THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART THIRTY SIX )

The stranger shouted at the bear, "go away!" but the bear just stood his ground staring up at Evelyne. Then the stranger started to shake his tree and shouted at the bear, so did Meradith.

All of a sudden, the bear turned...he growled and
he and the other bears turned and padded away, through the forest.

The stranger felt quite pleased with himself, thinking, 'Ah well! I really frightened them off.'

Evelyne was still clutching the tree, for all she
was worth...eyes still closed, she shouted, "have
they gone yet?"

As she spoke, a figure came through the forest on a
horse, Meradith was sure it was Shadow. As the horse got closer, she knew it was Shadow, she could
not believe it, there was Ivan riding towards them,
Meradith shouted, "Ivan!...Ivan! over here!"

Ivan turned his head upwards, he saw the figures up
in the trees. As he rode towards them, he wondered
why they were sitting in the trees. "What's going
on here then?"

Meradith spoke excitedly, "we caught a fish, we
decided to cook it...which attracted some bears...
Evelyne was just about to be their next meal, when
you came along Ivan."

She was clambering down, out of the tree, as Ivan
dismounted, she ran to him and flung her arms around his neck, then she kissed him, like she had
never kissed him before. "Oh Ivan...I've missed you
so much, such a lot has happened."

As Meradith was talking to Ivan, Evelyne kissed the
tree and thanked it, she wished the tree would grow
big and strong, then she started to climb out.

"I have been back to the cave, Fern told me everything that has happened," explained Ivan.

As Evelyne finally got down out of the tree, she
was excited. "Hello Ivan, have you seen Nathen?"

Ivan approached Evelyne, he took her hands, "I think you should prepare yourself for the worst."

"What!" cried Evelyne confused. Ivan tried to be
calm, he explained to Evelyne about Nathen being
thrown in the pit, he wished he had some good news.

Evelyne fell to her knees and wept, "no!...no!" she
cried, she couldn't help the tears welling up in her eyes. She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up, it was Meradith. "Oh! Meradith...what
shall I do now? I cannot go on without Nathen."

She turned to Ivan, "do you realise...I won't even
be able to bury him...Oh! this is awful." her face
was wet with tears.

Meradith and Ivan looked at each other, they did not know what to say.

The stranger stood in the background, not quite
knowing what to say either.

To be continued ........THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART THIRTY SEVEN ) | ABCtales