Blood Red (83 page)

Red turned in her saddle. “Does not matter. We will have to go through one at a time. The gate is narrow.” She turned her horse around and moved in behind the others. “Wolf can go first. The rest follow.

I will go last.”

They got in a straight line, nose to tail. Wolf at the head, Red at the rear. Wolf slid his sword out and raised it up. He glanced behind him to look at Red.

They locked eyes. Red slid her sword out and raised it up. Wolf nodded. He kicked his horse hard.

“Go!”

Wolf rode hard straight toward the unseen gate.

He turned his head and saw the pale pillars. He headed for them. He went through.

* * *

164

Blood Red

Red saw Wolf disappear, then Papa and Junior. She concentrated on the back of Rapunzel. She would follow her through. Goldilocks went through. Then Hans vanished just as a shrill cry echoed through the woods. Both Red and Rapunzel turned toward it. A black moving cloud descended on them. Red could hear a loud thumping like someone playing a drum.

She realized too late what the source of the sound was. The thick, hard wings of ravens.

Rapunzel’s horse reared back as the birds attacked.

Red had to steer her horse to the left so they did not collide. The birds swarmed over them. They pecked at her skin and yanked at her hair and clothing. She waved her sword around, trying to swat at them. She managed to hit a few, but they were too close for the sword to be effective. Red sheathed it and withdrew a knife from her leg.

She briefly glanced at Rapunzel before the birds attacked again. She was in dire need. The birds had uncurled her hair and they were pulling on it like ropes. A couple was entangled in it, unable to move.

She would soon be pulled off her horse, or worse, lifted into the air like a child’s kite.

Red rode to her side. She swiped at the birds with her knife. She stabbed one and it fell to the ground.

She swiped at the others, but they flew out of harm’s way, strands of Rapunzel’s golden hair in their hooked beaks.

“We must cut it,” Red yelled over the shrieking of the birds.

Rapunzel's eyes shimmered with tears, but she knew that Red was right. Her most prized possession 165

Vivi Anna

was now her mortal liability. She nodded.

Red unsheathed her other knife and handed it to Rapunzel. Red grabbed her hair and cut it close to her head. The raven flew off with its golden trophy. It squawked in triumph. Rapunzel sawed at another chunk, tears silently falling. She closed her eyes as it fell to the ground. She grabbed another handful and continued to cut.