chapter forty-seven

─── horses are actually really rude

          𝔈ven deep down, I could possibly, though under extreme duress, admit that the Amazon's facilities were mildly, maybe a little impressive. The jail was at the top of a storage aisle, sixty feet in the air, so there was no way to get down or out, and you had to climb up and down a load of ladders to get there.

Our hands were tied behind us as Kinzie pushed us towards a row of chain link ages that were suspended from cables. Frank was pacing in the cage he'd been trapped in, before turning to us with wide eyes. Next to him were three bored-looking Amazon guards leaning against their spears and gazing at little tablets in their hands.

"Get moving!" Kinzie ordered, loud enough for the guards to hear as she gave us a shove forwards. I was trying to look for more ways to get us out, but Hazel stopped dead next to me.

"Hazel?"

"What is it?" Kinzie hissed. "Keep moving! They'll get suspicious."

"Make them come here." Hazel muttered, looking over at me with an expression that seemed to say 'I've got this'.

"Why-"

"Please." The guards were frowning, starting to grow suspicious.

"What are you staring at?" Kinzie yelled, seemingly directly in my ear as I winced. "Here are the last two prisoners. Come get them."

"Why can't you walk another thirty paces, Kinzie?" The closest guard sneered.

"Uh-" Kinzie shot us a desperate look, seemingly not all that good at coming up with lies on the spot. Hazel took the initiative to collapse, swaying side to side convincingly. 

"I'm feeling nauseous! Can't...walk...Amazons too scary!"

"See!" Kinzie told the guards. "Now are you going to come take the prisoners, or should I tell Queen Hylla you're not doing your duty?"

The two closest guards rolled their eyes and trudged over. It evened the odd out a bit in a fight. One grabbed a hold of my arm with a roll of her eyes, dragging me towards the cages as the other struggled to move Hazel. 

"Lulu! Help me with this lame little girl." The third guard jogged over, as Frank and I both narrowed our eyes, trying to work out what she was going to do. The answer came pretty quickly.

"Hazel!" Frank shouted as Hazel pushed both guards over the side of the platform with friendship bracelets, standing up and grinning. I laughed, stepping backwards and slamming my head into the guard behind me, slipping out of my bonds to punch her as she screamed and ran away.

"Well done!" Hazel skipped over, happily holding two Amazon cards in her hand to swipe and get Frank free. I patted her back, laughing. "Clever girl."

"I am, aren't I?" Frank looked between the both of us, before sighing.

"The supplies and our other weapons are at the end of the catwalk. We should hurry. Pretty soon-" Alarms began to blare as we picked up the pace, starting to run. "That'll happen. Let's go!"

The first part of our escape was easy. We grabbed our things, starting to climb down the ladders. Every time Amazons swarmed beneath us, demanding we hand ourselves in, Hazel made a crate of jewellery explode, burying them. It was a little terrifying, and I was glad that she was on our team.

"You, Hazel Levesque, are so freaking incredible." Frank jumped down, shaking Hazel gently as the girl giggled. I laughed, jogging behind them to the throne room as Amazon guards loyal to Hylla turned their backs to us, as if they couldn't see.

"What the-"

"Some of them want us to escape." I told Frank, who hummed and nodded. Another Amazon appeared, spinning her spear with lightning speed as I dodged ahead of my younger comrades. Flicking Riptide into sword form, I laughed as I lunged into battle, dodging the jab that she aimed at me. I grabbed a hold of the spear shaft, breaking it in half before slamming the hilt of my sword against her helmet. She crumpled with ease.

"Mars Almighty." Frank shook his head. "You, my friend, are a scary woman. That wasn't any Roman technique!"

"This Graecus might have some moves up her sleeve. After you." We jumped the soldier, rushing into the now empty throne room. Hazel was running to Arion's cage, swiping the Amazon card against the lock as the stallion burst forth, rearing in triumpth.

I am free, puny humans!

"Is that thing tame?" Frank said as the stallion turned, snorting violently.

