A Fairy Tale With Two

Chapter 16

     With the help of the transportation device, Kaizen and his two dozen men accompanying him had passed the border and were only a mile or so away from the Irisanni castle.

      Rowan sat atop Sandy, stroking the beautiful palomino's ears, "You're such a pretty horse," she said, smiling as the horse's ear twitched in response. Aliyah was riding beside her on Dust, and Kaden had gotten a black horse to ride along beside them.

      Kaizen was riding an impressively large horse that Rowan had instantly adored, and he led the group. "I sent a message on ahead to your parents," he told her as he fell back from the lead to ride alongside her, "They know you're coming."

       "Thank you," she smiled at him, "I owe you so much."

       "It's been a pleasure," he assured her, "And if you need anything else from me, all you have to do is ask."

      "I appreciate it," she nodded, "And same thing goes for you. I'll help you too."

      Kaizen gave a brisk nod in reply. He looked up at the blue sky above, tilting his head back so his black hair fell out of his eyes, "And I'm sorry about your stepmother. It's horrible, how she treats you, and that she tried to get you killed."

       "Well, either way, it's not going to matter," Rowan ducked her head, "I suppose someone told you about my curse?"

       "I knew from the moment your name was discovered," he replied, and his gaze clouded as he faced her, "When does the curse come in to effect?" He cleared his throat quickly, "Assuming you don't mind me asking."

        "It's on my eighteenth birthday," Rowan said quietly, her eyes falling to watch the bobbing of her horse's head in front of her. She curled her fingers through its dusty, white mane.

      "When is that?"

       "Too soon," her voice was barely a whisper, and he had to lean forward to hear her.

        "Oh," Kaizen said, not sounding certain how to reply. He held her gaze, though she wanted to look away, "I'll do everything in my power to make sure you wake up. And I mean this. Somewhere in this world, there is a cure, and—"

        "No," Rowan gave a small shake of her head, "Don't waste your time. I'm fine with it. It's just... peculiar to know exactly when you're going to die."

        "Sir!!" A soldier in the front shouted, and they all looked up to see a huge boulder flying through the air towards them. It landed with devastating impact, and the horses reared up in panic.

        The boulder had wiped out several soldiers, and Kaizen yanked on his horse's reigns to halt it, "Catapult fire?!"

          "Watch out!" Aliyah screamed as four boulders followed behind the first one.

        "Scatter!" Kaizen ordered, and the horses didn't hesitate to race off with their riders still on their backs. He held his own horse steady, looking with bewilderment to Rowan, "Why are they attacking us?"

        "I-I don't know!" Rowan shouted back, trying to keep her anxious horse from bolting with a reassuring hand on its head. A second barrage of rocks barreled down toward them, and Kaizen pulled the reigns to steer his horse out of the way.

        The air filled with arrows from the distance, arcing towards them. Kaizen leapt off of his horse and tackled Rowan off of her own. They landed hard, but Kaizen used his sword to slice off Sandy's saddle as the horse bolted past them, and he pulled the saddle over both of them for shelter as the arrows rained down.