Hours and hours crawled on by as Finchley waited up in that tree. In the pouring rain. In the dark. With the equivalent of a mini-dragon waiting below for her to either give up or fall out of the tree so it could barbecue her and then eat her.
Not that Finchley really minded the rain, but it did cause quite a bit of mist which made things harder to see in the dark of night. For all she knew, the little cretin could sneak up on her when the rain stopped and torch the very tree she was taking shelter in.
Please don't stop raining, thought Finchley, huddling over her pack in order to keep the contents dry. There was no way she was going to let Hawk's first letter to her get wet!
However, hope springs eternal! Just when she started to think that she'd be spending the rest of the night up in this tree she heard footsteps and hoof beats coming up the path!
Thwish!.... Thunk!
An enraged growl could be heard from the creature below her as it scrambled to stand and instinctively opened its maw to spit fire, an arrow lodged in its side. But, whatever spark it had summoned up was quickly doused by the rain, which only seemed to make it angrier. But by that time, two hooded and cloaked men had set upon it with their blades. A few more growls and screeches were heard before a sudden silence and the lizard was no more.
Finchley heard a whinny below her and smiled brightly when she saw her horse standing below waiting for her.
"Destiny!"
"Can you get down from there yourself?" called a man's noble tenor from below her. Peering through the rain and the dark she could see two men looking up at her, hands shielding their eyes from the falling droplets.
"Aye, I can! Hold on--"
Finchley descended from the tree in almost no time at all, though she was ever careful of the slippery nature off dampened bark. Once upon the ground she brushed her gloved hands off and turned to face the two rangers before her.
"Are you injured?" asked the other one as he knelt to the ground and pressed two fingers to the mud. When he drew them away she could see that they were covered in splotches of dark red.
"Oh, no," she replied, shaking her head. "That ain't mine. There was someone else here before what chased me in the first place. The lizards only came afterwards."
The two rangers exchanged a glance and one of them sighed wearily. "More tomb robbers."
Finchley's brows furrowed and she frowned as she stepped over to her companion, giving Destiny a gentle scratch beneath her chin through wet fur. "You both saved my life."
"Don't thank us just yet. 'Twas your horse here who should get the credit."
Finchley looked up at Destiny properly and raised a brow as the horse began to look quite proud of herself indeed!
The other ranger let out a wry chuckle. "We saw her come racing into our camp without a rider looking pretty desperate. It has been awhile since I've seen a horse so loyal to their rider. We thought to keep her until at least the rain passed but she just wouldn't have it. We even tried to restrain her and she kicked up quite a fuss."
The other ranger looked less than amused. "She bit me..."
This only seemed to make his companion laugh a little harder. "Indeed! Right on your arse!"
Meanwhile, Finchley reached up to wrap her arms about Destiny's neck in a careful embrace. "Destiny, you silly, ornery thing! Bravest steed I've ever known! Bless you!"
Of course, Destiny's ornery and proud nature grew three sizes that day but that is neither here nor there since so too did her determination to protect her rider.
And, to that horse's credit, Finchley might have been laughing to herself - quietly out of respect for present company - over the thought of her companion biting a proud and fearsome ranger on his behind as the group began to make their way down the path towards High King's Crossing.
(to be continued)
