Skin as Smooth as Snakes

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

We rode on in silence until Cove spoke up; “So, you and Mila are getting married once we get to the Forgotten, right?” I smiled at the thought, but quickly remembered that Mila would not be there. “Well, how would she know to go there?” I asked. “We sent a message by dove. I can talk to animals that fly, if you did not know.” Gust stated. My face immediately brightened. “Well then, yeah!” I answered enthusiastically. “Well, I love fashion, and was wondering if I could design your wedding dress.” Cove offered. “Yes!” I exclaimed, feeling especially giddy. I had Emerald start cantering, just so I could get to Mila as soon as possible. A few hours later, I saw the cliffs surrounding The Forgotten, and asked Gust “how are we going to get over the mountain with Emerald?” “Easy. I will give Emerald the power to fly.” “You sound like you are making my horse a superhero.” “I am.” Gust responded, and I rolled my eyes at him. Another hour later, when we were just yards away from The Forgotten, we were stopped by hundreds of people with guns, swords, and pitchforks marching over the mountains. “Fly.” Gust whispered to Emerald, and she grew a pair of beautiful, feathery white wings, and flew up only about fifty feet before landing hard on the cold dirt.

“Emerald!” I screamed, and ran over to her other side, and saw a red bullet hole in her left wing. “She needs a doctor. Fern, you can heal injured animals, right? Can you help her?” Fern gave me a sad look and put her hands on Emeralds soft feathers and she made a pained face as green and gold light wafted out of her palms, but fell backwards a second later, saying “I am so sorry, but Emerald is too big an animal, and her wound is too serious, we will have to wait to find a vet until we get past these maniacs.” She nodded towards the people now running and screaming b****y murder behind us. Fern’s eyes turned fully green as she made vines curl out of the ground and wrap around the intruder's feet and pull them into the vast forest we had just come out of. Gust flew up and started blasting cold wind at high speed, making the people on the other end of the attack be pushed over thirty feet backwards, and Cove created a tsunami in a bubble and then popped it on twenty or so heads. Ember just stood there looking smug as her arms of flames strangled and burned our competitors. “Fern, grow a circle of trees around them, and Ember, I want you to burn them to keep the humans in.” I commanded, sounding a lot more calm than I felt. “What should I do?” Gust asked, wanting to be of some use. I thought for a moment, still not knowing. “Hmm, well, what do you think you should do?” I asked, hoping he had a better idea than me. He beamed before responding with a “well, I could carry you and we could fly into the forgotten and we could send a vet out to help Emerald and check on everyone in there.” He was out of breath when he finished, but I was impressed. “That is a great idea, let’s go now.” Gust picked me up and quickly flew straight up before coming to an abrupt horizontal position. I may or may not have screamed the entire flight. Let’s go with may not. “Girl, you know I have done this a thousand times, and will not drop you, right?” He said, obviously suppressing a laugh. “Shut up. I am afraid of heights.” “Well then how were you so calm when we were flying on Emerald?” “Because I trust a horse that just got wings and flew hundreds of feet in the air more than I trust you.” He laughed, and we kept fake- destroying each other, all the while forgetting about the literal war below. We landed in The Forgotten ten minutes later, and I looked around for Mila, but she was not there. “Your Highness.” Someone said, turning into a deep bow. I grabbed his shoulders and, trying to suppress my tears, I asked “where is Mila Stavin.” “Who?” “Brown hair, gray eyes, light skin, no?” “Sorry, no.” My mood dropped even more. “Well, what about Queen Amelia?” I asked, trying not to get my hopes up. “Oh, yeah, she is at The River.” The River was a grand place, hot springs, beautiful fish, exotic plants, and best of all, my best friend. “Great, thank you so much.” I ran, not stopping for what felt like at least a mile before I saw the rock and water of The River. I saw Amelia’s dark hair before she had even turned around. “Amelia!” I exclaimed, running over to her and embracing her. “Do you know where Mila is?” I said in a now panicked tone. “Yes, she was sent out to help an injured horse.” That’s right, Mila was training to become a vet. I guess I never thought of that. I groaned. “That is my horse, and I just got my but kicked by height and wind to get here.” Amelia laughed at that. “This is not funny. We need to find Mila.” “Mmmh, but I was looking forward to a relaxing bath.” She groaned. Then her son, Skyler ran over and gave me a hug around my legs. “Oh!” I said, very surprised by how big Skyler seemed to be getting. “Sky, Mommy and Auntie are busy, why don’t you go play with Jacklyn and Noah.” “OK Mommy.” He responded in his cute baby voice before running away to play with his friends.