7. Run, My lady, Run!

"What's that man's problem?" Winifred asked no one in particular as she and Aquila walked down the path that led to the stream.

It was getting dark but she wanted to be away from the village, away from Alexander who was threatening her and away from the new world she had found herself in. She was yet to come to terms with the whatever it was that was happening to her life.

"Oh my goodness! Not the peacock feather! We have to turn around and go back home this instant!" Aquila snapped, terribly alarmed.

"Turn around for what reason, I don't see a snake or anything, why would we turn around?" Winifred asked, looking around her environment in confusion.

"Do you not see the large peacock feather in front of us right now? That is an omen of evil eye! Something bad is going to happen to us right now, someone is watching us, that is a warning." Aquila rambled on, scared.

Winifred on the other hand simply bursted into a fit of laughter, "Seriously? You people do not cease to amaze me in any way. Did you just say that the beautiful peacock feather right there is a bad omen for... for evil eye? Really? Come on!"

Before any of them could take any step further, some sort of animal... a big black wolf appeared out of nowhere. It was a kind of wolf that Winifred had never seen before in her whole life, she was extremely scared, they both were. She realized that Aquila was right afterall and made a mental note to always heed to her warnings, whether or not they sounded stupid, well, that's if they were able to escape being shredded to pieces by the beast before them.

The wolf towered above them, refusing to move closer, as if trying to give them a chance to at least run, even though it was obvious that they could never outrun it. It seemed like it wanted a chase, it wanted them to run screaming for their lives while it chased after them, like some sort of teasing. It looked like it wanted some fun before it sank its teeth into their necks and pull their veins out and soon enough, it got what it wanted.

"RUN, MY LADY! RUN!" Aquila screamed on top of her voice as Winifred immediately heeded, running behind her servant as fast as she could.

Aquila was far ahead while Winifred struggled so hard to catch up to her, she didn't bother to look back as she could feel the giant wolf right on her trail. Everything immediately started to get tiring for her, the heavy dress she was in which she was yet to get used to suddenly pissed her off, her long hair also became unnecessarily heavy as the wind continued to blow it in her face. She regretted not being athletic too, "I should have taken sports more serious in school." She thought as she continued to do her best even though she felt like she wasn't going to win anyways.

She wheezed as her burning lungs gasp for air. Her legs felt so numb and unsteady, painfully sore. Her throat felt dry, so uncomfortably dry. Her clothes were now tattered and her long blonde-brown hair clung to her form, it was as if she ran through a rain-storm.

Winifred kept running but soon, she knew her time was up. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the wolf gaining in on her that it felt like it was in front of her already, she tried to jump out of the way but it was too late. She felt a push as she collapsed to the ground, thinking that this was the end and hoping that getting killed here only meant that she would be back in her real world. But as the wolf moved nearer and was about to bite her, Aquila came out of nowhere and jumped on the back of the giant beast.

She sank a sharp wood into its skull causing it to growl loudly in pain. It kept swerving from side to side as it tried to get Aquila off its back and was able to succeed after a few attempts, causing Aquila to land on the hard ground with a loud thud, this which was sure to hurt very much, as if that wasn't enough, it moved towards her and sank its teeth in her stomach, leaving blood gushing out of her instantly. Winifred ran towards it hoping to do whatever she could to help Aquila as she had done for her, even if it may cost her life but the wolf simply ran the other way, leaving a bloody Aquila and a scarred Winifred.

"A... Aquila, are you okay?" Winifred asked and then felt stupid for asking her such a question when she literally had her clothes soaked with blood.

Winifred was extremely scared, she had never held a wounded person person before, talk more of someone who looked like she might die any minute. She was dumbfounded, she didn't understand how she could be laughing with this person minutes ago and now she was on the verge of death. Tears clouded her eyes as she took everything that happened in. It was all her fault, she had brought her misfortunes into this new world and had succeeded in wounding her one and only friend with her nonchalant attitude.

"My lady, you are... bleeding..." Aquila managed to choke out as she stared at Winifred's left arm which only had a tear.

"What are you saying? How is this tear on my skin worst than that on your stomach, I'm almost seeing your insides. Why... why did you do that? Why didn't you just go? Why did you have to come back for me? Why do something so reckless? Why?" Winifred threw, unable to understand what kind of human won't pit herself first in such a situation, she was very sure that if the case were reversed, she would have kept going and that made her cry even harder.

"Why would you risk your life for a selfish brat like me? I don't even deserve it." She asked again.

"I would do everything for you... my lady. I owe my life to you, you rescued me when we were kids and saved my life from being thrown into something much more worse. You definitely deserve it..." Aquila replied, stopping to spit out blood.

"You know what, let's just go back to the village first. We... we have to save you first." Winifred said as she started to drag her on her back.

"You... you can't. It will have the same outcome. I'll have to die either way..."

"Not under my watch will that ever happen. I will not loose the only friend I have here." Winifred replied adamantly as she ran as fast as she could with Aquila on her back.

It was already dark, but the moon served as a source of light for her and she was thankful. But as soon as she was a few feet away from their home, she felt Aquila take her last breathe.