Three miles from the castle, it happened.
Akkiriya had been just fine, riding alongside Brandin, Chris, and Nikolas. She was listening to her iPod, humming to some theme song or another. She was still sad about Adriel, how could she ever recover from that? But she was confident about going to Kyrea. She knew her daughter would be avenged.
Up and humming one minute. Then heck broke loose.
She knew something was wrong, but she couldn't do anything about it. She felt herself slipping, falling, crashing to the ground. She heard the worried screams from the others as the rushed help her.
But her world was black. She writhered and cringed in pain. It felt like she was being ripped apart, torn from her body, crushed under pressure. She saw red, bright red light, and immediantly began trying to fight it. But her effort was useless. The light engulfed her, crushed her, ripped her.
Then it was over. She started hearing the other's words more clearly, more sharply. She forced her eyelids open, but didn't get very far. The pain was unbearable. So she laid there, defeated, shivering, cold...
Scared.
And she didn't even know if it had been real.
Numbly, she felt herself being lifted onto her horse, then felt the warmth of another body pressing against her back, supporting her. She felt the hosre move, felt the wind across her face.
"Hold on, Kiri," she heard a faint voice whisper. "Don't die."
But before she could even reply, she was asleep. She at least deserved that much. She knew she had had a brush with death.
The first of many to come.