Crossover 'The Chosen One Trilogy: Book One' (10 page)

“Well, it really wasn’t my
grandmother’s.” She grinned at me.

Ben pulled his out of his pocket to
show me. It was the same as Tara’s.

“I wonder why I can go back and forth
without one.” I waited to see if they would explain it to me but
the three of them shrugged.

“It obviously has something to do with
why you’re so special.” Tara smiled.

I laughed. “I still think this might be
a dream, you know.”

Jasper put his arm around me. “I truly
hope it isn’t.”

Tara’s eyes widened as did her smile.
“Leave it to Hayden to barely look at a man for twenty three years,
then spend four days here and become fated to one of the most
sought after bachelors on the guard.”

I laughed at Jasper’s blush. “Most
sought after, are you?”

He shrugged.

My heart did a flip in my chest. “Did
you...I mean, do you have someone else?”

His eyes widened. “Not for six years I
haven’t. Not since I started dreaming of you.”

“Beings here are a lot like the ones
from where you came from,” explained Ben. “We get into
relationships and such. But once you start to see the one you are
fated to, the urge goes away until you find that one.”

“Hmm. Interesting.” I leaned my head on
Jasper’s shoulder. “And comforting. I don’t think I would win a
fight against a big cat to win you.”

He chuckled. “Now wouldn’t that be
something to see.”

The rest of the group slowly started
coming back to camp and everyone was introduced.

“So?” inquired Zane. “What’s the
verdict?”

I was a little shocked to find they
were all looking at me. “You guys will go wherever I go? How did
that happen?”

Jasper took my hand. “Like Shanus said
yesterday, it seems you have a way of drawing people to you. And
after what happened last night, no one will doubt your
judgment.”

“Ok, then.” I was a little nervous. “I
still think we need to go see the Wedelves. I’m sure there’s
something or someone there I’m supposed to see or find.

They all nodded.

“What happened last night?” asked
Ben.

I saddled Dodge while Jasper gathered
the blankets. “I’ll start at the beginning when we get moving,” he
said.

“Sounds good.”

“So where’s the bridge?” asked
Phlann.

I laughed. “Like you can’t see the
bridge!” Then I stopped. “Oh, now what?” I was getting a little
tired of people looking at me like I had three heads.

“Where do you see the bridge?” asked
Jasper.

I pointed a little way up the river to
a beautiful wooden bridge.

Zane’s eyes were wide. “Is there
anything you can’t do?”

Ben clarified the situation for me.
“Only Wedelves can see the bridge. It keeps us from having to worry
too much about intruders. We move it every so often so the location
stays secret. There are a few out there, like Jasper, who know the
location because we trust them. But for the most part, people try
to brave the river to cross onto our land.”

The way he said ‘try to’ made me
shiver. I didn’t think many succeeded.

I hopped onto Dodge and we started back
on our journey, Tara and Ben leading the way. Dodge followed with
Jasper at his head. He was catching them up on the events of the
past four days.

The forest on this side of the river
was amazing. There were still some of the blue trees but the
farther we got away from the river, there were less of them. In
their stead were tall, slender trees with faded brown, almost white
trunks. Their leaves were large, maybe the size of two of my hands,
shaped almost like an aspen leaf and were a mesmerizing greenish
silver in color. Every now and then I would catch a glimpse of what
looked like big spruce trees, only these had red drooping flowers
hanging from their branches instead of cones.

I fought off the urge to sleep and my
head snapped up as I started to slip out of the saddle.

“Close your eyes, Shlova,” whispered
Jasper in my ear. How he had got on behind me without my knowing
was beyond me. He put his arms around me and I leaned back against
him. It wasn’t long before I was asleep.

*****

“Hayden. We’re stopping for lunch.”
Jasper gave me a squeeze and kissed the back of my neck.

A shiver ran through me and I smiled. I
reached back and ran my fingers through his hair.

“Hello.” He murmured in my ear. “Did
you have a good sleep?”

I nodded and opened my eyes. “Whoa!
What are those?”

Standing not too far away from us were
a couple of animals that resembled white tailed deer. The only
difference was their size, they were taller, and the fact that
their antlers curled back, more like mountain goat’s horns, the
tines pointing out at dangerous angles.

Tara laughed. “They’re
deer.”

I shook my head and blushed. “Yeah, ok.
I can see that. What I mean is, do they talk, are they like
Dodge?”

She shook her head. “No. We ride these.
Mine’s Peena and Ben’s is Goop.”

I burst out laughing.
“Goop?”

Ben grinned. “Don’t make fun of Goop.
You’ll hurt his feelings.” He patted the bigger of the two deer on
the head. “Goop is Wedelven for strong.”

I was still laughing. “I’m sure he
his.”

I walked over to Goop and Peena and let
them sniff my hand.

Goop blew out of his nose.

“Do you use bridles?”

Tara nodded and showed hers to me.
“They’re like hackamores. No bits. And we use saddles. Deer don’t
move anything like horses! You just can’t stay on without the
stirrups.”

“Hmm.” I was looking over Tara’s
saddle. It was small, like a racing saddle. Just big enough to have
something to attach the stirrups to.

I turned to the sound of trotting
coming towards us to my left.

Shanus and Phlann were both carrying
three rabbits each.

Phlann stopped in front of me and bowed
gracefully. “Dinner, my lady.” His eyes twinkled with amusement as
he straightened.

I held the edge of my imaginary dress
and curtsied. “Thank you, my lord.”

Shanus burst out laughing. “My lord,
indeed.” He reached over and tussled his son’s hair. “Come along,
my lord. You can help skin these.”

Phlann flashed me a smile and followed
his dad.

