Shadow Dancer Boxed Set

by Courtney Rene

  Gavin had his long hair pulled back in a tail too. I was beginning to wonder if that was the style. I was the only one not wearing a ponytail.

  Gavin and Leigha were about the same height. Both of them towered over me. I looked so out of place. Everyone was in dark colors, and I was all yellow and bright.

  "Hey guys," I said then gave my attention back to the animals standing behind them, munching on the brown grass. I scrunched up my nose at them.

  Don't get me wrong, horses are very useful animals from what I had read, but that was my only experience with horses. What I had read. They were huge, and well, hairy and horsey. "Leif?"

  Leif didn't answer my unspoken question; he just tugged me over into his side. Then he gave Gavin a manly handshake, the kind where they grab arms instead of hands. "How long have you been waiting?" Leif asked.

  "Not long. Leigha and I got here a little earlier than we discussed, just in case. How was the trip?" Gavin asked as he nodded in my direction not so inconspicuously.

  I knew they meant, how was my trip. I crossed my arms over my chest and said, "Yeah, Leif, how was your trip?"

  Holding my stare with his own, he said, "Not as bad as I expected."

  What more had he been expecting? I just stood there and waited for someone to let me know what was next. I had a feeling I was not going to like it.

  Leigha gave me a smile with a quick nod of her head. "You good with horses?"

  Leif cut me off before I could answer, "Uhh, you guys can get started. Sunny and I will be right behind you."

  Gavin looked from me to Leif and then back to me again, a huge smile on his face. "No way man, I want to see this. You haven't told her, have you?"

  This was not going to be good. I knew something was up. Leif gave Gavin a frown.

  "What haven't you told me?" I asked, somewhat afraid of the answer.

  When all he did was sigh, I demanded, "Leif, what?"

  He indicated the horses with his hand and said, "We have about ten miles to cover to get to the camp tonight. The horses are our transportation."

  Chapter Two

  Transportation

  Two things were wrong with that statement. One, was that the horses were our transportation. The second, was the word camp. I stood there for a moment and stared up at Leif, trying to decide if I had heard him correctly.

  Finally I said, "You can't be serious. Can you? Camp?"

  "It's not like what you are thinking," Leif said.

  Since I doubt he knew what I was thinking, I just stood there and waited for him to explain. "It's not like a pop-tent in the woods. It's like a little city. The tents are houses. They're huge, and they hold entire families."

  "Electricity?" I asked.

  "Well, no."

  Oy, how was I supposed to charge my mp3? How was I supposed to blow dry my hair?

  "In-door plumbing?" Truthfully, I could live without the electricity for a week. However, I didn't think I could do the whole creek-bathing thing, and silly as it may sound, I liked hot water and a toilet. This would be a deal breaker and I would have headed home post-haste, dizzy, nauseating ride or not.

  "We do have a bathing tent, with private bath and shower and toilet. Really, Sunny, it's not bad at all. Wait to decide until you get there; just wait till you see it."

  I was so not impressed. Would I have still made the trip if I knew how we would be living? In a tent? I was picturing the worst. I admit it. I pictured a little lean-to tent made out of clear plastic, and a hole in the ground next to a creek. But, would I have still come. Yes. I needed to come here. I needed to see the land and meet the people. What bothered me the most though was that Leif didn't trust me enough to come, rustic living or not. He didn't give me a choice and he left me in the dark, again, unprepared. I would have brought more granola bars. That I knew for certain.

  "Okay, I'll wait to decide on the living arrangements until I get there. Moving on, what about the horses?"

  Leif breathed out a laugh and said, "Okay, yeah, we don't have cars here. That is one of the greatest things about the water realm, your earth. All the fast cars. I'll miss them the most, when we come here to stay. Everyone either walks or travels by animal. Horses, they are the preferred animal."

  "What other animal is there?"

  I was picturing zebras or mules or something, but instead he said, "Cows. They are hard to ride though and their gait is rough."

  I thought he was kidding, but then I looked at Gavin and Leigha, they were both nodding in agreement with Leif. Cows? Weird.

