The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 67

Half a dozen mounted soldiers rounded the corner, their bulky armor creating huge shadows on the ground. 

Omega turned to them. "I'm glad to see you. Now, if you won't mind . . ."

This was my best chance. Even though Omega had his sword still pointed toward me, his attention was diverted. If I waited, the opportunity would slip by.

I quickly spun, grabbing Omega's wrist and slamming it on the inn's stone wall. His sword clattered to the ground. As he yelped in pain, I brought my other hand up, preparing to uppercut him . . .

But before I could do anything, he caught my wrist in his non-injured hand. 

Even though I had caught him by surprise, Omega was still a primordial—one who was as good of a warrior as you could get. His instincts had kicked in within seconds and thwarted my escape attempt. 

However, he only kept a light grip on my wrist. I could easily try to attack him once more—but I figured he would probably counter that too.

I sagged in displeasure as the mounted soldiers dismounted their steeds and approached.

The primordial shook his head in disappointment. "I was hoping you wouldn't try anything stupid."

And at that point, a pair of horse hooves connected with his face. Or, more specifically, Charlotte's hooves.

Even though she took up as much space as three humans combined, the horse had somehow snuck up to Omega without him or me noticing. Proving her intelligence, she silently reared up onto her hind legs and gave Omega a horse's imitation of a boxer's punch.

Unfortunately, she couldn't hide from the soldiers, who drew their swords and ran the last few steps—but it was too late. 

The force of Charlotte's blow sent Omega flying back into the soldiers. With his velocity and the mass of the soldiers' armor, all of them toppled like dominoes.

I found Charlotte next to me, whinnying impatiently. Hop on, milord!

I was running out of people I could trust. But my ever-so-loyal friend, Charlotte, would never be one of them. So I climbed astride. 

The moment I gripped the reins, she was galloping. The stone walls of the adjacent building turned into blurs, while my ears were pounding with the sound of hooves on stone. Within seconds, we had made it to the middle of the street, and our next obstacle: Fauvel.

The horse stood proudly to the side watching our every move silently. Charlotte began slowing down, seeming unsure if Fauvel would block our path.

I glanced behind us impatiently. My pulse quickened. The soldiers had gotten to their feet and were climbing astride their horses. They'd catch up within seconds if Charlotte kept on hesitating. Omega was running towards us since his horse was in front of us.

As we passed Fauvel, he didn't do anything except say, Good luck. The second her back hoof passed Fauvel, Charlotte sped up to her max speed again. 

But the time we'd spent passing Fauvel had cost us our lead. I could hear several hoofbeats behind us. I caught a glimpse of the lead soldier a second behind us from a reflection off a nearby window, his sword gleaming in the afternoon sun. 

As we hurtled around a corner, I saw Omega mount Fauvel. He patted the horse on the flank, but unlike the other times I'd seen this interaction, Fauvel didn't give any indication that he felt it. Instead of pursuing us, he was helping us escape. Thanks for that, Fauvel.

But something felt . . . off. The second we turned left off the street, the soldiers seemed to relax their pace, allowing a gap to grow between us. It was a small one—one that a normal person wouldn't notice. 

But I wasn't a normal horseman. Unfortunately, In a matter of days, I'd been fleeing far too much on horses.

I thought back to when the soldiers had appeared. They had turned right into the street—meaning they'd come the opposite way: from the west.

My mind wandered to Omega. He could've stayed with me longer before capturing me; I had no suspicions about him. But what if he was trying to capture me as something big was going to go down today?

Therefore it would be safe to assume most of the soldiers had been called to Chaos' location to protect him, I thought as we galloped past buildings. So this just might be another diversion: a backup plan to chase me away.

Or I was just thinking about it too much, and the Chaos soldiers were trying to capture me.

But no. There was a feeling in my stomach that made me think I was right; a feeling that had saved me many times over.

It took few seconds, but I made up my mind. I told Charlotte, We're going in the opposite direction of where we want to go.

What? Charlotte asked unbelievably. How do you know that?

So I explained my train of thought: The soldiers had been routed to Omega from Chaos' location, and they were now trying to get us away from them. As I talked, the idea felt more and more stupid, but Charlotte just listened patiently.

In the end, she just said, That makes sense.

Really? I said, relieved.

Really. Just . . . there's one thing I'm unsure about.

I was confused. What is it?

How are we going to turn around? With her head, she gestured towards the pursuing soldiers. Doesn't really look like they'll let us through. 

Oh, you'll get through, I told her. You're immortal. As for me, I have a plan. 

What do I have to do?

Try to get rid of as many guards as you can. That'll make the odds of me surviving better.

I'll try my best. With that, Charlotte thundered around a corner.

Only, when she was in the middle of the maneuver, she turned sharply in the opposite direction and kept galloping. I gripped the reins tightly as my body almost slipped out of the saddle, but when I regained my bearing I realized we were now heading west.

The soldiers had been right behind us, so when Charlotte turned, they turned. However, they weren't expecting Charlotte to double back. The three lead soldiers desperately pulled at the reins, urging their horses to follow when they realized what was happening, but they were too deep into the turn. Still, the horses tried to turn but ended up skidding to a halt.

Meanwhile, three of the soldiers had been hanging back, and simply stopped their horses before they turned. Thus, I found myself staring at three sharp swords as Charlotte galloped towards them. Maybe my plan won't work after all, I thought with a gulp of fear.