Young Ilyati styled herself a warrior and adventurer princess, and always dared delve deeper into the lands surrounding her home citadel; within the forests surrounding, the tracks and meadows seemed fewer, tighter and darker, but astride her grey charger, Melegar, she tackled the miles with habitual ease, leaving the woodland tracks behind and flying through the deeper, fuller growth. The many, close bound trees blurred past, but she was always a step ahead, swerving in and out, around and through; her proficient equestrian instincts kept her free from entanglement and collision. The beating of her brave stallion's hooves and the whistle of the wind streaming past enveloped her and filled her with energy. She had left behind her scaled armors, her greaves and helm, and settled for leather tunic and leggings with iron strips sown into them to add some protection, but she was in the mood for speed, and refused to set upon her valiant horse an encumbrance of such bulky armor that her guardians again and again bid her don.
Mighty Melegar leaped the many fallen trunks and streams with ease, and obeyed every command of his mistress, with barely a nudge needed to bid him turn this way or that. Recent months had filled her out more maturely, stealing away her teenaged girlishness, and replacing them with so many curves evident of her twentieth year, rendering so much of her dressings obsolete, and even this simple leather armor was pressed tight over swelling breasts, and sloping hips. Her cinnamon skin acquired a more even lustre, was more smooth; her black hair retained its sheen, the many tresses of curling midnight spires gleamed at the touch of the sun's rays, like the surface of a deep lagoon. Her face had developed noble features, an aquiline symmetry that betrayed her birth, for the ruling family was notable for their beauty and ability.
In swifter and less common bursts, the sun's rays flickered across her body from through the high, full trees, their branches becoming more entwined, the leaves covering more and more of the sky. The fresh scents of the foliage, the bark and the moss, the dew still yet upon the trees, it was all so exhilarating to her, filling her with emotions so eager and free. She gulped in the fragrant air, and heard nought but the snorts of her magnificent steed. She felt so empowered with the towering Melegar firm and solid between her legs; she felt more noble high astride this beast, than ever she did in any of her family's numerous estates and manors the country wide. Free of the world's cares, she fled into her own escape, deep into the wilds, away from the stifling streets, the musty chambers and the crowded halls of her homesteads. Out here, feeling free in her solitude, just her and her beloved, masterful Melegar.
Here, deep in the woods, where the sun was lost behind a full canopy of green and the land beneath kept in an ever twilight, she heard a prolonged cry, something inhuman, but deep and filling the air. Melegar halted by her command, and she looked back and forth, and yet couldn't make out the direction of this mournful sound; she was sure now, having paid it closer attention, it was a horn of some kind. Beneath her, Melegar huffed impatiently, fidgeting nervously. The blast of sound slowly faded and was answered by another, but this time both noticeably closer and from a different direction. Now she found herself shifting uneasily in the saddle, and, when a third sounding from a horn ever closer, she spurred Melegar into motion, fleeing from this something unknown.
Beyond the pounding of her own mount's heavy foot falls, she could already hear others galloping, she both hoped it to be imagined and knew by instinct that riders were nearing. She had oft times been at the hunt with her brothers, and was veteran to the sensations of other horses on the chase following close behind. It was the same pricking on her neck, the same tensing of her legs around her sturdy horse, but this time the excitement arose from fear.
From the corner of her eye, she caught a rider bursting from the foliage on her right, at such a fantastic speed. Her heart beat painfully within her chest, the air drying her throat and lips; but she held fast the reins and urged Melegar further, faster. It was never certain that she was the quarry until from the opposite side a second rider charged toward her, and both these made her their target. She was as good a hunter and horseman, better at the latter, as any of her brothers, and could calculate the path by instincts, made quick by practice. She took not the time to look over these riders, to acquaint herself with their outward appearances, only that they were excellent upon their mounts. But she couldn't despair, as she knew her own skill.
It became harder to keep her path immediately back the way she had come, as she was being flanked, but she pushed hard for the furthest point from these stalkers' paths. The veering around trees, and leaps over uneven terrain, influenced all three riders, but Ilyati at last felt her fortune change for the worse, when straight ahead a third rider came charging forward. She heeled Melegar, and he changed his direction abruptly, jerking her hard in the saddle, but she kept her seat. A cloud of soil and stick and torn moss flew from the brave horse's hooves, and catching his footing, off again was he with valorous momentum. She cheered her charger's quick reaction and steady wit, now braving to look back at the three riders behind.
But before she could make speed, she felt Melegar shudder and grind his hooves into the ground, trying to stop. She'd been unprepared for the sudden stop and slipped from the saddle, but kept hold of the ropes still. Skillfully, she swung herself back atop the steed, as he bucked up and reversed his run. She only just caught glimpse of that which had spooked her iron willed Melegar—in their previous path stood a tall protrusion of solid rock, grey and bare. Hoping Melegar's power and speed could force her through the oncoming riders, she bent down and held on tight. Before ever she made speed, her hair was caught up by something unseen, and with such a painful tear, she lost her hold and flew from the back of her mount. She was tossed backwards through the air, and landed hard to the forest floor, but stopping once she hit, held fast by something.
The impact shook the air from her, as she crumpled against the pain. She felt the cold of the stone against her neck; she'd fallen back against that outcrop of stone, it seemed. Except that the jutting of rock grumbled, and moved, a slow lumbering over her. She opened her eyes wide and looked back at this moving mound, and she saw a sight that brought a shriek to her lips; but it never progressed to escape her mouth, as a coarse hand pressed down to keep her quiet. A great bulk of a figure, molded in uneven clay it looked, for the skin was grey and knobbly. The face which looked down upon her, close that she could smell the strangely saccharine breath of the brute, was wide and angular, with many prominent bones—the cheeks, the chin, and even a sharp, large nose. The eyes were squinting and scorning, but the mouth was wide and full of so many curved fangs.