Escape

Her heart thumped. All around her, she could hear the cries of her pursuers. She streaked through the forest, cutting through the brambles that snared at her legs and arms with the curved sword she held in her hand, its blade dripping with the blood of the unfortunate soul who crossed her. Her skin and clothes were ripped and torn, her eyes were blurred and her breathes came out in short, rasping gasps. To make things worse, the shouts behind her were getting louder.

But she carried on, swathing through the thick undergrowth. The air was thick, humid, moisture dripped down from the trees. There was a mist surrounding her feet, making it hard to see where she was treading. On more than one occasion, did sharp rocks cut through the shallow soles of her boots but she did little more than flinch and never stopped. She could not waste a second.

Suddenly, something long and blurred shot past her, inches from her hair. It swooped up and with a raucous screech; it turned and flew up into the air above her. With a plumage of dazzling white feathers, wings over ten feet long, a sharp beak and crimson eyes, she realised exactly what had almost impaled her. Her heart froze.

"A hooded swan..." She mouthed, too shocked to make a sound.

One of the most ferocious birds ever to take flight, the hooded swan hunts its prey from miles above in the sky and dives down like an arrow, shredding the hapless victim below, staining its eyes red with the blood. Remembering this from the back of her mind, she realised how lucky she was to be alive. The swan had flown to an extreme altitude, and was staring down at her. She could make out two red eyes almost searing into her own. Dimly aware of her pursuers approaching worryingly quickly, she raised her sword, ready to strike.

BANG! The entire forest shook and she fell to the floor. The shouts behind her had stopped and down from the heavens, the remains of the blooded swan fell beside her. The once white feathers were as black as charcoal and like she had been hit by the same cannon that had torn this bird apart the smell of burnt flesh knocked her back. A shadow crept over her head. She looked up and saw the sun blocked out by the metal hull of a huge flying vessel. She saw the many rotors spinning, the huge masts glinting in the sun and the solar sails billowing in the wind. A Cloud Ship.

She had been lucky. Whether they had been hunting the swan, or just testing their weapons, she was grateful. She clambered back to her feet, sheathed her sword and ran off.