The Dark Legend (Star Stable) (Under Editing/Re-Write)

Chapter Thirteen: Rovar's Gap

Everyone jumped in place when heard a shrill and panicked whinny from Knut, followed by Astrid's startled yell. "OUCH, MY LEG!"
"What happened?" Rowan stepped forward and looked at Astrid, who had fallen off her startled horse. "Astrid, are you okay?"
"It grabbed me." Astrid was pale and was holding her injured leg, but Erika could see some dark red on her leg. "It reached out and GRABBED me!"
"What?" Skye looked both confused and concerned towards Astrid.
"Astrid's probably coming down from a shock," said Erika, looking startled and concerned. "But I have to admit, her injury is no joke."
"She got cut by the brambles," explained Yousef, looking worried and concerned as he looked at the injury. "I-It's pretty bad."
"Calm down." Rowan's voice was gentle, but firm. "It's just a flesh wound. You're going to be alright, okay?" He realized what a shock this for the rangers and he hoped that the this notion of Sam's was right. The rangers were bold and adventurous. There was no doubt about that. But this new situation was something else. "Who can take Astrid back to the ranger station and get her wounds tended to? She needs medical attention."
"Me!" Yousef said excitedly. "I volunteer! If you, uh, insist."
"You seemed eager, Yousef," observed Enitan. "Have my tales of the Wildwoods stuck with you after all?"
Yousef seemed spooked and nervous, but he's determined and assertive. "What?! N-No! Never!"
"The brambles..." Everyone looked at a shell shocked Astrid as she held her leg, gritting her teeth in pain. "I swear they reached out..."
The remaining rangers and their horses watched as Yousef carefully helped Astrid up onto her horse. After he mounted his stallion, he soon led Astrid and her horse through the passage.
"That was freaky." Rania's voice broke the eerie silence between the startled rangers and spooked horses. "What do you make of it?"
After realizing that Rania was asking her, Erika wasn't sure what to make of it. She was pretty startled by the incident, but she's not ready to give up just yet. But nobody has been on this path for ages, so there might be unexpected things here. "There's more to this place than we think."
"You can say that again!" agreed Rania. "Seriously, though, there's something about this place... I just can't put my fingers on it. It feels weird."
"You can say that again," Skye said.
"I agree," said Freya.
"Well, nobody has been here for who knows how long," Erika spoke up while startling the other rangers and her friends. "There's no telling what could happened."
"Enitan's been telling us some folklore about the Wildwoods," Rania told her friends. "I thought I'd heard it all, but there are things even Mama didn't know about that place. Who knows what we have in store!" 
"Two rangers down, this isn't ideal." Rowan mounted his horse, confident leadership seemed to be surrounding him. "But the path is clear now. We have to press on." Erika glanced back at the path the two mentioned rangers had taken. "She'll be fine, no use standing around here. Let's get a move on."
Rania sniffed the air as they rode away from the tunnel. "Do you guys smell that? The air, it's gotten heavier. Smells like decaying plants. That can one mean one thing..."
"We're near a compost heap?" Enitan joked, making Erika and Skye giggled while Freya and Rania both smiled with amusement.
"No silly," said Tiera. "Plants in nature release waste gas for only one reason. It means a storm is coming." Tiera's brown eyes gleamed playfully. "So basically, plant farts."
Erika and Freya both giggled together while Skye and Rania both laughed, which made Tiera smiled at them. Tiera looked proud, when she's actually glad to hear the girls' mischievous sense of humor.
The farther she rode, the more Erika felt it like she was traveling out of time, away from the modern world to a mystical place where anything was possible. She prefers the moon and the stars guiding her way towards the Wildwoods.
Enitan soon started telling them a story as they continued the ride. "Has anyone heard the tale of the white deer of the Wildwoods? They say a ghostly stag wanders between the thicket and towering trees. Seeing this rare creature is an omen of a grand experience that will soon befall."
"White deer are fascinating!" Tiera said with a smile as they headed upwards. "Their coat color is due to a condition called leucism. It usually mutates during development, but sometimes external factors are to play, like radiation! Where do you get these stories, Enitan?"
"I've been told these stories from my family for many years," said Enitan. "When my younger sister had bought me a book of ancient Jorvegian folktales, I fell in love with the culture and has felt at home on Jorvik ever since."
"That sounds like me and my family," Erika commented. "My family has passed down many stories and legends for hundreds of years. It's pretty mysterious for the most part, but it's interesting to hear such stories."
All of the rangers soon arrived to a stone bridge that goes to the other side, where the untamed Wildwoods is at. But they each came to a stop behind Rowan and his stallion. Rowan turned to look at his companions, curious and wary of the wilderness ahead. "Everyone, we must be careful. I'm not sure how long this bridge held up. But to be safe, one rider at a time will go over the bridge and wait for the others on the other side. Okay?"
"But who's going first?" Skye asked curiously.
"Me and Enitan will go first. Then Skye and Rania. Lastly, Erika, Freya, and Tiera. Is everyone ready?"
Voices of agreement could be heard with the idea. That's when Rowan and Enitan had rode across the bridge carefully. Erika felt herself relaxed slightly once she realized that the bridge was strong enough to hold everyone. Rowan and Enitan both waited on the other side as Rania and Skye both rode across the bridge too and joined the two rangers. Erika exchanged a glance with Tiera and Freya, and they smiled at each other. Nemain turned her head to look at Erika, she looked at Nemain with a small smile. Nemain's ears were pricked as she nimbly trotted up the bridge alongside Pegaso's trotting hooves and Mythic's careful hooves. Nemain gave her an encouraging nod and Erika felt herself smiling back at her mare as they returned to solid ground.
As they continued to ride, their horses' snorting could be heard as a few echoes. But Erika's eyes widened as everyone walked through a rocky archway and onto a ledge to see a vast, uniquely beautiful forest in front of them.