Chapter 6 - Aston

Dawn. It was time to leave.

I had a bag full of necessary supplies like food, water and weapons. Just as I was about to craft an ice horse, Storm came walking out of the castle, a book in his hand.

I was the most friendly with Storm, but sometimes I found it hard to talk to him, as he was always stuck to a book. He ate with a book, slept with a book, cried with a book, laughed with a book, talked with a book, and basically did everything with a book. Sometimes it became frustrating.

"What are you doing here?"

He had a slightly annoyed expression on his face. "The queen told me to go with you. Something about making sure he comes back and that I needed to go out more?"

Typical of Queen Icelyn to make my life harder. One more person would mean more food and water digested, and more people to look after.

I sighed. "Do you have your supplies?"

He nodded without looking up from his book.

"Another thing, leave the books."

He gave me a shocked look, as if this was too much for his heart to handle.

"Are you insane? I'm not doing anything like that."

Before he could blink, I snatched his book and his bag from him, and threw it to one of the palace guards near to us.

"Hey! Give it back!"

"No. We're leaving, now."

He snarled, his posture ready to attack.

What kind of a person got angry over books? Right, Storm.

I let out a loud sigh. "Storm, I don't have the time for this. We need to leave. Don't make me-"

He pounced at me, lunging at my neck. But I anticipated his move and dodged to the left, bringing my right hand up to hit him. It was over in a second. He fell to the ground, shooting an angry look at me.

Storm wasn't an athletic person, but when he actually tried, he could put up a decent fight.

"This is the last time I'm saying this. Let's go."

He scowled and finally followed me as I crafted two ice horses. I jumped on one, as he clambered onto the other. Then I threw a pack of supplies at him. Once he caught it, I started the horse into a gallop.

Storm wasn't far behind me, but when I looked back, I was horrified to see another book in his hands.

"Where did you get that from?!"

"It's my emergency supply of books, obviously. I thought you were smarter than this."

Right. I was rushing so I didn't stop to think if he hid anymore books anywhere else.

It was too late to turn back and make him return all the books, anyway.

After a few hours, we reached the Forest. Our surroundings consisted of tall trees, green bushes and hardly any colorful things to be seen. It was quite dark, so I jumped off the horse carefully, listening for any noises. The Forest was eerily quiet, as if there was going to be an ambush.

My head snapped towards a bush near us. It was rustling, and something brown and furry was in it. It jumped out, and I realised it was a rabbit. A tiny rabbit. Hardly enough for my dinner. Nothing, if both Storm and I were to share it.

When I looked back at Storm, he was still reading, so he would probably stay there, oblivious to his surroundings. He was big enough to take care of himself, and telling him I was going hunting wouldn't even make a difference. So, I ran off, looking for a better catch.