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Chapter 8
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Daric and I race back to Blood Horse, him climbing up first then hauling me up in front of him, my pack on my chest. My arms grip the short mane in front of me as he kicks Blood Horse into a full gallop. Screw safety, we haul ass up the mountain at a breakneck pace. As the clouds of dust get closer it’s easier to make out the form of three figures within it. Daric drives Blood Horse faster and faster along the dry rocky path. As we start on a turn along the winding path Blood Horse almost wipes out, but with the accuracy of a professional Daric directs the horse safely through. It’s a race to the top now. If we can make it over, we’ll be out of sight long enough to lose them. I look back at the riders. Now that we are moving, there is a bit more distance between us and them. It’s a constant distance, but still too close for comfort. Focusing in closer I can make out the determined face of Maddox. Behind him are two men I don’t recognize. I look for the other one, Garrett as Daric called him, but he wasn’t there. His absence filled me with a growing dread. If Maddox is still after us then there is no way that Garrett just gave up. I turn my gaze to Daric who’s focusing all his energy at making sure we make it up this climb alive. I don’t want to break his concentration, but this feels too important to stay quiet about.
“ Garrett’s not with them,” I shout over the thunder of hooves. His eyes flick back to me for the briefest instant before returning the road ahead. For a moment I think he’s not going to answer so I add, “Where could he be? He wouldn’t just give up.”
“He would have gone back to their squadron, someone has to give a report on the mission so far,” even to my pounding ears that explanation sounded half-baked. He isn’t telling me what he really thinks. Frustration boils through me as my eyes search the area. Even if he doesn’t think so, I know better. If we can’t see him then he’s hiding. After all, how did Maddox even know we were here? He didn’t follow us through the forest or he would have attacked last night. If he didn’t go through it, then he had to have gone around, but then when he started up the cliff he would have been near the edge of the forest. He just appeared right where we exited the forest. There’s no way that he could have guessed that.
My stomach lurches as a piece of the path crumbles away under Blood Horse’s back hooves and he makes a small jump onto the solid part of the path. I glance back down at Maddox and the two others. Their horses are struggling as well, trying to go as fast as their riders demand up the treacherous path. Why would he risk their safety trying to capture us on this mountain? Think Lyra. Ok, we’re fugitives trying to flee the country, not exactly an original destination. They’d probably guess that we would head this way, so then why chase us from the bottom? It would make much more sense to wait on the other side in order to avoid harm… oh shit.
“Daric we have to get off this path, they’re waiting for us at the top!” I lean forward as much as I can, shouting as loud as I can to make sure he hears me clearly.
“What are you talking about!? There is no one up there, they couldn’t have gotten their troops over here this fast,” his stubborn belief in his own logic caused me to practically growl.
“Garrett wouldn’t just give up, if we are really wanted as badly as you say we are then they wouldn’t send just one group after us! Think about it, why would Maddox risk his safety to chase us on a treacherous mountain if he wasn’t sure that he could catch us?” Our debate takes a momentary pause as we fly over another tight turn. I press my face low over Blood Horseas kicked up dirt flies around us. The wind has already whipped some of his bandages away, revealing the scabbed wounds.
“He’s an arrogant prick, he probably wants to catch us on his own for to help restore his ego,” I can see the annoyance on his face at my persistence but I’m not about to let this go, not if it could mean our lives.
“He’s not the one being a prick right now, you’re completely ignoring me just because you don’t like the guy! Your anger is going to get us both killed,” this time I do growl in frustration. We are close to the top and I can feel the dread filling my body to the brim. I know I’m right, I don’t know how I know, but I definitely do. I look back at Daric’s face and see the inner war playing out on it. He knows I’m right, but that’s not something he likes.
“This path only goes up and down, and down is definitely not an option,” it isn’t a concession, but it is at least a half an acknowledgement. I’ll take it.
“How selfish is Maddox?” I can’t believe the plan that’s forming in my mind, but Daric’s right, there is only up or down.
“Incredibly,” Daric replies without hesitation as we take another swift turn. This time it takes all my strength to keep my grip on the mane with the force of the turn. They are getting tighter and tighter as we get closer to the top.
“Selfish enough to save his own life?” my pointed tone is not lost on him. He locks his eyes on mine as he considers his next words.
“You’re crazy,” is all he can say.
“I’m just addicted to freedom,” is all I can reply. “If we run at him on a path this small, he’ll have to turn around if he wants to survive.”
“And what about our survival?” his tone almost seems skeptical, but it’s hard to tell with all the other noise.
“This is for our survival!” I look back to the top, we’re almost there. If we keep going this way it’ll only be a few minutes. I wonder if Daric really will trust my suicidal plan this close to the top. After all, if I’m wrong then we would be throwing away our freedom.
No. Even in the face of that, I know I’m right. It would be too easy to escape that way. Thankfully, Daric seems to trust me because he forces Blood Horse to a stop. He turns the horse around, and I can feel his back against my chest, taking in a deep breath. “Ready?”
