"And then after the people led me out of the desert, I found myself in a dark city street. I didn't quite know where to go at that point so I just sat down and thought about how weird this whole situation was," Phil continued to explain. He was currently telling Dan about what happened after 'Slender Man' warped him away to the middle of a huge desert, alone and rather traumatised.
"Then what happened?"
That was Dan. He sounded like a child listening to some sort of amazing action story. He, Phil and Ciara were currently strolling, casually, through a medieval-looking town, leaving Ciara completely out of their conversation. That was all right, though – she was busying herself looking out for the next portal. She seemed to know where she was going.
"And then you wouldn't believe it," Phil sighed, "I heard footsteps and I hid. I heard them go behind a building and through a creaky door but I didn't look to see who they were. I followed where I had heard them go when I was sure they were gone and – what do you know – it just so happened to be you and Ciara. It took a lot of courage to stand up to that lion, by the way, so I hope you're happy with me."
Dan smiled and laughed, quietly,
"Why did it listen to you, anyway?" He asked.
Phil shrugged and they both turned to Ciara, who was leading the way ahead of them.
"Tau's not that fierce," she replied, flatly, still flickering her eyes around the town, "He wouldn't even stand up to three people…" and she stopped walking, suddenly, like she'd recalled something very unexpected.
"What's up?" Phil asked as he almost walked into her.
"I've just remembered that the next portal isn't actually in this town," Ciara sighed, putting a hand over her face and dropping her head in dismay.
"Hey, it's OK," Dan replied, poking his head over her shoulder, "How long does it ta-"
He never got to finish his sentence, as just then, a fretful old lady came running up to them, looking like her world was falling apart around her,
"Why aren't you running?" She yelled at the trio, "You have to be quick!"
Ciara stared up at her, confused,
"What's happening?" She asked.
"They're coming!" The old woman shouted, spraying little flecks of spit in Ciara's face as she did.
"Who's 'they'?" Ciara started to ask, but the elderly lady had scampered off just as quickly as she had arrived. Ciara soon got her answer, though, when a huge splatter of blood landed next to her feet.
"Ok, team, let's run!" She yelped as she saw a troop of soldiers marching towards them. The trio swivelled around on their heels and hurried away from the army, retracing their steps, Dan and Phil following Ciara's lead.
"Where are we going?" Phil yelped across to Ciara as he and Dan scrambled after her.
"The stables!" Ciara replied, using her wings as indicators before turning a sharp corner, "We can jump on some horses and gallop to the next portal before the soldiers have chance to follow us. If we hurry, we'll get the horses before anyone else does," she explained.
Phil bit his lip. He'd never been too keen on horses ever since he was a child. It was something about their long faces and their huge stature that made them seem so intimidating. Yet, he didn't really see a way out of this one: Dan was sure to get him onto a horse somehow.
It didn't take them long to reach the stables and when they did, they couldn't really be called 'stables'. They were more just stalls sat outside that were covered by some sort of roof supported by a few long poles in the ground. There were only three horses stabled, but that was alright.
"No time to saddle up," Ciara called, getting her breath back and unlocking one of the stable doors to lead out a dappled grey stallion, "We've got to be quick."
"I'm not so sure about this, Dan…" Phil murmured as Dan clambered onto the bay horse in the second stall,
"You'll be fine, Phil," Dan replied, trotting over to his friend, "It'll be fun, trust me."
Phil wasn't sure it sounded like fun.
"I don't think so, Dan, I think I'll just run along behind…" he mumbled.
"Come on, Phillllll!" Dan moaned with a frown, looking somewhat worried, "If you don't come, the army will find us and kill us all, and I'm not losing you again."
"I'll set off now, you two follow close, OK?" Ciara called to them as she set off at a steady canter.
"We'll be with you soon," Dan assured her, giving Phil a warning glare.
"The one time I went horse riding was the worst day of my life," Phil objected, adamantly.
"I thought you said the worst day of your life was when your mum forced you to eat some cheese before you went swimming?"
"Besides that time."
"Look, Phil, it's not going to be that bad. We're only following Ciara to the portal and we don't even have to gallop all the way," Dan insisted.
"Dan, I-"
"If you want, we can share: you don't even have to do anything."
Phil sighed and was about to object before he heard the sounds of trooping footsteps coming from behind and he quickly agreed, climbing up onto the bay stallion. He held on around the horse's belly with his legs and closed his eyes, looping his arms around Dan's waist.
He really didn't think this was a good idea.
Dan urged on their steed and they galloped away just in time before the group of soldiers came round the corner, narrowly escaping death for yet another time that night.
Outside the town were long fields of wheat and grass stretching out as far as the eye could see, and galloping across them were two horses, side by side, carrying three friends – one of whom had his eyes squeezed shut and his arms almost strangling his comrade. When he eventually decided to open his eyes and look around him, he wasn't met with a very pleasant sight: the fields behind them were ablaze, burning away as the sun set ahead of them, the fire quickly creeping up on them.
"Dan!" Phil whimpered, "The fields are on fire!"
Dan couldn't turn around to see, he just kept his eyes ahead of him and pushed his horse on, speeding up until they were at a mad dash for wherever the next portal was.
Ciara seemed to know where she was going – that was evident by the expression on her face. It was a look of pure determination. She had a responsibility: two lives to look after. It wasn't just her in her little dimension anymore, there were other people with her and she was going to save them if it was the last thing she would ever do,
"It's alright, team!" She shouted to her companions over the sound of thundering hooves, "We're almost there!"
They arrived at a lonely shack in the middle of nowhere a few moments later. The fire was quite a way behind them at this point and they hopped off their stallions and let them loose. Phil was still dizzy and hanging onto Dan's arm as he regained his balance.
"Right: through here is the next portal. I have to warn you, though: it's not going to be pretty…"
