Chapter 10: The Consequences of Running.

Everything was happening too fast.

Joanie closed her eyes and squeezed her hand against her side, all too aware of the blood caking on it. She tried to control her breathing, but the only reward she got was a slight tremor in her legs that caused her to drop to her knees.

Pain.

It pulsed inside her, crippling her, paralyzing her.

Pain.

"I can't do it." She whispered. "I can't run. I can't run and win. I can't." She bowed forward, touching her head to the cool grass just as a shadow fell over her.

"You don't have to." The voice in her head said softly, with no mock or scorn. "I will take you back as far as the outer wingdom even. You can still turn back and go to your Sky realm Silver Feather."

She was on her feet even before her eyes were open.
"NO!" She yelled. "No! I can run. I can! I will not go back without running this race! I won't." She glared at him defiantly, anger replacing the pain inside her. "I will run."

She has been running her whole life. Her first memories were of running and hiding away from the older kids at the foster home then later, running away from that foster home and many others. She ran continuously when she was on the street, from social services, the police, gangs and street thugs alike. She had run and run and run until one day, she had run into the woman she was running for now.
It was as if she had been running towards her, her whole life. It seemed somehow fitting that she now had to run to safe her.

She and the horse did not speak again as she took a deep breath and stretched herself as well as she could one last time. When she was ready, he trotted over to where the starting line was and waited for her. She did the same, taking note of the pain only to know where to block it out. When she settled in next to him, crouching down into an athlete's position she glanced up briefly, meeting his crystal like eyes.

"Call it." She hissed. "You can call it."

He nodded without a word and looked towards the sky almost longingly.

"Get ready." His voice was a whisper on the wind.

Joanie closed her eyes and tensed her body. "If it is to be…" she whispered softly, sweat running down her face…

"Get set."

Joanie looked up, her sweat stinging her eyes.

"Go!"

The word resonated around them as if the whole realm shouted with him. As Joanie leapt up she felt a cold sensation spread from her feather but she paid it no mind.

"It's up to me!"

Joanie ran. Her side stretched and her shoulder throbbed but she ran. Everything around her dimmed and she became only aware of her opponent and the large oak that marked the end of their race. The horse was struggling or rather, she could sense that what he had said was true. He truly wasn't as fast on land as in the air. His large wings which gave him so much grace in the air unbalanced him as he picked up speed.

Maybe… Joanie thought suddenly. Maybe just maybe, I can win this…

The chasm was before her, stretching out like a gaping mouth.

She was going to do this, one way or the other. From the moment she had left her room the previous evening she had made a commitment to see this through to the end. Her shoulder hurt… No matter what that end might be. Joanie didn't look at the chasm as she adjusted her stride. Judging the distance she counted her steps, spread her arms and… Jumped.
The wind and pain alike whipped tears into her as she soured through the air. Joanie kept her eyes focused on the ground as it became nearer, biting her lip against the agony in her shoulder. Her heart raced, even thought it felt as if it was barely beating as she saw the opposite edge coming closer and closer. She turned her body ever so slightly, preparing herself to land. She was going to make it, against all her fears; she was going to make it…

Her feet barely touched the edge. She knew suddenly that she didn't make it, even as she tried to take a step forward. She lost her balance and topped backwards just as she saw the horse clear the jump. She cried out, twisted her body in an instinctive attempt to fly up but she couldn't. She looked down and in a split second realized that a branch was coming her way. She closed her eyes and grabbed it, crying out in pain as her shoulders jerked against the lashing stopping motion.
The young branch bend but did not break.

Breathing raggedly, Joanie first tried to pull herself up but she couldn't with her shoulder and had to let go with her right hand. Looking down in the gaping darkness she looked up and tried to swing herself up onto the branch but she didn't have the strength to. She tried pushing her feet against the edge and walking up but the soft earth crumbled, sending her toppling back down. Whimpering softly Joanie looked down, again. It dawned on her then that she had lost.
And failed.

She had failed herself, the Wingdom, her friends and the most agonizing of all…

Dame Skyla.

Blinking tears she closed her eyes, suddenly aware of the weight of the Skyswirlstone in her pocket. She should never have taken it. She has brought doom on all the wingdom.

"I'm sorry…" she sobbed softly. "I'm so sorry…" She had taken a foolhardy risk and now everybody who depended on her would pay the consequences.

