Lilafly on DeviantArthttps://www.deviantart.com/lilafly/art/CW-Objective-3-Bachelors-Ahead-477776611Lilafly

Deviation Actions

CW | Objective 3 | Bachelors Ahead

Lilafly

Published: Aug 24, 2014

3.4K Views

Description

First Part | Previous Part | Next Part

STORY

"Ba'Yagu wants us to gather around. There's a group of Bachelors up ahead. Keep quiet.“
Miraphy was shocked once again, also when Illucid tried his best to make her feel as comfortable as possible with the situation by giving her a comforting nudge on the shoulder. After Illucid was gone to warn the others the paint mare quickly made her way to catch up with the witch. She put a lot of effort in moving as quietly and unnoticeable as possible, a skill she had involved over the years to outrun predators or in some cases even herd members who should not know that she was there.

The Bachelors were a complete other side of the medal though compared to the Olde Herd. Miraphy had encountered them once and that was the time where she and her parents had fled the East Island to the Southern Isle. They chased them over half of the landbridge until they had given up. Only now the mare knew how lucky she and her family had been back then and she shivered at the thought of how the story otherwise could have ended.

When she approached Ba’Yagu she noticed that the cart was stuck and alarm bells immediately started to ring in her head. If they had to move on, the witch would not be able to follow. The paint mare’s first instinct was to help, but she knew that strength was not really something she could brag with. In fact she was pretty weak and highly doubted that she could be of any use in this situation.

Instead of trying to get the cart out of its unfortunate position, she moved up ahead to the witch and shyly stood beside her. Illucid had said that they all should be quiet, so the Arabian mare did not even try to start a conversation with the old mare. She also did not feel like talking after being shouted at by her earlier. It had been nothing but a silly little thing, but it had still hit her deep. Again she cursed herself for her high sensibility and self-consciousness.

Miraphy now looked up ahead and also saw them: a group of Bachelors. They did not seem to have spotted them yet, which she was more than grateful about, but she doubted that sneaking past them would be a piece of cake. She let a watchful eye go over her surroundings and tried to find a path where they could stay hidden. She was kind of good when it came to came to find means of escape, so she tried her best now. She found a few good ways, but nothing where Ba’Yagu’s cart would have fit through. She frowned, there had to be a way. They had come too far to let everything be ruined by a group of Bachelors.

[...]

Miraphy nervously watched the scene unfold. Everyone gathered around the witch quite quickly, but her mind was stuck on the group of stallions ahead. She started to shiver, even though she had tried to keep her cool. Especially in situations as this it was important to keep calm, but she couldn’t help but panic when hundreds of possible scenarios spun through her head at the same time. What wouldn’t she give for being back home in her safe house in the Olde City right now, but the adventurer in her complained about even thinking this. No, she could not just back away from all difficulties that were thrown in her way.

“Viserys, Miraphy, and Ozzer. Run in the same direction, but keep to yourself”

Miraphy snapped out of her trance when her name was mentioned. She cursed herself for not listening; now she missed the first part.
Running where? She asked herself and panicked again. Helplessly and scared she looked at Viserys and Ozzer. She had not talked to either of them before and did not know them well. She was more practiced in running for her life and that by herself! She doubted that the jack could keep up with her speed and she should stay with her group, so if something would happen she would not stand a chance of winning against the Bachelors. And then she was being stuck with two strangers from the opposite gender.

It really couldn’t have gotten any worse.

Not that she would have anything against stallions, but she always felt so unsure and awkward in their presence and sometimes even acted clumsy, which was something she really did not need in this escape plan.
She threw Illucid a desperate and helpless view and watched a small Palomino mare wishing him good luck. When had she joined them? Miraphy hadn’t noticed her until now. She did not know why, but suddenly a feeling of jealousy overcame her. She quickly shook her head to get rid of the nasty emotions. It was the last thing she needed right now. The bright little mare broke into a careful gallop, which Akira shortly followed. At the same time Miraphy repeated what Ba’Yagu said in her mind then.

Run in the same direction.

She waited a little to let the group of mares get some distance and then started to walk. Or better said: she tried to walk. She shivered so much that she nearly fell as soon as she took the first step. She gritted her teeth; this was not the moment for being a scared little girl!

Miraphy gave Ozzer and Viserys an unsure view. The fact that they were strangers made her even more nervous and anxious, which showed itself in another shiver-attack. This was not just horrible, it was horribly awkward! Instead of concentrating on them, she needed to concentrate on where she placed her hooves!

Sneaking. It was a skill she had succeeded to master so many times on Olde, so there was no reason to let all the training come to waste now! She repeated all the steps in her head real quick.

Concentrate! Place one hoof before another, do not step on a twig, dodge stones or other things that might make you trip, be fast, be quiet.

From nearly falling to repeat the rules of sneaking only a few seconds passed by. Now she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again she immediately fell into a fast trot. The pace would be slow enough for both of her team partners to follow, so she figured.

And here we have the second part of my objective illustrations.