**Dagen's POV**
After the rain of arrows had passed, I found myself surrounded by some mean-looking thugs. I had to mention also that they looked raggedy and were very smelly folks. At first, it was hard to determine what sort of creature they were but after a few seconds with them, I figured that their gang was made up of different creatures_ humans, werewolves and vampires. It amazed me that at least two vampires were in their midst. However, it did not take long to figure out that while it was well into the day, the tall trees provided enough shade from the sun.
I stood up from the ground and so did Philemon. We remained very calm while hiding our weapons in our clothes. It was for the best if our enemies did not know what we were capable of.
“What do you want? We are peace-loving men. We do not want to fight,” said Philemon. Philemon towered well above them and while his height should come off as intimidating, he had the unsuspecting face of an innocent and peaceful person. It had deceived many of course because I was not aware of a single person who had the luck of engaging Philemon in a fight and surviving the fight.
“It is not that you do not want to fight. It is that you have no chance,” smiled who appeared to be their leader, wickedly.
“What do you want?” asked Philemon once more in his deceptively calm voice.
“The horse,” the gang leader returned, pointing in the direction of Thunder.
“You can have the other one. That one is…” I feigned fear as I said this. The one closest to me pulled out a sword below my neck to stop me from saying anything further.
“Let him go. You can have the horse,” returned Philemon as we exchanged eye contact.
The one that had a sword to my neck released his grip on me and approached Thunder.
Thunder was a magnificent horse to behold and she was very beautiful to admire but her beauty was a coverup for the monster that she was. She was a battle horse and a weapon on her own. She killed without mercy whoever was in her line of sight. I also shared a bond with her and whoever was a threat to my life, she killed.
When the man was close enough, she used her head to lift him up and the force with which he fell told us all that he had died on impact.
The gang leader looked confused and directed another member of his to approach the horse but he met with the same fate.
“What the fuck are you doing?” their leader shouted, incensed that he had lost two of his members already. I tried my best to hold the laugh within me. They had chosen the wrong item to steal.
“You asked for the horse and we let you have it so why don't you stop being pussies and take it already?” Philemon’s voice had changed. At this juncture, there was no point pretending that he was peace-loving. It was now time to give them a good beating.
They rushed at us at once hoping to overwhelm us both with their numbers. They were wrong to take us all at once because if they had not at the very least one of two of them would have been able to escape from our grasp. It was not long before they were all dead.
“I believe we can proceed,” Philemon said after evaluating our surroundings. There seemed to be no imminent danger in sight.
As I scanned the bodies on the floor, my attention was drawn to a purple satchel by the body of one of the dead men. I picked it up and examined it closely. It looked very much like something Regina had owned and had worn about her when she had lived in the palace.
Was this a coincidence? Had Regina been through this place or did this belong to someone else? I took the satchel with me and climbed on my horse.
Night fell quickly in the forest and since we had not rested the entire day, I suggested that we take a break. I knew Philemon well; he would not request a break even if we had been travelling nonstop for three days.
As we ate the sandwiches I had packed for our journey, Philemon tackled me to the ground and before I could process what was happening, I saw an arrow lodged into Philemon's thigh. I was quick on my feet when I noticed the situation and pulled the arrow out of Philemon before the poison spread through his body.
Then we both lay flat on the ground waiting for the next attack to come or for the enemy to show himself to us. We waited for a very long time but neither of those things happened.
“We must not let our guard down. Whoever it is, is messing with us,” said Philemon as his eyes roamed the area for danger.
“We cannot remain like this forever. Perhaps, if I stand they will shoot and we can calculate the direction of the attack,” I said to him.
“I will stand,” he said this and stood up but everything around us remained eerily still. I tried standing up too but an arrow whizzed past just then which Philemon blocked with his spear.
“They want me,” I said to Philemon who nodded in agreement.
This meant that these were no ordinary robbers. They were clearly after my life and it implied that they knew who I was. I tried to think of those who wanted to cause me harm but their numbers were inexhaustible. What I needed to do now was to concentrate on getting out of this situation alive.
I stood up from my crouching position and waited for another arrow. Since I knew the danger, I was prepared for it or so I thought.