by Jamie Gandy
His response takes so long that I am just starting to think that his fury is going to put me straight in the dungeon, when all of a sudden, he huffs out a sigh and nudges his steed to turn around. “Let’s return to the Castle.”
“Just like that you are going to listen to him?” Hector asks as he follows behind the Prince with his own horse.
I release a sigh of relief when I watch the two trot off.
“Well done, Sebastian,” the Princess praises me. Her hand briefly touches my shoulder as she walks past me with Catherine to return to Catherine’s mare. “Gideon is it okay if I ride back with Catherine?” before he has a chance to refuse, she adds in such an adorable voice that I cannot help but smile at the interaction. “Pl… pl… pleeease?”
“Fine,” he gives in.
Suddenly I feel a nudge in the center of my back, and I glance over my shoulder to see the Unicorn has not moved from her spot. She nudges me again and snorts playfully. I turn around and stroke her muzzle once more. “Be careful not to get spotted next time, okay?” She neighs her answer. She turns around this time and trots off. ‘Creator, protect her,’ I silently pray before walking after the Princess and Catherine. I offer my assistance to help the two of them mount up, and surprisingly Catherine actually accepts my aid. Once they are sitting tall in the saddle, I grab Obi’s saddlehorn and pull myself up into the center of his back.
Chapter Eight:
♔ Kage Tora: ♚
“Are you mad at my brother?” Hector questions me once his horse reaches my side.
I slowly shake my head in answer. “No, not really. He was right, the Unicorn is far too unique a creature to forcibly lock it in a stall. No matter how badly I would love to own such a magical animal.” I look up at the canopy of leaves above us as a grin begins stretching up along my lips. “Just witnessing her existence is good enough for me.”
“That is very mature of you, Prince. I actually thought you were too hot headed of a Prince to be that warm hearted,” he smirks playfully.
“You should not let my brother fool you, he may come off very tough and cold hearted, but in truth he is a big teddy bear. He listens to reason a lot more than you might think,” the Princess remarks, her tone, though light with amusement, also sounds incredibly affectionate. Catherine trots her white mare up along Dovah’s side as soon as her voice reaches my ears.
“How sentimental of you, sister.” I am just about to say more when Gideon’s voice abruptly stops me.
“Your Highness, stop!”
Instantly I pull back hard on the reins and, as I do, an arrow flies right in front of me, barely grazing the hem of my tunic. “Dovah, easy boy... “encouraging my horse is futile, he rears back and punches at the air for a couple of seconds before he lands back to the ground. Before we have a chance to urge our horses to outrun our attackers, four armed black cloaked men jump down from the trees and surround us.
“Your Highness, I will buy you some time, get the others out of here!” Gideon’s command is so firm that even if I did not want to obey him, I would have had to. I glance at my friend long enough to watch him dismount Canicus, sword already in hand. Just as quickly Sebastian is off his own horse, ready for battle. ‘Creator, be with them both.’ I kick my heels hard into Dovah’s sides and instantly the large stallion charges forward. “Catherine, let’s go!”
With no protest, my cousin urges her mare into a full-on gallop.
“Keep them safe, brother,” Sebastian calls to Hector. “Be careful.”
“You too, brother.” I catch the brief words between the two brothers before I hear the pounding of Rigel’s hooves following after us. ‘He had no sword, what good will he do if he has no weapon to fight with? He must still be too weak to use his fire ability…’ I have to force myself to push the thoughts aside to focus on getting my sister and cousin to safety.
“Do you think Sebastian will be okay?”
“Sebastian will be fine,” Hector answers confidently.
“But after his duel with Gideon he was so exhausted, he should not be able to fight and hope to win,” my sister protests worriedly.
“Do not worry, Princess, he will be fine.”
“How can you be so confident?” Catherine questions him.
“Are you concerned about Gideon?” Hector returns the inquiry.
“Of course! However, I know he will be okay,” Esther answers honestly.
