story 1 part 3

The new day dawned crisp and bright. She woke as the sun was rising behind the trees and gazed at the beautiful colors."a beautiful sunrise for a beautiful new day" she thought. After the colors began to fade, she turned on her side and found her knight still asleep a few feet away, his head resting on a large flat rock. His brown was furrowed in his sleep, as if he were in deep thought. "I wonder what he dreams about" she puzzled as she watched him. The burned side of his face lay against the rock, obscuring it from view. "from this angle he could be quite handsome. I wonder what happened that caused him to carry those scars on his face." Her thoughts wandered to the day before. She wondered whether they had even noticed if she were gone. Secretly she hoped that her captors had lost and the head of the brat king was now posted on the main gate. She focused her gaze once more on the sleeping knight. "But why did he do this? This man in front of me has never lifted a finger to help anyone except for me. Why me? " The knight she knew before yesterday was a hard man who carried out the kings' darkest wishes. Until yesterday she had figured there was nothing more to him than that. But now, as she looked at him, she didn't know what to think. She had placed all her trust in this man that she didn't know. "I hope I did the right thing, but deep down I believe him when he said he would keep me safe. I will trust my gut feelings and see where this path leads me. It cannot be worse than yesterday". She sighed.
At the sound he snapped open his eyes and stared forward into hers. An electric jolt went up her spine and she fought with herself to keep from shivering in front of him. He was up in a moment, having slept fully clothed, muttering apologies for oversleeping. The empty wineskin beside him held the reason why. As she glanced at it she gave him a half smile, full of knowing. She replied "I've only just awoken myself".
They ate a meager breakfast of hard bread and cheese, and washed it down with water from the nearby stream. When he had finished, he looked to her and said bluntly "we should be moving on. If the city has won the war they will come to find you. That pipsqueak of a knight may have told them, if he lived. I should have killed him myself. That would have simplified things. I must be getting soft." He grimaced at the thought, then realized she was there and calmed. "When we get to the next town we will have to change your appearance" he said more softly. "We will color your hair and if you are willing, cut it shorter. They will be looking for a highborn maid with long black hair and green eyes, so we will need to change your description. I, on the other hand, will be much harder to disguise." He said the last sentence with a bitter tone, touching the side of his face as he spoke. He came to quickly. "But I can defend myself. You cannot. This will change. Come this evening and every evening henceforth you will learn how to defend yourself." He ignored the look of shock in her face. "it is the only way. You are no longer a highborn maid to the outside eye. You are now my sister to anyone who asks and, when you are worthy of the title, my squire. Don't forget that." He left no moment for a retort from her. Instead he busied himself with preparing for departure. Things happend so quickly that before she knew it she was being hoisted back into her saddle and starting off on the day's journey. She winced as the saddle sores from yesterday made themselves known. "what just happened here?" she mused. " I have to learn to fight? I've never thought about that. My father would disaprove if he ever knew" she said with a grin. But then she remembered that her father was dead and would never know, her mother as well. She was all that remained of her house. "Someday I will go back and claim my birthright" she told herself. "But for now, I must do as he asks of me. He will keep me safe until that time". She rode on at his side, lost in her thoughts. She did not see him glance at her from time to time with a look that was quite unfamiliar to his former nature.