Ride Alone

Chapter 3

We had left the mountains behind us and were now trudging through the plains. Ro seemed depressed, hanging her head and walking stiffly. But Ranger and I rejoiced at being in the open grasslands.

"Woohoo!" I cheered and ran across the grass. A bunch of sparkle horses raced across behind me. Ranger grinned. He had managed to conjure an owl and was riding it low across the ground. He stuck his tongue out as he swooped passed me.

My ears burned and I spawned a giant cat. Ro shrieked as it bounced passed her and chased Ranger's owl. He glanced behind him and his eyes went wide.

"Abandon ship!" he wailed and back flipped off the owl, just as the cat landed on it. Both animals exploded in a shower of tiny white diamonds. Ro ran up and shoved gloves on our hands.

"Both of you stop it before you hurt yourselves." She snarled. I raised my eyebrows but couldn't do anything magic because of the gloves. They were the annoying type that you almost needed another hand to get them off.

Ranger grumbled and swore for a full ten minutes as we walked across the plains, heading to the forest. Ro was hurrying a bit. I guess she felt too uncovered in the grassland. She looked up suddenly and we stopped.

Trees loomed above us, trees taller than any we had ever seen before. They were so thick you could build a house in them and still have room left over. Thick brown vines twisted all the way up the trunks and along the flourishing branches.

We stared up at them in awe, until Ro started walking in. Ranger and I exchanged looks of disbelief, before running into the forest after her. It was very dark in the forest and soon all we could see was trees.

"Ro, where are we going?" I asked huffily. She looked back at me and grumbled. I noticed she was limping a little and remembered she was used to the sharp cold stone of the mountains, not the soft grass of a forest. We kept walking.

Ranger suddenly ran forward and grabbed my arm. He put a hand over my mouth when I tried to yell at him. His eyes kept darting around us and I realised he was scared. I peeled his hand away.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered. I drew my daggers at his tone of voice. Ro came back and stood next to us, watching. I strained my ears and heard cheerful singing in an ancient language, but switching to English every few minutes.

Flying around the woods we go

Never caring always chancing

Never tripping always dancing

A bow in our hand and a dagger's

Blade

We always hit and flip and fade

Away from enemies eye and blades

Ro groaned and put her head in her hands. I listened again, but couldn't understand any of the words. Ro stood up and started banging her head on the tree. Ranger ran over and pulled her away.

"Woods Men." she moaned. "We walked right into Woods Men territory." Ranger looked confused and I mentally went through every legend and Elfling story I remembered.

Woods Men... Like elves but taller. And they can swim and run faster than a cheetah. Highly aggressive. People say that they never miss a shot. Ever. I broke into a sweat. A sudden sound, like a twig breaking, took me from my thoughts.

The forest was silent, the Woods Men had stopped singing. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up and glanced behind me. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see a young man holding a bow in our direction.

"Everybody down!" I screamed. We all hit the dirt, and a barrage of arrows exploded over our heads and hit the thick tree beside us. We had barely got our breath back before two shapes flew from the trees and landed on us.