Chapter 38

Was he about to tell me I had the superpower of riding a horse very fast? Well, that'd be very lovely but it didn't appear that was it. He walked into the stable but I stood outside alone, carefully admiring the horses. There were about twelve or thirteen of them and they were so gorgeous I wanted to ride one of them round the garden. What manner of beauty was this? I thought

"Uncle, I want to ride one!" I whined. Even I didn't understand why I was relaxing around him now. I was warming up to his closeness and maybe it was the revelation he told me about myself?

"Come in here, Ariana" he called from inside where the horse feed was kept.

"No I want to ride a horse! Please!!" I whined. Remember I was after all still a child. I kept feeding my eyes around the stable. The horses were neighing and minding their businesses. They turned to look at me when I touched them but they did not do me any harm.

"Come in here! You're gonna trip and fall if you try riding one!" He said.

"Then come help me get on it! Look, I want this one, it looks so calm and strong! Please" I kept whining but he was not buying it. I tried climbing one of the horses on my own but they were too high for me; I'd indeed trip and all, besides, I couldn't ride one. I didn't know how to ride a horse beyond two feet range.

There was a baby horse in their midst. I bent down and sat on the grass, then I placed it on my thighs, caressing its skin and cuddling it. It was white and pretty. "I can't climb you; you're too young for riding" I told it, laughing and totally forgetting where i was. Yes, that's what being in a place that looked like paradise did to you. It was hypnotizing.

Suddenly it occured to me that I was no longer hearing Uncle Robinson's voice. I got up quietly and placed the baby horse on the grass. Then I went into the feed house where he had entered, about ten minutes ago.

I noticed that there was smoke inside. "Uncle Robinson!" I called. I walked farther into the house. "Master!" I said .

"Where are you? Master?"

"Ariana, go back!! There's a fire in there! Go out now before the main door gets stiff!" I heard him yell from inside , far inside of the room. There was hay everywhere and it was starting to catch fire.

I looked around me, fire was burning everywhere and it was licking the walls and floor and crawling towards me. My mind was beclouded by fear and I started to run back out the door but the door was not budging. I tried to open it but it wouldn't open. I couldn't see well as smoke began to engulf round me but the fire was still far away from me.

I was stuck. Still I did not scream or remain jittery. I ran farther into the house and there, I found a drum full of water. A very big drum that weighed about 40kg. It was made of bronze and it had water full to the brim. I needed this water to extinguish the fire, I was sure the water inside the drum would be enough but how would I pour it? There was no bowl anywhere. I moved closer to the drum and without thinking twice, I lifted it and carried it out towards where the fire reached in the room. And sprayed it everywhere. I was coughing but I extinguished the fire.

The fire soon died down and with one kick, the door fell off its frame and I made my way out, gasping for breath. My arms were darkened from the smoke and I had burns on my shoulder, arms and legs. There, outside the stable was Uncle Robinson on a horse, staring at me. He had a smile on his face. I was shocked to the roots.

I stood up from the grass and walked up to him. He clapped twice and nodded. "There you go" Then, he jumped down, lifted me onto the horse and sat , after instructing me to clutch to his waist tightly. Then he began to ride the horse far into the flowery environment, first slowly, then swiftly such that the breath I was running out of, was now in abundance.

"What happened there, Uncle?"

"You displayed your second superpower" he said. "im proud of you, and please call me Sword or Robin or Prince, not Uncle"

"What was my superpower?" I asked. I clutched tightly to his waist as my hair was blown around by the evening air. I saw him look up to the sky and stop for a second. He howled and stretched his muscles. The moon shone brighter.

"Stop and think for a second" he replied, riding the horse again. It felt like we were riding on an endless road surrounded by beautiful flowers and water.

"The container was 40kg, how did you lift it?" He asked me laughing out loud. I was shocked myself. The realization hit me: I could lift weighty things without feeling any pressure! I was 60kg but I lifted a drum that weighed 40kg without feeling a thing!

"Wow" i exclaimed. Just then, I remembered the nightmare I had, the night into the morning that he came to my room in the cabin to tell me to follow him somewhere. The nightmare about everyone disappearing from the camp and leaving me alone there, and then me saving a big mermaid by pulling her out of the water with one hand, and of course without feeling any pressure. I could remember the mermaid was twice as big as I was. I didn't lift heavy things at home so I didn't realize I had this power.

"I'll try it at home" I blushed. It felt good.

"So, did you start the fire?" I asked. He must have, because he did not make much attempt to save me, other than telling me to run out. The mystery of the door refusing to open must have been his doing too. He wanted me to be stuck in there so I'd use my superpower. There was no other way around it. It was intriguing.

"You know the answer. I did" he said. "Fires irk me, so I set the time for the fire to start, and I escaped"

"So, it was like a time bomb?"

"Not exactly. I manipulated the movement of the fire" he said and kept riding fast on that long endless road. "I made it start late, and move slowly but fiercely"

"Wow, you can do a lot of things, Uncle" i marvelled.

"Robin or Prince"

"Okay, Prince. So, can I lift you too? Is it possible?"

"Only if I let you" he laughed. "Only me can control that power, only me and my pack; you can lift only humans or heavy objects" he replied, slowing down the pace of the horse by pulling its strings. The horse neighed and stopped at the bank of a little river.

"Now let's make you smooth again" he said and laid me on the ground near the bank of the river. "Stay put, don't move"

The moon shone so brightly here, and reflected on the water. It actually seemed that that was where the moon lived . He stared at the moon for split seconds and howled so loudly it almost deafened me. He slowly and fiercely transformed into a werewolf fully, and then stretched his claws towards me, as if he wanted to pull me up, howling and thumping his feet on the ground dangerously like he was in pain.. His eyes looked like the sun's--red and bloodshot but he had derived some power from the moon. I was a bit scared but not as scared as I was the previous times. I knew now that he'd not hurt me.

"Thank you, Moon goddess" i heard him say and he slowly re-transformed back into his human body. His body shook as he did so. Then, he fell to the floor making some quiet panting noises.

I got up slowly and looked at my body--the burns were gone!

"One more place, and then we'll go to bed, it's getting dark; you must be really tired, my lady" he called me "My Lady" for the first time. It didn't make me feel good neither did it make me feel bad. I was merely indifferent. I hadn't consented to his proposal yet, until I heard his decision about helping me save my sister's future.

"Yes I am, aren't you too?" I asked him, still awestruck by the smoothness of my body. The burns had indeed disappeared.

"I'm not" he said. " I still have to hunt tonight" and before I could ask what he meant by 'hunting', he was on the horse already. I joined him there and he slowly rode away

"What about the competition?"

" I'll unfreeze time when we wake up, For now, we'll be visiting the last place for tonight, and I'll take you back to the castle to sleep"

So I'll be sleeping in the castle tonight. I thought as I held on to him while he rode swiftly up the endless road, and not down the road this time.