Chapter 14

The group walked the rest of the day in silence. Emma and Emir both feeling a little awkward about their…conversation…Benett felt a bit proud of himself, he hadn’t been told to start an argument between the two, but doing so could only help things later on.

Emma saw the edge of the forest drawing near and was practically bouncing, ignoring her sore muscles. “We’re almost there!”

“Way to point out the obvious.” Emir said. She glared at him and stuck her tongue out. Benett rolled his eyes and continued walking on.

“Want me to pick up some wood for a fire tonight?”

“Yeah.” He said, “I’ll look out for some food.”

“I can help get wood.” Emma said, bending down to pick up a few sticks that would be good for kindling.

“Thanks.” Benett said to her, already having some wood in his arms.

Emir gathered mushrooms, berries, nuts as they walked along. “I’ll hunt once we’ve set up a camp.”

“Oh, some meat might be nice.” Emma said. “Don’t get me wrong, the nuts and berries filled me up, but meat just sticks with me better.”

Benett smiled and looked up at the sky as they left the woods. The sun was only a few hours away from setting. “We should set up a camp soon.”

Emir nodded and looked around, “what about over there?” he asked, pointing to a clearing that was relatively flat.

“That looks promising.” Benett said, heading for the area. He dropped the wood and sat down. “While you’re off hunting I’ll get a fire started.”

Emir nodded, and stopped by him, unloading everything but his bow and quiver. “I won’t be too long.” He said as he headed back into the woods.

Emma came over by Benett and put her wood on his pile. “Anything I can help you with?” she asked.

“Can you set up our blankets?” he asked. She nodded and went to go do that. He gathered some rocks to make a barrier for a fire, and then started piling kindling. He took his flint and got a small fire started, once it had taken, he added a few larger logs.

            Emir came back with a couple of birds that he had been able to shoot. He tossed one at Benett. “You get to help pluck.” He said.

            “You couldn’t have found something easier to prepare?” he asked, starting to pluck feathers.

            “Nope, I like to see you miserable, what can I say?”

            “Is there anything I can do?” Emma asked.

            “Well, you can go collect more wood, we’ll need it before the night is over.” Emir told her. She nodded and stood up, heading for the woods.

            A few hours later a woodpile had been formed and both birds had been plucked and made ready. Emir skewered both birds and set them over the fire to cook. Benett laid back, looking at the sky.

            “You ready for more lessons princess?” Emir asked, looking over at her.

            “Tell me you aren’t being serious. I’m sore, hungry, and I have bruises from your last lesson…”

            “I’m always serious.” He said, a slight grin on his face.

            “No you aren’t.” Benett said, still laying down.

            “Fine, but I am being serious about the lessons.” He said, looking at her. She groaned and flopped back.

            “Do I have to?”

            “No…but just remember, if you don’t and you get hurt, I don’t want to hear about it.” He said.

            “Fine.” She said, drawing the word out. She sat up and looked at him. “I really…”

            “Hate me sometimes.” He finished. “I know, you’ve told me plenty of times already.”

            “Actually, what I was going to say was I really appreciate it…but if you want to go with hate, that’s fine too.” She said, standing up.

            “Oh.” He said, surprised. He hadn’t been expecting that. “Right…so, we were at hand-to-hand combat, right?”

            “Yup.” She said, stretching a bit.

            Emir continued teaching her varying methods of combat that were favorable to her small stature. He taught her how to use it to her advantage.

            “You’re doing well.” He said. “Now, hit me.”

            “I don’t want to hit you.”

            “I said hit me…that is…unless you don’t think you can.” He said goading her. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised.

            “Fine.” She said, going to hit him in the face. He grabbed her fist, stopping her. So, instead, she kicked him in the shins. He released her fist, cursing.

            “D****t! That hurt!”

            “I thought that was the point.” She said, putting her hands on her hips.

            “I said hit, not kick!”

            “Well, if you were really trying to hurt me, that’s what I would have done!”

            Grumbling, he limped over to the fire and sat down. She rolled her eyes and joined him.

            “Baby.”

            “I am not a baby.” He said, narrowing his eyes at her. Benett grinned slightly.

            “Now you’ve gone and injured the mighty warrior.” He said to Emma.

            “He’s not injured. I barely kicked him.”

            “It felt like a brick was slammed into my legs!”

            “Oh, I don’t kick that hard!”

            “Yes you do!”

            “Are you two really going to argue again?” Benett asked, his expression bored. “You told her to hit you, she tried, you stopped her, and so she kicked you. She only responded like she would if it were a real situation.”

            “Thank you Benett!”

            “Emma, you shouldn’t have kicked him so hard though…if you had seriously injured him we’d be in a tough situation should we be attacked.”

            She pouted a bit, but resigned herself to apologize. “I didn’t mean to kick so hard.”

            “It’s fine.” Emir replied.

            “If it’s fine then why the hell did you make such a big deal about it!?”

            “Here we go again…” Benett said as they resumed arguing. 

Reviews

[NoelHC]

The action is moving on nicely, that part I am enjoying. I would like to hear a bit more description of this place, so I could form a mental image of the scene better.
Looking forward to more chapters.

[KMC]

I am working on doing that!