Queen Uni

CH 1- 10 Years Later

    Thwack! Cory grinned as another arrow flew straight to the center of the target. He reached for the quiver attached to the saddle of the horse he was riding, still galloping at its top speed, and cursed to himself as he realized it was empty.
    "Tommy!" He yelled to his friend, who was riding the horse next to him. "Did you bring the extra arrows I asked you to-"
    He looked up and abruptly stopped talking, shocked by what he was seeing.
    Tommy was lying down on his horse, bareback, with his legs wrapped around its neck and his hands behind his head. He was effortlessly using his legs to guide the horse, and calmly chewing a long piece of grass he had snatched off the ground.
    "Dude! What are you doing!" Cory exclaimed. He used his lens to zoom in on Tommy, but even with a thorough examination, he couldn't make sense of what he was doing.
    "Will you chill? I'm trying to relax, brutha." Tommy responded.
    "Whatever," Cory huffed. "Can you please just hand me another quiver?"
    Tommy shrugged and reached for one of the quivers he had brought along, and looked up, confused, as he heard a rustling from the trees above him.
    Suddenly, a figure dropped down from the trees right above Tommy. He only had enough time to yell "HOLY SH-" before he was knocked off his horse.
    Cory turned around to see Tommy on the floor blubbering nonsense, and Ashlie on his horse, laughing.
    "NICK!" Ashlie yelled out into the forest. "I TOLD YOU I COULD DO IT!"
    "I never said you couldn't." Nick emerged from the shrubbery, looking completely annoyed. "What were you trying to prove? That you're part squirrel? I think we already knew that."
    Ashlie pouted and shifted her attention to where Cory was trying to make sense of Tommy's incoherent nonsense. "Cory, can I take a shot?"
    Cory stepped away from Tommy, and Ashlie came closer to him.
    "And then the- 1983- and the chimpanzee- and we- and it all- and the an all the-"
    "Hey Tom. Tom, look at me."
    Tommy jerked his head towards where Ashlie crouched over him. She grinned and said one word:
    "Buhnanas."
    Cory and Nick simultaneously facepalmed. Tommy looked over at Ashlie-
    And became a mattress for a falling Jon.
    "JON!" Everyone yelled, staring at him.
    "What?" Jon said innocently, cocking his head.
    Cory sighed. "At the very least, could you get off Tommy?"
    Jon looked down. "Oh, hi Tom!" He scooted off of him and stood up.
    "Umm, Jon," Ashlie said, confused. "I didn't see you in the trees, and I'm pretty sure you weren't in the forest with Nick. So... where did you come from?"
    "I was following you, Atlie!" Jon replied cheerily.
    "But how?"
    Jon shrugged.
    Ashlie sighed and gave Tommy a hand up. He shook his head and looked around, confused. "What even..."
    He saw Ashlie and Jon smiling guiltily. "ARE YOU GUYS SERIOUS?"
    "Can I please just get back to my ride? I was about to set a new record with my bow. Every time I get this far, something happens with you guys and I have to start over!" Cory seemed really frustrated. The red light on his camera was flashing on and off as he talked louder.
    "Yeah, sorry about that, Cory," Nick responded. "I didn't realize we interrupted you." He stared at Ashlie and Jon pointedly.
    "Sorry Cor, sorry Tom," Jon quietly responded, looking at the ground in remorse.
    "Sorry Cory," Ashlie said, rolling her eyes. She then looked over at the still discombobulated Tom and cringed. "Sorry to you, Tommy, too. I may have... landed a bit harder than I anticipated."
    "Yeah, uh huh. Try a bit harder next time, creamweasel." Tommy mounted his horse and tossed a quiver of arrows to Cory.
    "Great. Now if I can just-" Cory was cut off by the warning bells back at the castle ringing. "Are you serious!"
    "This could be really important." Nick looked concerned. "We have to head back."
    "They don't ring that bell for no reason," Ashlie agreed. "We should go see what's going on."
    They turned around and started back towards the castle that they called home. Cory, leading the pack on his horse, softly muttered to himself, "If I could only go on a ride like this uninterrupted ONE TIME..."