Chapter 7 - On the right track
Sonic knew Aeronniell was full of surprises, but he didn't expect her to have a horse that answered her every call. "Hey boy," Aeronniell smiled rubbing his beautiful black head. Thunder was a black stallion with a little white star on his forehead.
"Knuckles, can you stay balanced on a horse?" Aeronniell asked. Knuckles nodded.
"So you two are gonna ride this big guy to Seaside Hill?... Can he go that far? It's a long way," Sonic remarked. Thunder stamped his foot, like the remark had offended him. "Thunder is tough, he can do it," Aeronniell giggled, as Thunder gently tried to nibble at her nose.
"Ok boy. Let Knuckles get up," she said calmly and gently. Thunder did as he was asked. Knuckles then carefully mounted. "Good boy," Aeronniell praised.
Aeronniell then mounted and sat in front of Knuckles. "Um Aero, isn't he supposed to have a saddle and stuff," Sonic asked.
Aeronniell gently kicked Thunder's sides and allowed him to set of at a canter. "Who needs those?!" Aeronniell called. Sonic grinned and ran after them...
"Shadow, are you okay!?" Tails exclaimed.
"I'm fine Tails, but those burning bars aren't our best escape route," Shadow sighed, staring at the window that had just given him his latest injury.
Shadow had climbed onto the windowsill, but the burning shackles had suddenly heated up and burned his wrists. The pain had caused Shadow to fall off the window ledge, fortunately he landed on his feet. He wouldn't let Tails see the burns, as they were pretty bad. It annoyed Shadow that he couldn't get out when his friend needed help, but what annoyed him more was that he couldn't get annoyed because the burning shackles would violently heat up whenever he got angry or tried to escape. It was like a never-ending cycle!
Tails tried to move up the bed to get comfortable but it just hurt his side. "Shadow do you think all the guards have left?" he asked.
"I'm not sure Tails..It has gotten quiet lately.. Maybe that's because they've gone to meet up with that army for when they get turned immortal, or whatever it is they're planning,"
Tails nodded. "I hope Sonic comes soon, it looks like he's our only chance," Tails yawned.
"Don't worry, we'll be out of here soon,"Shadow promised. Shadow turned around he realized Tails had fallen asleep but he was shivering. Shadow sacrificed one of his blankets and put it over Tails.
"Sleep tight," Shadow muttered...
Sonic was running beside Aeronniell and Knuckles. "Hey Aero, Do you have a plan or are we just gonna wing it? I'm used to winging it but I thought I'd check," He called.
"We need to see how well the fortress is guarded first and then we can see what needs to be done,"Aeronniell called back.
Sonic suddenly stopped. Aeronniell got Thunder to do a U-turn and he stopped when he came back to Sonic.
"Sonic, what's going on?" Knuckles asked. Aeronniell dismounted and helped Knuckles down.
"Look," Sonic said, picking a half buried green gem out of the earth.
"That's a Chaos Emerald!" Knuckles exclaimed.
"I wonder what it's doing here," Sonic muttered to himself.
"It looks like someone has deliberately put it there... Maybe it was your friend Shadow," Aeronniell said. Sonic nodded in agreement.
"Come on, we don't have long remember?" Knuckles said after a few seconds. The others nodded. Knuckles and Aeronniell mounted Thunder again and continued down the road with sonic hot on their heels.
Something isn't right Sonic thought to himself. Shadow never leaves an Emerald behind.. Unless he remembered that Karn wanted the emeralds, but still, maybe Karn is worse than I thought...