Page 44 of Hunting for her Heart
I tilt my head back, trying to guess how tall it is. At least thirty or forty feet, I think. A small black rock catches my attention, and I stop walking. It looks different from the others, not just in color, but there’s something off about it.
Ronan stops with me as he asks, “What is it?”
I point up to the rock, which is about nine feet off the ground. “Is that a black rock?” They all turn their eyes to where I’m pointing and are quiet for a moment before Bo steps closer to it, tilting his head.
“That’s not a rock. I think it’s an opening.” He sheathes the sword he’d been holding on his back with the other one and starts to climb. I watch the muscles in his arms and back bulge as he pulls himself up like it’s the easiest thing in the world.
When he gets up to the opening, he pulls one of hisswords back out and slowly steps inside. We wait below as nerves start to fill me. I know he can fight, and he’s armed, but there could be a family of those beasts living in there.
My racing heart calms when he suddenly appears at the opening, both swords on his back as he beckons us up. “It’s all clear, come on up.”
“Catch,” Hawk says to Bo, before tossing his spear up toward him. He easily catches it, then Hawk turns to me and squats down with his back to me. “Climb on, angel.”
I wrap myself tightly around his back, and he stands up and starts to climb the wall.
“Don’t worry. I’ll catch you if you fall,” Ronan calls from the ground behind me, making me relax a little to know that if my grip falters, I won’t fall to the ground.
Hawk makes the climb just as easily as Bo did. Clearly, carrying me didn’t hold him back at all. When we get to the top, Bo lifts me from Hawk’s back and sets me down inside the cave, away from the edge, as Ronan starts to climb up to join us.
“Whoa,” I whisper when I finally take a look inside. It’s much deeper than I thought. I assumed it’d be similar to the other ones we’d stayed in. This one has a small section that we’re currently standing in, almost like the cave’s lobby. In the back is a short open doorway to a large cave, or rather, a cavern.
Bo holds my hand and guides me through, and my mouth drops open as I look around the large space. The ceiling is at least thirty to fifty feet above us and even has an opening at least five feet wide, meaning we can have a fire in here. There’s water gently trickling in from a small gap in the wall into a small stream that runs through a small section at the back of the cave. Hopefully, that’s drinkable. It drips intoa large pool of water that’s more than big enough for us all to swim in.
But the best part is the other, smaller pool of water. Steam rises from it, making it look incredibly relaxing to sit in, assuming it’s not too hot.
There’s no greenery in here. The entire cave is made of different types of stone, but it still feels like a little slice of safety from the outside.
“This is perfect,” Bo says, scanning the cave.
Ronan dips his head in agreement. “Yes, this should work well. Bo, do you want to hunt something for dinner? Hawk and I will start setting traps at the entrance so we don’t have to constantly stand guard.”
“I’m on it,” Bo says before turning to me. His blue eyes bore into mine, his lips pressing together in a tight line like he wants to say something. Then he spins on his heel and exits the cave. I have no idea why he was looking at me so intently, but as soon as he’s out of sight, I feel a strange tightness in my chest.
I rub at it absently, as I watch the other two set down everything they’ve been carrying and start rummaging through their bags to pull out supplies. It bothers me that they are always taking care of me and I’m just sitting around, doing nothing.
“Can I help?” I ask, but Ronan shakes his head.
“You can relax. We’ve got this.”
My shoulders slump as I turn to the cave. There must be something I can do? When Bo returns, we’re going to need a fire to cook the meat. There’s no wood in here, but there are rocks. I could create a circle for the fire pit. I find an area with a bunch of smaller rocks, one's small enough that I can pick up, and start bringing them all to a spot in the middle of thecave, right beneath the opening way up above. After I’ve made the circle, I glance at Ronan and Hawk and see they are still busy creating some sort of contraption at the entrance.
I decide to look at our supplies, and when I find our water canteens, I decide to fill them up, pulling the straps over my shoulders and carrying them to the small stream. The trickle of water isn’t that fast, so it takes me a few minutes to fill all four of them.
After setting them near the fire, I walk over to the pool of water, the one without steam. I bend down and dip my finger in. It’s cool, but not freezing. Definitely suitable for bathing.
That reminds me that we left our homemade leaf coverings back at the last cave. Although we don’t have to contend with wet clothing, if we want to go in the water, we will need something else to wear.
“Would you like to go for a swim?” Hawk asks as I stand up. “I can take you in, if you wish.”
“Oh, I, uh, just realized we left our other outfits back at the last cave.”
He shakes his head. “The others packed them while you were relieving yourself.”
“Oh! That’s good. We can use those to swim in.” I glance down at his leather coverings before adding, “Or sleep in.” That thought has me wondering what they normally wear to sleep in at home. “What do you usually wear as pajamas?” I ask him.
“Pajamas?” he asks with a frown. “What’s that?”
I guess they don’t have that word here. “The clothing you wear to sleep in.”
