10 Minute Tales

Jan 16 - Flight from Injustice

She ran.
The rain slammed down, accompanied by the crash of thunder.
She ran.
Horses whinnied in their stables, panicked by the sudden motion.
She ran.
The voices were never far behind, the roads of angry men and blazing torches.
She ran.
The mud splashed into the air, sent flying by her frantic footfalls. She had to keep running. Her powers had failed her. Her true self had been revealed. After all she had done, her years of quiet servitude, her raising the bastard son of the lord... nothing. It meant nothing, because she wasn't human. Her tail fluttered behind her, injured by a lucky swing from another villager. She slid to round a corner and fell over, slamming into the mud with a grunt. "Ha..." she scrambled to her feet and ran again, ducking into a side-alley. She had to pause, winded. It wasn't right! All because of one illusionary slip, one wrong syllable. It wasn't... the voices grew closer, spurring her on to run again. The village wall was in sight, if she could vault it...! She bunched a fist, preparing her magic to help her. The energy came nearly unbidden, catching her by surprise. Her feet slowly left the ground as she channeled the magic down, letting the windstep spell take her off and into the air, running a little faster. She let herself relax a little, when... swish! An arrow sung a path through the air, cutting past her. She cried out in surprise, letting the magic slip from her control. The wind, once a gentle road into the rain and the sky, now became a whirling beast that threw her over the wall angrily. She screamed in shock but landed with a thump, groaning weakly as she tried to get over the pain. The magic had worked, at least, she was over the wall. The humans had left only one gate open, the crowd would have to go through it. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run, but could only manage a limp at best. She needed to heal, to hide, to stay safe...