  Leif pulled me over to the four horses and stood me next to a golden yellow horse with a warm brown mane and tail.

  It was pretty but it was also really big and, "It's eating my hair!" I squealed, and pulled out a clump of my hair from its jaws. It came out a slimy hank that trailed a line of slobber from the end of my hair up to its lips. "Ew. It slimed me. Leif!"

  "She's not eating your hair. She's just getting to know you. Here," he said. He grabbed my spit soaked hair and wiped it down with his jacket sleeve. "There, all better."

  Yeah, right! All better, my butt. I had a chunk of still wet hair hanging down my back in a clump. Gross. I scrunched up my face at Leif and Gavin. Leigha had the nerve to giggle at me.

  "The mare is the gentlest horse we have," said Leif. "She's perfect for you. She's older and a bit slow but she has a strong heart and follows well. You won't have to worry about guiding her too much. You'll just have to worry about staying on."

  He stepped over behind me and said, "Let's get you up on her and see how you do. Put your foot up in the stirrup."

  I took a deep breath and lifted up my leg, really high. Did I mention the horse was big? Change that to huge. I stuffed my foot in the stirrup and then hopped around a second until Leif could give me a boost up.

  He gave me a boost all right. He about tossed me over the horse entirely. I squealed, loud. I did. Just like a girl. I grabbed handfuls of mane and held on for dear life with both hands. The horse shifted under me. I felt myself tilt over. I immediately dropped down over the horse's neck and tried desperately to wrap my arms around her. That is actually harder than you think, what with the saddle horn thing jammed into my stomach and the fact that the horse had a wide neck and nothing to grab onto. "I'm falling. I'm falling," I screeched.

  "No you're not," Leif said calmly.

  Gavin was outright laughing. Leigha was trying not to, but a snigger escaped her tightly closed mouth anyway. I was so glad I could entertain them.

  "Yes, I am. I'm falling. Get me off, get me off."

  "Sunny, stop. You're fine. Come on, you can do this. Take a breath." Leif sounded a bit exasperated. That tone got through to me more than anything else would have. I was embarrassing him. How strange is that?

  I carefully sat up, grabbed another handful of mane, and tried to sit still. My legs gripped both the saddle and horse as tightly as possible. How long was ten miles on a horse? I wasn't sure I could hold on that long. "Okay, I'm good."

  Leif looked me over then gave me one of his dimple smiles and said, "See, not so bad, right?"

  I wasn't going to argue with him, I was too busy staying upright and on the horse from hell. The horse must have known what I was thinking as she turned her head on her long neck to look at me, and then she snorted.

  "Yeah, great," I said.

  I watched all three of them pull themselves gracefully up on their own horses and get settled. They picked up the reins and took immediate control of their mounts.

  I scowled at them. Show-offs. I carefully let go of the mane with one hand and picked up the reins that rested on the mare's neck. "What exactly am I supposed to do now?" I asked.

  Leif came next to me, a warm smile still on his face, "Just hold on, the mare will do the rest. I promise."

  "Why do you call her the mare?" I asked.

  "That's just what we call her. We don't really name our horses. They are just the brown, or the black, or the whatever." He shrugged his shoulders at
me, and then asked, "Ready?"

  I was as ready as I was going to be. "Yep."

  I gripped the mane tightly with one hand, the reins with the other, and quietly prayed, "Don't fall off, don't fall off, don't fall off."

  Leigha and Gavin started out first, Leif next, and then "the mare" began to move underneath me. I held in any nervous noises I may have made by holding my breath.

  Horses walk weird. I wouldn't have known that. It's a lean forward slightly to one side and then a bump up from the back, then a lean forward again to the other side and then a bump up from the back again. Then you start the process all over again. It was kinda fun. I started to relax a bit. I could do it. Leif was right; I didn't have to lead her anywhere, the mare followed docilely along behind his horse. Wherever he went, she was right behind him.

