I decided that I would deal with this strange letter another time, there is no payment with the letter so it is a last priority. Right now I have other paid jobs to get to. Walking out to my stables, I tucked the letter into Albino's bag. Albino is the name of my horse, he has been with me for a couple years now. The funny thing is Albino is not even a white horse, he is a black arabian; one of the fastest breeds in the continent. I stole him from a hoshidan king as a birthday gift to myself, when I turned 25.

Climbing onto my exotic steed, we rode into town towards the message board and my next paycheck. As we flew across the land, I closed my eyes; feeling the wind running through my hair. This was really the only time in my life where I got to just be alone with my thoughts, my horse never bumped when he ran, he was graceful and swift. If you closed your eyes you wouldn't be able to tell when he took a step, it felt like gliding.

As we rode I watched the birds in the sky, soaring free, their wings outstretched in the air. I watched the trees lean and groan in the wind, the leaves falling as we passed by. "MMMMMMMMMMMMPPPHHHH!" A loud muffled scream filled the once peaceful scene, birds and small animals took cover in response to the tortured sound. Albino stopped running with a skid and whipped his head back towards me, he knew what I was thinking. We had to go save that woman. "Go" was all the horse needed to hear me say as he took off towards the heart wrenching noise.

It was coming from a farming plantation over to our left, however it was midday and so the plantation was busy with workers and farm animals. I like to think of myself as a gentleman. I believe that women should be protected by men, not preyed upon. I make it a point to protect and treat every woman that I interact with respectfully, that being said there was no time to be respectful to the women working in the fields. This gentleman is going to have to run straight through the plantation to get to the victim in time, by her screams and cries it sounds like the attack has already begun. So, we jumped the fence. Workers cursed and ran as we ripped through their newly grazed fields, dodging large equipment and cattle. The woman clutched their children and cowered as the men threw pitch forks at us; we had to keep moving. Albino grunted as he crashed through the back fence, setting the work horses free. They ran alongside us in their attempt to finally be in the wild, riders began running around with lassos trying to get their horses back.

My head jerked back and my airways blocked as I felt one of the lassos latch onto my neck. I gasped as more lassoes found their way around my neck, digging deep into my skin; causing my flesh to burn and blister. I clutched onto Albino as hard as I could, every time that horse jumped over a cow or sharply turned to dodge equipment, the bonds around my neck seemingly got tighter; causing the feeling of one thousand needles in my throat to intensify, as well as the stretching of the skin just below my chin. With my right harm pulling at the bonds around my neck, my left tried fruitlessly to reach the dagger slung to my back. Suddenly a third lasso found its way around my neck, it pulled me so violently that my body flew backwards. I was now laying on my back on top of Albino, both hands struggling to remove the lassos with no chance of reaching my dagger.

Above me I could once again see the birds flying freely, with no bonds. One of the birds dipped lower revealing its glossy black coat, a crow. My brain seemed to fill up with fluff as I remembered a dark mage that I had met once in my travels. His name was Henry, he was a very strange man who had turned mad due to excessive torture in his growing years. He was always dressed in all black, with skin white as snow, his hair as white as foam, charmed rings, bracelets, and amulets always adorned his body and a crow was always there; perched on his shoulder. He had asked me to retrieve bear balls, lion's liver, and an eagle's throat for a potion he was working on. I remembered sitting together in his tent as crows flew around dropping ingredients into his potion, some dropping themselves as sacrifices. A deer stirred the large pot with a ladle from his bag. Now the thing about Henry is that animals listen to him, but not because they liked him; it was because he gave off this aura that would compel an animal to forget about their natural instincts and serve him. He had so much dark magic around him that it compelled the animals to become his slaves. While his potion was being brewed he had asked me if I wanted to learn the secret of controlling animals but I had declined, thinking it was stupid. I had my horse and that's all I really needed, I didn't need my house becoming a zoo. How I wished I had said yes to his offer, I would love for that crow above me to just swoop down and cut these lassos.

I pitifully stared at the crows above, hoping that they would get the message and help me; but I was no animal-whispering dark mage. No crows would be coming to my rescue today. Suddenly my entire body was violently jerked forward against Albino's neck and amazingly all of the lassos loosened their grips. I gasped and sputtered, trying to get as much air down into my abused neck as possible; It was then that I realized Albino had stopped running. He has seen the state I was and had turned around so violently that he had pulled the lassos right out of the rider's hands; also resulting in them being pulled off their horses and onto the ground. Albino stood over the riders in neighing loudly and brandishing his front legs - challenging them to get up. The riders raised their arms and quickly backed away. Snorting and turning around Albino began to once again run towards the now-silent woman.