The Stronghold

Escape On Unicorns

Wandering along the corridor, lost in thought, not looking where I was going I crashed into someone. This person was running at full pelt down the corridor when they slammed into me, sending us both flying. I hit the wall and groaned whereas they slid along the floor and smacked into a door, equally hurt.

"Sorry about that," Tom apologised. "I didn't see you there."

"I didn't see you, either," I said, rubbing the back of my head. Standing back and looking at the man I noticed that for some reason he was in army uniform with his hair slicked down neatly, his small beard gone.

"That much is obvious," Tom agreed. "I tried to send you a message but your head is full of information."

"Yeah, I'm thinking a lot most of the time. New inventions, random aspects of my past, names that I've forgotten."

Salt popped into my head. I frowned and ignored it but it stayed there, drifting about in my mind's eye. It was as if my brain was trying to tell me something.

"Why were you running?" I asked Tom to change the subject. He grinned mischievously, his eyes glinting with wickedness.

"I may or may not have escaped," he explained. "And those guards have really large guns that fire pointy grenades."

As he spoke a small canister shot around the corner, rocketing off the walls and coming to a halt inches away from my face. I yelped and blurred away, returning only to grab Tom and yank him from the grenade's range.

It detonated and I felt the heat start to melt my T-Shirt. Tom's jacket was sticking to his skin and the only way he could move it was by freezing his limbs, making it harder for me to drag him.

"Come on!" I shouted, propelling myself backwards, tugging on his arm with all my strength. He got the idea and started running, still unable to match my fabulous super-speed.

Three more bombs were fired down the corridor after us, three more explosions lifted us off our feet and into various walls. We left a trail of blood and destruction in our wake, helped along by those little grenades.

After what seemed like forever we finally made it outside, gasping for air. Tom's face was grey and he was wheezing badly, doubled over, legs trembling from the strain. I could tell that my face was quite drastically flushed, cheeks bright red, chest heaving. My arms were the same shade of pink as the rest of me, my heart and red blood cells working on overdrive.

"Well," I said eventually between gulps of air, "that was interesting."

"I need to leave," Tom croaked, straightening up and stretching his arms. "Now."

"Why?" I asked, ever the curious one.

"Because they'll kill me."

"Why?"

"I froze some of the guards and I think one might be dead."

"Why did you do that?"

"They were trying to shoot me." Tom's legs gave out and he hit the floor, looking up at me out of pleading eyes. "Please, Pepper. You've got to help me."

*

"Horses?" Tom cried. "You found horses?"

He was still sat on the floor, hidden out of sight by a bush and the side of the building. A blanket covered his legs and for some reason he had a bucket of partially melted ice next to him. At my raised eyebrow it vanished with no explanation.

"They're unicorns," I said proudly, patting one on the neck. The two I had were large ponies really, one named Sammy and one named Bruno. Sammy was black and white with a beautiful face and a long, fluffy mane and Bruno was taller, more of a stallion really. He was chestnut with a white diamond on his nose and kept on rearing, raising his top lip at me in a horsey snarl.