Her arms started shaking and she was loosing her grip on the branch. She tried to pull herself up one last time but to no avail. She looked up towards the sky, and closed her eyes. A darkly relieved thought told her that if she fell, at least she wouldn't have to deal with the pain of loosing the woman whom she had started to see as her mother.

"Silver Feather!"

An unexpected wind blew up between her legs and when she looked down she could see the white horse hovering below her. "I can't get closer!" He said, his voice intense. "You'll have to push away from the edge and jump." There was no question in his voice that she wouldn't do it.

Breathing quickly Joanie looked up again, then down towards where he was, trying to judge how far she would have to push away. Then, rebelling against her aching body she pulled up her right arm, redoubled her grip on the branch before she pulled her legs up and kicked herself away from the edge. She twisted her body immediately, dropped for a few heart stopping seconds and then landed securely on the horse's back. She immediately tightened her legs on his back and grabbed and handful of mane as he spread his powerful wings flew up out of the chasm. It was only when they were up and flying above the cloud line when the full force of her predicament hit her. She closed her eyes and pressed her face against the horses mane. Emotions that she had been suppressing since she realized that Skyla was gone welled up inside her, and she screamed and screamed until she couldn't anymore.

She had lost, and she had failed. Dame Skyla was dead to her, her friends gone. She, Joanie-Ellen Zavere has lost her freedom to the Lord of the Flightless Realm and through that the rest of her life as well. She sobbed with her body pressed tightly against her new master's, her anguish and physical pain like a dark wave washing over her.

"Let it go Silver Feather." The Horse's voice was soft, like the beating of his wings. "Just let it all go."

She tangled her hand in his mane and for a moment pulled at it as hard as she could, but when it had no effect she sobbed again softly and closed her eyes, letting the dark wave of her feelings wash over her.

She had lost.

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She wasn't sure whether she fell asleep or lost consciousness but time became a strange series of flashes to her.

She somehow knew that they had flown for hours, but it passed quickly to her as she drifted in and out of consciousness, her body still pressed against the horse. They started descending by the time the sun became an orange glow just above the horizon. Joanie had closed her eyes and was jerked awake seemingly seconds later when they landed in a dark forest clearing. The sun had already set by then. She had been conscious enough then to try and get off but the horse had urged her, more with his body language than words, to stay on. She had not protested and had closed her eyes only to be awakened when hands enclosed around her. She had panicked then and had briefly tried to twist out of the gentle grip but her body protested her every move.

"Careful with her." The horse's voice was different than before, gentle and friendly but still commanding. "She's hurt." At his words she remembered that her life did not belong to herself anymore, and that resisting, what ever he wanted to do to her or was planning for her was futile. She closed her eyes when she felt herself gently slipped off of the horse and placed on cool grass. She curled herself up as the hands let go of her.

"You are bleeding my Lord." An unfamiliar man said, his voice strangely pitched with age. "Urla! Urla damn you woman where are you?! Our Lord is hurt!"

A female voice from further away answered.

"Don't you yell at me like that you old bag! Dear goodness, let me get a light."

Joanie heard the horse shake his head. "It's not mine." He said gently, his voice closer to her. She felt his warm breath on her face as he nuzzled her hair and then her shoulder. "It's hers. Mind her shoulder… She's got a cut in her side."

Joanie opened her eyes briefly to see a light coming towards them. An old woman, with a weathered face like a wrinkled apple, bent down and brought a lamp close to her face. Joanie closed her eyes and tried to turn away.

"Dear goodness." The woman said again. "It's a young woman."

"A girl." The horse corrected her. "She's from a race a lot taller than you are. Dear Urla, Ingwar – I must ask you two to see to her. I've done her a bit of an injustice."

Joanie whimpered as the woman carefully turned her on her back but didn't have the strength to protest or speak. The old woman made a soothing sound as she briefly touched her face, wiping away a few stray tears.

"Easy there darling." She said softly. "Let's see what this brute did to you. Do you hurt anywhere else?" Joanie closed her eyes, shuddering when she felt the woman's hands briefly touch her side. She didn't answer her and rather just turned her face away. She heard the woman click her tongue before she drew away a little.

"Let's get her inside Ingwar." She said to the man present. "What happened to her my Lord?" A set of hands wrapped them around her legs while the other slipped themselves under her shoulders. Joanie grunted in pain and bit her lip but didn't say anything.

