Legend of the Black Rider (Preternatural - book #1)

1: A Running Mother

The world was quiet and dark. The black inky sky had a stars dotted over its body. It was a moonless night with clouds wandering in the eternity of black.

Cold wind swept the land and sent chills down the backs of anyone who felt it. All was quiet before a blast of light sent Celine appearing out of nowhere and sent her sprawling onto the dirt road.

Her pursuers weren't far behind, so she sprung to her feet and continued running.

There wasn't much time left; she had to get away before it was too late. No matter how fast she ran, it seemed as though the trees were passing her slowly.

Celine ran as fast as she could. Her cocoa-coloured hair swayed behind her. Although she was fit and slim, she got tired very quickly; most likely because she'd been running for two hours.

She huffed and she puffed as tried to get away from her pursuers. There was a good distance between her and them, but they'd catch up eventually.

She still carried the precious cargo tightly in her arms.

Her warm breath hazed around her. The wind made her eyes watery. There was no way she'd reach the nearest town without having one last confrontation with them.

She could hear them fluttering behind her: they had found her.

Celine tripped on a rock that poked out from the earth and shot forward. The precious cargo rolled out of her arms and bumped against one of the nearby trees. This caused the precious cargo to writhe and stir, eventually crying.

Celine gasped out loud and crawled towards the precious cargo. She pulled at the cloth it was wrapped around and seized it back into her arms where she soothed it with her warmth.

Just to see if the precious cargo was alright, she pulled away the cloth and revealed the baby boy's face. The baby boy cried out and squirmed in her arms, scared and confused at the pain from when he hit the tree.

"It's okay," cooed Celine. "It's going to be okay."

Her words were falsified when the fluttering increased and the sound of the wind blowing in Celine's ears was drowned out by the sounds of hissing and metal scraping.

"Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed." The words were echoed from above her as the creatures appeared.

Celine wrapped the baby boy tightly in the cloth and held him close to her chest as she got back on her feet.

"You won't have him!" she yelled at the sky. "He won't have him!"

The creatures hovered above the woman. As Celine's eyes adjusted to the dark she could make out their black as tar skin. They had paper-thin wings made of iron with claws of the same material. They were about the size of a newborn baby, but that didn't erase how dangerous they were. With their thin and sharp fangs, and their big, black eyes, they were hideous to look at. They went by many vulgar names — rodents being in the top of the list — but they were fairies nonetheless.

"Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed. Seed." they hissed, chanting the words over and over. They circled above Celine like vultures and had their eyes fixated on the baby hidden in her arms.

Celine refused to cooperate and hand him over to them.

"Get away you heinous vermin!" She moved her right hand underneath the cloth. "I'm warning you!"

She swiftly pulled out her wand, a long, denim-coloured ginkgo-wand sprinkled with yellow dust, and pointed it at the creatures that flew overhead; they were ready to swoop down and attack.