The forest around the racing pair began to give way and Alessandra released her hold on the net and took up the stolen bow. Her stomach rolled violently and she felt her head swim in a nauseating circle as she struggled to remain upright. She could not do this. The golden horse felt her hesitation and slowed, she made no move to urge him on. She could still hear the sounds of her people crying out and still she hesitated. She was no brave warrior, she was barely a hunter. The horse had stopped entirely by this time, his questioning nicker had her reaching out to comfort him with a gentle pat. She felt no sense of comfort from the gesture. Gathering her wits about her one last time, she steeled herself against the screams of her people. She would do this, she had to. There didn’t seem to be anyone else.
Drawing in one final, deep breath, she urged the horse forward again, toward the sounds of fire and pain. Alessandra’s legs clung tightly to the horse’s back, leaving her hands free to work the bow. She knocked an arrow and her eyes scanned the forest as they rode. Soon…
Her racing heart caught on a beat and seemed to pause as the horse broke through the last of the brush and into the clearing. The firelight seemed too bright, the smoke burned at her eyes, thicker than ever. Through both, she saw it. She saw it.
Her people, what seemed to be left of them, were clustered in a tight huddle, surrounded by the abominations, there were hundreds of them all different and all disturbing. Her proud people looked absolutely cowed by the abominations, they hung their heads and made no protest as the creatures began to herd them out of the clearing, heading northeast. The sound of the horse’s approach began to draw attention, even as Alessandra loosed her first arrow. She did not slow the horse as he raced into the clearing.
The arrow struck true, hitting one of the spider-like creatures in its massive eye. It pitched to the ground as Alessandra took aim again, the spiderweb tingle of magic assisting. This arrow glanced off the shell of an abomination that looked something like an armored centipede. It scraped a furrow along the side of a many-mouthed lizard before disappearing in the crush of bodies. More of the abominations were becoming aware of her as the gold horse thundered deeper into the clearing.
With a mumbled prayer, Alessandra took careful aim on one of the creatures closest to her people, it stood on two clawed legs and large, leathery wings spread wide from its back. She fired the arrow and with her legs alone, guided the golden horse back into the dense underbrush where they would soon vanish from view. She could hear some of the abominations chasing them. Alessandra urged the horse faster and waited until she could no longer see the encampment when she looked back. She couldn’t see any pursuit either. Again she put the bow over hear head, her hands were shaking as she stood up on the horse’s back, crouching and waiting for the perfect branch. The enemy would hopefully follow the horse, never knowing she had left him behind.
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The branch came at last, a thick one she thought would support her, and she took the opportunity. Pain exploded in her chest as well as her wounded arm as she hit the branch at a run. The impact forced the breath from her lungs in a strangled wheeze as she dangled for a moment, clinging desperately to the rough bark. She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, her body was filled once more with waves of pain that blackened the edges of her vision and sent tremors through her body. Every movement seemed to take all of her shattered concentration, but eventually she managed to drag herself up onto the branch. She draped herself half over the branch and called up her waning magic to help camouflage her. The tingling sensation filled her as she lay still, warming her body and helping to focus her mind.
Her horse’s hoofbeats had slowed, he was allowing the abominations to gain some ground. His wisdom in the matter of flight she would never question. A large group of the abominations was coming up the trail she had taken, her eyes scanned their numbers. So many for one free sylvan?
They likely only left a handful in the clearing with her people. That handful was still too many. Way too many. She couldn’t do anything for her people.
She had to.
After the abominations had passed under her branch, so close she could have touched a few of them, she dropped quietly to the ground. Her injured legs gave out beneath her and she crumbled to the ground. She had no time for such things, however, and she shoved herself back to her feet. Her limping stride hardly passed for a run. She slowed when she got close to the clearing, moving more quietly and gathering her magical camouflage around her once again.
She crept into the clearing and her heart sunk. There was truly nothing she could do against this threat. Though only a few of the abominations remained, herding her people out of the clearing and northeast, those few were the largest and fiercest of them. She had only eight arrows remaining, she was injured and exhausted, stretched beyond her limits.Tears and smoke burned at her eyes as she looked at the burning village she had lived in all her life. There was truly nothing she could do short of joining her people as they were herded away. Clutching the useless bow, Alessandra watched until the last of her people had disappeared from sight, feeling powerless and desperate.