The Girl, The Knight, and The Sleeping Princess

13. The Chasing

While Liam continued to aim at his attacker with arrows, Mayang was no less busy than him. She was indeed a little overwhelmed, because even though she was strong, she wasn't strong enough to fight against those beasts whatever it was called. Bats but their bodies were as big as wolf dogs. Creepy! 

Mayang slashed her spear, hit and stabbed the animals' bodies. Even though they were hit by her, the animals kept coming to attack. The girl spun her spear like a Marching Band leader. The spinning spear managed to hit the enemies and fell sprawling over the cobbled road. But her strength had limits too. So this girl was getting tired and unable to raise her spear again. 

Mayang stood on top of her spears, panting breathlessly. She knew she couldn't give up now, so she raised the spear again. But due to this fatigue, her movements were not as agile as before. When one of these animals was about to attack her from behind, Mayang couldn't help it. She almost got bitten in the neck if Troya didn't throw the knife at the animal's body. 

Mayang shrieked in surprise and turned her head when she saw the animal fell right beside her. She turned to Troya and thanked her. Then she returned to fighting. 

The Knight and Bear Misha were fighting fiercely on the back. They prevented the line of bats that followed behind from attacking the wagon ridden by the three teenagers. But unfortunately, because the vehicle they were riding on was not a vehicle that was used to run fast, one of the wheels of the cart broke and fell apart when it hit a rock half the size of a basketball lying on the surface of the trail. 

This could not be prevented, the cart was immediately crushed and hit the road hard and the three teenagers were thrown forward, while the horse that was pulling the cart collapsed.

Seeing this, Knight Kay and Bear Misha fought with all their might to save their guests. But of course it won't be that easy. These wild beasts seemed coming with never ending, because they just kept coming and coming. Dozens of monsters had immediately surrounded the three of them. 

Troya tried to get up, but her injured left shoulder ached again. She grimaced by the pain in her shoulder. That's why she didn't realise when one of the monsters was about to attack her. 

 Liam and Mayang are busy fighting again. Even though their bodies hurt of being thrown, they landed on the soft grass, so they could still endure the pain they got. 

A bat monster attacked Liam and cornered this boy. Luckily next to him was a stick of wood the size of a baseball bat, so he survived the monster's bite. But of course he couldn't just relax. He had to get rid of the monster that was aiming for his life and was right on top of him. 

But the monster was too strong, so slowly his hands began to weaken and the monster managed to push its muzzle closer to Liam's face. When finally Liam's hand couldn't hold it anymore, a spear pierced the animal's body, allowing him to push the body aside.

"Thanks!" said Liam to Mayang. 

 Mayang stretched out her hand and helped Liam to his feet. But then Liam saw one of the monsters about to attack them. With alacrity, Liam immediately pulled the spear that was held by Mayang and thrust it into the chest of the monster that was jumping right in front of his face. 

Mayang shrieked in surprise and was grateful that Liam protected her. Their breaths were both gasping, they were both already exhausted.

 "We broke even," Liam grinned at his best friend. 

"Yes, but we can't take it easy yet!" said her taking the spear back for her weapon. 

Whereas Liam, who still had the arrow on his shoulder, took it out and got ready to shoot it at every monster that attacked them. As they prepared to continue walking outside the forest, they saw the danger that was threatening Troya's life. 

Reflexively, Mayang threw the spear, while Liam shot his arrows at the monster's body. After that they immediately ran toward Troya which was only a few meters away from their position. 

"Are you okay?" Mayang asked helping Troya to get up, while Liam took back Mayang's spear and arrows that were stuck in the monster's body. 

"Yes, thanks." Troya's smile could not tell her two friends that her right shoulder was throbbing painfully. 

Then Knight Kay and the bear Misha came closer. Kay got down from above Misha's back and ran towards them. "Are you guys all right?"

The three of them nodded. "But the cart is broken." Liam said his tone sounded weak and desperate. There was no way they could escape from the monster's chase. 

For now, they were safe because the monsters were gone, but they wouldn't know if there would be any other monsters from behind them, so they had to move quickly out of the forest. 

"You two ride on that horse," the Knight pointed at Liam and Mayang, "While you will ride with me on Misha's back." He continued. 

Liam and Mayang nodded in agreement. Without any further delay, the two of them immediately got on the horse with Liam holding the reins. The Knight helped Troya got on to Misha's back, while he himself would sit behind her so that he could look after the girl in case of danger. 

"You know how to ride a horse?" asked the knight before he climbed onto Misha's back. 

Liam hesitated for a moment, whether he wanted to shake his head or nod. He had ridden horses in zoos as a child, but maybe that didn't count. 

"Hold your reins firmly, if you want the horse to start walking, stomp on one of your legs to make the horse move. Keep your body balanced, don't fall." The Knight gave him a hint that was actually too short. Because after that he had tapped the horse's rump so that the horse ridden by Liam and Mayang immediately ran fast.

After that, the Knight climbed onto Misha's back and gave the brown bear a signal to run fast in the form of a whistle with a certain tone. 

Bear Misha roared loudly in response if he understood what it had to do at this point. After that, he immediately ran fast following the horse ridden by Liam and Mayang. 

About twenty meters behind them, there was the scraping of twigs and leaves from the bush, as the monsters reappeared after them. The four of them were immediately haunted by fear. 

Instinctively, Liam spurred the horse even further by stomping on the reins and also his right leg on the horse's belly. "Come on, horse, run fast," whispered Liam earnestly so that his request could be heard into the horse's head. 

As if understanding the current restlessness of the rider, the horse accelerated even more, even Misha Bear fell several meters behind. 

The Knight saw this and was a little amazed. He knew very well that the boy he had only known for a day was not used to animals, but in an instant the boy was able to ride horses like a professional. Even the knight could not take it easy. He gestured to Bear Misha to speed up his run even more. The chase was very tense because it turned out that the monsters were able to fly at amazing speeds. In fact, they almost caught up with ease.[]