THE GORE CROWS
1.
Jack and Jill went up the hill…
Pepper sat on the fence for a long time.
She stared at a burnt photograph of a dark haired and brown skinned girl, wishing she could believe what she already knew.
Her eyes were so blue that they didn't look real. Her clothes weren't torn and dirty like her own, yet she'd rather die than be that girl again.
Her own face stared back at her, smiling in response to her grimace .She sighed. A massive golden eagle was perched on her shoulder and a brown fox lay at her feet. She stared into the setting sun; the glare nearly blinding her, looking for answers she knew weren't there.
Ragu scrambled up the hill, pushing his legs faster, using his strength to get to unimagined speeds. He could see her now. The girl with the eagle.
Their eyes met.
He ran faster.
Pepper swore and launched herself off the fence, startling her fox and frightening the eagle off its perch.
She was an outlaw, the boy would kill her
'Farren!' She yelled in the eagle's direction 'Fly! Now, and carry Maska! Farren gave a curt nod before swooping down and lifting the fox in its claws. Pepper didn't see what happened to them, she just turned and ran – her bare feet hardly touched the ground in her speed and the air blew strongly against her, flattening her hair against her skull.
Ragu swore aloud and slowed his maniac pace. He shaded his eyes with the back of one hand and watched the eagle carry its excessive load over the tops of the pine-trees. She had gotten away. Again.
It felt like the hundredth time, in truth it was only about the tenth but each time was so frustratingly similar that they all kind of blurred together in exaggerated numbers.
He gritted his teeth and strode after her into the trees. 'Next time,' he thought, 'next time.'
Pepper ran for far longer than she needed to, but it didn't make her feel any better. The boy had determination; she was a mind reader - and knew that it was impossible to lie with yourself. A small shiver rippled down her back as she heard the echo of his thoughts 'Next time' he assured himself 'next time'.