They kept on coming, so Feifei loosed the arrow to fly within an inch of Niko's ear. He slowed his sprint to a walk, raising his hands. She let another arrow sail so close to Magnus's cheek it almost shaved his whiskers. He also slowed his sprint to a walk.
"Back off gentlemen," she shouted, firing another two arrows to land at each of their feet.
Ruby had already swung around with a riderless pony and was galloping back towards Delphi.
"Turn back and go!" shouted Delphi as she ran. "Don't bring it back this way! The Commander's coming and he's armed."
Feifei and Ruby were still just out of sight from Alton, who had to round the bend.
Ruby wheeled the horses 180 degrees and stopped for a minute, anxiously watching Delphi sprint to catch up and the two guards standing with their hands raised, Feifei poised to kill them if she had to. She wasn't going to do it without an explicit order from her Captain, not when one of the two men was Loveday's brother…
"Run Delph!" she cried.
Delphi raced towards Ruby and vaulted onto the horse. Ruby dropped the lead and both girls kicked their horses into a gallop.
"Let's go Feif!" shouted Delphi.
Feifei gave the two guards a last arrow between them for good measure.
"Yaah!" she shouted, hitting her brumby on the rump.
The horse put on an extra burst of speed she quickly caught up to Delphi and Ruby, kicking her mount forward to pull alongside them.
Feifei gave one last glance behind her to see the two guards finally stumble to a halt in the dust behind them, bending over to rest their hands on their knees as they puffed from their exertions trying to keep pace with galloping horses.
"Thanks for saving my bacon, Feif," Delphi yelled over the thundering hooves, grinning at her friend.
"Anytime Captain. I'm pretty sure you saved our bacon back there by taking that arrow in your stride. That was a badass commando roll!"
Delphi reached out towards Feifei, and they leant towards one another and managed to squeeze hands in the girls' handshake.
The guards were scrambling to catch-up to the girls now. Alton pivoted them straight to catching brumbies, but they were at least half a day behind, and it would be dark before they had a rideable horse each.
The girls, meanwhile, had reached the old bridge to the mainland.
"Alright ladies, let's see if we can get across this thing," said Delphi, kicking her pony onto the ancient structure. "Single file in case anything gives way," she called out.
The bridge rose up incredibly high for what was not actually a huge span of water. They picked their way carefully along the old road. About three quarters of the way up, the road had collapsed into the estuary, leaving just the thin supports on each edge, with the ancient bitumen that still clung to them.
Delphi dismounted and peered down into the ocean where the bridge ended abruptly.
"It's a very long way to fall," she said unhappily. "We can't risk taking the horses along those narrow ledges. If the bitumen gives way, we might be alright holding onto the railing, but we'll lose the brumbies."
"Do you want me to test it with the spare horse Delph?" asked Feifei.
"Alright Feif, why don't you give it a go? It will be a whole lot faster and safer than waiting for low tide and trying to cross the estuary with the horses. Just give up straight away if it looks too crumbly. And let the horse go if you have to," she added, studiously avoiding looking at Ruby.
Feifei nodded with determination and set off alone. The girls all watched with their hearts in their mouths as Feifei lead the horse along the narrow piece of the bridge that remained intact. Large chunks of bitumen started to crumble and fall the long distance into the sea as the weight of the horse and the girl tested it. Before she had made it very far at all, the available road narrowed even further, and the horse stopped and refused to walk on. It didn't matter how Feifei cajoled or bullied her, there was just no budging the animal.
"Sensible filly," said Ruby. "She's just too terrified of falling into the ocean from up here. Bring her back Feif," she called. "She's done. You won't get her any further without blinkers and we haven't got anything handy."
Feifei tried to cover the mare's eyes with her hands, but she wasn't having a bar of that, flicking her head up and down and whinnying, as she tried to back away from the human. Feifei sighed. This wasn't going to work. She edged the pony backwards until she reached a remnant of the road wide enough to turn her around, and then walked the horse back to the group of girls.
"I don't think they'll do it Delph," said Ruby. "They've grown up on that flat island, so they have no experience of heights. They're frightened, and for good reason."
"Alright," Delphi conceded grimly. "Let's hope they're good swimmers then, because we're going to have to cross that estuary with them. We'll have to wait for low tide too, or we'll be swept away."
"They should be able to swim, they've lived on an island with wetlands and lakes," said Ruby.
"And crocodiles," added Loveday. "The tide's heading out now Delphi. Low tide will probably be around 5:30, 6:00."
"So long as it's not dark. We have to cross today," said Delphi. "Otherwise those guards could catch up to us on foot and we'll lose the advantage of the horses. They'll be busy right now catching their own. Let's head down to the bank and we'll work out the best place to cross."
Feifei walked beside Delphi as they headed down to the water's edge. "Are you okay Delph? Sounds like you had a narrow escape down at the lake?"
"It was pretty crazy," she agreed. "I was getting water when I was surprised by the Commander on one side and a tubiàn crocodile attack on the other. He probably saved my life," she grudgingly conceded.
"Anyway, one thing lead to another, and he fell right on top of me, so I honey trapped him. I couldn't believe how easy it was! He fell for it hook, line and sinker, apparently."
"The consorts always did tell us men are easy targets," said Feifei.
"Easy as ABC," Delphi agreed. "He even believed my cute voice," she pealed with laughter.
Feifei joined her in a burst of raucous laughter. Delphi's 'babydoll voice' was notoriously the worst among the group, earning her constant criticism from the consorts who said it wasn't 'believable,' and she should put more feeling into it.
"Maybe you were better under pressure," suggested Feifei.
"Or maybe the Commander was just stupid," she giggled. "Like shooting fish in a barrel…"
"Did you kiss him?" whispered Feifei.