All things considered; the question came to mind groggily.
Why was she running?
An arrow sliced through the air, whistling as it flew inches above Ria’s head. It buried itself into the dirt by her foot.
She blinked at it. Oh. Right.
Scrambling to dodge even more flying projectiles (that were coming from God knows where) Ria cursed her luck. Ducking at the last minute, she barely avoided running straight into a thick tree branch.
The hood of her cloak snagged on the curled wood. Ria made a frustrated noise. Why did things like this always happen to her? Like a noose, the cloth yanked painfully at her neck. Choking, the girl managed to wiggle out of the material.
Without the warmth of the thick fleece, Ria shivered at the chilled air that quickly enveloped her.
The thundering gallop of baying horses and the screams of their angry riders drew closer.
Ria panted. Her legs ached, ready to collapse right then and there. Her lungs felt seconds away from bursting… but it wasn’t as if she had any other choice except to run! An alarming thought remained steadfast in her mind. Why was she being chased? And by a bunch of medieval cosplayers, no less. Also…
Where was she?
Dark trees towered over the dirt path, wooden limbs reaching high above the ground. Their branches created grotesque shadows in the fading moonlight. It looked kinda scary. Ria tried looking up instead. A few scattered stars littered parts of the sky that weren’t covered by stormy clouds.
Squinting through the fog, Ria could make out the small pinpricks of sunlight on the horizon. The muddy floor made the ground soft and slippery. Her skin itched where the mud had dried. The cool embrace of dawn bit at the skin. The cold was enough to fog even a statue’s breath. Ria laughed- a statue’s breath, that was a good one- and then promptly tripped over a rock.
Sprawled across the muddy floor, Ria felt full-blown panic wash over her. The girl’s fingers shook. Nothing made sense and yet she knew that she could not be caught and yet…yet…
A strong hand yanked her back up to her feet.
Eyes widening, Ria glanced at her savior. It was a bit unnerving to learn that there existed someone who could run through the mud so silently. Still should have noticed, her exhausted brain chided. Ria huffed mentally. In her defense, she had been pretty occupied trying to figure out what on earth was going on!
“Here!” the gruff voice cut through her thoughts. The hand yanked at her again before the figure pointed towards the trees lining the side of the path.
Ria swallowed. The thought process was easy to follow. It would be harder if not impossible for the riders to follow them into the dense greenery with their horses. At the very least, it would buy them some time as the riders dismounted.
The girl nodded and followed the cloaked figure’s lead.
They sprinted off the path and into the relative safety of the thick foliage. Leaves and sharp branches scratched their faces but the adrenaline dulled the pain.
The horses slowed. Their owners murmured in low voices and pointed at the muddy footprints that veered off the course of the path. The riders jumped off their beasts, continuing to give chase on foot. Their bulky armor only added to their delay, giving the two more time to weave around the uneven topography. The sound of metal clanging against metal filled the forest.
Grasping a protruding root, Ria hefted herself up the small ledge. Glancing back to see the distance they had made, a faint feeling of hope soared in her heart. There was no sign of the soldiers!
A rough, calloused hand landed on Ria’s shoulder. “Your Highness, please trust-.”
Suddenly, a piercing arrow appeared out of nowhere, slicing through the cloaked figure’s forearm.
This time, it was Ria’s turn to grab the stranger’s shoulder, steering him forward. “Run now, talk later,” she said.
The stranger had the audacity to chuckle, ignoring the lines of blood coming from his arm. “Your word is law, my lady.”
Staring at the madman, Ria shook her head. Get out of here and then deal with the lunatic. For fear of losing her mind, she chanted the mantra over and over as they ran.
Breathing hard, Ria cursed herself for not trying harder in P.E. She would give anything to be able to pass out on the forest floor.
When Mrs. Helga had declared passing physical fitness to be a matter of life or death, Ria was quite certain that the middle age lady with a penchant for yoga pants (that frankly left very little to the imagination) hadn’t meant it so literally! But then again, she had always loved to boast about the time she was separated from her cat fundraiser hiking group and survived two weeks out in the wilderness. Maybe Mrs. Helga did know what she was talking about.