"Mind her shoulders as well." The horse said as she was lifted up. "I think she hurt her right one. Also, mind her wings."

The movement stopped. "Wings?" The man asked, clearly shocked as the woman snapped. "Don't drop her! Stupid husband…"

"She's from the realm of flight and she has had a rough day." The horse said, mildly amused. "Please, take good care of her. I will tell you all shortly. Just see to her first." The slight commanding tone in his voice got them moving again. Joanie opened her eyes briefly to see herself carried into a brightly lit house. The sudden loss of the horse's unrelenting presence came as a surprise, enough so that she managed to twist her body slightly, almost out of the people's unsuspecting hands. To get a better grip they briefly put her on the floor and, before they could pick her up again Joanie struggled to sit up, pressing herself against the woman who had dropped to her knees to stop her from moving too much.

"It's okay darling." She whispered softly. "It's alright…"
Joanie didn't hear her and desperately searched around for the horse. She found him standing in the doorway, his white hair glowing golden in the light of the room. His eyes were on her, watching her intently.

Joanie tried to get up but the woman's arms were quite secure. "Ingwar." She said softly. "Get me some fennel juice will you? There should be some in my cupboard. My Lord, do you know if our medicines will hurt her?"

The horse shook his head and tried to step into the house but he was too big for the door.

"Treat her as you would anybody." He said. "I trust that you will do no harm. They are not that different from us. Joanie-Ellen Zavere…"
Joanie felt her whole body go cold at the mention of her name. She had never given it to him. The horse dropped his head slightly so that she needed look up to him as much.

"Let Urla take care of you." He said. "I'll be here outside, waiting."

Joanie tried to protest but felt a bottle of something pressed against her lips.

"Here." The woman said softly. "Drink this. Just two or so sips will do." Joanie closed her mouth stubbornly, her eyes still on the horse. She didn't dare speak, lest they tried to force the stuff on her but she desperately wished that she could ask… How do you know my name?

The horse shook his head and stamped his hoof, suddenly irritated.

"There will be enough time for questions." He said, his tone intense. "Remember our bargain though Silver Feather. Obey them as you have vowed to obey me. Now. Do as Urla tell you."

Joanie opened her mouth to protest but closed it again quickly and dropped her head. With a shaky hand she took the bottle from the old man who was holding it and, after a second's hesitation, took two quick sips. The old man stepped away from her and put the bottle on the counter. The bitter tasting liquid felt like a strong liquor and felt as if it filled her whole head with a drunken sensation. The old woman shook her head at the man as he went to her legs again and gently stroked Joanie's hair.

"Let's give it a moment." She said softly and then turned her attention to the horse. "Was it necessary to be so harsh? What bargain?" Joanie felt her senses dimming, the drunken sensation spreading through her whole body. She felt as if she was drifting away, slowly but surely and in a desperate attempt to keep some control she focused on the most real thing to her in the room.

The horse sighed and glancing behind him slowly sank down at the door. His eyes were still on her, watching her for any signs of deviance.

"With her yes." He said softly. "But I am not unkind Urla. She does not understand yet. And, there will be a time for questions. But not now. Please, take good care of her."

Joanie felt the woman nod as her last grip on consciousness slipped. Closing her eyes, she finally gave in and slipped back into the induced sleep.

It was somehow better than facing the consequences of the rest of her life.

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To Be Continued…

AN: Firstly, this chapter is dedicated to Ingrid, without whom it would not have been finished now, lol. So, all of you say: thank you Ingrid. :P I had a brief gap in my busy schedule and I had known that I should take the time to write this but instead I had found myself trapped on a couch (with two kittens who had crawled into my shirt and a dog next to me…) unable to move (evil animals). My friend had phoned me, forcing me to get up and actually think again.

For the original readers, this section has been changed quite drastically from the previous one. I had had a problem with this original chapter since I wrote it a few years ago (it was called: little people – chapter 9 of the original story). This is my attempt to better it.
Have a great day and I hope that you are all well!!
Totally random – if there are any anime fans around, I've discovered a new great series – Read or Die. The OVA series is available at Youtube and the Manga (comes before the OVA) and second series are available for download from I'd highly recommend it.
Hugz!

Alyss.