He didn’t bother responding. With a crack of the reins Blood Horse starts running full tilt down the mountain, towards Maddox. We pass each turn with gaining speed, rapidly closing the distance we were trying so desperately to maintain. Soon we are all on the same stretch. Now that we are facing him, I don’t have to turn around to see the surprised look on Maddox’s face. That look of shock disappears, replaced immediately by determination as he keeps on his direct course towards us. Daric’s hands tighten on the reins as he takes in Maddox’s reaction, but he doesn’t turn us around.
Our game of chicken gets closer and closer by the second. Blood Horse is eating up ground, taking on distance meters at a time. At first, Maddox and his men don’t flinch, but when we don’t let up I start to see fear etch on their faces. Uncertainty reflects in their eyes as determination flashes in ours. We’re not turning around.
The guy on the end takes that hint and turns tail. Maddox is momentarily distracted as his head whips back to shout at him. When he turns back to us I can see the anger harden him as he leans lower over his horse, speeding even faster towards us. His intimidation tactic doesn’t faze my determined façade, but inside I start to wonder how well Daric knows Maddox. If he’s truly selfish, he won’t sacrifice his own life for our capture. But he’s also egotistical, he won’t turn tail easily. This is going to be a close call, but we are going to win. We will, because we have to.
There goes the other one, Maddox’s last man turns around and starts heading back down the mountain. I feel a smug satisfaction in knowing my plan is at least partly working. Two down, one to go. There is less than a half a mile between us now, and less now. Just a few more minutes, this is going to be it, just a bit further. I can see Maddox in detail now, the sweat falling down his face, his face furrowed in anger, eyes gleaming maliciously at us. He still expects us to turn around, any second now, any moment now. But we never will.
I’m sure even the men who ran away can hear Maddox’s scream of rage as he finally turns his horse around. Immediately after, if they didn’t hear him then I know they at least they hear my cheers at the sheer relief of being alive. For a minute there, I didn’t actually think Maddox would turn. For that minute I thought that this was it, we were all going to die because of my gut feeling.
Now, I’m smiling without even thinking about it as our situations have suddenly drastically changed. Before, we were the chased, and now, in a mocking turn of events, we are the chasers, charging on Maddox down the cliff. I revel in the oddity of the moment as something flies past my face.
“Get down!” I feel the rough force an arm push my head down as Daric’s body is now plastered against mine. His arms, still gripping the reins, slide in closer to me and he bends over my head, caging me in as I hear something else whiz through the air.
Not able to see the top of the mountain anymore, I shout at him, “What was that?!” I feel his hot breath against my cheek as he curses as more things whiz by.
“Archers, they were hiding at the top,” he’s cut off as a piece of the path starts to crumble and Blood Horse has to jump again. I count the somersaults my stomach flips till I feel the hard hooves land once more.
“Why did they wait until now to fire,” if they had been there the whole time then they could have just shot us on our way up. Why wait for so long?
“They were probably ordered to trap us alive, but I guess things didn’t go their way,” that’s all the words we can spare as the arrows continue to hail down on us. Either Daric is really good, or their aim is really poor. Our descent is making progress, we’re getting closer and closer to the base of the cliff.
Near the bottom, the path splits off into different routes that span the mountain range. If we can make it that far then we have a chance of escape. Maddox doesn’t have enough men with him to block all of the paths. At best, he can follow us for a while but these paths go for miles across the range, there’s nowhere he can corner us or force us to stop.
The first fork in the path is coming up. Maddox takes the turn, heading onto the path as we continue straight. I lower my head to see under Daric’s arm. Maddox only followed that path long enough to turn around. Now he’s heading back towards us, chasing us once. His men are stopped a bit below us. There are plenty of paths branching off from ours before we will reach those guards but that only means that they’ll follow us like Maddox.
Daric’s loud swear in my ear jerks my thoughts back to him.
“What’s wrong?” the concern in my voice comes out provoked by my surprise of his curse. I can feel his body go rigid around me as he shakes his head. I am not in the mood for silence, if something is wrong it can cost us both our lives. “Daric!”
“Lyra,” his voice is rough as he speaks directly against my ear. Even in life and death situations, his voice can still make me shiver. “There’s a rift in the rocks up ahead. It’s large enough that horses can’t make it across.” I must be missing the reason why he’s telling me this.
“Daric, we’re on a horse. What’s the point of this rift if we can’t make it across?” The absence of doubt in his voice both assures and frightens me at the same time from his response.
“We’re going to make it,” there was no room for uncertainty in his words. “Trust me on this.”
“What about surviving?” Since it wasn’t in his voice, I allowed mine to express the doubt in Blood Horse’s ability to jump an uncrossable gap.