Another arrow flew uncomfortably close to Ria’s left shoulder. It made itself right at home in the tree trunk beside her. Right, she thought. Survive now, think later.
Around them, the dense line of trees began to space out and lessen. Soon enough, they broke past the forest line and waded through thick, tall grass. Pushing the green blades out of the way, Ria and the cloaked man stumbled through, their chasers still hot on their tail. Without the cover of trees, the archers suddenly got a lot better at aiming. Ria winced when one landed right in front of her.
“Look!” the stranger pointed up ahead where a rickety wooden bridge lay.
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Beneath the bridge was a gigantic river with foaming white rapids. The sound of running water echoed. The force of it could easily crush a grown man, the optimist in Ria noted. She reserved those deeper thoughts for later.
Squinting at the other end of the bridge, the cloaked stranger let out a thoughtful hum. In a light voice, he said, “After we cross the bridge, cut the ropes.”
Ria raised an entire eyebrow. She opened her mouth to ask if he was in his right mind but shut it at the sight of the man’s crossed arms. Backtracking, she repeated “Cross the bridge, cut the ropes. Okay, I got that. Cross the bridge and cut the ropes. Super,” Ria gasped as a spear suddenly stabbed into the ground before her. Where did that…
Another group of riders were coming from their side. They were a different group from the one behind them. Ria groaned pitifully. Just how many people were after them?
Galloping in from the left, the group approached at breakneck speed. Meanwhile, the original pursuers were beginning to catch up. Both groups were starting to close in on them. Soon, they would be surrounded on all sides. Ria ran for the bridge.
The stranger cursed and pushed Ria forward. “Run faster!”
“I’m trying!” she hollered back.
They reached the sandy area before the bridge. It was so close. Ria reached forward. Suddenly, the stranger cursed again, the language even more colorful than before. “What is he doing here?”
Ria looked back. And gaped. A figure dressed head to toe in black stood balanced atop his moving horse, racing towards them. In their hands was a longbow, nocked and ready to shoot. Ria could see the muscles on the figure’s arm tensing. The archer squinted, aiming at them.
“Go!” The cloaked figure screamed.
He pushed Ria towards the bridge. Planting his feet, he pulled a sword out from under his cloak. He cut a lone figure, staring down their foes that outnumbered him at least fifty to one.
Ria took a few faltering steps forward. A spike of fear shot through her. The wind blew hair into her face, and when she brushed the tangled strands away, her eyes caught sight of the archer once more. Could she really just leave the cloaked stranger? Unlike her temporary ally, the archer was backed by tens of men, and Ria found it hard to pull her eyes away from the fearsome form.
“What are you doing just standing there?” screamed the cloaked man.
Ria turned to him. “Come on, we can both make it!” She reached out to pull him forward.
From across the increasingly smaller distance between them and their enemies, Ria felt a sudden unspeakable connection. A connection between murderer and victim, her frantic mind howled. Her gaze lifted to meet the archer’s. The two people locked eyes. With a certainty that she felt deep in her bones, Ria knew that the arrow the archer held was aimed straight at her heart. It didn’t matter if she sprinted across the short distance to the wooden platform or stayed put like a deer in front of a headlight. A heavy weariness settled in her bones. The fate of her life lay in the archer’s hand. She was going to die… surrounded by medieval role-playing psychopaths. The worst part was that she didn’t even know why.
The cloaked figure sighed, “You’re the first to do that.”
Time seemed to slow. The cloaked stranger shouted something, but Ria was deaf to everything other than the roaring of the river water below and her own suffocating fear.
“Rabbit outruns Tiger!” Ria’s companion screamed again. A codeword?
Ria saw the archer falter, the bow lowered slightly.
The archer shifted his position. Within a blink of an eye, two consecutive arrows shot through the air and sliced through the old, sun-beaten rope that held the bridge up.
“NO!” Ria reached for where the bridge had been. She glanced over frantically at the cloaked figure, but he merely stared at the ground, suddenly finding it very interesting.
