Page 71 of Crownless King

“We need to get out of here,” Sauria muttered under her breath, her delicate features scrunched into a frown of concern.

Stuffing two gnarly fingers into her mouth, she whistled so loudly, I jumped and slapped my hands over my ears. The thudding of hooves hitting the ground and the crushing of the branches deep in the forest made me freeze with trepidation.

“Who is it?” I asked. “Whom did you call?”

Two deer ran out from behind the trees.

“What do you think?” Sauria cut me a glance. “Someone needs to pull the wagon. Unless you want to do it yourself?”

I shook my head, which made her cackle. She dug a couple of carrots from her seemingly bottomless satchel and fed them to the deer.

“Come, my beauties,” she cooed, putting harnesses on them. Once done, she turned to me. “Keep them on the path. It gets wider after a while. Hopefully, the storm holds off for a bit.”

“Me? You’re kidding, right? You want me to drive the wagon?”

She tilted her head, giving me a mocking look.

“Would you rather fly?”

Two wings sprang open on her back. They had no feathers. Instead, soft-looking suede stretched between long thin spikes similar to the wings of a bat.

“So? Where areyourwings, human girl?” She laughed at her not-so-funny joke.

I rolled my eyes at her, not even dignifying that with an answer, and turned to the two animals.

“How do I even steer wild deer?” At least, the pair appeared docile, peacefully chewing on the underbrush.

Sauria flapped her wings, lifting off the ground.

“Just like horses,” she yelled, fighting the wind. “You’ve ridden a horse, haven’t you?”

“Yeah… Kind of.” I wasn’t that great on horseback, either.

“Come on,” she urged, hovering over the path. “We’ve stayed here for way too long already. We need to leave.”

With a long, heavy sigh, I climbed into the small seat in the front of the wagon and gripped the reins.

“Well, you heard the lady.” I jerked the reins, slapping the deer’s backs slightly. “Let’s go.”

The animals lifted their heads, casting cautious glances of their large brown eyes at me.

Sauria dipped toward them and smacked their rumps with both hands. “Let’s go, my beauties!”

The deer jerked forward, spooked by her flapping wings, then took off between the trees.

“Wait!” I yelled, pulling on the reins while trying hard not to fall from the seat. “That way!”

I jerked the right rein, steering them toward the path. Somehow, they listened. They galloped at a neck-breaking speed, but at least they ran in the right direction.

Sauria’s gleeful cackle came from above. “Way to go, girl. You got it!”

“You’re lucky I have my hands full,” I muttered, my focus glued to the running deer. “I swear I’ll toss something at you the first chance I get.”

* * *

After dashing through the forest like a maniac in a painted wagon pulled by two speeding deer, I made it to the road running between wide open fields. The deer calmed somewhat, slowing a little.

The storm grew stronger. Feral winds tore from every direction, howling and groaning between the crops in the fields. The sky turned as dark as night.

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