Chapter 5

Hywel rose early the next morning. He was still concerned about Amelia and why she had had such a bad dream the night before. He believed in his own dreams and worried about the consequences for days. Now he was going to have to make sure that nothing was going to happen to her either. He wandered down to the lake and splashed his face with water and sat down on the bank, waiting for her.

'What does the dream mean? Is he going to come looking for her? I daren't ask her too many details because she was clearly upset and I don't want to make her relive it.

I must notice if anything unusual happens.' He immediately looked around while listening for any strange sounds. 'No, it all seems very normal.' He relaxed and waited for Amelia to awaken.

It wasn't long before she appeared from the mine shaft. She saw Hywel and wandered down to the lake to greet him. "Good morning." She smiled before leaning down at the waters edge and washed her face. "Oh, that feels so much better. I'm fully awake now."

"What are your plans for today Hywel?"

He wondered if she was trying to get rid of him. Had he upset her in some way? 'Surely not, last night she needed me.'

"I haven't made any plans, why do you ask?"

She breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn't wanted to hound him and was glad that he wasn't trying to get rid of her because she did want to be in his company for a while longer yet.

"Ummm, I just wanted to explore the valley further. I've never seen all of it before."

Hywel looked at her and smiled. "Well come on then. We'll explore it together." He took her by the hand and pulled her to her feet. Amelia smiled and kept hold of his hand as they set out on their travels. They spent a pleasant morning in the valley. Hywel pointed out the landmarks, the disused mines, the wild animals and the flowers. Amelia was surprised, she never realised how beautiful Wales could be. She also realised that she felt totally relaxed in Hywel's company.

Amelia stopped walking and turned to face him. She put her arms around his body and smiled before kissing him gently on his lips. Hywel blushed but that didn't stop him from putting his arms around her and returning the kiss.

Suddenly without warning a man jumped out in front of them barring their way. "No further, you can go no further."

"What? Who are you?" asked Hywel. He was annoyed that he hadn't remembered his earlier promise to himself to keep alert at all times.

The man didn't reply; he raised his fists instead. Amelia saw this and gasped. "You can't hurt him. Hywel is a good man." Hywel was totally shocked. 'What does this man want? I knew humans were trouble.' The man sneered at them both. "It seems to me that you have goods here that belong to me and I want them back."

Hywel stared at Amelia. He thought back to their first meeting, she was very tearful then and he hadn't really known why. Then when he had met her again dressed in that awful dress, she'd said she had left her husband. Was this him? He knew that she must have had a reason to do that but did he really want to defend her. His heart quickly gave him the answer to that question.