“That belief and trust is exactly the way I feel about my brother. If he puts his mind to it, and chooses to protect someone, he will give it everything he has,” Hector explains.
“Oh, no,” I gasp as I spot three armed men on horseback several yards in front of us. “We have trouble.” I rein Dovah in and jerk him to the side. Two more horsemen appear at our rear. “This is not good!”
“What are we going to do, Kage?” I can hear the fear in her voice as she halts her mare at my side. I glance at my sister and cousin. ‘I have to protect them, but how?’
“They are bandits from FoxGuard terrority,” Hector informs me.
“Why would they come so close to TigersKeep? They risk getting caught by our Knights,” I remark. I size the men up and exhale a defeated sigh. Each one of them are tall with ugly, cruel faces and shoulders so thick with muscle that they could be human boulders.
“Think they will be content with just a Prince?” I quickly ask. The wide-eyed shocked expression Hector sends my way makes me smile.
“Do not be stupid, Prince. I might be able to hold them off long enough to give you a head start.”
“Now who is being stupid?” I shake my head as the men start to advance towards us. “I need you to get my sister and cousin out of here, alive.”
“I am not leaving you, Prince. That is final.”
“Cathe…” my words trail off as I glance over to my cousin to see her climbing off of the snow-colored mare. “What are you doing?”
“Esther will have a better chance to get away if Shori is not weighed down by two riders,” she states as she withdraws a dagger out from her riding boots. “I will not allow them to put their dirty hands on her!”
“You are remarkable,” Hector smirks as he dismounts his steed and stands next to Catherine.
I shift my navy-blue eyes from one of them to the other before I slowly look back to my sister who is staring in bewilderment at our cousin. “Find Gideon, you will be safer with him than you will be with us. Once you find him ride back to the Castle and tell Adir,” I command her. I motion to Catherine. “Send the horse off.”
“Do not let go of the reins, cousin.” Catherine says before she smacks her palm hard against the dock of the mare. Startled she takes off in fright.
The two men standing in Esther’s way, with swords drawn, refuse to let her pass. Just when it looks like she is seconds away from being caught Hector shifts his hands forward and sends a stream of rushing water at the two men, sending them flying backwards off their steeds. The horses instantly take off running. “Do not stop running, Esther!” I call after her. For a few heart beats she turns her head to look over her shoulder, her kind royal blue eyes filled with more fear than I have ever seen in her before. ‘Please keep her safe!’ I force my eyes away from her and turn my attention to the three men that are now mere feet from us. “Try not to die, Hector.”
“Same to you, Prince.”
The man in the center pulls his large horse to a halt and the sides of his ugly face lifts in such a disgusting way that I feel sick to my stomach. “So, what do we have here? Three lost children?” he chuckles out the words. His deformed eyes level themselves at Catherine as a crooked smile lifts his lips. “Pretty little girl.”
In response Hector steps in front of Catherine protectively. The look in his gemstone green gaze darkens. “If I were you, I would turn around and leave right now,” he warns. The depth in his voice even surprises me.
“Oh, did you hear that Paul? The boy thinks he is tough enough to scare us off just like that,” the man in the middl
e laughs out loud.
“A pretty boy like him might sell for a good price, James. That mouth on him might actually get him beat up good though,” the man on the left, known as Paul, I assume, smirks. He eyes me and I glare back at him. “He looks strong enough to sell as a slave.”
“Do you even know who you are talking to?” Catherine snaps, as if she was a cat, I could easily see the fur along her back bristling. “He is the Pri…”
“Catherine, hush!” I scold her.
“No, no, please do finish what you were about to say, girlie.”
The last man urges her.
“I think she was just about to say the word, Prince.” James leans forward in the saddle and narrows his eyes as he focuses on my face. “He does not look like no Prince, you look more like a servant brat.”
“Look at that horse he is riding though, he does have the Royal Crest on its saddle. I bet ya stole the beast, didn’t you? Come on, be honest kid. Did you steal it from the Prince?” Paul demands.
