Burning Hearts

Chapter 2.2 A Desperate Run

I turned to face the enemy and I could see three of them falling. Valcura's arrows were dead on. This girl is amazing. They are going to be dead before they even reach us.

Three more arrows flew past me and my confidence grew. I knew we were going to survive. Suddenly the 8 pegusis riders rose higher and moved closer together. They dropped all at once and then flew back up to match the height of the air infantry suad. This time no-one fell to their deaths.

"What was that? What did they just do", I asked.

Dalabar spoke up. "Armored wing formation. It's where the pegasis have the outside of there wings covered in thin armor. Usually there is only three like that in a flyer squad due to lack of flying speed. Though the rest of the squad matches there speed so the armor can cover them from arrows. It works well vs small arrow assaults."

Well.... I guess things aren't going to be as easy as I thought.

"Can't we just fly past them?"

Odelius laughed, "And have them behind us? That would be worse. Best if we kill them now. That way we don't have to worry about them later."

He raised his right hand, shooting a fireball directly at the enemy.

I looked forward, wanting to see the outcome of his attack. Then a small fireball emerged from the back-line of the enemy. It grew and hit the fireball that Odelius shot at them. they both erupted making it look like the sky just blew to pieces. 

The enemy was getting really close and I became eager for it to all be over. 

"Incoming arrows", Valcura yelled out. 

The enemy was smart. They timed their arrows to hit us right before their Pegasus riders would make contact. 

"Here we go", i heard the girl whisper. 

I looked up and could see the arrows coming straight for us. Two of Valcura's arrows flew past me and was heading straight for one of the enemy Pegasus. I was just able to see the enemy pegasus dive to doge the arrows as we dived ourselves. 

I nearly dropped my knife as we did a 360 turn dive to our left. I felt as though my brain just fell out of my skull. Just as we turned upright, the girl looked up and i followed her action. There was a pegasus diving right down to us . She then pulled the reins of our pegasus to the right. The enemy pegasus flew down past our left side and i could here the enemy's lance scrape against the armor located on the underside of our pegasus. The girl gripped her lance and we headed up to another pegasus about forty feet away. She pointed her lance upward, to the right and spun us as we flew past the pegasus. My head began feeling dizzy. We leveled out and i noticed blood dripping from her lance. I looked down and the pegasus was falling to the trees, eventually hitting the ground. Looking down reminded just how high we were. A fall that far would kill anyone. The previous  pegasus that attacked us was flying up toward us, looking to attack us from below. Valcura flew past us shooting her arrows at the pegasus beneath us. She hit her mark and the pegasus began to fall toward the trees.

I looked up and the sky lit with fire. Odelius seemed to be having a hard time taking out their mage.

It seemed he couldn't get through any of their spells. I began to worry. Which surprised me, because I hardly knew the man. "Is he going to be all right?" I asked.

With a straight face the girl replied, "It may not look it; But he's doing just fine. Us on the other hand. Well, we're about to be in some real trouble."

She was right. The other 6 Pegasi were coming right at us.

"Valcura", she said as she began to undue the chain that was holding her onto our Pegasus.

"Right behind you my lady"

"Keep me alive"

"Yes my lady"

The girl stood up onto the Pegasus holding her spear in one hand and the other gripping tightly the reins.

I became scared and confused. "Wait, what are you doing? Your going to fall off."

"Get your knife ready. I'm going to jump onto their Pegasus and kill them. As soon as I jump I want you to drop thirty feet, level out, and turn slightly right. At that point I will jump down to you."

"Wait I don't know how to control one of these things."

"Have you ever ridden a horse? It's just like that, except you can go up and down."

"No, I've never ridden one."

"It's really easy. Good luck."

She handed me the reins and jumped onto one of the pegasi as it flew past. I grabbed the reins and before I could do anything another enemy Pegasus flew past my right side. I could hear their weapon scrape against the armor. Another Pegasus was about to hit straight into me.

Without me doing anything I suddenly was diving and their lance barely missed my head. I pulled back the reins and then I leveled out. It was allot more then thirty feet but I figured it wouldnt matter. Turning slightly right, I looked up and the sky continued to light up as the fireballs from Odelius hit the group of  infantry. Killing at least 15 of them.

I looked up to try and find the girl. She was jumping quickly to and from each Pegasus as Valcura shot down the ones the girl couldn't reach. Before I knew it there was only one Pegasus left. And it was diving straight for me.

I grabbed the knife the girl had given me and pulled it out of its sheath. Pointing it toward the incoming Pegasus, my hand began to shake.

I could feel my heart begin to beat faster and faster.

I was scared.

I didn't know what to do.

I took a deep breath to try and calm my nerves. Yet, that did nothing.

As the enemy crossed above me I jabbed my knife as hard as I could in the direction the the enemy. The enemy Pegasus slammed into the right wing of my Pegasus and we began to fall.

I tightly gripped the reins trying to pull them up to stop us from falling. The Pegasus wings closed and we began to fall even faster. The trees below were getting closer and I pulled even harder on the reins.

Nothing.

"Is this really where I die", I said quietly to myself.

Just before we hit the trees. The wings of the pegasus opened up and we slowed down, gliding until we reached the ground. The Pegasus closed its wings and I undid the chain holding me on. I got off the pegasus, dropping onto my hands and knees.

I was shaking all over.

I couldn't believe what just happened.

I began taking deep breaths to calm myself.

I then got up and looked to the sky. The trees were thick and it was hard to see past them. The sky lit up again and I could see Valcura flying down toward me. I looked for the girl and couldn't spot her anywhere. I began to panic inside. Valcura got closer and I noticed the girl was riding with her.

I let out a deep sigh and a smile formed on my face.

She's ok.

They landed close by and I ran to meet them.