The world is darker than I am.

Our prompt for today from the amazing Leah. You can read hers if you click on her name. If you like mine, you'll like hers even more. Check it out.

The world is darker than I am.

I never thought that possible.

Keja has just flown to check for life in the city below. I do not think she will find it. The battle here raged long and the people were proud. They would not have let themselves live to be slaves. Especially not to the Myndunes.

Thefarmers must have burnt their crops in anticipation of the incursion. I will have to travel far to find grass on which Nieku can graze. Hopefully I will be able to find water or we both may succumb to the death that is overtaking our world.

As Keja sails in and out of spires, occasionally swooping down for closer inspection, Nieku and I patrol the ridge, hoping for and dreading movement. From below, it would be welcome, from the blackened tree-line it would likely mean death.

A sharp hawk cry pierces the silence. Once. Twice. Three times.

Keja has found something.

I turn Nieku to descend into the valley and urge him to a trot. Reaching decimated outer wall, I stop. It will be difficult for Nieku to make his way through the rubble, but if Keja found a survivor, I will need him to carry them out. I could go through the main gate, but if the Myndunes left a unit behind to watch for stragglers, they would surely be watching the gates.

It only takes a moment to decide. It cannot be helped. I will have to go through the gates to bring Nieku and for some reason, I have hope that Keja has found something or someone worth bringing out of this desolation.

Keeping to the shadows as much as possible, I make my way to the once-grand arch that once held the city gate.

Nieku shudders underneath me as we make our way through the open space. He doesn’t like being out in the open any more than I do. We have been living in the shadows for far too long to be comfortable here. “Just a few more steps,” I reassure him, patting his neck.

He shakes his head and suddenly rears up, almost throwing me from the saddle.

Thwack!

An arrow narrowly misses my shoulder and bounces off the crumbling rock of the wall to my left.

Damn those Myndunes!

I whack Nieku with my heels, jolting him to a run. They would only be able to kill us if they could find us. And I didn’t plan on letting that happen.