Dawn of a Thousand Suns, Book I: Arch De Angels

Chapter XXII

They barely persuaded Livia to go up to the roof and let them know as soon as the riders appeared on the main street leading to the gate. They knew that those who had gone to the port had not yet returned, nor had they heard fighting, so they might return soon. Livia was afraid of heights but still agreed to climb on the roof of a tall building, which was quite difficult for an inexperienced girl, so the boys also cheered her on. Lucius and Uriel were hiding near a huge stable, waiting for a sign. Michael stood on the other side of the street to get the attention of the guards when needed. Lily was asleep. Lucius hadn't said goodbye to her, but now it was too late to think about it. There was little time left.

The mirror in Livia's hand reflected the sunlight, and thus they realized it was time.

"Red-eyes! Red-eyes!" - Michael shouted and when the stablemen came out of the stable, Lucius jumped into the window. A few seconds later, they found themselves in a stable, although Lucius did not know what to do next.

"What now?" - whispered to Blondy.

"Do not worry, I am not stealing horses for the first time," he smiled at the sight of Lucius's surprised face. "My brother taught me we used to steal from our own stable ..."

Uriel galloped towards Angela, and without stopping, grabbed the girl. The guards and stablemen at first stared in amazement and could not believe that someone was stealing the horse in front of their eyes. Then they turned away from Michael and chased Uriel, but on foot. None of them thought of chasing them on horseback. Lucius was expecting this, too, and dragged the horse out of the stable.

He was not a splendid rider and got lucky that the horse turned out to be calm and restrained.

Lucius galloped towards Michael and assisted him to sit back. Michael barely made it to the horseback after several attempts.

Soon they rushed to the central road, moving towards the wall. Uriel was nowhere to be seen. Lucius couldn't slow down, as the gate was already being opened, and he had no other choice.

As he approached the gate, Uriel also galloped his horse from the side road and joined them.

"Stop at once!" - shouted the officer, when Uriel ran into the slightly opened gate and Lucius followed behind.

Several riders followed them back. Uriel immediately yelled at Lucius to follow him and change direction. Michael turned and counted five wizards in red and gold robes.

"They have tired horses so we will drop them eventually," said Michael, and Lucius rushed at full speed.

"Why do they follow us?" - Michael asked. Lucius was also very interested in the answer. It would have been understandable if the officers chased them for stealing, but did the wizards bother for such petty theft? Besides, they obviously could not catch up with the tired, emaciated horses.

"I think we got rid of the wizards," said a delighted Uriel. However, he noticed his horse was slowing down.

"What the hell?!" - Uriel greeted. Tried to subdue the horse, but the stallion resisted, neighing tried to turn back. Angela could not restrain herself and fell down. Blondy jumped off as well, as the horse became too disobedient.

Suddenly Michael's horse jumped unnaturally and boys found themselves on the ground and the horse ran back.

"What the hell is happening?!" - Uriel could not come to his senses. He helped Angela get up. The girl was not seriously hurt, only had several bruises.

"Why did the horses run? What the hell made them so mad?!" - The blondy could not calm down. Lucius was no less irritated, though, before making a sound his headache so much that he collapsed on the spot. The pain was so unbearable he thought his head would explode. He heard unearthly screaming, piercing his brain even more.