  I looked at the flat expanse of nothingness all around us. I was expecting a city or a town, but there was not much to see at all. Dirt and grass and that was about it. Oh, and bugs. I waved a hand in front of my face to shoo the flying pests away. Bugs I could have done without.

  I was feeling a bit proud of myself when Leif turned and looked at me to check out my horse ability. I sat up tall and flashed him a smile. I was a horse rider. Ha!

  "Looking pretty good," he said giving me a nod. "Let's up the pace a step. See how you do. If we stay at this speed, it will take all day to get to camp."

  My confidence of a moment before left me at the speed of light. My legs immediately gripped the mare's sides, and my hands again clenched down on my handholds. I watched in dismay as Leif gave his horse a bump on the sides and he moved at a faster, bumpier pace ahead of me.

  The mare followed along, just as Leif said she would. She increased her speed to match his. I bounced up and bounced down and then up and then down, again and again. It was not fun. It was hard on my butt. Leif turned in his saddle and looked me over. "Move with the trot. Move with your horse, control your body."

  Control my body? What the? I tried to watch the others to see how they were controlling their bodies; all the while I tried not to get upset. I kept wondering how long ten miles would really be at that rate.

  Leigha lifted her body up and down as the horse moved beneath her. Graceful, that is the word that came to mind as I watched her. I tried to emulate her movements but that only put me off balance, and I felt like I was going to fall. I needed to find some type of balance though. I wouldn't last much longer as I was. My hair bounced in my face. My back started to ache, along with my legs and thighs from where I gripped the sides of the horse.

  I yanked backward on the reins to try to pull the mare to a walk, but that just made her throw back her head and then plunge on again, even faster to catch up to Leif. In that moment, I hated horses, or they hated me. Either way was fine.

  Leif pulled his horse to a stop and waited for me to catch up. The mare stopped right next to him. I panted as I pulled even with him. I was exhausted.

  Leigha and Gavin pulled back around to us. "What's up?" Gavin asked.

  "Sunny just isn't used to this type of thing. We are going to have to go slower than I thought," Leif said.

  I immediately felt embarrassed. I was slowing them down. Had Leif just told me before we went to Acadia about the horses, I could have had a lesson or two before today. There were horse farms all over the place in Nelsonville, or even at Lake Hope, or Logan. I couldn't help but think that it was partly Leif's fault.

  "I'm fine. Let's go." I felt a bit stubborn and annoyed. I tried to get the horse to move by bumping her in the sides like I had seen the others do, but all she did was blow out a loud noisy breath.

  I sighed right along with her, feeling dumb. I may as well have just bounced up and down yelling 'giddy up horsy' for all the attention the mare gave me. Stupid horse. I watched as Leif struggled to hold in a smile. He turned his horse around and started forward at a walk, I was happy to note. I could do the walk.

  I glanced behind us and realized we hadn't come very far at all. The woods we came out of were not that far behind us.

  "Ten miles is going to be forever," I mumbled, more to myself than to anyone. The mare snorted again. I couldn't help myself. I snorted right back at her.

  I was sitting pretty on my horse, at a comfortable walk, when I heard thunder rumble. I looked up at the sky in confusion. Leif had said that it never rained in Acadia. Why was there thunder then? I didn't see any clouds or anything up there except the cerulean blue. The others must have heard it too, only they didn't look up, they just circled their horses back around and caged me in between them.

  "Stay together!" Leif yelled.

  I was confused. "What's wrong?"

  Leif ignored me and shouted at Gavin and Leigha, "Keep the princess safe."

  "Hey, don't call me that. You know I hate that," I said angrily at Leif.

  "Not now, Sunny," he snapped right back at me, just as angry.

  I blanched at his tone. What the heck had I done?

  "Incoming! Duck!" I ducked and instinctively pulled energy in. Protective instinct and all that. It zipped around inside me. My body was suddenly charged and static. My horse was antsy beneath me. The others, at Leif's urging, pushed us on faster. We were past a trot and were on to a run, or a gallop, whatever, I didn't know what to call it. It was just...fast.

