An Empty Tundra

[Karina]

Karina leaned forward in her saddle, burying her face in Sascha's soft feathers. The chill air bit her ears and nose, though she was used to the frosty cold. Sascha whinnied, and Karina looked down.

There was an empty field. Small bits of wood and brinks could be seen if one was standing on the ground, but from up here, only Karina knew what had been there. She had lived there for many years, even when others did not.

Sascha landed, and Karina got off. She nuzzled her Pegasus like it would to another. She found that physical contact like that could relay more than any words could. She sighed and Sascha followed her.

Karina cleared a bit of snow and sat down. She knew this spot. before everything, back so long ago, she had slept here. Warm and loved, her room had been where she was now. Then the blizzard came and swept it away, along with her parents.

Then she remembered after. How she lay, cold and hurt. And how the dogs of the village, left behind as well, came to her. They licked her wounds like they would lick with wounds of their pups. Whenever she found food, she shared it with the hounds, and they in turn protected her and brought her food when they could.

But as she looked around now, they too had either left this place for greener pastures or died. perhaps she was the only reason they had stayed. She sighed again and walked back to Sascha and mounted him. Together they flew away from the desolate place, and Karina thought, I was alone then... But now, I am never alone... I have you, Sascha. now and forever.

[Karina]

Karina and Sascha flew over the empty fields of ice. Karina though of her training, how she learned to take care of her companion, how to dodge arrows, and how to stab and throw from the Pegasus's back. She scanned the wasteland, like a lone sentinel of some lost land. She Sascha swooped up and down, Karina noticed two forms down in the snow.

One was a man, a man with big muscles and a bigger sword, and the other was a woman. The woman was unarmed, though Karina saw that the man had a bow sticking from under his arm. The man was pulling the woman along, and she looked like she was not happy to be going with him.

Karina tapped Sascha's butt and he descended. They landed in front of the pair with the authority of a peacekeeper and a warrior.

"Excuse me sir, but you would not be taking this woman against her will, would you?" Karina saw her answer in the woman's eyes, which lit up with relief at the sight of her.

"Git outta here, ya fairy. I have me own business to attend to, and you got yers. This here is my woman, I found her and bested her in combat, the wench tried to fling arrers at me, but I was too good fer her tricks." the man said.

"Kidnapping is against the law. Release her or you will have to answer to my lance." Karina said quietly.

The man roared and swung his sword at her. Sascha jumped nibly back, and Karina jabbed at the man with her lance. She caught him on his shoulder, and the man yelped in fury and pain. The man ran at her again, and this time his blow landed. Sascha's left foreleg sprouted blood, and Karina could see nothing else but the man. Karina stabbed him in the gut and then quickly thrust her lance through the man's head.

"No one hurts Sascha." Karina whispered, pulling out rags from ehr pack and binding her mount's wounds.

[Karina]

Karina was too busy tending to her steed to notice the woman she had freed.

"E-Excuse me, mistress, but... Thank you for saving me. May I trifle you with your name?" the girl asked.

"Oh! By Elimine! I'm sorry. It's just my steed, she was hurt. I am Karina. Hurry back to your village before nightfall," Karina said to the woman. She picked up her bow, which had fallen out of the dead man's grasp. "here, I think this is yours."

"Thank you, mistress Karina. My name is Leandia. I will not forget what you have done for me. As a greater thanks, I will name my first daughter after you. Now I must go home and tell my husband of your deeds. Farewell!" the flighty woman gave her a wave and ran off towards a town on the horizon.

"That is nice of her. I hope I'll meet her again, and perhaps her daughter. Now let's go Sascha. We need to meet a mage... I still can't get that figure out of my head. That man, on the night of the blizzard. I need a mage's opinion on magic and weather."