Little Sliver Horseshoe

(PumpkinQueen23) People.

                    

Beth set off with the dog at her side. She attempted to move as quickly as possible through the undergrowth, whilst also leaving a distinct trail for the hunter to follow. Eleanor will be alright, she told herself. She's clever, she'll make it to Bogford safe and in time. For some reason Beth didn't find the thought at all soothing. Beth tried to shut out thoughts of her sister, there wasn't much Beth could do that she wasn't already doing. She quickened her pace again. the hunter couldn't be far off, but with any luck he'd have to abandon his horse to follow her through the brush. Beth heard a noise behind her, she felt a sudden jolt in her stomach and halted for a moment to listen. The sound was made by something too big to be anything other than humanoid, and she had no reason to doubt that it was the hunter. Beth sighed, she had his attention, now she just had to escape.

  Beth started to run. The dog kept pace with her, it didn't seem at all inclined to overtake her however. The dog worried Beth. She was fairly certain that 10 minutes of friendship wouldn't buy her much when the dogs master caught up with them. The trees thinned out slightly, and Beth realized that she was about to collide with a rock face. She was forced to stop far too suddenly and overbalanced backwards landing with a splat in the mud. She picked herself up hurriedly, and looked the rock face up and down. It was roughly 8 feet tall, Beth knew the dog wouldn't be able to jump it, but that meant none of the other dogs would be able to either. She ran to the rock face and started to climb. The noises that had been following her were now far to close for comfort. Beth tried to block out the sound by singing nursery rhymes inside her head and continued to concentrate on climbing. She was almost at the top when she heard a sharp whistle behind her. A few seconds later something clawed at her leg almost dragging her down the rock wall. 

Beth let out a cry. She could feel the blood dripping out of the long thin gashes in her leg. She dragged herself over the ridge at the top of the wall. She got up and began to limp forward as quickly as she could. She got about 30 metres before dizziness began to cloud her vision; it stung as though smoke was filling her eyes. She fell to her knees. Beth tore off a scrap of her dress and started clumsily binding her leg in the vain hope that her vision would recover. She didn't understand. She didn't understand why people went to such lengths for power, she'd never had power, and she'd never wanted it. She knew that she simply didn't understand people in general. She'd been informed of it many times, occasionally by her master, Mr. Montgomery, but mostly by her sister. Her sister: Beth didn't even understand Eleanor, in particular why she'd wanted to study magic so badly. And even after she'd learned so much for someone so young, the brooch still decided to link itself to Beth. She winced as she finished binding her leg. And stood up knowing that she wouldn't be able to fight the hunter if he caught up with her. She set off again.

Before long she halted once again. She was certain that she could hear something, not behind her as before, but in front of her. She froze. Then her pain was suddenly overruled by fear and she ran to the nearest tree and began to climb. She climbed almost all the way to the top of the tree before her mind caught up with her feet and she halted. Before long a figure passed right beneath the tree in which Beth was hiding. The man was tall and dressed all in black, but he looked rather more ragged than he had the first time Beth had seen him. Much like Beth, he was completely covered in mud from head to toe. He was carrying a crossbow, and creeping forward so quietly Beth was surprised she'd heard him in the first place. Beth's first wild thought was that she could jump on him from above and knock the crossbow out of his hands. But even if that succeeded, and she didn't break something in the fall, she didn't want to risk fighting him in hand-to-hand combat. Not with her injury anyway. So instead she waited silently for him to pass by. Before long he did just that, and after a few moments Beth began to make her way down from the tree. Due to her injury she didn't manage to climb as well as she may have been able to normally, and ended up falling the last few feet. She was picking herself up and cursing silently when she again heard something, this time in the distance. It was unmistakably the sound of people screaming. Beth sighed. She didn't understand people. But that didn't mean she didn't like people. Beth sent off towards the sound.