Be Sure to Wear a Disguise

It's only a stable boy.

At least, I'm guessing. He's holding one of the saddles for the hybrids. He walks closer and his eyes are a vivid green, like a patch of moss in sunlight. I must be staring, because his cheeks start to flush with colour. I look away and pay attention to the the hybrid beside me.

I look back at him as he leads a hybrid out of its stall. He's not using any ropes or halters to get it to follow him. It just does. Then it stands quietly as he places the saddle on it's back. I see him look at me again.

"How do you get it to stand still?" I ask.

"She stands still cause we have a connection. I know her and she knows me. It's just a thing,"He shrugs at the end. I pat the cute pink nose of the hybrid beside me and walk over.

"Could you show me? Or teach me.. or something... I and, " I look over at the black head leaning over the stall door, with the ears pricked, catching my voice. I turn back to the man as he strokes the long neck of the hybrid. " What's it... like to make a connection? What's it take to have them follow and stand and listen?"

The man with moss coloured eyes looks at me under the great bend of the black silk neck of the hybrid. He smiles softly.

" I'll show you. And it's pretty cool," He says.



I stand in the field, the hybrid next to me. I had learned that his name is Bandit, which is rather ordinary, but cool nonetheless. I had learned how to make the connection, which is pretty simple in action, but hard to explain. It involves running and chasing and almost a game of hide and seek, but the end result is that Bandit and I move as one, almost like our thoughts are fused. It is pretty cool.

The sun is getting higher. It must be midmorning when Caan and Lyris come out to the field. I wave and then walk over, Bandit close by my side. I lean against the fence and they both look at me, and I can't tell if they disapprove or are in disbelief.

"What?" I ask. Caan reaches over and strokes Bandit's cheek. It's weird how I feel a prink in my mind, almost like Bandit is letting me know that something is happening. I look back at Lyris and raise an eyebrow.

His forest green eyes are darting back and forth from Bandit and I. Then he nods slowly and whistles. I hear a thundering sound and turn to see one of the hybrids running this way. I tense a little with fright. The hybrid is bolting towards us, showing no signs of stopping, in fact, I think it might be going faster.

Then, it stops. So fast a stop, it slides, tearing the earth in a large, long gash. The green grass is overturned, showing the rich, deep brown earth beneath.

I let out a pent in breath. The huge blacker than black animal walks the two or three steps to the fence and hangs its head over the side. Lyris reaches up and strokes the silken ears. I smile a little; it looks so peaceful.

The forest green eyes turn to me. "Well, Are we leaving then?" He asks. I turn to Caan, who somehow has his hybrid all ready to leave. He nods. So, we're all packed and ready. We get last minute preparation done and head out.

The way out is simple. There is a stream in an open feild. You ride to the stream and walk the hybrid that you are riding into the stream. You close your eyes, you count to three, you open your eyes. You are in the middle of the woods again.

I freak out. Bandit dances a little from my scattered mind and then calms down as I start to wrap my head around what happened. Suddenly, my spine shivers.

I turn around, looking over my shoulder and I see them. The gold eyed army of wolves. They line the trees, the grass, the leaves. My eyes go wide and I blink several times to try to make my vision clear of them. But they are not an illusion.

"Run."

I don't know which one of us said it. Maybe we all said it at the same time. But all in one motion, we turn and bolt. The black shadow unicorn hybrids fly, not literally, but there are huge strides of air and ground that are devoured by the long legs. I lean low against Bandit's neck as his stretched out, throwing his legs out and going faster faster faster.

These woods are magik, the trees bend away from us, opening like water in front of a boat, closing in our wake. We jump a log that doesn't move, we leap over a stream that writhes like a dying snake, we are flying without wings. We are not going fast enough.

I can feel them. The golden eyes are boring into me, hollowing me out and stealing my breath. I looks to either side of me, Caan and Lyris are racing with me, each with focused expressions and are leaning low. Lyris' dove grey wings are folded tight against his back and Caan's eyes are flashing.

Caan turns and yells, I don't hear what, but we swerve, heading in a different direction and running to a thicker part of the woods. The trees start to close in faster, till I feel twigs breaking against Bandit's sides and branches trying to snag me. The under brush grows till it is catching at my legs. I dare a glance behind me.

The wolves are leaping through the bramble, but it is catching in the fur and slowing them. I turn back around and flinch as a thorn from a high bush digs into my cheek. I feel my eyes sting from the wind and the pain. But, we can't stop running.

Running. Running.

I hear and feel Bandit start to to have trouble breathing, his lungs taking in gasps of air, trying to keep up the pace. I look over, and the others are starting to slow. Soon we start to trot, slowing the pace but moving forward. If we just stop to rest the hybrids could lose their lungs and never be able to run well again.

So, we gradually slow to a walk, and the heaving breath of the three hybrids is all we hear amidst the vastness of the forest. That becomes the only thing around. The forest and the exchange of lungfuls of air. Air and forest.



We end up not stopping all day after that. Walking or jogging, we keep the hybrids in motion, always forward, always away. If this is what it's like to be on the run, I hope it will end soon.

"How much further?" I ask, finally breaking the day long silence.

"Tomorrow evening we'll be there." Lyris says, his voice carries tiredness.

"Where are we going again?" My brain aches and I can't remember if they've told me or not.

"Too many trees here, Katherine. You'll see." He answers.

I can't help but sigh. I am more understanding now. So I am quiet again, letting the silence filter in.

Bandit snorts once, and I focus on him. I feel the connection in my mind as we walk along. Faster?, as soon as the thought forms, Bandit picks up the pace a little. Wow.. that's cool.. So you can hear me?, and I feel a prick in my mind, and Bandit slows a little. He's tired. We walk, Caan and Lyris close by us.

Walk walk walk.