With a loud twang, the lines snapped. One second there was a bridge connecting two chasms, the next had Ria watching in dismay as the wooden planks descended into the crashing rapids below, and the bridge fell out of existence. Soon, it appeared as if there had never been a bridge to begin with.
“Stupid rodent,” the cloaked figure muttered. He buried his sword into the dirt.
After that, they stared angrily as the mini army fell upon them within moments. Ria and the cloaked figure were pushed and forced to kneel in the dirt. Their hands were bound roughly together. The man’s sword clattered as it was kicked to the ground. They were surrounded.
The crowd separated, making way for the archer to ride through. Bow still in hand, the archer dismounted and approached them.
Each step he took sent a puff of dust into the air and a spike of fear through Ria’s body. She felt numb, but also… proud? Against her own will, her mouth tilted upwards then spit at the archer’s boot. Ria hated to admit it, but it felt good to see the archer reel back even as the soldiers around them surged forward and the butt of a sword dug painfully into her back. The cloaked stranger shuffled forward to kneel protectively in front of her.
His finger dug into her knee. Ria’s brows furrowed.
“You’re an absolute disgrace to Milror.” He spit at the archer. “Scum!”
The finger on her knee began to move… as if tracing shapes. Wait, no. They were letters, she realized.
“J.” “U.” “M.”
The archer sneered but Ria’s companion was not finished. “I told you what I’d do if I ever saw your ugly mug again, didn’t I?”
Ria had to give it to him. He spoke confidently for a man that was surrounded and weaponless. Meanwhile, there was a pause in the finger tracing, before it drew the final letter.
“P.”
Ria’s eyes widened. She swallowed hard. Her eyes quickly glanced at where the bridge used to be. Truly, this man was insane! Maybe she should have let the arrow finish its job.
A raspy voice drew Ria’s eyes to the archer, whose sole attention was fixated on the cloaked figure.
“You’ve lost, my friend, as usual,” the archer smiled greasily. "There's no one to save your little queen now, Carmae."
The cloaked figure laughed. “We’ll see about that.”
Despite having only just met him, Ria felt an uneasy sense of foreboding. Life and death experiences tended to bond people in indescribable ways. And right now, that indescribable bond was telling Ria that the man was about to do something pretty stupid.
The cloaked figure leapt up to his feet. And there it was, she thought dumbly, half-impressed but mostly distressed.
The soldiers around them hurried forward to protect the archer, but the cloaked figure was even faster. To everyone’s surprise, he turned to whisper something in Ria’s ear then… proceeded to kick her off the cliff. Were they truly on the same side?
The girl choked; the little breath still left in her was completely knocked out of her lungs. What the-!
Fingers fighting to grasp onto something, she flailed only to find it was to no avail. With her hands bound, she wiggled uselessly and still rolled over the cliff and free-fell. Should have written eat dirt instead of jump, she thought.
There was a split second when time seemed to freeze. Like moving through molasses, Ria thought, as she was suspended in that pocket of space. Her eyes glanced over just in time to see the cloaked man attack the archer. The soldiers scrambled forward, attempting to subdue a man that looked like he had nothing left to lose.
The words he whispered into her ear echoed in her mind. “Carmae will part with you here,” a chuckle “Off to the Tournament with you, Four.”
Who’s Four, she wondered. Also, did the guy say his name was Caramel?
Then, just like that, the moment ended and Ria fell to her doom. The loud rush of wind had her squinting up at the sunny, blue sky. Well, if nothing else, at least they can say the weather was nice when she died.
It was times like these that Ria wished she were a little dumber and could trick herself into believing in a greater odd for survival. But, alas. The girl would shrug, but she physically couldn’t. The edges of her vision blackened and Ria swore she could feel Death’s cold embrace inching its greedy hands around her. Off in the distance, there was even a faint voice calling her name. Grandma? Wait, no… Mr. Stein, her math teacher?
“Ria. Ms. Regina!”
Screw that. Ria shut her eyes and let the world fall to nothingness.
.......
Somewhere in a dark room, a pair of pale eyes blinked open. “Interesting choice.”
A deep voice laughed. “So, the games begin.”