Chased

“ECLIPSE HORSES IN BLUE” by Helena Wilsen-Saunders

It seemed the further they ran, the hotter it got. Trickles of sweat traced his eyes and his spine, and the horse‘s hide was slippery sleek. But at the rim of the bleak horizon he could make out--barely--the rock-strewn foothills bordering the looming ominous mountains, blacker than the night. Laki guessed that it would take them, at most, a couple hours more to reach them. 

Riding under the stars gave the whole scene an even stronger dreamy feel. Their otherworldly patterns would have undermined any learned astronomer, but astronomy had never been Laki’s forte. Stars were stars, and now when everything else seemed foreign in this parallel universe, they were all the more beautiful and comforting. Strange planets dotted the sky, small browns and big reds, violets and greens. There was a small blue-gray one he thought familiar, with a golden pinpoint beyond it, perhaps a far-off sun.

With the skies for comfort and Brimstone for company, he was fulfilled. An hour or so later, and the mountains that held the answers were finally looking bigger. Brimstone jerked forward, lengthening his stride, so suddenly that Laki was forced to reach forward and fling his arms around his neck to keep from falling. “Easy, Brim, take it easy. You’ll run yourself to death,” he murmured, watching strips of white lather dripping off the horse’s heaving chest. He had already been galloping for so long--and this was no Arabian legend, where a horse could run for days on end without tiring. He feared his lung would burst, as an old donkey’s once did at his grandfather’s farm years ago.

He looked back. The men who chased him were no longer black dots on the horizon. He could count them now—seven—and could see the gleam of their swords

 

So he shut his mouth, and prayed silently that Brimstone wouldn’t go down under the pressure and the fatigue. By the sound of their eerie howls, the warriors were gaining ground. Could Brimstone, exhausted and running heavily now, might outrun them all. Or he might not.

 

It could cost him his life either way.

 

Laki didn’t have the heart to urge Brimstone faster, but the horse sensed their coming and put his last extra spurt, streaking like a black arrow, thick plumes of dust billowing behind him. The horses wheezed, slowed, and the men cursed Laki savagely.

 

“Yaiiiii!” he cried, feeling a desperate wild emotion akin to hope as his horse thundered forward.

"Angreek87"