, his tone was unreadable again.
Aaron hesitated to give a reply, as he couldn't tell Gilan's mood currently. Then he sighed.
" Most days he is." he admitted softly, with a half shrug.
Gilan took note of this, but wasn't expecting the comment that finished Aaron's statements.
" I never listen to him when he tells me that," Aaron gave a few semi-forced laughs, " my Master is quite the liar himself, and a fair bit cruel too." With that the boy turned from Gilan, walking a few paces to act as a watch, and began to eat with more vigor then before.
Glancing down, Gilan began to eat his own half eaten meal as well, swallowing with forceful gulps. He couldn't help thinking this was a waste of good food.
Truth be told, neither felt much remorse for the other. Sure, it saddened Gilan a bit to find that he'd been lied to, but, then again, he barely knew Aaron. Everything the boy said could have been a lie, and Gilan would be none the wiser simply because Aaron was from somewhere outside of Araluen all together. All he was doing was following the boy to be sure that he wasn't some sort of tool to be used by an enemy of Araluen.
As for Aaron, lies were normal. He'd lied his way all the way to Araluen. One little screw up wasn't going to perturb the boy by this point. It was too late for him to start being a chivalrous, gallant person. That was a joy only the noble and knights got the pleasure to enjoy, and Aaron was neither of these. If nothing else, he was a street rat. Even in his own eyes he was well aware that he was just some street urchin who was lucky enough to be taken in by his Master.
So, the ride was quiet as before, but had adopted a more business like air as they moved onward toward Castle Redmont. Gilan's friendliness had diminished greatly. However, he was far too friendly a person to allow this ride to be so serious as it had started since the first attack.
Since he wasn't feeling the least bit nice from Aaron's with holding information from him, he took to teasing the boy along the way.
" What? Still don't know the right direction to go?" Gilan said, once Aaron had stopped for about the third time during the last 20 meters or so. Aaron frowned over his shoulder at Gilan,getting more then a little annoyed with Gilan.
" Shut up." he said, very plainly back at him, as Gilan brought Blaze up next to Rurin.
" That's mature." he state flatly in turn.
" Yeah, like getting on someones nerves on purpose is the totally adult thing to do." Aaron replied, voice thick with sarcasm. " Don't think I haven't noticed, you've been getting on my nerves all day, after all. You're like a kid, only bigger and harder to deal with." Gilan grinned sheepishly to this and had to hold back his giggling as Blaze passed the black stallion.
" True, but I've got all the perks of being considered an adult." he said, now laughing right out loud.
" Which is what makes this whole situation all the more ironic." he sighed, and had the stallion follow after Blaze. Gilan looked at Aaron, in such a way it would be impossible for the young man not to notice that he was doing so.
" What? Got something on my face or something?"
" You ride like a girl." he said, outright.
Aaron's face almost instantly lights up, red as the sky at sunset. Gilan laughed again at Aaron.
" Ass." Aaron said, slowly Rurin so that the horse was behind Blaze.
Gilan felt a ping of regret this time. He'd only been teasing, but apparently Aaron had taken him seriously. Opps.
" I'm teasing you. You do realize that, don't you?" he asked, slowing down to keep pace with Aaron again. Aaron's face was still red, but not nearly as much as it had been before. Glancing up, Aaron looked a fair bit upset about this.
" Seriously?" Gilan might have choked if he'd been eating. Was this kid for real?
" Seriously," he confirmed for the boy, trying not to laugh, " jeez, didn't realize that would be such as sore spot for you." Then Gilan finally got it.
Aaron was smirking up at him, and started laughing. His leg had been pulled. Aaron had been pulling his leg the whole time.
" You little punk." he said.
" Hey, you were the one teasing me. That's a two way street, buddy." Aaron pointed out, ushering his stallion forward at a faster pace now. Gilan urged Blaze after, and when Aaron realized Gilan had sped up, he set Rurin at a cantor. The horse had an amazing surge of speed.
" So that's how it is, huh?!" Gilan shouted after, and got Blaze to move at a cantor as well.
The race was on now.
Blaze gained some ground on Rurin in no time, soon nipping at the heels of the other horse's hooves. Aaron looked over his shoulder again, clinging to the black tangles of mane on the horse's neck.
" YAH!! YAH!!" he hollered, daring the horse to go faster, strain farther then it already was. Aaron took to looking over his shoulder at Gilan now.
Gilan was grinning madly, Blaze gradually catching up on the right of the black stallion. Aaron tugged at Rurin's mane directing it to swerve to the left and forcing Gilan to make a wider turn then before. It was a ditch effort to slow Blaze down, but Gilan wasn't giving up that easily.
This wouldn't detour him in the least.
He hushed into Blaze's ear to move forwards, leaning close to her mane, helping any way he could to get Blaze ahead of the black stallion. Side by side, Blaze finally came out ahead by a nose!
"WWWHHHHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!" The cry drew Gilan to gaze over at Aaron again. The boy was shouting to the sky, smiling the widest and truest Gilan had seen thus far from him. His knees held tight against the sides of the stallion, his arms spread out wide into the air, the wind tugging at the loose clothes, pulling at him, though he remained steady.
Then, one awkward move of Rurin caused a cry of panic, and he flung himself back down to cling to the neck of the horse again. Looking up at Gilan, Aaron smiled, a bit embarrassed from his out burst. Gilan only smiled, and they slowed to a trot, and eventually to an out of breath walk once again.
Another chapter done. Kind of an odd chapter, but I think it was a nice touch to the awkward situation, don't you think? Read and Review please, as always.