“This is how we survive,” I inwardly cringe as he uses my words against me. His point does hit home though. Only a moment ago I was asking for him to risk his life to trust me, for our survival. Now he’s the one asking, and I’m the one who has to trust a stranger’s gut feeling. With a nod I begin to brace myself for our literal leap of faith. I can see the ridge coming up in the distance. From my vantage point, only the overhang of the other side is visible, but the sheer drop of the opposite slope is enough to reveal what I cannot yet see. Daric’s body pushes me down lower, flattening us as much as possible to the back of Blood Horse. I can feel him picking up speed, the heat of our squished bodies scorching. No doubt that since we are off the treacherous vertical path we can go as fast as possible. With my eyes only able to see the ground below, my body plastered between Daric and my pack, it’s hard to tell how fast we are, but if my observation is even somewhat accurate, it seems faster than any normal horse. I wonder if Daric is forcing me down like this because he doesn’t want me to see when we are at the ridge? I know part of it is for speed, but maybe he thinks I’ll back out if I can see it coming. And this is when my thoughts end because so does the ground
That’s where everything started. I feel a strange nostalgia as I think about my initial awakening. So much has changed from that point, one day ago. Here I am, riding on a steroid unicorn with a strange man running from the law in a land that doesn’t truly exist outside of my imagination. Somehow, these statements that I make seem to sound crazier every time I make them.
Dismissing my thoughts I look back out to the water. The lake looks almost small from here, and I can vaguely make out the structure within its center. Daric notices my gaze and follows it out to the structure.
“It’s the Citadel,” he explains quietly. His tone sounds plain, like he’s just stating a fact, but it feels like there’s more to it. My silence only invites further explanation, “it’s the central command lookout. All military related missions report to the citadel. That’s also where they take prisoners, and criminals.”
I’m sure he added that last part purely for my benefit. Guess it’s a good thing that I never made it across the lake. I have a feeling that military people aren’t too kind to outsiders. They’d probably question me, which is ridiculous because I have no answers for them. I don’t know what they would do with me when they find out I can’t answer their questions, but it is definitely something I hopefully won’t find out.
At this point we have been walking up the mountain for several hours yet it still looks like it’s going to take a few more to get to the top. I groan inwardly as I think about how much longer it will be at our slow pace. When I questioned Daric about it earlier he said that charging Blood Horse up the cliff would put too much pressure on the rock. Parts of the ridge we are traveling on are weak, going slow would be our safest option. My butt and thighs hurt already, not to mention the growing ache in my back.
I cast a glance back at Daric, it doesn’t look as if he’s effected by pain at all, which is ironic because he’s covered in bandages. I return my gaze forward and look at Blood Horse. Surely he’s gotta be tired. There’s no way a creature walking up hill with two people on its back and bags on its side cannot be tired after several hours.
“Shouldn’t we stop for a while?” I ask, the question sounding innocent enough.
“Why would we do that?” Daric replied immediately. He didn’t begin to slow the pace or anything.
“Well, the horse is probably tired. We should let it rest then continue up later,” I reason out loud, hoping he’ll agree with my logic. But I am quickly learning to not hope for anything when it comes to Daric.
“The horse is fine. Stalladon horses have enough stamina to ride for an entire day and not be worn out. This one is especially fit, he’s handled much more difficult trips,” his explanation is satisfactory for him, but not for my aching butt. I need a break.
“Come on, just for a few minutes, I need to get off this horse,” I hate whining but at this point I’d resort to anything.
“No, we have to make it over this mountain as quick as possible. As soon as we are out of Advania we can rest,” his need for progress is understandable, but I am not in an understanding mood. He may be used to riding Stalladons for hours, but my body is learning for the first time what it means to be saddle sore. The burning sensation in my thighs isn’t just something I can ignore for the next four to five hours.
“I’m not asking for much, just a few minutes and then we can start moving again. I promise, it’ll be quick,” I’ll take anything at this point. It doesn’t matter how short the time is, I just need to get off and stretch my legs. My persistence must be working because he lets out a sigh behind me and I finally feel Blood Horse slowing down.
“Two minutes, then we get back on the horse and ride until the top, got it?” I didn’t even let him finish his statement as I begin sliding off the creature. I quickly switch my pack onto my back and swing my right leg over, next to my left. I drape my body over the horse’s back and slowly allow myself to slide the long way back to the ground. I peer down, watching my feet lower. When I’m hanging solely by my fingertips I allow myself to drop the five inches to the dusty ground. I never thought it would feel so good to be on land again, but as I step away from Blood Horse, no longer leaning on him for support my legs threaten to give way beneath me. They are so wobbly and sore that walking is now a challenge against gravity. Even so, I am still glad that I bargained for these two minutes. I spend every second of them stretching and walking, trying to prepare my body as best as I can for the upcoming hours of riding. I glance back over at Blood Horse and notice that Daric has gotten off too, also using this opportunity to stretch his body. I guess he’s sore after all. I feel a small twinge of satisfaction at that, knowing that he’s probably grateful for my suggestion.
Turning my eyes away from him I let them survey the landscape. My smug satisfaction turns into curiosity as I notice a peculiar sight. Down near the base of the mountain, where the mountain meets the rightmost edge of the forest there is a small cloud of dust. It’s peculiar because it feels like déja vu. The center of the cloud looks darker, like there’s something in it. It’s not in a funnel shape, so I know it’s not like a freak dust tornado twirling around. Even stranger, it seems to be heading in this direction. But even though the wind is blowing in this direction, it seems to be moving faster than what it should be. I bite my lip as I fight down my realization which starts to fill me from the bottom up.
“Daric.” At the sound of my words he turns towards me so I point down at the dusty objects. I don’t even need the words, his tone says all I need to know.
“Get back on the horse.”