Aldyth and I scrambled from the dirt as arrows rained like hellfire from above. The high pitched wail of something inhumane shook the forest. Our horses reared in panic: birds took flight from the trees. My heart flayed violently in my chest, causing me to feel faint and dizzy. I stumbled backward several steps as the shock cry sounded once again, resembling slightly that of blades shredding metal.

Aldyth had the better luck in keeping her head. Her strides were quick and deliberate as she ran toward the horses with her arms raised, but her voice soft and steely. Bethor screamed and rose up onto his hind legs, his hooves kicking and flailing like twin plates of death.

"Look out!" I cried, but my voice was lost in the chaos of stamps and screams.

For a single panicked moment, all happenings appeared to end with the ironic death for the stable girl, but at the latest possible second, she ducked away from the flurry of flying hooves and lunged out at the horse. Her hands closed over the reins before Bethor could rear again. "Haste, Eli!" She screamed as she hauled herself into the saddle.

Ashless cantered nervously, but fortunately did not rear when I leaped onto her back. "Run, girl," I growled between my teeth. Aldyth and Bethor were already far ahead of us. "Run."

The chestnut mare took off like the wind, easily catching up with Bethor's lead. Their hooves churned the dirt and sent it flying behind us in showers, but that hardly did anything to slow whatever was behind us. Above the wails of the horses and the hammering in my chest, I could thinly feel a low shift in the direction of the air.

Suddenly a large shadow swept over the tree tops. It flew out ahead of us before doubling straight back. "Dragon!" I yelled up at Aldyth.

Whether she heard me or not, Aldyth threw her head up toward the branches. What she saw drained the color from her face. "Those aren't dragons!" She wailed. "Eli! BEHIND YOU!!!"

I didn't have time to look before something huge crashed down through the branches behind us. Ashless screamed and reared under me; I threw my arms down around her neck and held on with all my might. "Keep on!" I yelled through my teeth, not caring at all about the fact the horse couldn't understand me. Ashless tromped about in a circle before rearing again and that's when I saw it.

She was right. That was no dragon barreling through the skies. Though slightly humanoid in nature, it stood over a head taller than any man I've ever seen. Every part of it was covered in bright, white downy feathers, that were so smooth they could be mistaken for snow white skin if one didn't look too closely. Long flats of light hair hung over the angular face of the beast, swaying to and fro in a way that almost shielded it's sinking dark eyes from sight. I squeezed my legs to Ashless's sides and she took little other persuasion to leap into a gallop. The monster screeched like a thousand blades ripping through metal, which bared a circular mouth with layers of razor sharp, wedge shaped, teeth. My knuckles grew white around the reins, but I couldn't help it and threw a glance back.

Suddenly I understood why I had mistaken it for a dragon.

From just above the shoulder blades, unfurled a pair of massive, feathered wings that were more than twice as long as I was tall. The wings were as white as freshly fallen snow, and they seemed to trigger a ripple effect down the creature's spine. At first I couldn't tell what it was, but then the thick, plated tail lashed out from behind as if it had a mind of its own. The monster let out another earthshaking bellow before spreading those massive wings and giving chase.

I leaned low over my horse and rode for all I was worth, but the creature crashed through the branches like it had all the time in the world. "What is that thing!?" I screamed over the horses.

"I don't know!" She yelled back, then, "Ride in the smallest places you can manage! We need to lose it or we won't stand a chance!"

Ashless seemed to understand her words better than I did, for immediately she reared off the main pass and up toward the mountain. "Yah!" I yelled and dug my heels into her flank. Off the pass, the trees were closer together, but that didn't seem to deter anyone except for me. The horses kept up a full gallop, even when I was sure that we wouldn't make it. Aldyth was right once again; whatever it was that chased us was having a hard time getting its wings through the trees and for some odd reason, it wouldn't take to the sky and follow us from above.

We rode long and hard. The horses breaths grew ragged but we pushed on and made a loop around the mountain before we slowed to a stop to gather our bearings. The sky was still clear and if it weren't for the crazed looks in our eyes, one would have thought it were a perfectly ordinary day. "We need to get back to the town," I said after a moment or two of silence.

Aldyth nodded slowly in agreement as she absentmindedly patted Bethor's neck. The horses were tired, but we couldn't stop for long. We didn't know what was out there and we needed to get home where the town could protect us. A large knot twisted in my stomach as my strayed to the possibility that there wasn't a place left to go back to, but I immediately shook such vile thoughts from my head. Gris was protected by the mountains. We were so small and insignificant that no one would bother us if we kept to ourselves.

I rubbed Ashless's neck soothingly and tried to whisper some words of consultation. The horse turned her chestnut head to look back at me with tired eyes. She didn't want to go any longer. "We should take it easy on the horses," I thought out loud, "We can't very well work them to death."

For once Aldyth seemed to be in complete disagreement. "They can rest later. They're trained for hard riding, they'll be alright. We just have to get back to Gris, I feel... We have to get back immediately." Ashless and Bethor seemed disappointed at her decision, but I wouldn't argue with her on horse matters. It was her particular area of expertise and I wasn't one to criticize.

After so many miles of chase, the sudden quiet of the forest made me pause. I had grown up among these trees and never before had anything caused the life to grow still and the trees to stand frozen in the wind. I took a deep breath. "Okay, we ride now."

A/n

So how are you liking everything? I couldn't keep it too cheesy now could I?

Edited 6.24.16