The chase had begun.
Asta took a crazy turn with his one horse. Sky firmly held the two women in place to prevent them from bumping against the carriage's walls. Jasmine on the other hand, bumped left and right, crying helplessly as she tried to get a grip of herself, digging her hands onto the chair, ripping it, until she clawed into the wall of the carriage, as she sat opposite, Sky, and the two women. Sky grunted doing his best to hold them both without them getting hurt, yet he couldn't tell Asta to slow down because his eyes caught a glance of their chasers behind them from the window. Sharp as an eagle, he saw about a hundred men charging down the hill. Though they still far-ahead, they chase looked like they had scent like a hungry raging wolf.
"I see a carriage, your majesty!"
A guard on his horse yelled from his horse, among the others. Prince Levi, led the troop, his eyes suddenly locked in the far distance with Sky's. They saw themselves, and they felt it. Levi's eyes glowed red, and Sky's instant green. Levi frowned at himself, feeling strange, shaking his head at himself.
His senses seemed to be in conflict with control and otherwise. With his horse, galloping ahead of his troop, he shook his head to himself to clear his thoughts on if he was hallucinating or not, when abruptly, his horse suddenly went haywire, throwing him off, as the sky covered the moon. The men far off behind him, caught up with their Prince. He growled on the ground lowly, his hands covered his head, while he fought something within him that ate him up from the inside.
Soon his men caught up with him. They hadn't heard the strange sound coming from him after he fell. One was about jumping down his horse;
"Go!" Levi managed to say, stopping him. His voice still, and unreadable.
"Get the women alive, and anyone else with them, dead."
"But your majesty," the guard tried to insist.
"Go!" He yelled, swiping his hands in anger, is voice mixed another of something sinister. He still hid his face from his men.
Afraid, the men nodded at themselves, and each, ran past him, like a stampede. His horse had run off the road, acting uneasy, while he knelt still, in the midst of the herd, until they were all gone.
The clouds covering the moon revealed rays of red light coming from behind. Levi knelt silent for what felt like a minute. His horse, hiding behind the trees, took more steps back, sensing everything the human eyes could not see. The the still air, began to blow wild, carrying every fallen leaf that got caught in its grip.
The chasing guards covered their faces and protected their eyes as they kept their eyes on the sound of their runner ahead.
Sky looked up to the sky, and so did Asta. Laura, held on to sky's arm, sensing a change in atmosphere.
"Sky?" Her voice subtle, and weak, "What's going on?"
Sky sighed a very deep sigh.
Trouble was going on, was the answer from his silence.
He heard an arrow hit the rear of the carriage, he and Jasmine's tentacles became more alert. Asta was having a little trouble managing the ride, but he managed to look back and see that the men were gaining on them.
"Master!"
Asta cried from the front.
Sky looked at his chasing complaint. They were gaining on them because it was one horse and so much weight compared to theirs.
His cry made Laura made more alert, as she held on tighter on to Sky. He held her palm, as a medium of comfort. But they were still far from it. The clouds slowly drifted away, gently revealing the blood red crescent moon. Laura gasped for air, along with the lying Princess next to him, startling Sky as he became confused on what to do.
"Hold on…" Asta cried, driving off the smooth road and into the forest. The ride became bumpy, but the trees covered the sky. Laura and the princess, seemed to be in some kind of state of convulsion. Sky looked conflicted. He had a solution that would cost them their location.
"How close are we to the barrier?" Sky yelled from within the carriage.
"Not far now, master! I'm taking a shortcut!"
Beads of sweat began escaping his pores.
"I need you to hold on a bit longer," he said to them, in hope that they could. The men had lost them, and were thrown off course. They continued down the road, while they went though the trees.
Just as things were getting better, a witchy roar from the forest drove all the sleeping birds running from their nests.
The horse, hiding back in the trees, looked terrified at it witnessed its owner startle the forest. His body was invaded by something of hell, from the ground. He roared intermittently, as his nails elongated, digging into the earth, as the owner of the body seemed in unbearable pain. Horns like a goat grew out, slowly, and seemingly, painfully. The horse watched transformation, terrified to its feet it couldn't run. Fear held it still, as it froze, scared a step on the dry grass would give away its position.
Watching the sight was horror, but the sudden silence that came heightened it all. The harsh blowing wind, slowed down, like time slowed down.
The flying leaves, strangely, started moving in slow motion. The running troop on the road, saw it. They reached out to touch it wondering if their eyes were deceiving them. Levi looked up in out the window, while holding firm the two women, and saw the leaves flying past the window of the carriage also in the same motion. He frowned, his expression mixed with worry.
Asta's jaws opened in confusion as the carriage kept on running through slow motioned leaves. But his attention, was soon caught by their exit.
"I see it!"
Asta cried, sighting the barrier that protected this devilish castle.
More arrows began to reign at them, one flew over so high, it landed past the neck of the carriage's horse. She almost jolted off course, but Asta was hellbent on getting them out of their domain as he pulled her reigns like a madman.
"Master! It's now or never."
They were approaching a tunnel into the mountain, but a somewhat transparent barrier prevented inhabitants not from Gotham from getting in and going out.
Sky carefully pulled out his dagger's sheath from his belt.
As he was about pulling out the dagger, he whispered to Laura;
"Close your eyes."
Jasmine heard him, and jumped to the ground of the carriage, covering her own eyes with her paws. He turned to make sure the Princess was sleeping. When he was sure, he shut his own eyes, before he carefully, pulled out the emerald dagger half way out.
Its magic sent a blast of the wind from them, blowing the troops on their horses off the ground, shaking the barrier with a loud echoing thud through out Gotham. The barrier became visible, like a glassed hemisphere.
As the sound echoed down, Levi's red eyes shut open. Like something unhuman, his head sharply looked in the direction of the exit. Aware of his horse, without looking in its direction, he stretched out his clawed hand to her, and she became engulfed with a black magic, transforming into a ride from the pits of hell. She charged at him, and he held on to her buckle, rolling in the air and jumping onto its back.
Like a vampire, they flew with their feet.
The barrier opened, and the horse went through. Asta, in all vigor and skill, took out his wand, and muttered a spell as they went through, creating a portal at which the horse ran through as they crossed the barrier.
Levi sighted the carriage almost finishing crossing the barrier. But Levi, wasn't Levi. He looked like a demon who had taken over. He out his claws to dig in to the back of the carriage and stop it. But before he could touch it, the carriage crossed the barrier, and vanished.
Like a ghost, he appeared still at the entrance. His eyes darted back and forth, in utmost anger, he roared to the sky in fury.
Navi, at the palace, strolled to a window. His face stoic, as he heard in the distance, the roar of his brother's failure.
He stood there, still. His silhouette the only thing before the whimpering Sarah on her knees behind him. He sighed calmly, turning towards her. He strode calmly, like death on stroll. Her voice begged for mercy. All her strength was gone.
He stood a distance away from her. Terrified, she wondered what he was doing standing there. Was he staring menacingly? Was he wondering what to do with her?
Afraid, she shivered as she looked ahead.
That night, the only thing the guards close by on duty heard, were the terrible screams of her voice, as she choked on something that was coupled with sound the ripping of flesh.
Many knew the city of Gotham was cursed, and their leaders creatures. Yet they serve, not out of passion or devotion, but fear for their lives and families. Their fear to leave and never return, makes them a part of the curse of darkness.