Not That Far

Chapter 24-Gangway

I wasted no time thinking, I simply plucked Shay from where he laid on the ground and took to the air, even thought the act caused my charred hand to spasm and threaten to give out. I had to gnaw on the inside of my cheek to distract myself from from the searing, white-hot pain.

The beast nipped and howled at my tail as Zaruu fell in beside me, informing me of what the best course of action would be. Shay clung to my neck as I hurriedly conferred with Zaruu through the mind link, but his little hands were clammy and weak.

'Mind telling me what the heck that Thing is?' I quipped at Zaruu as I sent bolts of electricity at our pursuer who easily dodged them.

'That, Prince Teirin, would be a Retan.' Through the mind link I could feel him straining himself to keep himself hurtling almost two hundred clicks an hour and uphold an open link simultaneously.

The sensation of feeling what someone else was feeling still unsettled me, but I pushed to the back of my mind. There would be ample time to worry about it later.

'How do we get rid of it?' I figured if anyone knew, it would be him. So his next words were a bit of a shock.

'I'm afraid I've never meet anyone who has lived to tell the tale. But perhaps your zetan could be of assistance?'

With the suggestion from Zaruu, I whistled for Zurii and prayed she could hear me over the Retan's howls. But the beast behind us refused to be ignored a moment longer. Without the slightest bit of warning, It lunged forward and slammed an offending appendage down in between us, catching me on my right wing.

My mind went fuzzy for a few nauseating seconds as I my whole body stiffened and became immobile, causing me to spiral out of control and lose almost a kilometer of altitude before righting myself again. Shay kept a death grip around my neck and never once made a sound as we fell then leveled off.

I couldn't keep ahead of the Retan indefinitely with Shay as a deadweight I realized after that, so I told Zaruu to take him, hid and regroup later. Of course Zaruu had to make a fuss about it and refuse, even when I reminded him that I was Prince.

'True as that may be, I am afraid you're not king yet.' he said in a tone that left no room for argument, or at least verbal argument that is.

So I whispered in Shay's ear to jump before thrusting him at Zaruu with my good arm while mid-flight. I only stuck around long enough to make sure Shay was safety in Zaruu's care before I tucked my wings firmly against my back and dropped like a stone.

Just as I'd hoped, the beast dove as well and gave chase, forgetting all about my companions. I corkscrewed towards the ground, flailing like I was injured, and at the very last second I unfurled my wings with a loud clap as they caught the air, acting as parachutes to lift me well above the pebble-covered shore. But the Retan didn't fall for it. It pushed off the ground instead of crashing into it and kept after me with an unnatural persistence.

Someone must have sent it after me, I realized with dread creeping down my spine.

Grasping at straws, I flipped a tight U-turn over the Retan's head and aimed for trees next. Twisting and turning on hairpins, I traced an erratic path through the thin foliage, trying frantically to throw it off for a few moments. Just enough to find a way to get rid of it. But it only plowed down the stunted vegetation and kept up with me without batting an eye.

Looping around, I emerged in the expansive clearing strewn with tiny but sharp, metallic-looking pebbles and stones. I chewed my lip nervously as I tried not to think about crashing into that going at least one hundred and thirty clicks an hour. I glanced around, looking for anything that could stall the monster, but the place was barren. Or so I thought until I looked up into the blinding reflection of sunlight on ice.