  Then out of the sky, like rain, came a shower of arrows. I couldn't believe my eyes. I sat up on my horse, yes, like an idiot, and looked behind us.

  There was a huge group of riders coming at us fast. They were all on big black horses and they all had on grey cloaks. It was the Shadow Guard, and they were shooting at us with arrows. I couldn't believe it. Arrows. How did they even know we were here, or even more, how did they know I was here?

  Leif yanked my arm and jerked me down over my horse again. "Get down! Are you stupid?"

  I felt my eyes go wide at that. "Hey!"

  "Just stay down!"

  Energy pulled into my body as the anger at Leif's words pulsed through me. That was so not good. The more energy I pulled in, the more I had to get out later. It was really going to hurt.

  I felt a zap of energy spark out of my hands. Too bad for me, as so did the mare. She immediately reared up strong and fast on her back legs. I barely had a moment's thought about holding on, but somehow I managed it. When she came back down on all fours with a solid stomp, I thought I was going to be okay. That is, until she spun us around, crashed through Gavin and Leigha at my back and raced back the way we had come, right in the direction of the woods. Right in the path of the oncoming Shadow Guard.

  The immediate fear that rushed through my body caused another small zap of energy to escape, right into the mare again. I heard her scream in rage before she reared up with a head-snapping jerk and then took off like a shot.

  I dropped the reins and lay down over her neck. I gripped her bridle and mane as hard as I could. My legs shook from the fierce grip I had on the horse's sides. I pulled my legs up closer to my body. I was more crouched over the horse than sitting on her. I was literally holding on for dear life.

  I was concentrating on breathing and staying on when a sharp burning pain pushed its way into my mind with a savagery that shoved the breath right out of me. I cried out and reached down to my thigh, and stared in shocked horror. I had an arrow protruding out of the meat of my leg. I just looked at it, not comprehending what I was saw. I jerked my hand away from it, afraid to touch it, afraid to do anything, but look. I couldn't believe it, I had been shot. By an arrow.

  Shouts and cries around me brought my horrified eyes away from my leg. We were headed right into the Shadow Guard.

  "Leif!" I screamed. He needed to save me. He needed to be like one of those white knights and rescue me at the last moment.

  He never came.

  I careened into the first wave of the Shadow Guard. They fanned out away from me and my crazy scared, rage-filled horse. The mare crashed into one of the black horses and then another, she didn't stop for a moment. Head down
, she shoved and pushed her way through.

  We came out the other side, but still the mare didn't stop, or even slow down. I held on and hoped she would tire and finally stop. I didn't know what else to do.

  We came up to the entry of the woods again. Even though I felt it coming, and tried, really tried to stop it, the energy coursed out of me in one last blast, and directly into the mare's neck. She reared again and then she bucked. I expected the rear. I was not prepared for the bucking horse. I bounced up into the air, lost my grip, and was tossed off the horse. I fell and landed hard on the ground in front of the entrance to the woods. The mare, apparently realized she was free of me and shot off into the woods. Never once did she look back. She was just gone. She left me stunned and hurt and bleeding all over the ground.

  Chapter Three

  Gabriel

  It was obviously not my day. I sat there on the grass-covered ground for a moment contemplating whether or not to cry, but then I glanced back over my shoulder and realized the Shadow Guard horde raced in my direction. I needed to get up and find some place to hide. First, I phased into the shadows. Then I stumbled up to my feet. One foot actually. The arrow had basically skewered the main muscle in my thigh, and I couldn't put any weight on that leg without pain radiating hot from the muscle.

  Aside from the obvious, the arrow didn't hurt all that much if I didn't move that leg or the arrow. It was bleeding a little bit. It seeped around the edges of the arrow, but that was all.

  I hobbled and hopped quickly back into the forest. I could hear the men and their horses coming. I needed to find a place to hide and fast. I also needed to rest. The shadows felt different in Acadia. At home they were cold and airy feeling. In Acadia they felt heavy and pressed down on my shoulders. It took more strength to hold them up and over me. I knew I wouldn't be able to stay in them for much longer.