“Unlike scum like you, I do not need to steal to get a horse as remarkable as Dovah.” I really should have put more thought behind my next move, but my hands are reaching for my sword along my waist before I can stop myself. I hold out the sword to reveal the Crest of TigersKeep. The Royal Crest.
“Now that will fetch a pretty penny. Take them all,” James commands.
“Hector! Let him go you ugly scum!” I jerk my head at the sound of Catherine’s voice to see Hector get knocked to the ground from one of the two men he had blasted off their horses. I am nudging my horse into action to aid my friend, but the second fellow has slipped up from behind me and grabs me from behind to toss me to the ground.
“Now, now boy, no need to struggle. We will take good care of you.” Something hard connects with the back of my skull; blood instantly begins to fill my vision. “Do not hu…” my words trail off as I helplessly black off.
Chapter Nine:
♞ Sebastian Ari: ♞
Once the others safely escape, Gideon makes the first move and charges in to lock into combat with two of the armed bandits. His skill with the sword amazes me as he defends and attacks against the bandits. ‘He is not even using his elemental ability,’ I think to myself. I turn my attention to the tree to the two men on a branch who have arrows pointed at me, at the exact same time they release. ‘I hope this works.’ I quickly jerk my hands upward and create a wall of fire in front of me, which burns the arrows instantly.
“What was that?” I hear one of them gasp.
“Sebastian, behind you!!” Gideon yells.
I am in mid turn as a flail comes swinging at my head. I do not even have time to set a flaming wall to defend myself. Thankfully Gideon saves my skin by knocking the weapon out of my attacker’s hand with a single blast of fire. He stumbles back a few feet, waving his hands profusely in pain. I take this opportunity and snatch the flail and begin swinging it from side to side. One of his companions takes this moment to step into the fight and slams his spiked club down hard against the stick part of my new weapon. ‘It is so much heavier than I was expecting,’ I think to myself. He lifts up his weapon and clashes it down over and over again, making me stumble a couple steps back each time. ‘I cannot keep up with his strength much longer. I have to think of something fast before he kills me.’ Taking another step backwards I feel myself bump into the trunk of a tree. ‘Not good…’ The club slams down hard once more against the flail, this time making a crack start in the center of the wooden staff. ‘One more strike and I am a goner.’ I watch the club rise high above my head, spikes facing down at my skull. At just the right moment I duck far enough that he completely misses my head and jams his weapon into the tree bark. He struggles to pull the club free but his effort is futile. I jump at this opportunity and slam the wooden staff against the side of his face, sending him collapsing to the ground with the fragments of my now broken flail. Blood streams down his cheek, leaving a huge gash right beneath his eye. However, I have no chance to relish in my victory because, as soon as my enemy has fallen, another appears in his place. A sudden light begins to radiate throughout the forest, blinding first our opponents, then us. I stumble to the ground and shield my eyes for several moments before I hear the steady hoofbeats approaching me. I blink open my eyes and look up to see the large snout of the Unicorn peering down at me. “Oh, hi there.” The beautiful creature leans towards me and nibbles the tips of my fingers as I reach out to her. “Did that light come from you?” I question her. In response, she snorts and shakes her glorious mane. “Then w…” my words trail off as I spot a glowing form start to appear from within the thickness of the trees. I can only make out his shape but not any of his features. However, I know without a shadow of a doubt who he is.
“What is that?” I can hear Gideon’s voice several feet away from me.
A grin lifts the sides of my lips as I confidently answer. “That is the Peryton, he is the Guardian of the forest.” We watch as the men we had just been fighting vanish within the radiating light.
“Your friends are in danger; you must leave now.” His words resonate within my mind, as if he is thinking about the words into my head, and not spoken. I quickly rise to my feet when the Unicorn nudges my shoulder encouragingly. “In return to your kindness earlier she desires to be your mount, she will guide you to your friends.”
“My mount? I ca…” I stop myself in mid-sentence from speaking aloud of my own unworthiness of riding such a stunning creature. ‘Deserving or not, they need us.’