I started to walk towards Zane and
Jasper who were deep in conversation. Jasper looked up at his
friend, his eyes wide and started to laugh, the sound floating over
to me on the breeze. I smiled.

I caught some movement out of the
corner of my eye. “Now what’s this?” I mumbled to myself and bent
down. The this in question was hiding in a bush, only its bright
green eyes visible. I sat on the ground in front of the bush, not
quite facing it, and waited for curiosity to bring out whatever was
in it.

I looked over as a tiny pink nose
sniffed at me. “Are you hungry?”

I reached into my pocket and pulled out
a bit of cheese I had put there after breakfast. “Here you
go.”

A tiny paw reached out of the bush for
the cheese. I pulled the cheese away just a bit so that whatever it
was would have to leave the bush to get it.

“Oh! You’re beautiful,” I whispered to
it. “You look just like a lemur. But tiny.”

The little lemur look alike was all
white with almost florescent green eyes. It couldn’t have been any
bigger than a rat. It paused at the sound of my voice and looked up
at me. Having decided I wasn’t much of a danger, it took a few more
steps closer to me and reached for the cheese.

“Here you go.” I gave it the cheese and
smiled when it decided to stay beside me to eat it.

I looked up and smiled at Jasper who
was watching me. He made his way toward me, stopping when he was
close enough to talk to me without scaring the tiny
monkey.

“What is it?” I asked.

“It’s called a tairat.”

“A tairat. Is it a baby?”

He shook his head. “No. That’s as big
as they get.” He shifted his weight to his other foot and a branch
snapped under him.

The tairat jumped, ran up my arm, and
burrowed itself in my hair, its long tail wrapping itself around my
neck.

Jasper came closer and laughed at the
warning being chattered at him. “I think she’s decided your
hers.”

I smiled. “How can you tell she’s a
girl.”

“She’s all white. The males are white
but have a dark brown stripe that runs from their nose to the end
of their tail.”

“What do they eat?”

“Besides cheese?” He smiled. “Bugs and
fruit, mostly.”

The tairat relaxed its hold on my neck
and peeked out from under my hair to sniff toward Jasper. He
accommodated her by sitting beside me where she could reach over to
smell him.

I looked towards camp and leaned my
head on his shoulder. Zane was standing by the fire, chatting with
Shanus and Phlann while they all watched the rabbits cook. Tara and
Ben were sitting on a rock talking about something that must have
been humorous. Dodge had taken this rest time to find a patch of
grass where he was busy enjoying his own lunch.

“What are you thinking?” asked Jasper.
He leaned his head against mine then pulled it away with a laugh
when the tairat chittered at him.

“I’m thinking that this is the best
dream I’ve ever had.” I looked at him and smiled, reached back to
remove the tairat from my hair so I could hold her away from
Jasper, and closed my eyes as his lips met mine.

The tairat chattered from her position
on my arm. Jasper looked down at her. “She was mine first, you
know.” He reached over and tried to pet the tiny head. He jerked
his arm back as little teeth tried to sink into his finger. “You’re
just going to have to learn how to share.”

I laughed at the tiny growl. “Does she
understand you?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Now, Tiny, you’re going to have to get
used to him. I have a feeling he plans on being around for a
while.”

Jasper smiled. “Tiny?”

“Well, she is, isn’t she? It’s
fitting.”

He shrugged. “Maybe we can come up with
something else after lunch.”

I laughed. “Speaking of lunch, Tara is
waving us over. Come on, Tiny. Let’s go find you a bit more
cheese.”

Jasper stood and took my hand. “To be
replaced so soon, and by a tairat.” He grinned down at
me.

“I definitely won’t be replacing you
any time soon.” I squeezed his hand. I tilted my head up to give
him a kiss and pulled back at Tiny’s warning to him. “Maybe you
should give her the next piece of cheese. This could get more than
a little annoying if she decides to hate you forever.”

He laughed. “Tara, is there any cheese
left in the bag?”

“Hmm hmm. How big of a piece do you
want?”

“Just a small one. It’s for Hayden’s
new friend, here. I’m hoping this puts me in her good books.” He
grinned.

Tara handed him the cheese and peered
around my shoulder to look at Tiny. The little tairat looked back
at her with wide eyes but didn’t make a sound.

Tara shook her head and smiled. “Only
you, Hayden.”

“What?” I laughed.

“Leave it to you to find any creature
that is willing to follow you home.”

“Here you go, Tiny.” Jasper reached out
the piece of cheese so that she had to stretch to take it from
him.

Her nose wiggled and her little tongue
flicked toward it.

“Come on, now. Take it
nicely.”

Tiny reached out and took the cheese
with her hands.

“There you go.” Jasper experimented by
putting a hand on my shoulder and smiled when Tiny didn’t chatter
at him.

“Well, that’s a good start.” I grinned
at him. “Let’s eat. I’m starving.”

We all sat around the fire, eager to
eat and get going again.

When we were done, I saddled Dodge and
watched as Tara and Ben saddled their deer.

I put my hand on my shoulder and Tiny
walked onto it. “Well, my girl. I think it’s probably best if you
stay here. I have no idea where we are going or how long it will
be. You should be in your natural habitat.” I grabbed a piece of
cheese from the bag and walked back over to the bush where I had
found her. I placed the cheese under the bush and gave the little
tairat one last pet on the head before setting her down. She stood
on her hind legs and looked at me with wide eyes. She chattered at
me once, then turned her attention to my parting gift.

I smiled at Jasper as I walked by him
to get to Dodge. He glanced over to the bush and jogged to catch up
to me.

“Hang on a bit,” he said, his arm
snaking around my waist. “There’s something I was wanting to do
before you acquired your little guardian there.” He smiled and
leaned down to kiss me softly, his tongue gently finding mine. My
head started to spin.