The Huntress Race

Chapter Two: The Hunt Begins

Two young boys galloped their horses towards race headquarters. The horses were exhausted and so were the messengers but they had to reach their home before the race one soldiers did. Their warning could be the victory or loss for their race. They reined the horses in as they reached the town. People with dirty, battle scarred faces tentatively moved to listen to the news. " A band of five race one soldiers are coming, they brought their leader with them under a white flag truce, it has to be an attack!" One of the messenger boys said breathlessly. " Thank you for announcing my arrival, I'll take it from here," boomed a voice from above. A middle aged woman with silver hair, ice coloured eyes, pale skin and black battle gear appeared astride a white dragon with blue eyes. The dragon landed and four more followed, each a different colour. It roared and blew flames in to the sky. " Silence Aster, you have served me well today my precious," the woman said fondly. The dragon made a sound between a purr and a growl. I watched this all unfold from my horse, I had followed the boys as they entered our race centre and had seen what had been going on. Our race leader, a tall man with long brown hair and brown leather battle gear astride a chestnut horse trotted forward to challenge his arrivals. " Selena, what are you doing here under a white flag truce, the invaders will kill you if they found out you were here!" He thundered angrily. " I approved it with them before I came, Theodora. Anyway, I just came to inform you of a little competition the other races have agreed to," Selena said with an absent flick of her fingers. "What is the prize?" Theodora asked. " The Huntress," Selena said. A gasp went up through the crowd. " You managed to capture him?" Our leader asked incredulously. " Of course not! The competition is a race to see who can track him down the fastest, it will be a hunting competition. Every race will send four people to compete in a race to capture The Huntress, the first to do so gets to keep him and the others can't rage war on you for it, those are the rules," Selena explained. Theodora nodded, " We will compete," he said. " Marvellous! Bring your chosen to the large field on our territory and then the hunt can begin," Selena said. " Oh by the way, two girls and two boys, that makes it even," Selena added quickly with a grin. This made me excited, I dreamed of capturing The Huntress, the glory that capture would bring me would be immense. Pluto, my jet black thoroughbred, nickered softly, I knew he wanted to come as well. "Choose your players tonight and tomorrow they will be present at the start of the race," Selena finished with a glint in her eye. " There will be traps previously laid out on the other races hunts, watch out for them in the competition," Selena said with mock sympathy. With a flourish she had mounted her dragon and flew off in to the sky with her people close behind. I watched them dwindle in to spots far above and I was amazed at the sight of them. Our leader cleared his throat and waited to speak, " Tonight at the shining of the first star I will announce the men and women going on the journey. We will do this by our fair system of random name taking from the bowl," Theodora said in a loud voice. I was excited, even though I had one chance in three hundred. I couldn't wait until night had fallen! " Iris! We need you over here," my mother called as I moved towards her. I ran over and found an old lady lying in the dirt, out cold. " Mrs Ellis again?" I asked. " Yes, just like the last times," my mother informed. I had always had a knack for healing people and was sought out in the village regularly. I waved a sweet smelling herb under her nose and the old lady sat up with a cough. " There there, it's okay now Mrs Ellis," I soothed gently, how could I leave these people without a medic? How could I even think about leaving? Studying The Huntress when it was captured would be worth it though.

" Iris, hurry up. It's time to go and see who gets to enter the competition," my mother said. I ran to catch up as people streamed towards the town square. " People of race four, the men who will be going will be decided now. The first man to go on this quest will be Josh Kinta," Theodora said as he picked a name from out of the glass bowl. Josh was pushed up next to our leader and he looked really excited. Josh was a twenty year old man with brown hair and freckles, his eyes were bright green and he was skilled with a crossbow. "The last man to go on this quest will be John Slate," Theodora announced in a loud voice. John looked less excited than Josh, his eyes straying back to his family. "I will go," he admitted hesitantly. His wife wiped away a tear and smiled at him with pride in her eyes. Their children were dirty and cut up from climbing trees, they both led grey ponies behind them. He nodded and took his place beside Josh. John was tall with chestnut coloured hair and bright green eyes, he had tanned skin and was skilled with an axe. I squirmed in my seat, who would go for the girls? " Our first female competitor will be Sally Goods," Theodora announced loudly. Sally held a smug expression as she showed off in front of the crowd. I seethed with anger, why did they have to choose Sally? Sally was a short girl with brown hair and shining blue eyes that sparkled with a flirtatious light. She had an amazing figure and wore our race's plain dress with a shining look. She was the queen of gossip and the most infuriating girl on the planet. " Our last competitor for the competition will be Iris Glen," Our leader said with relief in his voice, he now had a healer on the mission. I was stopped in my tracks, I was going to capture a legend? " Iris, please don't go!" My mother sobbed. I knew what she meant, no one had ever come back from a meeting with The Huntress. I was excited though, " Mother, I have to go. I can really make a difference to this competition," I murmured. I hugged her and took my place beside the others. Pluto neighed in the crowd and I smiled at him, tomorrow we would start our race for The Huntress.
" Where are the other races, they should be here by now. We start in ten minutes," John grumbled as we sat astride our horses. We had been here for an hour but no one had arrived yet. Time was running out. A group of black dots moved on the horizon. Through a pair of standard binoculars I saw two women astride white and orange tigers, a man on a leopard and a man on a lion moving in our direction. Race two was arriving. When they finally pulled up I gulped. They were seriously tall and had dark brown skin, their faces were covered in pink scars as if a bird had scratched its talons on their faces. They had axes and shields with designs that depicted leaping cats with blood red fangs and claws. I couldn't look them in the eye. " So you think you can beat us to The Huntress? When we get him we will use his power to wage war on the other races, we will destroy you," The tallest man said with a deep sneering voice. I gulped and looked down at Pluto, this would be a lot harder than I thought. Sally was the only one who didn't look intimidated, instead, she was trying to flirt with a young man from race two who flirted back. I sighed, could this competition have a worse start? A screech of a Phoenix startled me as four blue streaks dropped from the sky. Phoenixes were dropping around us with battle ready riders on their backs. " Oh I think we will will find him before you," said a young man astride a sky coloured Phoenix. He smiled at us. " We could rule with the power he would give us," the man added, flashing a wink at Sally. " What makes you so sure The Huntress will give the power to you willingly?" Said a silver haired woman as her friends arrived on their dragons. The races were all here. " Because if he doesn't give his powers to us we will force him," the man answered. " If The Huntress is so powerful then how will we capture him without getting killed?" I asked Josh. " I have a plan, legend has it that The Huntress is weak on the night of the full moon," Josh answered. " But that's tonight!" I answered. " Well then we'll have to work fast," Sally said with a laugh in her voice. I felt sick in the stomach. Tonight we would track down The Huntress. " The competition officially starts now," said a race two woman. At that comment the other races shot off in to the forest. " Where should we start?" I asked. John motioned towards the forest, " The Huntress is most likely going to be in there," he said. " Should we split up?" Sally asked. Josh nodded. " Josh, you go with Sally. Iris will go with me," John said. We split up and galloped in to the forest, our hearts soaring with the prospect of finding The Huntress. Little did we know that the forest had more secrets than we thought.