The riders that surrounded didn’t leave a single gap to escape. As the carriage came to a halt, I prepared for the fight. If I was quick, perhaps I could use “Interrogate” and turn a couple of the closest riders to our side, before they knew what was going on… I wondered if it would work. Then the carriage came to a halt.

“Princess Altria. Am I glad we found you!” The voice from before said as the rider pulled back their hood.

It revealed the face of a beautiful, golden haired catkin woman. As my mind raced, I wondered if some of their forces had sided with the king and the alliance. Until Altria spoke.

“Ontari! It’s you. What going on?” She asked.

The rest of the riders around us pulled back their hoods. Their number was made up mostly of catkin, but there were also humans and the odd wolfkin in amongst them.

“We’ve been looking for you!”

“Why?” Altria asked cautiously.

“After the incident in the capital the queen ordered most of our troops out. Some of the human and wolfkin joined them. She also asked me to form a squad to find you, she said you would likely be on route to Dunshelm.”

“She did… How much of this did she plan.” She muttered under her breath.

“Sorry?” Asked Ontari.

“My mother sent you?” Altria said clearly this time.

“Yes. These were the best soldiers I could gather. Fear not we’ll see you back to Dunshelm safely.”

“I must admit, I’m glad it was you we ran into.”

As Serin and I listened into the conversation we both relaxed as it became clear that we weren’t in any danger from them. In fact, our situation had taken quite a turn for the better.

“Are you being pursued?” Asked Ontari.

“Yes, a group of elven soldiers. We’ve already had a run in with their scouting party.”

“They’ve moved fast! We probably shouldn’t stay here long.”

“No… Are there any qualified to drive a carriage amongst your number? Our driver has been awake all night and needs a rest. We should probably swap out the horses too.”

“Yes. Just leave it to me. You can relax now.”

“I hope so.”

Serin and I climbed out of the carriage to see our saviours. There were at least thirty heavily armed riders on the road. With numbers like this we stood a much better chance of making it back to Dunshelm. They would need to send quite the force to stop us now and doing so could trigger a larger conflict.

“Ah I see that you were safe as well. The queen asked us to keep you under our protection too.” Ontari said turning to me.

“You mean me?” I asked a little surprised I was mentioned at all.

“Yes, you are Theo are you not?”

“I am.”

“I’m not sure of the details, but the Queen felt it was partially her fault that you have found yourself in this situation.”

I suppose it was a little, not that I wasn’t already trying to achieve the same thing. I had to wonder how likely she thought this kind of outcome was though.

“Do you know anything about my family? Are they still in the capital?” Asked Serin.

“Lady Staphenidie, I suppose. The Queen mentioned you too. I’m afraid I don’t. Some of the humans have already sided with the catkin and left the city, but their king has yet to have decided. I’m sorry but I don’t know any further details.” Explained Ontari.

Serin was obviously worried now things had gone this far.

“Don’t worry Serin, I’m sure they will be fine.” Altria said trying to comfort her.

“I’m sure they will be too. I just wonder where they will side. Even if the king joins up with the catkin, there is a chance they will remain in the city and support the city…” Answered Serin.

“Really?”

“I’m afraid so, we don’t exactly see eye to eye on these sorts of matters.”

The soldiers had been busily bringing up some of their spare horses from the rear of the group. It meant that at least now Rosa’s wouldn’t have to pull the carriage for a while. They would still have to ride along with us, but it was bound to be easier for them. They had also found a driver amongst their number willing to take over from Rosa.

“Here, this is Cleo. She’s got experience of driving. She’ll take over so your driver can get some rest for a bit.” Ontari said as she brought Cleo over.

“Thank you that’s a great help. I’m sure Rosa will be glad of the rest.” Serin said as they joined us.

“I can carry on. Honestly, you don’t need to worry about me.” Rosa said whilst climbing down from the driver’s seat.

“You really should rest for now. You’ve been awake all night.” Urged Serin.

 “But I’m fine.”

“Maybe you are now, but we’ve still got quite a way to go before we reach Dunshelm, and we’ll be needing you to drive again. You take the rest while you can. There’s no telling when we’ll be able to stop safely.”

“I suppose, but wake me up if Cleo needs a break.”

“We will, and don’t worry Cleo is a fine driver. She’ll take good care of your carriage.” Answered Ontari.

“Okay, thank you.”

With Rosa now ready to rest, the new horses were hitched up to the carriage and Cleo climbed up onto the driver’s seat.

“Can I leave the rest to you Ontari? I think we all could do with some rest.” Asked Altria.

“Of course! We were sent here to help you.”

“Good. We’ll talk again in a couple of hours. I think we have a good head start, but we were being followed before. I’m not sure if they would try anything now our group is this large,”

“We’ll do everything we can to protect you. Please rest easy.”

“Thank you.”

Altria satisfied that everything was settled climbed into the carriage.

“Come on Rosa, you can have this seat to yourself.” She said pointing to one of the benches.

“I couldn’t.”

“You can. We’ve all had at least a couple of hours sleep. You haven’t and you been driving all night. Don’t worry we’ll manage. We’re used to sleeping like this.”

Altria sat on the other bench and Rosa climbed in after her. She did as Altria suggested and took the empty bench. She stretched out and laid herself down, but it was obvious she felt uncomfortable about doing it. Serin smiled as she watched before following them into the carriage and taking a seat next to Altria. I took one last look at our surrounding before joining them, squeezing in next to Serin and Altria. Once the Ontari was satisfied we were all safely on board she gave the order to move out and the carriage rolled forward.

The sun had now come up and it was broad daylight outside. We closed the curtains on the carriage to make it a little easier to sleep. Not that we were likely to struggle, none of us had more than a couple of hours before we upped and left. The intervening time was tense and stressful. To say that we were tired was an understatement. Rosa, who had been adamant before that she could continue to drive was already fast asleep. She had crashed out almost as soon as we got on the move again.

Feeling a lot more secure about our current situation, I leant against the side of the carriage. Serin laid her head against my shoulder. I glanced over and saw that she had already closed her eyes. It was probably time that I did the same. Altria was already snuggled up against the far wall and looked as if she was asleep.

“Go to sleep Theo.” Serin’s voice urged from next to me.

She was still awake.

“Shouldn’t at least one of us stay awake for now? I’m happy to watch for a bit.” I offered.

“No… I don’t think it’s needed. Altria knows these soldiers and she seems to trust them. She wouldn’t be sleeping now if she didn’t. If anything happens, they’ll wake us.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“I am.”

I gave in and rested my head against the side of the carriage once again. I could hear the sound of the many hooves clomping alongside us. I had to admit it was comforting to know we were being escorted by that many soldiers. If Altria and Serin thought it was safe, it probably was as good as it was going to get until we reached the city. I ran through the events of the previous days through my mind. The incident on the rooftop played on a loop, whatever the reason behind it and despite what she did, I was still worried about Lillia. This continued until eventually my tiredness and the rocking of the carriage finally sent me to sleep.