THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY FIVE )

Ivan, Meradith and Evelyne were desperate to find
Bella, along with their new friend Jermiah.

As they wandered, it was getting near to late afternoon, so it would soon be nightfall.

They had taken to sleeping rough, wherever they
could.

Meradith and Evelyne, were not as strong as the
men, they had become very stiff from sleeping on
the damp ground. They were almost ready to give up,
they had come further than they had ever dared to
before.

Meradith turned to Ivan saying, "don't you think
we have come far enough? there is no way Bella
would have come this far." She was very tearful
and started crying, she felt desperate and frustrated, that they could not find Bella.

Evelyne tried to comfort Meradith, but it was no
good, she was tired and completely devastated...
especially of sleeping rough.

Evelyne said to Ivan, "I think we should turn back,
I'm getting worried about Meradith and myself, we
never expected to come so far North."

Ivan agreed, it was as far North, as they had ever
dared to come. He decided it was late, so they would make camp and start travelling at sunup, or
as early as possible.

Ivan managed to find some fresh grass for Shadow to
graze on, then Jermiah suggested they catch a couple of rabbits, while the women made a small fire.

Once they had eaten, they lay as close to the fire,
as they could, although the ground was hard, they
were so tired...they fell asleep almost immediately.

******************

The following morning, when they awoke, it was
dark, the fire had gone out...it was so cold, the
chill in the air went right through Evelyne and
Meradith, they both started to shiver.

The chill of the morning, meant that Winter was on
its way, they would need to get back to the cave
very soon.

Ivan told Meradith and Evelyne to ride on Shadow,
he thought they would get a lot further with the
women riding.

It was late morning, they had covered quite a lot of ground. The Sun had come out, warming the travellers, they now felt a lot better, their spirits were lifted, knowing they were going back.

As they travelled, Ivan felt they were being followed, but he couldn't see anything unusual, or
suspicious, it was just a feeling. He did not say
anything...as he didn't want to worry the women.

******************

They had been travelling for two days, now all of
them were aware of being followed and that something was not right. All of a sudden Shadow
stopped. "What is it boy?" said Ivan. Shadow scraped at the ground, with his hoof. Ivan looked
down. Right in front of him, was another deep pit,
covered over with branches, again Shadow had saved
their life.

"Another Bear trap!" Ivan was angry, the hunters must be close by, 'they wouldn't think anything of
capturing and making an example of them, in front
of the other men,' he thought.

Now Ivan feared, if they went back to the cave,
they would lead the hunters there, which they couldn't risk doing.

Instead he thought they should make camp and see
what would happen.

The women dismounted Shadow, they settled and waited. All of a sudden, their worst fears were
about to be known. They heard a rustle of branches,
they kept as close together as they could. Ivan
knew they were surrounded, but it was too late to
run.

Men came out from the forest with spears, surrounding them, Ivan realised they were out
numbered and removed his spears, he told Meradith
and Evelyne to just do as they were told. The women
were so frightened, they dare not move.

To be continued .............THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART FIFTY SIX ) | ABCtales