Our masters have stopped laughing.
Elfleda kicks off the loosened rope and pulls away the other, struggling to her feet. She menaces the humans with her horn and I with my fists, my hooves. They stand back, milling around us. We are all at bay.
"Achilleus!"
She bounds forward and I follow. The humans are raising nets, crying to each other to hurry. One snare drapes low, rippling and tangled. As it rises Elfleda leaps it. I gather speed, collect myself, and jump. The strands graze my forelegs-- they must entrap my hind legs-- but I kick back and up, the round cords scrape me, and I am free!
I plunge after Elfleda's pale form. Our retreat to the park, where we could hide and hope the masters might forget their anger, is cut off. Elfleda flees toward the mountain and the impassable ridges.
She starts to climb, hesitating when she no longer hears me behind her. "Achilleus, come on!"
"But where will we go?"
"Anywhere but back-- if we want to live. Hurry!"
She reaches toward me in encouragement: she is too high above to actually reach me.
"There's nothing out there for us."
She looks beyond me. I turn. The masters are very near, now, confident of their prey.
"Hurry!" Elfleda says again, and I put one hoof on the steep rock. This is desperation. I begin to climb. I scrabble on the stone, straining upward. My hooves are made for meadows and prairies. I can hear the masters just behind me. Trying to go faster, I slip and fall to my knees, crying out at the wave of pain, reaching with my hands to keep from falling. Granite soaks up my blood.
Elfleda is almost close enough to touch me. Did she descend to help me climb?
"I can't-- "
"Try," she says. "Just try..."
Shining in the failing moonlight, a rope slips over her head as she grasps my hand.
Another noose falls around my throat and jerks me backwards. I fumble at it, struggling to free myself and climb. The rope jerks me again, much harder, pulling me down, cutting off my breath. My bruised hoof slams against a rock spur. The pain completes my disorientation. I stumble again, falling and sliding on the stone. I am lost.
When next I am aware of anything I feel warm droplets falling on my shoulder. I open my eyes, and see the masters leading Elfleda back down the mountain. She is at the center of a web of ropes, around her throat, her arms, her waist, binding her hands, but she holds her head erect. One of the humans reaches out and pulls her black-tipped tail. She lashes out with a sharp hind hoof and half-turns toward him, but the other humans drag her around.
I lunge up. The ugly human boy reaches out to stop me, too late. I scream and fall back, shuddering, panting, suddenly cold and wet with sweat. When I lie still the pain is only a great throbbing.
"I'm sorry," the boy whispers. "I didn't know..."
I push myself slowly up on one elbow, straining to see yet not move my hindquarters. Blood is black in the moonlight, but dawn will soon turn the patch beneath me scarlet. Bones protrude from my shattered leg.
Elfleda and the humans disappear among the trees as I sink back to the ground. I can only see the paling sky and the single human. "Help me... please help me..." But he is wiping the tears from his cheeks, pushing the hair from his forehead. It must be the kind moonlight and dawn that make him appear less coarse, less uncertain. There is no magic here.
"Elfleda," I whisper, and the boy gazes blankly down, as if he never knew her name.
Behind me I can hear the footsteps of two more humans, as they approach me one last time.
Published by Alexandria Digital Literature. (http://www.alexlit.com/)
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