Friends
Her horse was jerked back and Alexis was thrown from the saddle, tumbling over her shoulder, hands going behind her neck as she rolled and came up as her horse screamed, the Al’Gorth leader ripping into her soft behind.
“Hey,” Alexis shouted, pulling out the gun and snapping the safety off. The Al’gorth turned and looked at her, snarling. She raised the gun and shot it in the shoulder, knocking it away from the horse, which stumbled off. Ice behind creeping out from the wound, coating its fur. “Huh,” she muttered. The Al’gorth stared at the wound, then at her and howled. Alexis flinched and took a step back, she could hear Nolio coming back.
The Al’gorth made a wheezing sound as the tip of the gun shook. Her eyes narrowed.
“Stupid little girl,” it wheezed out, moving closer. Alexis’ eyes widened and she took a step back, recocking the pistol.
“I’ll shoot you,” she snapped.
“And I don’t doubt it. You’re a good shot,” it said, padding closer. “A lot of rage makes your gaze steely and your hands steady.”
“Shut up,” she muttered, fingers brushing the trigger.
“You know that there’s more of us, right?” the Al’gorth continued. “And we will keep coming until we get the Scion of Syralth.”
“Too bad. I’ve lost enough friends in my life, you aren’t getting Arthur,” Alexis replied. “So I’ll keep shooting, through your skulls and brains and anything else you throw at us, then I’ll start stabbing. Hjalte will never touch my friend.”
The Al’gorth stared at her and sat down, blue eyes meeting with hers. She blinked and narrowed her gaze.
“Why not?” it asked.
“Because Arthur believes in me. In my dreams, my ideas. He trusts me. And that’s worth fighting for,” she said, pulling the trigger and shooting the Al’gorth in the skull.
It flopped to the side, dead. She pointed her gun at the next one as it came racing up, only to watch it implode before her eyes. Her eyes darted to the side. Nolio was pulling his whip back, wrapping it around his nub.
“It was dipped in dragon tears,” he explained. “For fighting demons.”
“Ah,” Alexis said, pulling the trigger again, hitting another in the shoulder. It yipped and ran off, howling. She moved closer to Nolio. The remaining three darted around them. “Ikravye,” she cursed, shooting at the nearest one and missing as they loped over the plains, getting closer to Arthur and Toni.
“I’ll steer, you shoot,” Nolio said, jumping onto his horse’s saddle. Alexis nodded and hopped up in front of him, tying one of the saddlebag strings around her belt.
Just in case.
They galloped after the Al’Gorth, Alexis clumsily reloading her pistol, her cheeks flushing as she realized what she said. She shook her head. She had to focus or Arthur and Toni were going to die.
