Running Away From One Thing, and Into Another.

Chapter 18: So Be It.

Happy late thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God Bless!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I watch in horror as arrows fly by. I don't know what do, I'm too scared. Should I stay and fight? Should I run? I don't know!

Suddenly, I feel myself falling. I try to scream, but the impact of the ground knocks the breath out of me. It doesn't take me even a second to recognize that I'm not the one hurt, but the horse. It is all in slow motion as the beast starts falling on me. I roll on my side until I hear the horse make contact with the ground.

“Get up!” I look up to find Brean just above me. I reach out for his hand, and feel his strength when he stands me up. I don't dare look around, I have got to get out of here. There are so many arrows... why aren't we all ready dead?

Brean, still holding my hand, navigates through the arrows. I give a brief glance behind me to notice that there is only three behind us. The sisters and Siyeth are on our tails.

Running besides Brean is easy. I'm a lot faster than I used to be. Maybe being a jalz isn't so bad.

After about ten minutes of running and five minutes of no arrows, we pause. I don't need that much of a breath, but the others do. I want to mourn the loss of Priden and Torth, but there is no time for that. Not now.

“Do you think we lost them?” Tiyan asks in between breaths.

Listin shakes her head. “No, they wouldn't give up so easy. They are planning something else.”

“Let's keep moving.” Brean sighs. “Guess none of us could get a horse. So that means we are walking.” Following up his words, Brean walks forward. I follow next, and I hear the two slave girls behind me along with Siyeth.

For a while, nothing really happens. Each second feels like a minute, so I can't say how long we have been walking. I constantly sniff the air, and listen. I glare at the trees while I scan through them. They hide the very ones who want me dead.

I take another sniff and stop dead in my tracks. “Brean. They are here.” I hiss. He turns himself around and is about to say something.

But I never knew what he said.

“Behind you!” I scream, and Brean turns just in time to dodge a blade. He snatches his sword, and quickly blocks. How I wish I had my sword. I turn to Listin and she has a bow strung with an arrow. Beside her, Siyeth also has an armed bow. Am I the only defenseless one here? Well, there is Tiyan.

I motion for Tiyan to come be by me so we can run. Listin puts her hand on my shoulder and leans over to whisper quickly in my ear. “Care for her. Please, care for her. Restore Talyare. Let me die knowing that Talyare will not be a corrupted world. Let me die knowing I did my part to save the old world and to kill the new.”

“I promise.” I simply say. Listin nods, and her face shows no fear. She has accepted death as her fate, and is willing to face it head on. Her hard face is difficult to read, but her eyes aren't. They are defiant, proclaiming that this young Talyarian won't go down without a fight. That she will fight her heart out before taking her last breath. I admire her.

I take Tiyan, and start running. I'm sniffing more than a dog as I run through the trees. I'm running as hard and fast as I can. I can't hear anything besides my heart drumming in my ears. Even my thoughts are clouded and uncertain.

My mind, without warning, flashes to when I was running with Azjin away from the slave farm. I didn't know what true fear was back then. I thought it was simply worry about being beaten by Quaden or maybe even Targon if I screwed up enough. That doesn't even compare to the fear that I have experienced over the past six months. Fear of wondering who will die and who will live. My old fear is like a wonderland; completely better than this new fear I have.