We spent to much time there.

As we gallop away, Lasreal's long mane teases my face with licks of salt.

I stare ahead, thinking of where we should be headed. I haven't quite figured that part out yet, I'm afraid, and feel idiotic for not mapping this entire escape plan out. I decide to steer around the next town, which isn't for a days ride, but we will skip it to remain unseen for a while. I do not hear a pursuit this time, as the search party had most likely stopped to rest their mounts and themselves.

I think about the sound of the horn that had sounded as we left, and I wonder momentarily if my father had come with them. Who else would they find important enough to blow the imperial horn for? I don't think father cares enough to look for me, not when his men can do the dirty work for him. I don't doubt that he did send a party after me, because it will look good to the people. Believe it or not, my citizens like me.

If we're lucky, whoever it was may even spend the night there and head out at first light, instead. Either way, it gives us time and ground to cover, so I press my thoughts into Lasreal's, and he gets his stride back to full swing with my command. We need to get as far ahead as possible.

The gait on a Vann Hest is much smoother than any horse, and even a trot is as smooth as the sleepy sea. Most of the time, I can hardly tell when Lasreal moves from one gait to another, if it wasn't for the change of his usual breakneck speed.

Vann Hest are meant to move quickly, and they have stamina lengths impossible for any horse. If it were a normal steed I am riding, he would surely break a leg on the holes and tree roots that lay nestled on the forest floor. With legs as long and sturdy as Lasreal's, together we fly like angels through the morning mist.

I'm not sure how long we had been going before my stomach had started to complain, so when I find a safe enough spot, we take a rest. I unwrap the bread that I bought and break off a piece, then put the rest away, back into my satchel.

Grabbing the bow, I hop off of the rock that I had been sitting on, and stand, looking into the trees around us to listen.

Back when I was young, I had a good friend who taught me to hunt, use a bow, and to fight using swordplay. Of course my father detested this, but it kept me from pestering him about other things, so he allowed it. I still remember the day that started it all.

-Flash back-

He had found me crying in the stable, and he asked me what was wrong.

I wiped my eyes and sniffed violently, and looked up at him. "I'm so useless," I said. "I can't do anything!"

He sat on the bale of hay next to me and put an arm around my shoulder, shaking his head. "Oh, no Lyra, you're amazing as you are." Lance was much older than me, about fourteen, but he treated me like I was an adult.

I shake my head. "No, I have no skills, nothing that could be benefited to anyone, none of the people!" I was never short to mention the people I could be helping. I had started to tear up again.

Lance took my chin and held it so I had to look up at him. "Would you like to learn some?" I can still remember his kind brown eyes and warm smile.

I nodded vigorously, eager for the chance to learn something useful that I could teach someone else.

He nodded then pulled me close to squeeze me tightly. He was more of a father to me than the King. "Then come, I will teach you something each year you grow, until you can perfect them."

I was only eight, but I was never so grateful for anything in my life.

But the day came that Lance was finally old enough to be enlisted into my father's army, as he tried to overthrow others to gain more land, more power.

The day that he left, I was eleven, and we had our last practice.

I had swung at him, and he had blocked it, but I was quick to react and went for his legs as a diversion.

He had taken the bait, and went to block my blade again, but I was already moving my own while his was busy blocking were he expected it to be headed.

I brought it up and presses my blade against the base of his throat.

He had laughed and dropped his weapon, a fondness in his eyes and I knew that he had realized the same thing that I had. I was getting as good as him.

I sheathed my sword and he picked his up to do the same, his smile and face were shining with pride. I loved his smile.

He bent to my level and looked me in the eyes. "You have the potential to be great."

By then, I had all but mastered hunting and riding, and had made him as proud as if I was his daughter. Too bad my own father didn't see me that way.

I was nearly in tears and then hugged him tightly around the neck, no words needed. He knew that I loved him.

I told him so as he left, and he looked back at me over his shoulder ones more with a smile and a wave as he disappeared with a herd of other men, young and old, through the gates, off to do their duty.

I never saw Lance again, even when some others returned. It had been a gruesome and bloody battle, and my father's general had barely won.

-End flashback-

A rustle in the brush a few yards away makes me look up, bringing me back to the present.

A rabbit emerges cautiously, lifting her head and testing the air before finding it safe and hopping out a bit further to nibble the crumbs of bread that I had scattered into the clearing.

I can see her perfectly from my position in the bushes. Pulling my bowstring back and breathing in slowly to steady my hands. I count to three and let the arrow loose at two. It hits her body at three, and she drops at four.

I walk over to the body and lift it by it's ears after retrieving the arrow from her head.

When I return to the rock with the prize, Lasreal looks up at me from where he had been resting on the ground. He wouldn't be grazing on the sparse grasses and vegetation, because he doesn't eat it. No Vann Hest does: they have a specific diet that consists of flesh. What kind doesn't matter, but we raise ours on animal meat to avoid anyone getting chunks taken from them, though it doesn't prevent it.

I whistle softly for his attention and toss the rabbit's limp body at his feet, and he sniffs it a moment before tearing into it like the beast that he is. I see the flash of his canines as he eats and I look away, finding it hard to watch him react so savagely.

I sit a few feet away on the rock again, careful not to be to close to him while he feeds, and tear off a hunk of bread for myself. I nibble on it, and look over at the small stream that flows through the woods a hundred or so yards away.

With a sigh, I finish my bread and rummage around in the satchel around my shoulder to find the small flask of goat skin that I had bought in the last town. I take the satchel with me and call Lasreal over when he is done with his business, and take his reins over his head, careful to keep him at arms length in case the rush of a kill is still in his veins.

Walking over to the stream, I take a handful of the water to inspect it. Finding it drinkable, I dunk the flask in, letting it fill. I let Lasreal have his head so he can dip it down to drink.
When I take the full flask out, something catches my eye a few yards down stream at the opposite bank, and I stand, pulling Lasreal's head up beside me.

He flashes his teeth at me in annoyance, not quite done with his drink, and I elbow him in the throat. Enough. I warn him, pushing my mind into his once more, daring him to take that threatened bite at me.

He shows the whites of his eyes and backs down with a snort, apparently deciding that it wasn't worth the effort to try.

I realize when we get closer that the object I saw is a girl, about my age, and I furrow my brow in disbelief. A girl, out here? If there is a girl out here, she undoubtedly has company.

The girl has fiery red hair and is wearing similar clothes as me, a men's shirt and bottoms. She must have heard something, and glances up in our direction. Seeing us, she drops the linen she had been washing into the stream and runs.

I curse, and mount Lasreal quickly, taking off after her. I'm not clear on why I do, but I blame it on curiosity and a lack of better things to do.

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Okay guys, so I'm just on a roll with this story right now! As always, thanks for the reads, and hope you continue too!

~A.