Through the Fairy Ring

Chapter Fifteen

The rustling of the breeze through the tall grasses of the valley relaxed me, which opened my mind to the flood of concern for Garron and Meara. How were they? Had they gotten any worse? I rode along in worried silence, but then realized I could just ask Tavi. I tapped Dara's sides with my heels, and called out. "Hey, wait up!"

Tavi glanced back, and then slowed Zia until I pulled alongside her and Drostan.

"How were the kids doing when you left?" I said

"You'd have to ask Arden about their internal health, but on the outside they still looked like they were sleeping."

"So there's been no change at all?" A sense of relief crept over me, because at this point they could only get worse.

"Not that I could tell."

Dara swung her head around and pranced forward, her ears pricking up. "Whoa, there. What's the matter?" I held the reins firmly, but she jumped and fought to run past Arden. I pulled her to a stop just ahead of him. She trembled beneath me, and chewed the bit in her mouth.

Arden halted next to me, his attention focused on the grasses behind us. "Something's wrong."

"What is it?"

"I can't tell. But Dara's frightened, feels like she's being stalked. That's the best I can describe it."

Besides feeling the heartbeats of the creatures of Darag-Leigh, Arden could also communicate with animals. I could only talk to birds, but that's unique enough, as most most magician's don't have any such abilities.

Tavi and Drostan joined us, and we huddled in the middle of the sea of dark-green grass.

"There's something out there." Drostan's voice was flat.

"Did you see it?" Arden asked.

"No, but I sense it. About the same time Hazel's horse reacted, I sensed a disturbing presence. It's Fairy, if I can feel it."

"Not the flying ones again? It can't be, because you can hear them coming." I searched the sky but only found stringy gray clouds.

"It's on the ground, in the grasses." Drostan pointed to an area behind us. "It's not anything I've experienced before."

"What do we do?" Dara fought me for control of the reins.

"Drostan, do you think we can outrun it?" Arden's voice was hushed, as if he was afraid the presence could hear us.

"I don't know, but it's better than waiting here."

"Okay, we run. But everyone stay close to each other. Don't get spread out," Arden said.

Almost as one, we spurred our horses into a run. Tavi and Drostan flew on my left side, Arden on my right. I hoped there were no animal burrows in front of us, because with as fast as we were running, if the horse's hooves got caught in one, we would go down hard.

"It's following us," Drostan shouted. He grabbed Tavi's hands and yanked the reins back, and they disappeared behind me and Arden. A dark, four-legged blur rocketed toward me in the opened space.

"Damn!" I dug my heels into the stirrups and jerked Dara to a sliding stop. Arden followed suit, but the shadow leaped from the ground in front of him. A creature that looked like a black wolf, except twice as big, latched onto his horse's neck.

The horse screamed as it fell onto its side. Arden vaulted from her back and somersaulted to his feet.

Dara spun away from the carnage, her haunches bunching to run. I yanked her around and tried to position us between Arden and the creature. She hopped and danced in a circle while the creature ripped chunks of skin from the downed horse.