Tina stared
ahead. She saw the trees, bushes and small fences flash by. She also
saw the woman’s streaming hair and her thighs pressed against the flank
of the horse. She noticed that the woman controlled her breathing at
all times and kept her spine straight. She noticed that she never used
her whip to urge the horse along but like Tina, leaned forward to
whisper in the horses ear. She saw that she wore divided riding skirts
and she could see every layer of her dresses and that her undergarments
peaked just a bit from under her dresses. She saw that her long slender
hands massaged the pommel of the saddel gently as she rode and held on
with gentle fingers to her reins. And lastly, she noticed as she heaved
up and down that her chest seemed to bounce gently as if on billowing
pillows.

Tina shook her head, ‘Concentrate, watch where you
are going.’ She knew she was fascinated by this woman but she thought
that it was because she wanted so much to be a world traveller and a
classy, graceful woman herself. At least, that’s what she kept telling
herself….

* * *

Tina’s eyes were starting to
smart, she could barely keep them open. They had been riding all night
and all day and it was dusk agian. Her two companions showed no sign of
slowing down and looked like they could keep riding another week. Every
joint in Tina’s body ached, she had been jostled, bumped, scratched and
her bones felt like they were being ripped away from her stiff sockets.
She pulled some dry meat and an apple from her bag, keeping the rain
steady and munched on it. Oh to be in her bed again, warm and sleeping
with the down blanket.

Wolves howled in the distance and a
strange warm breeze came through the air, over the snow packed ground.
Tina’s skin prickled.

“Whoooooooooo! Whooooooooo!” Wolves
howled on the wind. Ms. Porter and Mr. Haspel slowed slightly. Mr.
Haspel veered right towards a nearby farm and Ms. Porter veered left
beconing Tina with her hand. The were going deeper into the wood. Large
branches and smaller twigs snapped against Tina’s bare cheek and drew
blood. She hastily ducked her head down deeper against her scarf. The
horses strained and pulled, making their way through brush and small
layer of snow on the ground. The woman pulled up in front of a very
large tree. She pulled on some larger branches that dipped all the way
to the floor of the forest and ducked under and closer to the tree
pulling her horse with her. Tina looked around, confused and hopped off
her horse. She too, pulled the branches and pulled up and then pulled
her horse in. There was barely enough room for the two horses and two
humans under the tree but they huddled together and closer to the tree.
Tina was squashed next to the woman. They were both panting.

“BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” came a loud crashing sound. Both women
jumped involuntarily but it was only thunder. The sound of a large
rainstorm.

The tight muggy air seemed to squeeze moisture out of itself and
branches, trees, ferns and mud became awash in water as it began to
pour. The two woman were relatively dry, huddled so close to the tree
with it’s dense branches a foot above them that came down to the floor
of the forest. They both breathed heavily and moved around trying to
find a comfortable position.

Tina became increasingly aware that
the woman’s hand was resting on her knee and that she was leaning
against the woman enough that her side was pressed against her arm.
Tina felt her cheeks growing warm but she didn’t dare move. Neither of
them said a word as they caught their breathes both straining to hear
more sounds of the wolves or the man.

Finally Tina took a deep breathe, “What do you think is going on?”
The woman said nothing.
“What do you think is following us,” Tina tried again.

The woman only looked out, she seemed to be trying to peer between
the branches. She moved closer to the make-shift opening that they had
used as as she shifted her weight her hand carressed Tina’s thigh
slightly. Tina felt a tremor run down her body. The woman quickly
lifted her hand and clapsed them together but she made no move to lean
away from Tina. Tina felt her face redden even deeper from the tremor
but she couldn’t tell if the woman had noticed it. Every time Tina
moved she felt her breast slightly graze Bette’s arm. In fact if she
leaned a little closer then her face would be nuzzled in the woman’s
hair.

They both watched gloved fingers curl around the bottom most branch and start to lift it up…