The King's Justice

Part 1 Chapter 4

Terror swept through her as they ran from the direbeast. If the beast caught them, she knew that the brave horse was going to be lunch! Amidst the wild images her imagination was tossing up, Aydra felt the horse stumble. With a sob of despair, she sat up and despite her every instinct to keep fleeing, pulled gently back on the reins to slow him down. He tossed his head as if exasperated with her, but obligingly slowed. At least part of his willingness to slow down was to do with the thick foam coating the edges of the bit, she thought somewhere in the back of her mind.

A huge part of herself was hoping that no matter what happened, the horse would live. He hadn't chosen to be out here and if it weren't for her, he would be safely back at his cozy stable! Only once they had slowed to a walk did she dare to glance behind her.

There was nothing there.

Disbelief surged up and she twisted halfway around to look again. Trees, rock and the usual things one might expect to see in the woods. But no men, living or dead and, most importantly, no direbeast.

Nothing but the woods and the slow drizzle of rain.

Facing front again, Aydra absently smoothed her hand reassuringly along the curve of the horse's neck as she puzzled it over. Had she imagined it all? Sleep deprivation could cause people to hallucinate after all. Was that what had happened to her? The whole scene a nightmare dreamt up by fevered imagination?

She shivered, clutching her cloak tighter around herself. No, that direbeast had been real. Even if she'd hallucinated the men - and she was pretty certain they had been real - that direbeast was very real. Real roaring, real claws and very real teeth. All of that giant predator was real. Not an image brought to life due to lack of sleep and freezing rain! And despite her certainty in its realness, it was not there behind her, ready to attack and rip her to bite sized pieces.

It was both relieving and more frightening at the same time. Relief because she and her horse were safe; frightening because if the damnable beast wasn't behind her, where was it?

That question kept her mind from worrying over the fact that her absence was definitely discovered by now. No doubt an exhaustive search was being made. It was this knowledge, combined with the desire to escape her husband's intentions to murder her and hide her body in the garden all mixed with a serious desire to not come face to face with the deadly predator that made for a great incentive to not stop!

During the following days as Aydra and the horse travelled straight into what was commonly called 'the wilds' (but in reality, was merely the unsettled neutral border between two countries), she was still puzzling over the possibility that she had imagined the entire event with the direbeast. When she started to see signs that the wilds might not be as deserted as she thought, she decided to put it out of her thoughts and focus on surviving. The trees were thinning a bit and through them, she could see glimpses of what looked like rocky foothills between the widening gaps. At least, she thought she could see them. It could have been another hallucination!

She'd been stopping at points here and there to take care of urgent nature calls and took those opportunities to try walking. It was twofold – stretching her legs as well as trying to give the horse a break, sparing him just a bit of work. However, that was easier said than done because for each step she took one way, the horse was just as determined to take two steps back in the other direction. Aydra strongly suspected he was wanting his warm stable and that was the direction he was trying to turn into.

He'd finally, reluctantly, agreed that she was in charge. They were going to continue in the direction she wanted but only when she gave up on walking to clamber back into the saddle. Although, if the baleful glare he'd sent her during their stops was any indication of his true feelings, she would have to pay careful attention that he didn't take advantage during a break to pull free and leave her alone in her insanity!