MISTY BLUE

I'm not unconscious. The best I can figure of what's happening is that the left over poison in my leg paralysed me.

I lie there under a bush, hoping that the wolves wouldn't find me. I can hear Venom, Grace and a couple of KuryKubi guards slashing swords at the wolves.

"Iiimere..." I murmur softly. I close my eyes, listening as the wolves howled retreat. When I open them again, Venom is on his hands and knees trying to pull me out from under the bush.

I can't move my arms or legs, and just below my knee the blood is boiling. Venom drags me out and carries me as we, Grace, the guards and the horses race into the kingdom gates.

A week and a half flys by quickly when your stuck in bed nursing old wounds. But finally I was able to ride a chestnut horse named Jay around the kingdom.

But mental pain is harder to shake off. Amazon hadn't meant for this to happen. She had died, killed in cold blood by Grace. I was grieving.

"Hey hey, Jay calm down." I murmur. The horse was rearing and flailing his front legs, eyes wide. I squint into the shadow of a building and see Venom grinning evilly.

"The army to fight Dermor is leaving now." he says huskily. He shrugs his shoulders as my mouth drops open.

"What, now?" I stammer. He glares at me and draws his sword. Yes, now, he tells me. There is no time for pain. I stare at him furiously, then turn and run to the house we've been living in.

I burst into my room and start sorting through my stuff. Desperately grabbing a bow and a quiver of arrows, I hurtle back down the stairs and stumble outside.

TJ and Dusty, armed with their own weapons, are behind me. Obviously they know what we are doing.

Grace is waiting for us by the door, fidgeting nervously. She looks up as we approached and smiles in relief. It was either relief or disappointment, I couldn't tell.

"Thank god." She mutters as we headed out the door to the gates of the kingdom. "I thought you would never come."

Dusty lets out a loud yell and runs ahead of us, to a huge fluffy horse that bows his head to the young kid. I roll my eyes and mount Jay, watching as Grace and TJ climb their own horses.

"On to Aradon!" Toko, the army's leader, yells. The warriors all around me hold their swords in the air. Venom trots up to me, sword raised.

"To Aradon! To Aradon!" we yell. The army of hundreds of archers and swordsman gallop out the gates in a flurry of hooves. And Dusty, TJ, Venom, Grace an I have no choice but to follow.

Thirty-five people on horses are harder to spot than you'd think. No wolves came near us, much less enemy warriors. But I was still uneasy.

A wolf howling in triumph brings us all to a halt. We form a circle and lashed at the air with our weapons. The wolves kept howling, but sounded further away. That's when I looked again. My heart plummeted into my black boots.

Seven wild horse were galloping as far as they could. I could just see the fear on their half tame faces. The lead horse was a dusty grey. He was trying to fight the wolf pack, rearing up and smashing his front hooves on the wolves' tails.

As I watched, the other horses did the same. One was an almost white-blond mare, two brown horses, a black one and painted stallion. The herd gallop as close as they can to us, hoping armed warriors will scare the wolves away.

I nudge TJ and Venom and poke Dusty and Grace. We watch as the horses come closer. Around us, the thirty warriors are back on their horses and are galloping away at high speed. But we watch.

Suddenly the grey horse sees me and rears. On his neck are three jagged scars like a cats' claws had been there. Ash had exactly the same scars. His pelt was the same color too-

The others realise what I just did. We can't do anything, only watch them escape. Ash rears again and changes direction, his herd following him into the distance where they become tiny black horses against the setting sun.

We watch as wolves spring from all sides. As fast as the horses shake them off, more jump on. The horses run again, but the wolves are too close, too strong. The last we saw was a horse falling over as the wolves dive on it. The others are not far behind the same fate.

"No!" TJ wailed. I grabbed her and she started kicking me, trying to get to the horses. "BeBe! No!" I picked her up and put her on another horse. We all remounted and galloped off, catching up with the others.

TJ and Dusty cried the whole way.