Blood

Accidents (22)

Been a while since I published but last weekend, I did give you two! ;) Well here we go and I hope you enjoy this one!

Enjoy!

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The ride was very long and uncomfortable, most of it spent in silence, as we continued through the numerous trees and dense bush. I wasn’t sure how large the woods were but from the looks of it, they were huge. It had been a solid four hours since departure and we were still creeping through the many shrubs. Our journey was slowed often when we came to a clump of trees and bushes that was too dense for the truck to pass through so we would have to spend a long time finding a different route but remaining on track.

By now, it was early afternoon and the sun was peeking through the leaves, shining on us occasionally to bath us in warmth. It was nice and generally quite peaceful, the occasional snort of one of the equines or the song of birds interrupting it every now and then.

I was settling down in the saddle and this obviously had an effect on Gibus who had calmed down considerably. Earlier, it was necessary to have Justine by my side to prevent him from breaking into a trot or bolting when something frightened him, his tension caused by my own. I was getting the hang of riding or at least I thought so but I still didn’t like it – it seemed like an awfully long way to the forest floor after all.

I tugged at my skirt, relieved by the fact that it was quite a long one which therefore covered enough of my legs. I was wearing tights too but it was still freezing and the rare sunlight was welcome.

Adjusting my position in the saddle, I relaxed into my usual observation of my new family.

Axel, Maxime and Yannis walked side by side, large packs placed on their backs, silent as usual though I noticed there was some eye communication going on in between them. They all looked very solemn and were looking all around them, eyes filled with suspicion and caution.

Paul and Gilbert were at the back, no communication passing in between them at all. They also carried loaded packs and turned around often; mirroring the patrolling skills we had brushed over briefly in training. As usual, they were both void of emotion.

Rosa, David and Coralie resided in the truck up ahead and Marie, Leah and Justine, leading the two other horses, were placed in a ‘V’ shape around me like a defence, probably for if Gibus decided to make a run for it.

The snobbish man with the oily skin, whose name I presently forgot, walked in front just behind the truck, glaring at everyone. It had been a long time since I had seen him and I had forgotten how dislikeable he was. Each time he glared at me, I returned the favour.

Then there was Vincent in front of the truck with Nathan leading us god knows where. He was a clever man, I would give him that but I did not trust him. He was so unpredictable that I couldn’t find the faith to believe he would make the right decisions for us. I could only hope he knew what he was doing.

Finally, there was me, right in the middle at on top of Gibus.

So that was our party, just fourteen people wondering through the woods with only one knowing what was going on.

Let’s say that I wasn’t very pleased with the arrangement.

“Stop!” Vincent’s cool voice rang out.

The parade came grinding to a halt and everyone remained still waiting for further orders.

“You have an hour to rest, leave all the packs by the truck and have the horses tied up over there,” he continued, gesturing towards a particularly grassy area a few metres behind me, “Gilbert and Pascal on me.”