The Rebel Queen

1

I hear the air raid sirens start ringing as I fasten the bridle on my horse. I glance at the other soldiers as I walk around my slightly startled horse to a sawed off stump, using it to hop onto the warm elk hide I use as a horse blanket, pulling on his reins, I turn to the comrades, dipping my head. 

"Are you sure about this Catnip?" my informal general, Gale asks from his mount. I look at him and then the other twenty or so people on horses.

"They are coming for our home," I say. "Most of us come from twelve. Many have loved ones still there. What honor do we have among us if we don't try to rescue some of them?" I turn my horse so I am facing the troops. "You all know your positions, the coordinates?" There is a resounding grumble of agreement and I turn my horse so it is facing the direction of the boundary fence, a hundred yards ahead through the thick undergrowth we hide in. "Lets go then?"

"You heard her," Gale says. " No time to lose. The hovercrafts will be here within five minutes." I kick to my horse and he shoots forward. 

I set myself close to his body, keeping clear of hanging branches. The clatter behind me starts slowing down and I watch as a few of the cavalry loop their ropes to the top of the fence posts. Their horses whinny as they are forced to back up, pulling down the disrepaired fence so many of us escaped under. I watch it fall and look at the others as the crashing sound rumbles around us. The air raid sirens continue to wail around us and the groups of soldiers start to break off in their desired directions. Gale looks at me and then my weapon slung on my shoulder. 

"You 100% sure about this?" He asks and I nod.

"We need to save who we can and send a message," I say. "The people will fight back." He nods slowly and I hear the roar overhead as the aircrafts start screaming above us. "Come on. It's time to land an offensive." I kick my horse, making him rear before he lurches forward, running through the ashen ground of the coal miner's houses.

The people of the seam, the people I grew up a part of, scramble out from their homes around us. I watch as the bombs start to drop, shaking the ground. I turn my horse towards the cover of the meadow, keeping to the trees so I might get a shot off on the circling hovercraft. People scream out as the bombs continue to fall and my horse shuffles his feet a little as we wait in the shadows.

"Easy, Duke," I hush him, keeping close to his neck again. "Keep steady boy. I want to make sure I'm not wasting my arrow." I study  the pattern the flight is taking and sit up a little, taking a deep breath. My flingers flex in the rope and I reach back, pulling my bow from it's blaceon my back and having it at the ready for my shot. "Now, Duke!" 

He lurches forward and starts running out into the open. I sit up and pull an arrow from my quiver, stringing it and preparing to pull it back, looking for the fan I need to lodge it in. I halt my horse's movements and he screeches to a stop on the cobblestones. I take a deep breath and pull back, aiming my arrow as Duke stands still as a statue. For a split second I see the vent.

My arrow flies up, through the sky, causing a cracking and creaking sound in the machine above me. I pull back and pat my horse, watching for a moment as the smoke starts to come from the engine of the machine and it begins it's inevitable decent. I put my bow back on my shoulder and yank on my horse's reins , turning him around to dash off as I see more and more hovercrafts start spouting smoke from my soldiers' efforts. 

I start dashing away, hearing the squealing of the machines starting to crash into the ground behind me. The ground shakes and Hear the sound of metal scraping the ground. My horse stumbles as the uneven ground continues to rumble and I feel us go down as one of the wrecked machines explode all too close. I hear the wooden weapon strapped to my back crack and break under my weight as I roll across the ground. I groan from the impact and sit try to get up, feeling shrapnel digging into my skin. Duke screams from beside me, struggling to get free from the debris his reins are tangled in. I feel hands on my arm and I shake my head as I continue to try to reorient myself.