Chapter 4

When I awoke, I noticed the pre-dawn light coming through a slit in front of me. I also felt my left arm being tightly hugged between two soft full mounds and looked over. My heart melted at the sight of Shalyndria sleeping peacefully. She clung to my left arm like a drowning person does a lifejacket. It was pressed right between her large soft breasts. As I contemplated what was going on, I heard her breath hitch, and she mumbled, “No, please don’t leave me.”

I rolled, so I faced her and wrapped my right arm around her waist and pulled her tight. While I tried not to wake her, her eyes fluttered open as I again rested my forehead on hers. “I’m not going anywhere. I swear,” I whispered as tears filled her eyes.

“You don’t understand. The Church felt the pulse of magic when you held the orb and are already looking for you. It’s only a matter of time before they come.” She cried.

“You just made a big assumption there. That some asshole could take me away in the first place,” was my only reply.

I did something I had wanted to do since I first saw her. I pressed my lips against hers and felt heaven. After a moment, she pulled away and looked at me. I could see the conflict in her eyes. “As much as I want that and more, we can’t.” My heart fell at her words. As I pulled away and started to get up, she must have seen something in my eyes or demeanor. She shot up, cupped my cheeks, and kissed me again, slipping her tongue against mine briefly. “Yet, Shaun. As a princess, I can only marry a noble. However, an Outlander who has proven themselves honorable and powerful is acceptable. You are a good man, and what I saw last night says it’s only a matter of you being you to become acceptable.” She told me this with a small smile.

“Why did you sleep in here, Shalyndria?” I asked as I sat up to see where here was.

“We were worried about how you would wake up; a small number of Outlanders became hostile after passing out as you did. It is believed their mind couldn’t handle the differences in our worlds and snapped. They had to be killed before they took innocent lives. Every time, the first person they saw upon awakening was not fully human.” She shivered in my arms as she told me this. “We thought a human being here, along with the signs they all saw last night, brought us to the decision of I would be best to be here.”

“I’ve always been a fan of this kind of stuff in the entertainment of my old world.” I chuckled as I let her stand and stood as well. “That is probably the reason I’m handling this so well.”

We exited the tent I had been put in to see Hank on watch and Milla at the fire stirring a pot I presumed held breakfast. “Hey, sorry for worrying y’all last night. My brain might have overloaded a bit from all the new info it had to take in.” I waved to them and smiled.

“I’m glad you’re feeling better. Food will be ready in a bit; can you wake Bob and Terrance for me?” asked Milla as Hank waved back, nodded, and continued patrolling the perimeter.

I walked over to the other tent and went inside. “Bob, Terrance, time to wake up. Milla says breakfast is almost ready.” I called as I shook them awake.

“We’ll be out in a minute. Good to see it’s still you, Shaun.” Said Terrance as I pulled open the tent. I smiled at him as I walked out

We pulled out of the clearing about 2 hours later and continued our journey. The only change was Milla took Shalyndria’s seat next to me in the wagon. After an hour of silence, she spoke up, “She wants to be with you, but her position makes certain criteria necessary.”

“I know. I just worry about how long it will take to be acceptable, and if the Princess will still want me then.” I sighed as the horses walked on.

“Would you like to start learning to control your magic Shaun?” was her way of changing the subject on me. I smiled and nodded,

“How do I begin, oh, great teacher!” I enthusiastically answered.

“Start by closing your eyes and feeling for the mana. It flows like a river through your body. Find it, follow it, and map how and where it moves through your body. After you have memorized its paths and flows, make it materialize as a small ball of light in your hand. After you complete that, we can move on,” became my first task after she took the reigns. I followed the channels of mana through my body. When I got to my center, I found a ball of gold light. Milla explained it was my mana pool or core as it was called.

We rode on for hours. I had finally managed to create an orb of light when I felt it. Several men were hiding in the field another hundred yards up the road waiting for us. “Terrance!” I yelled out. “Stop, I think my front axle broke!” As we stopped, Milla looked at me funny. “Several people are waiting up ahead,” I whispered as I hopped down. Terrance and Hank jogged back and looked at me funny when they saw the axle was fine. “Hank, can you hand me the rope under Milla so I can fix this?” I asked as I crawled under the shaft. As he handed it to me, “I don’t know how, but I know there are,” I closed my eyes and concentrated on the life forces I felt ahead of us, “Nine people hiding in the field just up the road. I can feel their intentions like a sour scent on the breeze.” I told them as I wrapped the axle in rope, pretending to fix it.