• tab “What was that all about?!” Trisa yells as she packs her clothes into a hiking bag. “Who was that kid—Allester?” she cursed under her breath as she stomped into the kitchen to fill up her water bottle.
    tab “I—whoa” Reyn got shoved aside as Trisa marches back into her room to grab her bag.
    tab Today was suppose to be for relaxing since they just came back from the mountains. It was their job to look out for anything abnormal because there have been strange things showing up. Like the monsters. The creatures haven’t shown up till a year ago, and it’s been a problem since. Knights work harder than ever to protect the people. Another group of fighters were formed—Slayers. It’s those that don’t care about saving people, but caring only about destroying the monsters from this world. It’s common for Slayers to be despised because they act so violently and they think they’re the best of the best.
    tab “Damn this day to Hell!” Trisa breathed heavily. Her footsteps could be heard miles away. She put on her hiking bag, her thick leather boots already on as she opened the door and left the house, not waiting for Reyn.
    tab Reyn was astounded with Trisa’s behavior. What Allester said couldn’t be true, but everything he knew to be real was falling apart. If he didn’t go to Trell like Allester told him to, then Cillia could be dead. Reyn shook his head, more annoyed than ever. He grabbed his bag and strapped it across his shoulders as he followed Trisa. She was farther ahead than he imagined she’d be. Maybe the idea of losing her childhood friend was enough to set her into gear.
    tab “How will we get there?” Reyn asks once he caught up to her.
    tab She maneuvered through the crowds of people, already at the center of town. “Take a horse”
    tab “But we don’t got any money!”
    tab “You don’t need money to get a horse” by the tone of her voice, you can tell that she was done answering questions.
    tab Reyn gulped and continued following. The only time he’s seen her like this was when her younger brother got caught stealing and was put into jail. Trisa spent all her time and money to get him out of there. Now she’s going to do the same thing for Cillia. Cillia and Trisa have been friends ever since Trisa was seven and Cillia was one. As they grew up, they took on different jobs but still saw each other from time to time. Trisa worked as a researcher, like Reyn. She liked to study about nature and the life of living creatures. Cillia entered the castle as a knight. She trained for years on end in order to become one. Female knights are rare, and as far as things go, she’s the youngest female knight in history.
    tab “She’s only sixteen”
    tab “…I know” Reyn had to pick up speed or else he’d lose Trisa in the crowd.
    tab They were close to the horse pen. People got mad as Trisa charged by them but it was natural in Mills so it was easily overlooked. A bald man wearing a black vest was standing in front of the entrance for the indoor horse pen. A woman handed him the lead then said something. He wrote it down on a clip board and he took it inside with the other horses. Once he came back out, he was confronted by a desperate Trisa and a nervous Reyn.
    tab “Have you two come to get your horses?” the man asked.
    tab Reyn looked at Trisa and she looked back. His eyes were pleading her for another way because they can’t just steal a horse without anyone else noticing. She bit her bottom lip and turned back to face the man.
    tab “Your horses…?” the man says again.
    tab “GAHH!” Trisa cries out as she swung her foot up and kicked his private. He doubled over in agony. “Hurry!” she grabs onto the collar of Reyn’s shirt and pulls him forward with her.
    tab They entered the horse pen and rushed all the way to the back. People that saw what happened started helping the man up, but he refused them and told them to catch the brutes that went inside. They obeyed and came charging.
    tab “What do we do now?!” Reyn shouted. They reached the end and had no where to go. All the horses got agitated, whining and stomping their feet every second. It chorused, filling the air with deafening noises.
    tab Trisa glanced over her shoulder to their pursuers. Any second now and they’d be caught. She tried to think about a way out of this mess but the horses were too loud—all but one. It was the last horse and it was as quiet as snow. It was brown, had long mane, and a female. Time seemed to slow down as they eyed each other, but then sped back up once Reyn yells at Trisa to hurry up. She opened the small gate and got onto the horse—no time for a saddle. Reyn came right behind her. He reached forward and held onto the mane. Trisa was going to fuss about him being too close to her but then the horse raised its two front legs, ready to run.

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