The pounding of hooves enters the forest and within a minute the Princess gallups into sight on the back of her white mare. I cannot hear what he says, but I can feel him communicate to the frightened horse in such a way that she settles down.
“Princess, where are the others? What happened?” Gideon demands as he rushes to her side and carefully lifts her off her mount.
“We were ambushed…” she gasps out the words between her deep breaths for air. Tears are falling down her eyes in streams. “They are going to die!”
“We will not let that happen, we will save them,” he promises.
“How are we going to do that?” I inquire.
“We have to return to the Castle to inform Sir Adir of everything that is going on. He will be able to save the Prince, Catherine and your brother,” he explains. He glances around a couple of times before he finally finds Canicus standing in the brush watching us. He goes and gathers the stallion. “They will be okay; you just have to keep believing that.”
He helps the Princess on the back of his large horse before he mounts up in front of her. He dips his head in gratitude to the Peryton before nudging his stallion into motion.
“Will he be safe here for now?” I question the Peryton as I finally spot Obi standing among the grass close to the mythical creature.
‘He will be safe. Now go, every second counts for their survival.”
“Thank you, Peryton, for saving us.” I bow low to the Guardian of the forest before I mount the bare back Unicorn and take a hold of her flowing white mane right before she charges forward at breakneck speed. She catches up to Gideon and his stallion in a heartbeat. ‘Just hang in there, Hector, we are coming with help!’
We are only a few yards away from the forest when the mythical creature beneath me veers away from the path back to the Castle and starts galloping off in a different direction. Towards FoxGuard.
“Where are you going?” I quietly demand as I try lightly tugging on her mane, but it does nothing. “The Castle is the other way!”
“Sebastian, where are you going?” Gideon calls after us. Glancing over my shoulder I see that he has brought his stallion to a halt.
“I am not sure, maybe she is following their tracks? I cannot stop her. Keep heading towards the Castle, Gideon. I will be fine!”
“Try not to do anything stupid!” he commands.
A grin slowly stretches along my lips at his words. I lean forward until my chest is almost pressed aga
inst the long crest of the mare. “I think I have a pretty good idea what you are after, so I am putting my faith in you,” I whisper to her. In response I notice her ears twitch back against her head.
The distance we travel is much greater than any normal horse would have been able to carry me. When we spot the large bridge that stretches across the ocean, to the island that makes up the Kingdom’s territory protected by the Stronghold of FoxGuard, we pick up our pace. Along the crafted woodwork on the bridge, where the railing stands, are perfectly shaped fox heads. As we near the bridge I am startled to see a large liquified bubble surrounding it. There is a figure that looks trapped inside of it, but I cannot make out whoever it is. The Unicorn slows her pace down to a walk. “It looks like Hector’s handiwork,” I quietly tell the animal. My heart perks up at the expectation of seeing my brother safe and sound. The Unicorn does not hesitate at all as she enters the barrier created by the liquid, it is not until we step onto the bridge that we notice the person trapped inside is crouched down in the center.
“Lady Catherine?” I quickly dismount and walk up to her to gently touch her shoulder. Her beautiful, yet terrified eyes jerk up to me. “Sebastian? Thank the Creator it is you!”
“Are you okay?” I thoughtfully question her.
“Yes, they did not have a chance to hurt me too bad…” her words trail off when I notice the bruise already forming on her throat, and a small section of her riding blouse is torn near the hem. A cut roams half an inch along her left forearm.
I take off my neck wrap and carefully tie it along her forearm to cover the wound. I pull off my khaki button-down shirt and slide it over her shoulders. “What happened? Where is the Prince and my brother?”
“The bandits took them. They got me too, but when we were crossing the bridge Hector was able to create this protective water bubble around me. It made the bandits really mad, but they eventually gave up and took them onto FoxGuard’s island,” she explains. She buttons my shirt up before I help her to her feet. “Hector saved me.”