Excerpt: Little World

~From Chapter 22~

It wasn't a few minutes later when a sudden shriek overhead drew their attention.

"What is that?" Vanessa breathed.

From far ahead, Prince Nicholas was yelling, "Get out into the open! Get out into the open!"

"Hold on," Vanessa told Natalie, who obliged as the horse darted between two trees and leaped over a small incline before riding out into the open field.

"What's going on?" Natalie asked, trying to peel herself off of Vanessa's back long enough to look up and over her shoulder. From over the trees came a startling view: a white dove surrounded by many black birds. "Oh."

"What are you doing?" Lady Jane asked breathlessly, riding up to them. "Get back into the woods! This is no place for her!"

"But Nicholas said--"

"He only meant for those who are armed to be in the open field," Jane replied, riding around from behind and joining them. Natalie took a moment to appraise their situation and looked down. She felt more like a liability than ever right now, even with the sharp looks that Jane kept throwing towards her.

Just as Vanessa attempted to draw her horse away, Phillip rode up to them. "No!" he cried out. "Do not move. They sense movement. And you," his eyes swept over towards Natalie, trying to cower behind Vanessa's frame. "You must stay out of sight."

"Easier said than done," Natalie whimpered. "If they see me, I'm dead."

Jane nodded and turned to Phillip. From this angle, she looked like a historical or mythical goddess of old, with her auburn hair streaming behind her like a banner and her weapon in hand.

"Take your aim!"

Just then, there was a crashing sound and Shell managed to break away from the group, only to be snatched at the last moment by an enormous Corax that seemingly came from nowhere.

"Shell!"

"Now!" Phillip's voice rose in tune with her own and Natalie could only watch as the sky was filled with arrows. Only two met their marks and the Corax easily moved out of range, taking the white dove with them. From what Natalie could see, her body trembling behind Vanessa's, Shell was fighting with everything she had to either get away or to take the battle to them. It was a foolish move, though a respectable one.

But then the Corax went for the throat of the dove and Natalie screeched. From above, the Corax seemed to realize that there was another group of humans and began to descend.

"Go, go, go," Phillip said to Vanessa, who immediately drove her horse from the group towards the trees. Trying to find a break in the thick cover was difficult enough without three ravens on their trail. Natalie's eyes instinctively shut as she felt the branches whipping at her bare legs and at her face, tangling in her hair. She heard Vanessa whisper to the horse and it moved sharply to the left. If Natalie hadn't been holding onto the other woman for dear life, she would have fallen off.

"No!" Natalie felt something hard grab at her shoulder before the pressure lessened. Looking back, she could only blink at sudden whiplash as a branch struck her cheek and she nearly fell backwards off the horse's hindquarters. Vanessa snapped something else to the horse and it was galloping now, zipping in and out of trees as Natalie rested her cheek, dazed, on Vanessa's shoulder.

"Are you with me?" Vanessa gasped back towards her as the horse made another circle.

"Where are we going?" Natalie called back.

"They are trying to separate us from the others," Vanessa replied. "That is too dangerous and--" Her voice cut off as she noticed a white dove suddenly above them. The dove flew out of the dense cover and latched itself onto the back of the Corax. "Look out!"