Bird froze, staring down at the black-shafted arrow that lay on the ground beside her. How had it missed her? It seemed that time froze as she gazed in terror at the missile, while the bushes around her shook from unseen enemy retreating back into the undergrowth. To where?
"The Greenway. We have to get back and warn everyone!" Birdie scrambled toward the patient Peri, slipping in the mud of the seep and pulling herself up again, ignoring a skinned knee and a rip in her skirt.
Throwing herself onto the pack saddle, she crouched low and said in a hoarse whisper to the pony, "Go Peri! Find Holly. Go!" And the little beast plunged unerringly towards the road.
They had apparently not traveled as far as Birdie thought, having followed a zig-zag path through the forest while searching for the moss. Peri ran in a more-or-less straight path back to the road, but Bird was torn further by the prickly undergrowth, and had to duck fast to avoid a low hanging branch that would have knocked her from her seat.
They were almost there when a muffled explosion was heard from the direction of the Greenway. Peri shied and danced, but Bird clapped her heels and grabbed the reins, urging the pony on. Peri shook her head and started running full tilt. They were a mere few yards away from their goal, when suddenly a cloaked figure holding a sword appeared right in their path. Its attention was drawn by the dark massive figure of Midnight as the black horse ran through the forest. So he didn't see or hear the smaller horse running directly at him from beind.
Before Birdie could do a thing, the little pony plowed right into Nardol, knocking him off his feet and sending him rolling down a bank.
[ November 30, 2002: Message edited by: Birdland ]
|