When Lynn opened her eyes, the carriage had stopped, and she was alone inside.
"¿Nanny?"
She immediately wondered where her friend was. After a hesitation, Lynn opened the small door and jumped out gracefully. She immediately located her nanny in the middle of the road. To her surprise, she saw Nana signaling toward two horsemen. They were still distant; however, they were approaching at full speed. Strangely, Lynn noted that none of her knights were in sight.
"Nana, ¿what are you doing?"
With this, the nanny turned toward Lynn. Her thin and pale face showed a strange expression that managed to disconcert Lynn for several seconds. At the same time, Lynn couldn't help but notice the sun had almost dipped below the western horizon.
"Nana... we should be at home already."- She added with a soft voice.
A gentle breeze stirred the flowers blooming all over the prairie. This scenery stretched out on both sides of the path. Lynn couldn't help but enjoy that image before facing her friend again. Nana did not seem capable of listening at all. Considering the whole situation, Lynn was showing tremendous fortitude.
"Well, change that face. Please, Nana." - She continued - "I'll talk to Doug... whatever the problem is, it will be solved soon."
Saying this, Lynn looked for the coachman near the steeds, but she couldn't find him. Just then, she slid her gaze, scanning the surroundings. Then, she noticed the leafy tree that dominated the plain to her right. The coachman was there, looking into the distance like someone lost. Strange.
Everything was way too strange.
Without hesitation, Lynn rolled up her skirt and ran across the road. She had known the old clerk since she was a child, and feeling energized by the race, she stood right in front of him. Yet, old Doug's gaze seemed to hover somewhere far away. Just like Nana: he was like absent.
"Doug, ¿what's wrong?" – The man did not flinch but continued as he was. Doug didn't even blink.
So, pouting her lips, Lynn leaned closer.
"Old Doug...can you hear me?" She touched him on the shoulder hesitantly and a little shyly. There was no reaction, so Lynn proceeded to shake him. "Our Doug has gotten so weird!" – Lynn yelled at the other woman as she separated from the coachman - "Come on Nana, help me put him in the car. I dare to lead the steeds... If you are not too horrified, of course. But ¿where on the hearth are our knights?"
However, when Lynn turned around, she suddenly found Nana quite close. Nana was watching her with a smile that could only be classified as sinister. And then Lynn was taken aback.
The thing did not look good. Her companions were too strange, their knights were missing, and it was almost dark already. Lynn didn't like this at all.
Unexpectedly the wind blew violently, and Lynn's dark hair blended with her black cloak as it fluttered over her shoulders.
"This isn't like you at all, Nana." - Lynn commented, smiling slightly as she insisted on putting aside an unpleasant feeling of uneasiness which was a novelty for her – "I don't understand what's going on. ¿Or is all of this a joke? But, Nana, you never joke... like ever... I..."
"We'll wait for those riders, woman."
The authoritative and harsh tone confused Lynn greatly. Little by little, her forced smile was disappearing from her face. Hearing those shocking words from Nana was so unsettling. It was as if she was talking to another person.
In any case, Lynn insisted on reasoning:
"We can't trust strangers... Nana, ¿have you lost your mind...? ¡Good heavens! ¡Now I'm talking just like you do!"
"¡You will wait for those riders, woman!" – The nanny interrupted her but now with a distorted voice. It was a manly voice, and Lynn nearly fell onto her knee. A strange male voice was speaking for Nana. And Lynn had heard it before.
In reaction, she felt her cheeks tremble slightly: indeed, Lynn recognized the voice she had heard in her mind before losing consciousness. A cold male voice that rudely commanded her. Lynn shook her head and pressed her temples with both hands before speaking in a whisper:
"Oh, Nana..." She almost begged. Thoughts and possibilities whirled through her mind.
Eyes of an exotic dark blue gazed pleadingly at the gaunt woman.
This... is not happening. Lynn told herself.
"Nana, please..."
"We'll wait, you insolent woman!" The man's voice cut her off unnaturally from her friend's mouth, this time sounding dry and sharp like a gunshot.
Lynn stumbled.
"No..." She managed to whisper.
However, she didn't have much time to mourn because the slim woman started to get closer. Meanwhile, the two horsemen had gained ground. At last, Lynn opted to cautiously retreat to the carriage. However, with a prodigious movement, Nana was at her side in a second and held Lynn with a force that didn't match her wiry limbs.
"¡No!" Lynn screamed and yanked with all her might until she jerked away violently. As she walked away from Nana, in one corner of her mind, she regretted pushing her friend.
Without wasting a second, Lynn jumped into the carriage. With that maneuver, she dodged the old coachman who was coming for her too. Everything was happening too fast, but there was no time to think things through; she took the whip in her hands and shook it. Immediately the horses shot out like arrows after she punished them madly. The whip even came to bite herself thanks to her inexperienced handling, and yet: Lynn continued to wield it even though the steeds had practically run amok. By now, she could no longer think clearly. Lynn was only obeying blind impulses.
On the other hand, the two horsemen reached the leafy tree which dominated the plain; however, they did not stop. They continued their race, now with more vigor. They were after the crazy steeds that pulled the carriage. Just then, the chase stopped. Cause, suddenly, the four chased horses turned sharply.
Due to such a sudden turn: the right wheels of the carriage lifted off the ground, and the landau was dangerously close to overturning itself.
So, on the spot, the two riders slowed down as the carriage was now coming toward them.
Lynn couldn't see the strangers as she passed. The carriage that seemed to fly abruptly stopped parallel to the only tree that dominated the landscape on the plain. Looking all flushed and excited, Lynn jumped to the ground and was immediately in front of her friend.
"I... I could never leave you Nana, not you..."
"Oh, Lynn..." - The woman responded desperately.
"¿It's you? It's you" - It was the last thing Lynn said before losing consciousness for the second time that day. A faint smile appeared on her lips as the nanny barely held her.