Rum by Naomi Jessica Rose

Author:Naomi Jessica Rose [Rose, Naomi Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2017-01-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 18: The Magic

Serena heard a voice in her dream. It was a voice she did not know calling Rum's name, over and over again from far away. She could tell - in the way you can tell such things in dreams - that if she got up and tried to find the voice, she would not be able to, so she did not get up, but slept on, and when she finally woke it was because of the cold. It was barely light, and she was outside on the hard ground wrapped in a blanket that did not keep her warm enough. She sat up miserably, stretching her stiffened limbs and her aching back and shivering.

​Heart was eating nettles happily, and leaves from a hazel bush. Serena stood up and limped over to where he was, feeling his warmth before she even got there. She leaned her whole self against him to steal some of it. “Oh my Heart,” she said to him. “I wish I were a horse and could eat nettles!” She looked over at the remains of the fire and the remains of last night's supper; a sad, greasy lump of half of the small rabbit that was. “Urgh!” she said, and she buried her face in Heart's mane so that his life and his good mood might somehow flow into her.

​The sound of footsteps in the undergrowth made her lift her head and turn around, though not because she was afraid. It was because she wanted to see him as soon as she could; her father striding through the wood towards her, so strong and sure! She could not help smiling like a fool at the sight of him, nor could she help flinging herself into his arms.

​“You'll have to eat that rabbit,” he said eventually. “I don't suppose we'll have anything else till tonight.”

​This day's journey seemed to make more sense to Serena. Perhaps it was that having travelled one day, she had become used to it, or perhaps it was that the lands around them now were more interesting than just mile after mile of unchanging misty moor. They walked though valleys and over hills, into and out of woods and rivers. They even passed villages where they sometimes saw people in the distance. Serena found her awareness sharpen to notice all the features of the wide landscape, and the little details as well, like ripe strawberries by the path, a fish jumping out of a stream, and a female blackbird fluttering in the sky just ahead.

​She let her father lead. She had tried anyway to catch up to him so they could walk together, side by side, but he always went faster somehow, and left her behind, as if that was the way he wanted it.

​Serena watched that blackbird fly off and disappear into a copse and she dismounted her horse so as to walk a while, and to pick a handful of strawberries as well. It was a beautiful day, if nothing else.

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