THE CHOSEN ONES ( PART TWENTY FIVE )

Ivan picked the body of the unconscious man up and
put him over Shadow's back, then he jumped up on the horse's back himself. This time Shadow trotted on, Ivan sensed the horse was pleased with himself and so Ivan smiled and smoothed down his mane.

A little further on Ivan realised that although the
hunters were on foot, they could also move fast, so
again Ivan rode Shadow fast, so as to put as much
distance between them. As he rode, he wondered who
this stranger could be.

It was the afternoon before Ivan decided to rest, he dismounted and pulled the stranger from his horse.

The stranger moved his head and moaned, he seemed to be dreaming, "no, no!" he cried. "Please, don't take me back again, I've come so far."

"It's okay," said Ivan, "I won't hurt you."

"Uh! what! who are you, where am I? get away, don't
touch me." said the stranger, in pain.

"It's okay," said Ivan, "were you being chased by
hunters?"

"Who are you?" said the stranger.

"My name is Ivan, I want to help you."

"The hunters will get me, if I stop running." The
stranger started to try to sit up, but cried,
"my body is aching, I cannot get up."

"Don't try," said Ivan, "you are okay with me, I have a horse."

"A horse!" cried the stranger, then he started to
laugh.

"Why do you laugh?" said Ivan.

"Because I have spent my whole life wanting to ride
a horse and now I have the opportunity, I'm in too
much pain to ride. You know my parents told me when
I was a boy, that horses were dangerous and not to
be trusted."

"Actually," laughed Ivan, "my horse Shadow found you, you could say he saved your life." Ivan then changed the subject. "So what is
your name? or are you to remain a stranger."

"My name is Joshua, I along with some other hunters
were captured by a very bad man called Jonah, he made us dig deep pits to catch animals."

"Ah!" said Ivan, "so that was why that deep pit was
there. Well I would say my horse and I had a very
lucky escape, didn't we Shadow?" The horse nuzzled
Ivan.

As the evening drew in, there was peace in the air,
even Joshua felt more at ease. The moon came out
and was as bright as yesterday. Ivan decided this
would be a good place to make camp for the night.

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