The mane? But I don’t wanna pull it when the horse runs—that’s horse abuse! Also, riding a horse is, like, hard! But I want to let Klifford take it to a full gallop.
“Klifford…is it all right with you if I hold onto your midsection with a grip of death?”
“Not a problem.”
Sweet!
Wait, Octavia, he wasn’t finished.
“But doesn’t it still hurt?”
I followed Klifford’s gaze… Oh, my left hand? Now that my glove was off, you could see the bandage around it. I tried opening and closing it… Okay, I can move it just fine. And as for the pain…I’ll just let my adrenaline cover that!
“Not a problem,” I answered.
Now that I can grab onto something for dear life, there’s nothing to fear!
Since Klifford still looked like he had a thing or two to say about that, I sat sideways to reassure him I was fine. And as promised, I leaned against his back and wrapped my arms around him, clinging to his midsection for dear life.
“There, see? Just like I told you.”
“Right.”
Our bodies pressed together. Urk. His warm, hard abs are almost in direct contact… My heart’s jumping out of my ribcage. Hey, whoa, get your head out of the gutter, Octavia! Th-this is your lifeline you’re talking about!
I took a deep breath and gave the order. “Take me to the castle, now!”
“As you wish, Your Highness.” Klifford gripped the reins and kicked the horse’s sides.
Hyaaaaah!
When the horse took off, all my impure thoughts flew away. I dared not open my eyes as I clung to my lifeline with every fiber of my being. Klifford had also wrapped an arm around my waist, as he held the reins with his other hand. Even with all that, it took me a while to get comfortable enough with the speed to peek.
I watched the scenery whiz past us through my half-open eyes. A big gate was in sight ahead. It was the north gate: the shortest way to get from both the castle and from Esfia Bridge. Since it was a security hazard to let just anybody pass through castle town this way, we knew we would be searched here.
We were hoping that Klifford’s royal bodyguard uniform would be enough to give us a pass.
“Halt!”
But the gatekeeper raised both arms, shook them, and shouted at us as we torpedoed toward him. But Klifford did not lower his speed. A-are we just breaking through?! I grabbed Klifford’s uniform with my right hand and yanked hard.
Klifford looked down at me as if to say, There a problem?
“We can’t cause a stir. Let’s be discreet about this.”
Then he lowered the horse’s speed a level.
We approached the north gate and the soldier veered beside our horse.
“The royal party is currently away on a survey. You must submit to a search, even though you are with the royal guard. And as for the identity of your passenger—”
Here goes nothing.
I lifted my hood a little so the soldier could recognize me.
“…………!”
“It’s an emergency. Can we go through?” Klifford asked.
The soldier nodded dumbly, fell back, and waved us through. “Go ahead, sir.”
Phew. My royal face got us through.
Our horse resumed its gallop.
I felt Klifford’s hand rest on my head as he adjusted my hood. Then the horse’s gallop slowed, and the scenery changed dizzyingly.
And then Esfia Bridge came into sight in the distance. It was still the size of a bean, but we were as good as there!
I could feel my own face glowing, but I heard a clicking tongue overhead.
Did…Klifford just curse under his breath? Of course, there was nobody else it could have been.
“My apologies, Your Highness.”
Huh? Why’s he apologizing? For cursing?
I looked up from my hunched position…and his indigo eyes were filled with remorse. “I should have disposed of them this morning.”
Disposed of— Um, that’s a bit morbid! What the hell are you talking ab—
Then there was a swoosh.
That’s my second time hearing that sound today. Was that an arrow…?
While holding the reins and somehow managing to secure me with one hand, Klifford quickly drew his sword and slashed the arrow away with the other. Then he held his sword at the ready in his left hand.
An ambush… But where from?
From ahead. From Esfia Bridge. Men were standing there, blocking our path. Some of them were on horseback. They looked like soldiers guarding transport…but they weren’t?
Five soldiers charged at us on horseback. They were a mix of elite knights and common soldiers, but from their uniforms, they were undeniably Esfian.
I removed my hood. The momentum from the horse sent my hair sailing into my face, but I shook it off boldly.
This has to work…!
“I am Octavia! Princess of Esfia. Stand aside!” I yelled with all my might.
From the shocked look on their faces, I knew they recognized me, but—their volley of arrows increased?!
It didn’t work!
To add insult to injury, one of the knights closest to us drew his sword and charged.
I actually made things worse…!
Were these guys (Hugh’s buddies?) a contingency plan to stop anybody who found him out?
Klifford repelled our assailant’s sword with his own. Then Klifford struck back, knocking the knight off his horse.
Yikes…
One of the other knights, unable to keep up with Klifford’s superior horsemanship, fell off his horse. The other three knights had been neutralized before they even had a chance to attack at close range. The riderless horses scattered away on unrailed gallops.
The archers were still shooting arrows at us, but Klifford skillfully guided the horse to dodge them or knocked them away with his sword. I didn’t even hear a whisper of them coming close to hitting me.
If Klifford tells me he’ll create a protective barrier, I believe him. It’s like how, in action movies, the hero gets pelted with bullets and comes out of it completely unscathed. Klifford was making that trope a reality.
Unperturbed by my iron grip around his waist, Klifford was swinging his sword like it was a living thing. (And I wondered now, after the fact, if it was because he was using his left hand.)
The arrows…have they stopped flying at us?
Good! If we keep going, all the way to the bridge, we’re free…!
Esfia Bridge was no longer the size of a small bean—we were quite close to it now.
We’re gonna make it!
No sooner did I think this than Esfia Bridge began to move. It could be raised or lowered to completely cut off transport to and from the castle. The bridge split in the middle and raised like a mountain peak, and once it completed its movement, the bridge’s horizontal slope became two edges.
If the bridge opened like that, we wouldn’t be able to cross it.
And as if that weren’t bad enough, this bridge moved abnormally fast. It was kinda like somebody flipped a switch and in a matter of seconds, the bridge was split. It was so impossibly high tech that I wanted to yell at the author for writing something so period-inappropriate into the books—but by the time I had that thought, the bridge was already a mountain peak with a gap in the middle!
Our enemy had changed tactics: Instead of defeating us, they were going to make it so we couldn’t cross the bridge!
“Klifford!”
He knew exactly what I meant. “Hold on tight.”
Now that the enemies were off our back, Klifford adjusted me more securely in his arms. I pressed my head against his chest and squeezed. Our horse raced toward the sloping bridge.
“Hurry!”
An enemy knight yelled behind him as we passed by. The bridge was now a very steep slope—which we climbed up!
Under Klifford’s guidance, the horse kicked its way up the sloped bridge. Then jumped. Then floated.
And a few seconds later, the impact of our landing shot through my entire body. My vision blurred. I felt the horse dashing down the slope of the bridge. I opened my eyes and turned around just in time to see one of the enemy soldiers who was pursuing us start to fall through the opening in the bridge.
The only problem was—there were more knights and soldiers waiting for us on the castle side of Esfia Bridge. A fair number of them, too.
Welp. Let’s ignore that!
“Don’t engage them, Klifford!”
Part of it was, I didn’t want Klifford to wear himself out fighting them. But also, even if they managed to catch up to us, victory was as good as ours once we made it to the castle. Klifford made his horse run faster, shaking the knights and soldiers off as they attacked us.
And after we galloped for a while—
Urrrg. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see the castle gate.
I looked straight ahead so that the gatekeepers could see my face. I also leaned forward, for good measure. (Since Klifford was holding me from behind, I’d probably be okay!)
I took in a deep breath, then screamed from my diaphragm at the closed castle gate, “Open the gate at once!”