Chapter 53

Sara

Cat’s weight on my back and her clambering hands as she tried to hold on pulled at me, but I ignored it as I fled through the forest. A loud thunder crack echoed over the sky. She’d sent the distress signal. I only hoped Kim and Silvi would remember what to do.

I glanced back. Five soldiers on horseback were riding hard behind us, but Almerious was nowhere to be seen. Was he hiding? Or had he planned this all along, setting traps that they drove us towards?

I had underestimated him this whole time. Who was he? I had believed he was nothing more than a misguided servant of the Queen. A fool who needed to see the truth. But he was far more evil. How long had he known such magic? He possessed powers far beyond my own and skills I had not thought possible.

I stared at the blur of trees passing by. It was all lost. My fellow Peace Bringers wouldn’t have understood what had happened, and I was now forever branded as a traitor who tried to destroy my fellow Unicorns. The place I had called my home was no more.

I felt Cat clawing awkwardly at my mane. I only hoped she held on and that the camp was ready when we arrived. We had not planned for this scenario, and escaping with Kim, Silvi, and the horse would be more difficult than I had anticipated.

“Halt!”, she called.

We had come out on the open plain, and I slowed down and turned. The soldiers had stopped, standing at the edge of the forest, hesitant to come any closer. We couldn’t cross with them in tow, Silvi and Kim would never escape it. I saw Cat raising a bolt, and before she had even fired, they fled. It soared over the plain, setting the trees ablaze.

“Go!”

She kicked my sides, and I ran.