Cobblestone roads blurred into dirt pathways as Jack swayed helplessly to the rhythm of Graywash’s gait. The hot breath of the black horse produced an uncomfortable, wetness on the small of Jack’s back. The Col Ti'er guards at the east facing gate remained motionless and stunned when the spectacle of a horse carrying a man in his mouth burst through the open gateway and disappeared into the darkness.
Graywash’s pace never slowed as they entered the prairies. Jack could only watch as the grassland’s many shades of green with an occasion speck of color raced past him. Discomfort was settling into his hips and the blurring landscape was unsettling his stomach. He closed his eyes, concentrating only on the wind roaring through his ear. The sway of the ride and the constant drone of the passing air suddenly lulled Jack into a dullness then sleep.
A wispy smoke invaded the darkness of Jack’s slumber and fine tendrils of gray fog weaved around him. Vague shapes and flickering tongues of orange and red formed within the haze while people-shaped movements faded in and out of the surrounding blackness. With shocking suddenness, his father slid through the murkiness and burst before him in stark clarity.
He was a thin man with a long, worn face and short brown hair. His green eyes narrowed with worry and concern. “Jack, get up, now!” The words were said rapidly, almost blending into one another. Thin hands pulled him from under the bed sheets. “Go to your sister’s room. She’s waiting for you.”
“Dad? What’s happening?” Over his father’s shoulder in the clouded background Jack could see the living quarters of his childhood home. The familiar sight filled him with happiness, sadness and longing all at once, each fighting for dominance. He looked down at his six-foot tall, fifteen year old body as his father shoved him toward the door of what he supposed was his sister’s room. Jack turned to his frantic father who stood at least four or five feet taller than him. How could this be? He could remember little of his father but he knew he was no giant.
“Go now, son. I’ll explain everything later. You and your sister need to get away from here.”
My sister? Smoke erupted from the darkness and his father blended into the fog until he vanished completely. Flames crawled up the walls of the living quarters. His mother shrieked from somewhere beyond the reaching fingers of the haze. He glanced over his shoulder toward the door that was supposedly his sister’s room.
The smoke vanished instantly. A gruff frightening voice, shouting indistinguishable words, could be heard from somewhere beyond the room he now mysteriously found himself standing. A girl, maybe twelve or thirteen, looked down at him. My sister! He knew instantly. Memories of her delicate hands bathing him, of their laughter blending into a joyful sound as her fingers tickled him, of her annoyance at Jack stealing candy from her special hiding place, and a hundred other images of their brief shared life flooded into his mind. Her name was Teresa.
“We have to go, Jacky. We will meet mom and dad later in a small village named Col Ti'er.” She smiled for his benefit alone, the true terror showing in her violet eyes. Her hands, so soft and warm, lifted him to her window and sat him on the sill.
The door to Teresa’s room split into two, flames erupting through the jagged opening. A large silhouetted figure with a huge war axe in one hand and a short sword in the other slid between the two halves. Teresa moved instantly in front of the looming figure, shielding Jack.
Then the ground seemed to rise up and smash Jack in the face. He opened his eyes to clumps of prairie grass and could feel prairie dirt on his lips. “I have a sister,” Jack whispered as he ran one hand through the thick prairie grass and wiped his lips with the other. He rolled onto his back and stared up at the huge, black horse staring back. He scurried backward moving away from the massive beast. Graywash charged slightly forward, snorting, then abruptly turned away, whipping the boy’s face with his long black tail. The horse nickered and trotted away.
The sun peeked over the horizon revealing the seemingly endless prairie in all directions. Jack stood, brushing off dirt and grass, and stretching to ease the cramping in his hips. Graywash neighed and snorted loudly moving his head up and down in the direction opposite of the sunrise. Jack felt suddenly naked without any weapons as he watched the expanding sunlight reveal the spectacular waves of grass, the colorful spattering of wildflowers and four figures riding hard out of the west toward him and his menacing four-legged companion.
WC: 805 
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