What did the little boy say to me? IT! He huffed, pawing at the ground. I will trample him to death!

"Come on, man." I put my hands on my hips. "Not cool. We just freed you."

"You speak horse?" Hazel and Frank turned to look at me.

"Yeah, it's actually pretty simple. You just take lessons."

"Really?" Frank and Hazel shot me intrigued looks.

"No! I'm a child of Neptune, he's my brother, course I can speak horse!" I snapped back, rolling my eyes as Hazel and Frank pulled faces of understanding. 

"He can get us out of here. He's fast." Hazel moved the conversation on.

"Three of us can't fit on one horse, can we?" " Frank didn't look thrilled. "We'll fall off, or slow him down, or-"

Is he calling me fat? Is he calling me weak? Arion whinnied, snorting as I looked at the horse. He was jumping to conclusions faster than I did. Maybe it was a sibling thing. How about he comes over here and I'll kick him-

"Okay, Frank, no more insulting the horse." I patted Frank's shoulders. "He's a bit sensitive."

Sensitive! I'll show you sensitive. Come over here, I'm going to bite you! Arion ground out, chomping and snapping his teeth like a dog. There's a chariot in the warehouse, I'll pull it for the nice girl. You two can be dragged behind!

"Thanks." I shot him a look. "He says there's a chariot in the warehouse and he's willing to pull it."

"There!" Someone yelled from the back of the throne room. A dozen Amazons charged in, heading for the battle forklifts. Hazel vaulted onto Arion's back, as the horse whinnied and began to prance.

Let me crush them, let me crush them, I'll flatten them

"Hazel, your horse is psychopathic." I called.

"Follow me! I know where the chariot is!" Arion took off into a gallop with a maniacal laugh. Frank and I hurried to follow after, dodging warriors and throwing Amazons away from them as the chariot came into view. Arion stopped by the yoke, and I threw Riptide into the back of the chariot. The harness was easy, the buckles seemingly have been oiled recently and it took me no time to get it all put together.

"You've done this before?" Frank questioned, as we both scrambled into the back of the chariot. I wrapped the reins around both of our waists, tying us into the chariot.

"No time! Hazel, go!" A battle cry sounded from behind us. A full army of Amazons stormed into the warehouse. Otrera herself stood astride a battle forklift, aiming a crossbow towards us. "Well, shit."

"Stop them!" Otrera thundered. Hazel spurred Arion on, arrows whizzing past us as we headed towards a flight of stairs.

"The stairs!" Frank yelled, both of us dodging as an arrow went over our heads. These Amazons were terrible shots. "No way this horse can pull a chariot up that many flights of-"

Eat shit.

"-Gods above!" Frank yelled, as we shot up the stairs. Arion cackled, barely slowing down as Frank and I latched onto the chariot. Both of us almost fell off, the chariot going near vertical as Arion shot through the main doors into the plaza. Frank and I panted as we came to a stop, taking in heaving breaths.

"Ella!" Hazel shouted. "Where are you? We have to leave. Ella!"

The Amazons were gaining on us, their battle forklifts seemingly having a 'get up stairs' function that our chariot didn't have.

"Ella is here. Amazons are pointy." A flash of red feathers appeared, Ella landing in the chariot. "Go now?"

"Hold on!" Hazel warned, as I pulled Ella in front of me, tensing my legs against the bottom of the chariot to stay still. "Arion, run."

The world seemed to elongate, sunlight bending around them.

I didn't even realise that we were moving until I heard Hazel scream and managed to peel my eyes open. The ground behind us was racing away as we entered open water. We were free.

Am I good or am I good? This horse might be the death of me though.

∘☽༓☾∘

Hiya,

So, Arion is actually just a load of fun and cause it's Andi's POV we get Arion's words though I've changed some stuff.  A little shorter chapter, but can confirm, we've got under 20 chapters before we have a little reunion. Question of the day is, would you prefer that this gets an update every two days or so, or that there's just bulk updates whenever I get them written?

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx