[Nerindel]

The young girl ate hungrily ripping great chunks off with her teeth and barely chewing before swallowing the stale bread, which rasped at the back of her dry throat as it went down. But she did not care, she was just so grateful to be at last filling at least a little of the gapping hole that sat painfully in her stomach. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted a fair sized wooden watering bucket nestled amongst the straw next to the stall door, barely able to contain herself she scrambled forwards on her hands and knees and peered over the rim. Unable to believe her luck she stared for a moment at her grimy reflection in the still clear water, then plunging her hands in the cold water she eagerly brought some up to her dry, cracked lips. The water had barely passed her lips when an enquiring voice startled her.

“Hello? Is there anybody in here?”

Æòelhild froze like a frightened deer wide eyed with fear. So eager had she been to stave her hunger and quench her thirst that she had not heard anyone enter the stable. what if it was the owner of the bread she had just eaten come to find what had become of if …..what if someone had seen her enter the stable…..or the stable mistress…or… or ? As these thoughts and more filled her mind she panicked, her dark frightened eyes desperately searching for a means of escape. However without moving and giving herself away she could not see anything passed the walls of the stall she had chosen to hide in.

Silently wishing she had had sense to chose a better hiding place, she simply closed her eyes and held her breath shrinking as small as she could hoping beyond hope that whoever it was would simply think they had imagined her rustlings or even better attribute it to one of the horses currently inhabiting the stables.