Chapter 4 - Ambush

They left the tavern before the sun had fully risen the next day.
Rayne was quite shaken after her encounter with death, and she was silent as they left on horseback from the village, staring blankly ahead at the colouring horizon. The owls slept in shaded perches under Xavier’s horse’s belly.
He also, had remained silent, and she wondered if he was trying to forget it too.
His grey stallion, Prince, placid enough, was quite uneasy with the perches and the silence, whickering often to Rayne’s silver mare, Moon.
Rayne broke the silence.

“Where are we going now?” she said stiffly.

“To a town, not far from the forest coming up,” he replied, pointing absently at a vast patch of green a little way in front of them.

They had made good progress since that morning, pausing only to obtain horses and supplies from a trader in the village. They rode in quiet again.
Soon, they had reached the forest, which seemed to stretch for miles and miles across the dirt path.

“If you can’t go around it, you have to go through it,” Rayne said mildly.

She kicked Moon forward, going at a slow trot. Xavier grimaced and followed, glancing about him nervously.
The forest was dark, even in daylight. The owls rejoiced from the change, and flew from their perches, swooping about happily, screeching every now and then.

“Can you ask them to scan the area?” Xavier asked.

“They’ve gone silly from the change. I’ll go.”
She handed her reigns over, edging down from her horse. Her body began to change, shrinking and growing large wings, her mouth forming into a sharp beak, her staff becoming part of silver plumage growing steadily over her body.

“A silver raven…” Xavier whispered in awe under his breath as Rayne took off, fluttering above the canopy of trees.

Xavier rode in silence, uneasy with the rustling and screeching that came in short, loud bursts. He was now completely alone; Rayne mapping, the owls playing. All he had was the horses.

“Great help Rayne,” he grumbled as Shadow perched on his shoulder, panting slightly. He gave a loud, alarmed squawk.

Xavier glanced over his shoulder. At least five pairs of dark eyes stared back at him. The soldiers’ horses charged forward, catching Shadow by his foot, knocking Xavier on the head, but not able to catch Moon’s loose reigns.

* * *
Rayne saw nothing but trees from the sky, trees, trees and more trees. ‘Might as well turn back and go around,’ she thought to herself.

Suddenly, Opal came careering out of the canopy, hooting in alarm.
A shower of arrows followed her, narrowly missing both of them by inches. They dove down into the forest, taking shelter.

“What on earth?” Rayne gasped once she had changed back. “What happened Opal?”

The owl flew off, hooting for Rayne to follow.
She limped after the owl, panting by the time she reached a thick bush, and her escaped mare.

“What happened?” she asked Moon.

Moon snorted, urging Rayne to mount her.
Rayne did, and Moon took off at a frantic gallop. It was getting dark.

* * *
They had ridden fast, Opal flying behind, trees whipping at Rayne’s face and Moon’s sweating flanks.
The horse slowed, treading carefully and soundlessly.
Ahead was curling smoke from a campfire. Rayne dismounted, treading as carefully as the horse, placing her staff on bare earth. She moved as swiftly as she could, scrambling up trees and going as close as she dared towards the camp.
Soldiers sat unarmoured around the fire, laughing at a tall figure chained to a flag pole. Beside the figure, a large black owl was squeezed into a small brass cage.
Men cheered as a smartly dressed man rode a bucking horse, half terrified with pain.
Rayne’s face burned with anger as she slipped down the tree and, under the cover of night, went into the weapons’ tent.

“This is for Shadow,” she said as she changed shaped, growing scaly wings, sharp teeth and a long whipping tail.

“This is for Prince,” she said as she gathered her fire.

“And this is for XAVIER!” she screamed as she let the red hot fire billow from her mouth, burning and melting the weapons.

She could hear shouting outside the smoldering tent, and just as she left it, it collapsed, making a fiery orb around the weapons. She lumbered over to Xavier and Shadow, cutting their bonds with her silver claws.

“Go and free Prince!” she called as Xavier’s chains rattled to the ground.

Xavier, pale and frightened, stood frozen.

“GO!” Rayne roared, her dragon wings beating.

He ran towards the stallion, who had managed to fling his rider off, and was looking quite pleased with himself. Xavier spoke calming words and mounted Prince, taking up a discarded sword.
Rayne turned back to the soldiers who were quivering with fright in their boots. All they had were wooden staffs, and half of them had bolted out of the camp and into the surrounding forest. She frowned. ‘Where will they go?’ She thought.
Shaking the feeling off, she shifted back to her own shape, and took up her bladed staff, swinging it dangerously.

“Do you like to play?” she asked a soldier, who cringed and let out a whimper, to which Rayne grinned maliciously. “I hope you like playing rough then. Ladies first though…”

Rayne swiped the blade across the man’s stomach before he even had time to even move an inch. She whipped around, slicing down at the attacker creeping up behind her.
A cry of pain split through the air, making Rayne falter and look over her shoulder.
Xavier was kneeling, hand clutched to his side, sword embedded in a soldier’s chest. He had to use both hands to pull it free, and in that time, Rayne saw the blood.
The rest of the soldiers had fled, leaving behind their tents, horses, armour and food.
Rayne rushed over to Xavier, heart thumping in her chest.

“What happened?” She asked frantically.

“Slashed,” he replied shortly, gripping his side again. “Reach into my robes,” he commanded after a gasping breath, “and take out a green vial. Use it on the cut.”

Rayne felt around in his robes, and pulled out 3 vials. She took the green one, and poured a few drops onto his wound. He stopped clutching it, and it closed up, knitting the skin together.

“Thank you for that,” he panted, leaning back and rubbing his healed side.

Rayne smiled lopsidedly, and stood, looking at the ruins around them.
She took up her staff, and wandered over to the ashened weapons tent.
Prodding around with her toe, she found a number of boxes, badly burnt by the flames, but inside they were perfectly clean.
There were a number of sword, daggers, bows, arrows and even some throwing discs and darts, equipped with packs of poison.
She searched the soldiers quarters, dragging out pallets, blankets, armour, food, drink, clothes and some healer’s bag equipped with bandages, potions and things even Rayne couldn’t identify.
She dragged them into the middle, and both Rayne and Xavier began to sort through them, picking what they needed and what they could sell.

“We could take two more horses to carry everything, and sell them after. We can let the rest free. They were probably wild in the first place,” Xavier said once they were finished.

Rayne said nothing.
They packed everything, mounted Moon and Prince, and rode on through the forest. Shadow and Opal sulked on their shaded perches.

* * *

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