Only Hope

Chapter Four – the Chase

by: Mel

E-mail: LightofFaeries@yahoo.com

Disclaimer: [See previous chapters]

The rain poured down, pelting at Sakura's small frame huddled on the horse. She shivered, miserable and thoroughly drenched despite Takashi's cloak. The inn seemed a lifetime ago. She was now exhausted due the battering rain and not enough sleep. It was all she could do to keep upright on the horse. The purebred seemed to know where he was headed and Sakura was too tired to try to check where he was going. She just gave him his head. He galloped on endlessly, his sodden golden fur the only color in Sakura's gray world.

Sakura tried to rationalize all the pieces of her mind, yet the only thought that came up were Takashi's last words "name the horse". She knew that only Elvish could sum up the beautiful golden horse. She cast about in her limited Elvish vocabulary for a suitable name. 'What to name him?' she thought to herself drowsily as she fought the ongoing battle to keep her eyelids from closing for the purebred's gait was so smooth that Sakura hardly knew she was riding on anything. Her gaze dropped to the golden fur beneath her. Even dampened by the rain, it seemed to glow. 'Glorinmere,' Sakura thought and her lips curved up in a smile. 'Golden Light.' Her head nodded once: she was asleep.

Hooves thundered behind her, the sound battering against her ears. They were coming closer and closer, never ceasing. Glorinmere's muscles bunched and stretched beneath her; he was galloping at tremendous speed, yet the hoof beats sounded closer than ever…

Sakura awoke with a cry, almost toppling off Glorinmere. She remembered at the last second that she was on a horse and grabbed Glorinmere's mane to steady herself. The sun had just risen over the horizon, reaching its thickening fingers across the landscape and the rain had stopped. Sakura deeply inhaled the fresh scent of the spring morning and the dark dream melted from her mind. It was miracle that she didn't have a cold after galloping through the rain all night.

After an hour or so of riding Glorinmere, Sakura came upon a shallow river. She decided to have her lunch there and dismounted Glorinmere. She took off his tack, knowing instinctively that he would not run off, unwrapped the waterproof packing around her food, and sat in a patch of sun, soaking in the sunlight. She munched peacefully on her bread as Glorinmere tore up mouthfuls of grass and romped in the river. After a while, Glorinmere trotted over to Sakura and nosed her gently as if deeming it time to go. Moaning slightly, Sakura pushed his sleek snout away, content just to be resting her aching muscles in the sun. Glorinmere snorted impatiently and nosed her harder.

"Ow!" Sakura exclaimed and swung her head to look at the horse. Solemn dark eyes gazed back at her. Sakura sighed, "All right, all right, I'm getting up." She wrapped the rest of her bread and slowly rose from the ground. Sluggishly, she tacked up Glorinmere. He stamped his hoof and bobbed his head as she cast about for a suitable object to help her mount the tall horse. Yet he was completely still when she finally mounted.

Before Sakura could even click her heels, Glorinmere was off, trotting at an easy pace.

As Glorinmere crested a hill, he broke into a gallop for no reason Sakura could see. She pulled gently on the reins, trying to slow him down. It would be no good if he wasted his energy. Glorinmere ignored her. Sakura tugged harder, but he only tossed his head, refusing to slow. Finally, Sakura pulled back with all her might and called the golden horse to a halt. He stopped obediently, too obediently was Sakura's thought, for a horse who previously wouldn't listen to her. He turned his head so that he could look at her with one innocent seeming eye, as though asking her why in the world she had told him to stop. Sakura glared at him, sure he understood perfectly well.

They stood there for a moment, a small girl atop a large sun-colored horse. When Sakura was sure Glorinmere wasn't going to bolt, she eased him into a walk. Then a trot. Which was a mistake. As soon as Sakura had given him more head, Glorinmere ran. Exasperated, Sakura pulled him back to a stop and scolded him. That didn't seem to stop him. The third time he broke into a gallop, Sakura was thoroughly annoyed and gave up trying to slow him.

"All right you," she said, half shouting because of the wind rushing at her face. "Tire yourself completely out if that's how you want it. Just remember, it's not my fault if I have to drag you into Somwyal!" Glorinmere paid no attention.

Sooner than she had expected, Sakura saw turrets rise up in the distance. 'We must be near the capital,' she thought. Just then, Sakura thought she heard distant hooves. Tossing a quick look over her shoulder, she didn't see anyone behind them. She dismissed it as part of her imagination. Yet, instead of disappearing as a hallucination ought, the sound got steadily louder and increased in rhythm, as if there were more horses. Feeling an unreasonable squeeze of fear, Sakura glanced behind her again, wishing hard that she was being paranoid.

At first, she saw nothing. But just as she was exhaling a sigh of relief she spotted rapidly growing dots on the horizon. Very rapidly moving. So rapidly moving that even as she watched, they started to take shape. There was no doubt they were headed for Sakura.

Sakura whipped her head around to face Glorinmere's ears and hunched over, her face pressed into his mane. She tightened her knees and Glorinmere immediately responded, running faster than ever before. The wind became one long whistle that continually whipped past Sakura. After a few seconds, Sakura looked up. She could now see Somwyal's main gate and risked a glance behind her. The riders chasing her were much closer. It suddenly dawned on her that they would have captured her if Glorinmere had not insisted on galloping earlier. It seemed that he had somehow known that they were being followed.

All thoughts fled her mind as the city gate loomed before her. There would be no time for it to be opened. The riders were almost upon her and Glorinmere refused to slow down, turn, or stop. He kept galloping at full speed right towards that gate. Sakura was sure that they were going to crash into the gate. She buried her face in his mane, terrified and near tears. Any moment and she was going to be no more.

Suddenly, Sakura felt Glorinmere give a mighty heave. Startled, she looked up…

Author's Notes: FINALLY!!!! I've finally posted this chapter!!!! I'm terribly sorry everyone for taking what…(counts on fingers)…SIX MONTHS to get this out. I got the flu, then pneumonia. And because of that, I had a TON of homework and finals (my teachers have no mercy, *sniff, sniff*) and because of that, I was rarely on the computer and only got enough time to check my e-mail and/or read a quick fanfic. And then I went on vacation. Well, at least it's finally summer break and I have lots more time to write. The only reason I left this chapter as a cliffhanger was because I knew if I didn't I would have to take a few more days to finish this chapter and I wanted to get it out as soon as possible. I've already half finished the next chapter so as long as I don't go on another vacation, it should be out before August. BTW, Glorinmere is pronounced (glorh-in-mareh) and you all do know that I make up the elvish words and they aren't JRR Tolkien's elvish right? Just wanted to make that clear.

Please review!

Thank yous to Animefreak242 (Thank you! I love long reviews that give me things to think about. Sakura hasn't met Tomoyo yet but she will. And she will meet Syaoran in the next chapter, that I promise ^_^), Nick$$, Honoria (in chapter three, Takashi gave Sakura the horse because he knew she needed it), N^^Fanns, fert, Gigi, phat@#, Devil, Lucifer, Sexy88, Dreem, Devil, M (Really? Thank you!), and D.V, for reviewing chapter 4!

July 8, 2003

~Mel~