Against the stone of the cave wall, the screech of a talon scraping against its side sounded. Aster sucked in a panicky breath. She tried to silently scramble further into the cave.

“Where is it?”

Aster froze as another of her pursuers spat out an answer. She shouldn’t have wandered off. She knew better.

Aster backed even further into the recesses of the cave. She tried to ignore the large cracks in the walls made by who knew what. She attempted to retuck her wings to where they didn’t show up. Oh, why did she think it had been a good idea to unfurl them? The one time she ignored her parents’ rules, she was chased and hunted down.

Aster had had no idea that Pegasi, winged people, were so hated. Of course, she knew there was a group of fanatics who hated them.There usually was such a group for almost any race. But enough to hunt her down and most likely kill her? She realized now that she had been naive and much too sheltered by her parents.

Too late, Aster realized that in her panic she had accidentally trapped herself. She furiously berated herself for being so foolish. Why had she run into the cave? She could literally fly. She should’ve flown off at the first sign of danger.

Strong arms suddenly grabbed her, yanking her back. Aster instinctively tried to scream but that effort was cut off because of the hand clamped over her mouth. She began to kick and squirm, deciding that she would rather take her chances with the pursuers she had seen than the unknown one dragging her off.

Aster’s efforts did nothing.

After a few minutes, Aster and her captor abruptly popped out of the cave. Aster blinked, trying to regain her eyesight. She immediately resumed squirming.

Her captor abruptly let go of her. Aster stumbled before she was able to right herself. She immediately spun around and raised her hands in a self-defense move.

Aster’s jaw dropped. Another Pegasi? She could tell it was a guy but she couldn’t discern any other details because of the metal mask covering his face. The metal was constantly undulating though, so Aster couldn’t even tell what shape his face was.

“I’m not going to hurt you.” Aster flinched at the odd, disembodied voice. The guy tilted his head at her. “I wouldn’t recommend wandering around by yourself anymore.” He pointed towards the setting sun peeking through the trees. “Your parents are that way.”

The mystery guy abruptly shot into the air. Aster yelped. “Wait,” she shouted. Realizing her mistake, she clapped her hands over her mouth.

She ran.