Medieval Thing

Chapter Four

Scout.

She had first been called it as a name, rather than a title, on this very same stoney, shellrock path.

The path was wide enough for four horses to walk comfortably side by side, and still leave some room on either side.

It lay between two rows of towering trees, exactly what they were, she wasn't sure, but they were huge, whatever they were. But then, she wasn't much of a plant inclined person, so they could've been almost anything.

A sudden memory from that day forced its way into her mind, and she gripped her horse, who was standing beside her, for support.

Dragons the size of flying cats swarmed around her as she uselessly fired arrows into the fray and aimed well away from any of her six companions. Six? No, five. The sixth, Nyala, was missing.

Arwin, knowing the bow could do nothing, placed it against the tree trunk and pulled a knife from its compartment in her quiver, also a handful of arrows, and snuck around the trees. She hoped desperately that Commander Jon had told her to go somewhere, or at least knew where she was.

The commander sat in the shelter of a large rock, with his daggers ready, and almost threw one at Arwin when she came up behind him.

Jon stopped his hand at Arwin, the young scout girl, jumped back in surprise.

He himself wasn't much older than her, but that was what he had come to call her anyway.

"Commander," she called desperately over the noise of many beating wings, "Nyala, where is she? Please tell me you know where she is, Commander."

Jon started at her in astonishment, at himself for not keeping track of where all his men were, and at the scout for caring so much, before he realised he was starting and it's not unusual for people other than himself to care about other people.

He looked at the ground regretfully.

"No, I'm sorry, I hadn't been paying attention to where anyone is."

Arwin liked at him, almost horrified, but definately more worried about Nyala's life than her own, before charging back toward the nearest trunk to continue her search, lashing out with her knife and arrows. She eventually made her way to someone who could tell her that they had seen Nyala going behind a certain tree.

The crazy swarming of the cat-sized piranha-dragons slowed somewhat as Arwin Hickory moved toward said tree, and by the time she was halfway there they had started leaving.

Arwin realised in horror where the things were going a few seconds before there was a blood curdling scream. It was cut off with a sudden gurgling sound, and, a dozen seconds later, all of the piranha-cat dragons departed in the opposite direction from where Arwin and the others were.

Arwin, oblivious to her trembling legs, ran to the tree, splashing her black boots with blood as she did so.

The sight that met her eyes was worse than one you meet in a nightmare: Nyala was still alive. 

 * * * * *

Helpful suggestions:

THE STAR KINGDOM, THE OCTOPUS KINGDOM, AND THE DRAGON KINGDOM, just in case.

Scout's horse

The book

Thanks for reading, I hope you're enjoying it so far, and please remember, feel free to point out any grammatical errors, even if you're not sure, thanks again for reading,

—Bee