I breathed in as the wind whipped through my hair and leaves blew across the trail ahead of us. Grey walked Beat next to me and soon we came to a wide open field.
"Race you," I said, smirking.
"Oh come on, you know that's not fair," Grey pouted. "Bear doesn't move past standing still." I laughed.
"Well then, let the best rider win," I clicked my tongue and Aries galloped off through the tall grass.
I glanced over my shoulder to see Grey struggling to get Bear to put a foot forward. I laughed and turned around, just in time to see a huge hawk fly not four feet from Aries's head. Aries stopped dead, making me fling forward. He shook his head wildly and back up a step before resting so high into the air I thought he was going to topple over backwards. I twisted my fingers through his mane and hung on for my life. Aries bucked twice before darting sideways and charging to the left, into a thick woods, me still hanging on for dear life, practically laying on his ears.
One of my biggest fears was exactly what was happening now. Me half on, half off the horse, tearing through the woods, when at any moment me or the horse could smack into a tree and..die? I'm now sure if you'd die from something like that or not.
It hit me then that Grey didn't know these trails as well as I did and had probably already gotten lost picking his way through the woods trying to rescue me like fucking prince charming.
Aries ducked sideways and I slid on to the side of his neck, my arms wrapped around his neck. I clamped my hands together and squeezed my eyes shut, for I knew I couldn't hold on much longer.
"SUMER!" I heard Grey's voice in the distance. It sounded so far away. I wondered how deep into the woods we had gone, and I gripped his neck tighter because I didn't want him, or me, getting lost out here.
Aries shied to avoid a tree but unfortunately I didn't move with him, he went left and I went right, and screaming I smacked into the tree. All I remember is seeing the leaves where the sky should be, and seeing the sky on the ground. Then everything went black.
– – –
Grey's POV
– – –
As soon as she had sat on that horse, I knew it was a bad idea. I tried to tell her not to but of course it wasn't going to work.
As soon as she challenged me to race across the field, I knew it was a bad idea. I didn't try to stop her though because I knew it wouldn't work.
As soon as that huge bird swooped off the tree, I should've screamed at her to stop, but I didn't, because I knew it wasn't going to work. All I could do was watch in horror as she fell forwards and took off into the woods.
"Come on Bear, this time it's important," I muttered to the horse, urging him into a canter. I took him in between the same two trees that Sumer had been through seconds ago. I suddenly realized how dangerous galloping through the woods was. I don't know anything about horses but how to ride them but at least I knew that. I kept Bear at a canter though, and looked for the broken branches and upturned leaves, trying to follow Aries path. Bear slowed to a trot and I didn't push him to canter because I knew he couldn't.
"SUMER!" I screamed, my voice bouncing off the trees. I was wondering how far she had gotten when I heard her scream. I turned Bear in the direction of it, but after a split second, her scream went to a sickening silence.
"Sumer?" I whispered. I looked ahead and saw Aries tail swishing through the trees, before slowing to a stop, finally realizing the danger was gone. I looked through the woods between Aries and me, and saw her lying there, upside down, against a tree. As I got closer I could see the leaves stained red under her head.
