Huntsgirl's Slay Ride

Chapter Four: Escape

It had been several hours since Rose had been confined to her quarters, and the young apprentice had only moved to lie down on her bed. Rose had not moved since, and simply lied there, silently crying. She didn't know what to do. Surely, her door was guarded, and there was no way she could do anything. She was trapped here.

Rolling over onto her back, Rose brought her hand up and slowly pulled off her mask from over her head. Rose could see that her mask was stained with tears. Tossing the mask to the ground, Rose rolled back over onto her side and closed her eyes as more tears started to run down her cheeks.

Before she knew it, Rose was feeling drowsy and on the verge of slipping into the Dream Realm. Rose was perfectly fine with this; in fact, she welcomed the thought of sleep. It would take her out of the pain of the moment. But just as she was about to slip into slumber, a distant, but rapidly approaching sound, made her snap her eyes open.

It sounded like…bells…

Grumbling, Rose slowly got up off of her bed and walked over to her window. Lifting up the glass, Rose put her head through and saw the outline of a line of four-legged creatures floating in the air carrying what appeared to be some kind of sleigh.

"Santa…" Rose muttered in awe as she watched the sleigh soar high in the sky. Suddenly, a small smile appeared across the huntress' face. This was her chance to leave the Huntsclan forever. But soon, the smile faded. How would she catch up with Santa and be able to talk to him? Suddenly, the answer hit Rose. Turning her head, Rose found her staff beside her bed.

Grabbing her staff, Rose rushed back over to her window and climbed outside and placed her staff on the ground, stepping back as it started to transform into a hover-board. As soon as the transformation was complete, Rose jumped onto the board as it flew off into the air.

&*%

Rose flew around searching for several minutes, but her spirits were slowly dying. She had lost sight of the sleigh and was now searching blindly over a residential area. Rose could feel her heart sink as she searched frantically all over the area.

There was no sign of Santa.

Rose could feel a tight feeling in her throat as she realized that she was out of luck. She didn't know what to do now. She had nowhere to go. She could not go back to the Huntsclan; she couldn't bare anymore physical pain dealt by the Huntsman. But she also couldn't go to Jake. That wouldn't be wise. The Huntsclan would look for her. She had only two options: go back or flee the city. The solution was obvious.

Closing her eyes, Rose was about to turn around and leave with an unknown destination, when she once again heard the bells of the sleigh. Turning her board around, Rose smiled with relief as she could see Santa's sleigh lifting off of the roof of a nearby house before moving on; landing at the very next house.

Rose stepped down on her board and sped over to the roof of the house. When she reached the roof, Rose jumped off onto the roof, the board reverting back to staff form as Rose reached over the edge and caught it, only to bring her knee up and snap the staff over it. Tossing the broken staff over the edge, Rose slowly made her way over to the sleigh and peeked into the back, where she could see several boxes of presents.

Rose was about to walk over to the front of the sleigh, but she whirled around in surprise as Santa's large bag magically came up the chimney and hovered into the air as some of the presents in the back of the sleigh started to glow and magically hovered into the air and into the bag.

Rose watched this with wonder, but her amazement soon turned into panic when she saw that the bag coming right for her. Before Rose could even react, the bag smacked into her, making her fall into the sleigh on top of the boxes of presents as the heavy bag landed on her chest, leaving her in a very uncomfortable position.

Well, this was going well…

Rose struggled against the bag pinning her down, but she stopped as she saw a figure suddenly shooting out of the chimney before landing on the roof. Rose silently gasped as she took in the man's appearance: all red clothing, white beard, and fat…Santa Claus…

Santa chuckled heartily. "I tell ya…" he said. "It's a good thing that these kids didn't ask for that much, or I'd be here all night…"

It really didn't surprise Rose that Santa could not see her, as the only thing that was not pinned down were her feet, head and hands. Rose watched as Santa walked out of her sight, and the next thing the huntress knew, the sleigh had taken off.

As the sleigh soared through the air, Rose brought her hands up and put them to the bag, trying to get it off of her. Grunting, Rose pushed at the bag, but it didn't budge. Sighing, Rose gave up.

This was going to be a long trip…

END CHAPTER

A/N: So, was that any less depressing? I know it's short, but since I want to keep this at six chapters' length, I can pretty much promise you that the next chapter will be longer. Please review.