Chapter 3: Rainpetal

We arrived at the Mountain camp quick enough. It wasn’t a horribly long flight, though my wings protest that heartily. Both geldings bit hard and flew harder. When I arrived, I noticed Rockwing had been watching for us. As soon as I had been released, he cleared his throat and snorted.

“What is it this time?” He sounded angry. “Why aren’t you helping Frostfire with the mission?”

“Umm, sorry but Frostfire sent us!”

“Yeah, he wanted us to bring you this filly, ‘cause she was snooping around.”

Rockwing was not pleased. “Fine. Put her with the others. Then return to your captain.”

“But we just flew all this way! Now we have to go back?” Ashstone argued. Rockwing gave him a stare that would wither grass. Stormflight amended, “That’s fine, we need the exercise.” To escape further judgement, they roughly shoved me in the direction of a small cave, about 30ft. away. “In here. And there will be no funny business.” The palomino hissed. Ashstone echoed, “Yeah, there are guards standing post everywhere.”

“Mm-mm.” I replied, but in truth, I was already planning my escape. The chances weren’t high, but I had hope. What I needed was a distraction. A BIG one. The only question was how...I hadn’t much time pondering this, as I was deposited violently into what would become my prison.

“I see you provide 5-star accommodations here.” I remarked dryly. The cave was damp, cold, and crowded. All of the captives had 1 thing in common, they were all fillies. Some were barely weaned, while others were reaching 2 years old.

I knew why there weren’t any colts enduring this harsh treatment. Rockwing had a tendency to capture colts of rivals, kill them, then drop the bodies in front of their parents. What a heartless soul. But I was here, so I might as well make the most of it.

Water droplets flew from my mane as I shook the remnants of our trip from my body. Hearing hoofbeats, I turned. “So they got you too, huh?” A pretty brown-spotted horse with sky-blue wings sidled up to me.

“Yeah. Any idea how to get out?”

“That was my question when I first came. That was about 5 moons ago.”

“Wow. You’ve been here that long?”

“Yup. Rockwing’s been too busy for me, so Petalcloud has been calling me out to use as a nurse maid. You know, fetching her water, grooming her, and helping her in any other miscellaneous torture she puts me through.” I held back a laugh. “Sorry, that’s horrible.”

“Yeah, but I got used to it.” She paused, studying me carefully. I wasn’t paying much attention to her, and she knew it. “I’m Rainpetal, by the way.” I nodded, but continued staring out the cave opening. My mind was whirling. “Riverglade.” Finally, I focused. “So you have been a slave to Petal Cloud all this time?”

“Unfortunately yes.”

“Well, you won’t have to endure that much longer. I already have a plan.”