Yuragwyn: Yours

---Chapter 15

∞Kaitra∞

I zinging noise startles me awake well before dawn. Traugott—a notoriously heavy sleeper, I have discovered—only rolls over and snuggles down under his blankets. I snatch my bow from beside me and aim at a dark figure 30 yards away.

"Traugott!" I hiss as I let it fly.

My cry not only awakens him but also Calanthe and Briallen. And as the shadow falls to the grass, the shadows around it grab their weapons as well, tense and waiting for a single arrow or glint of a blade in the half moonlight.

And then we see them, Traugott and I. A wave of black-clad soldiers rises and falls with synchronized footstep. Calanthe's eyes widen in terror, and she rolls out from under her blankets and slides on her boots, still lying down to avoid being a target.

"Calanthe, Briallen, listen to me," Traugott hisses, eyes still trained on the advancing company. "Pack up only essentials, mine and Kaitra's too. Calanthe, hand me your bow. When I give the word, I want you two to make a dash for one of the pegasuses and fly out straight from here. When you can no longer see them, land and wait for us to join you."

An arrow sinks into the soft dirt by my head, and Traugott and I answer it simultaneously. Briallen and Calanthe scramble to do as told, and I am thankful for the slight dip of the ground over where they are, providing a small bit of coverage for them. Before long, they are poised and ready to run.

Traugott gets up on his fingers and toes and moves sideways towards a protective brush. I try to follow him, but my arms give out only a couple of shifts later, and I hit the ground with an unbearably loud thud.

"Roll!" Traugott says, grabbing my arm and yanking me to him. A cloud of black arrows collides with the ground in long, straight rows. My heart sinks as I begin to count the arrows. There are many, too many, and I look again at our assailants and apply the same opinions.

Traugott waves furiously back and Calanthe and Briallen, and they take off like does bounding to safety. Before the enemy even responds verbally, they have cut the tie that had restrained the pegasus and are mounted on the thoroughly shaken beast. Calanthe slaps it, hard, and they speed off down the slight ridge and shoot into the sky.

Arrows try in vain to reach them, but they fall harmlessly into the grass beyond the bare spot in which we were sleeping just moments before. They are safe, flying high and far away. I am happy for them, yes, but now our attackers are even with Traugott and I, and we are only barely inside this knot of thorns and scraggly trees that in the winter are painfully thin.

Traugott gets up in almost a push-up position and gestures me under him, which puts him on the outside, and we both scoot farther in. I wince as thorns pierce my back and poke my neck and head but I know if I do not press in farther I will have much more deadly thorns to fear. I lay my head up against his strong back, wishing to gather strength and comfort from his steady-beating heart. He smells of campfire and prairie grass—it is too cold still to break much of a sweat. If we weren't moments away from being Granzian pincushions, I might have been able to relax, the body heat warming me much more effectively than the woolen cloaks and scratchy blankets.

Husky voices hold council just feet away from us. They are perplexed by the second beast, and why two girls would be camping in army uniforms alone. They mention the "Daughter of Yuragwyn" not a couple times, and each time I press a bit closer to Traugott as if to hide not only from them but from the title itself. I will myself not to sneeze as Traugott's ponytail slides across the bridge of my nose.