Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #18 September 2015 | Page 15

the same. Then she turned and saw that it was just in
the time; the soldiers had filed outside, searching for
them. She kneed the horse again, begging it silently to
move as fast it could.

“Emmy...” Arwyn met her gaze. “You don’t
have to do this.”
“Huh?”

She was rewarded. The stallion shifted to a
fierce gallop and she barely remembered to turn it
westward toward the river. There was a used path and
she knew she’d have to take it. She just hoped she
knew what she was doing. Her life—and Emmy’s—
depended on it. As the horses rushed forward down
the path, Arwyn thought ahead as to how to lose the
chasing soldiers.

“I mean… you can go by yourself. I’ll give
you all the gold. You can run the other way and I’ll
make sure they follow me.”

The river turned northern, with the southern
route eventually meeting a lake. So north was better…
except that’s where the leader—the tyrant Renddan—
was currently residing. Did she dare try to escape
deeper into the lands he had conquered so far? Where
the soldiers could summon more help? Or would they
even dare admit that a lone girl managed to best them?
She had so little time to decide and so little sanctuary.
For reasons they did not know, Renddan had
expanded his army and turned southward, conquering
every town and village and city in sight. He enslaved
the populace, stamped out rebellion, and essentially
ruled them all with an iron fist. None knew what he
was looking for, but he was slowly visiting every
single residence that he had captured, seeking
someone. He would look at every man and woman
between a certain age and decide whether they lived
or died. He did all that personally, which was why his
sudden expansion had slowed down.
But even so…. Arwyn was afraid to walk
into the heart of a conquering lord. Why alert him to
someone who had successfully defied his soldiers?
Yet, at the same time, they wouldn’t expect her to
flee into their territory. But Emmy… it wasn’t right
to force her to come along. She bit her lip, slowed
the horse as it rushed into the river, water splashing
everywhere.
“Why are we stopping?” Emmy asked,
shivering with fear and the cold water. She had yet to
release the saddle horn.

“What?!” Emmy reached over and grabbed
her friend’s shoulder. She took a moment to rebalance
herself after nearly falling off, and faced Arwyn as
best she could with the uncooperative horse. “No.
We’re in this together. You saved me, Arwyn!”
Arwyn bit her lip and looked away. “Only
because I decided to argue and push back. You were
trying to save me, and instead this happened!” She
gestured to her friend’s bruised cheek. “If I had
minded my tongue...”
“Wrong.” Emmy sat straighter, calm in her
certainty. “They were going to hurt you. He could
colour it differently if he wanted to, but that man was
going to rape you. And when I decided to interfere, he
was going to add me to it! You saved us.”
Arwyn took a shuddering breath and bowed
her head, her long blonde hair falling to hide her face.
Emmy didn’t blame her. So it was best to stop thinking
on that and find a way to save them both again.
“You’re my best friend, Emmaline,” Arwyn managed.
“You’re the only one I have.”
grin.

“And don’t you forget it,” Emmy said with a

Arwyn chuckled. “All right. We have to
hurry… so here’s our options: north, and hide among
the army until we can get out. Or south and try to
evade them.”
Emmy pursed her lips, the moonlight
silvering her red hair. Thoughtful, she glanced at
both directions, weighing their options. “North,” she
decided. “They won’t think of us to go that way.”

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