The Travelers of the Tree

Chapter 37 - Race to the Tree

"Matt," David said, "We need these horses to gallop. Now! We don't have reigns, so hold on tight to the mare, and kick the belly." Kick the belly? That sounded preposterous to Matt, but he tried it anyway. Before he knew it, the horse was running, and he they flew by David's horse. The sudden gain in speed almost made Matt lose his grip on the mare, but he held on. Katy tightened her arms around his waist. He was glad that she was on his horse.

They galloped straight past the Grunt guards at the entrance to the camp. The Grunts just had no idea what was coming. David's horse put on a burst of speed, and now the two horses were racing side by side. Tommy glanced over his shoulder, and as far as he could tell, they were not being followed.

The speed that they were traveling was at the same time terrifying, and exhilarating to Katy. She pressed her face into Matt's back, and closed her eyes tightly. In her mind she saw a hazy image of green grass. As she concentrated more, the image became sharper. She saw a green field, with a small pond in it. Then she saw a little girl, of about seven, on a horse, laughing wildly. Te girl wore a pink shirt under overalls. She did not have the reigns to the horse. She seemed to be riding, letting the horse go wherever it wanted.

She ignored the breakneck speed in which she was traveling in the world outside her mind, and concentrated on the image that had popped into her head. The horse moved slowly towards the pond, and she could see that the sky was blue. She could almost feel that faint breeze that was blowing, bending the mall flowers on the ground to its will. Then the horse reached the pond. It began to drink. From her overhead view, Katy was able to focus down on the pond, almost like she was looking through a camera lens, and zooming in. When she saw the reflection of the girl in the pond, she realized that it was a younger version of herself. Then she noticed what was on each side of the horse.

Not what, but who. To the right of the horse, there was a man, who had brown hair, and a boyish grin. He held the reigns of the horse, and was making sure that the horse did not jerk wildly while drinking. To the left of the horse was a woman who was wearing a cowboy hat. She didn't seem like the kind of person who usually did, more like someone who wore the hat because of what she was doing. Katy recognized these people.

They were her parents. She opened her eyes, and realized that tears were streaming out of them, dampening Matt's shirt. She could not remember anything else about them, but she could remember how much she loved them. A years worth of missing them hit her all at once.

"Are you okay?" Matt shouted, worried because he felt her shudder.

"Yes," she replied in a small voice. She buried her head in his back again.

Tommy turned around and did not notice any sign of pursuit. The moon was shining brightly this time, so he should have seen anyone who was following them. At the very least he would have seen the dust cloud that would have been brought up. Yet, there was no movement on the road behind. He shouted this news to David.

"Maybe they think that we are hiding in the forest," David had shouted back.

"No. We passed the Grunts at the front gate. They know that we are on this road." David didn't know what was going on.

"It's weird, but either way, we have to get to that tree as soon as possible." They were nearing the fork in the road where they would have to turn towards the tree. Erring on the side of caution, both Matt and David tried to slow their horses before they got to it. Both horses seemed happy to oblige. When they got to the fork, they turned towards the left.

"There is no sense in riding these horses to exhaustion before we get to the tree," David had said. "Right now it seems we are not being followed. I think we should continue at a slightly slower pace. Otherwise, we're going to have to walk the rest of the way when these horses collapse." The others agreed. All four of them had their hopes up. Maybe at the Camps, everything was so hectic, that they hadn't started following them. If that were the case, they'd be at the tree way before they could be caught.