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The Brothers Lionheart

And I was left alone. It was unbearable. I was as if mad with grief and I ran to the stable and got Fyalar out and threw myself into the saddle and set off after Jonathan. I had to see him once more, before I lost him forever.

He was going to Tulip Farm first, to get his orders from Sofia, I knew that, and so I rode there. I rode like a maniac and I caught up with him just outside the farm. Then I was almost ashamed and wanted to hide, but he’d already heard and seen me.

“What do you want?” he said.

Well, what did I want?

“Are you sure you’re coming back?” I mumbled. It was all I could think of saying.

Then he rode up beside me and our horses stood side by side. Jonathan wiped something off my cheek, tears or something, with his forefinger, and said:

“Don’t cry Rusky. We’ll meet again--I promise you. And if it’s not here, it’ll be in Nangilima.”

“Nangilima?” I said. “What’s that now?”

“I’ll tell you another time,” said Jonathan.

I don’t understand how I withstood being alone at Knights Farm, or how I got the days to go by. I looked after my animals, of course. I was in the stable with Fyalar most of the time, and for long spells I talked to my rabbits. I fished a little and practiced shooting with my bow and arrows, but everything seemed so pointless when Jonathan wasn’t there. Sofia brought food for me now and then, and we talked about Jonathan. I kept hoping she would say, “he’ll be coming home shortly,” but she didn’t. I also wanted to ask her she didn’t go herself to try to save Orvar instead of sending Jonathan. But why should I ask, I knew the answer.

Tengil hated Sofia, Jonathan had explained to me.

“Sofia in Cherry Valley and Orvar in Wild Rose Valley, they’re his worst enemies, and you can be sure he knows it,” Jonathan had said when he was telling me how things were.

“He’s got Orvar in Katla Cavern and he’d like to put Sofia in there too, to pine away and die. The wretch, he’s fifteen white horses as a reward to the person who hands over Sofia dead or alive to him.

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