He took this opportunity to attack one of the soldiers from behind, kicking his head with his leg and elbowed the second soldier in his face as soon as he turned to face him. He pushed the second soldier face down, lifted his knee just at the same time and hit him hard on the stomach.

The first man removed his bow and took an arrow from his quilt, he was fast but not as fast as Jareth. Before he strung his arrow to the bow, Jareth turned just in time and flung the second man at him.

In a matter of minutes, he had knocked the two of them to the ground. He quickly picked up the bow the second soldier had, that had fallen off during their fight and wore it across his shoulder.

"Astrid, take my cub and hop on with Jareth. I would fly us out of here."

"Jareth, hop on White-Fire let's go" she called out to him.

She picked up the small beast and climbed on White-Fire's back, Jareth hurried and climbed on also, then it flew up into the distance.

The fifth soldier, saw them climb White-Fire, he moved far from the earthen man and steadied his bow and arrow, ready to shoot. The earth man jumped in front of him, shaking the ground underneath and he missed his target.

"d.a.m.n it!!"

He made ready to fight it off with the disturbing earthen man, but the moment he struck his sword at it, it crumbled to the ground. He stood there watching the crumbled clogs of earth in front of him.

His brows furrowed, forehead wrinkled, his hands slowly formed into a fist, and his teeth gritted as the realization dawned on him, they escaped and they lost. Elven soldiers lost to a hybrid princess.

***************

Far in the distance, White-Fire flew up into the sky, its wings flapping as they soared. Astrid held its cub tight and its body with her free hand, while Jareth held on to White-Fire's fur lightly.

They sat close to each other, but gave a gap between them, when White-Fire moved a bit, Jareth slid a fraction back.

"Astrid tell your lover he would fall off, if he doesn't hold on tight and move close to you" White-Fire said to her through their mind communication.

"He is not my lover!" She yelled in her mind.

"Then what was the kiss about?"

Her cheeks flushed as her thought ran back to what had happened. "Nothing, it j–just h–hap–pned" she stuttered.

"Whatever, he better sit close, I am about to go higher and on top speed. We need to give a considerable amount of distance between them."

"Okay."

She turned her head to the side and said, "Jareth, sit close, it's about to ascend and at a top speed."

"I'll be fine" he replied.

"Stubborn brat, pfff." White-Fire raised the upper part of its body a bit and settled down, pus.h.i.+ng her riders forward.

Astrid bent forward holding on to its fur tighter, Jareth was cut off guard, so when White-Fire raised its body up and down, he fell forward, his chest hitting Astrid's back.

Both of them tensed as their bodies collided, Astrid sat up straight and so did he.

"Here I go!!"

"Umm hold on tight, she is about to take of" he said to him.

"Fine" he replied her shortly.

He wrapped one hand on her waist gently, and felt her body stiffen under his touch. He stopped breathing as soon as he felt her stiffen. Her breathing shallow, he tried to relax himself but he was finding it hard.

"Come on, you can do it, just gently breathe in and out, slowly" he encouraged himself in his thoughts.

He breathed in deeply, then breathed out sharply, his chest rising and falling with each breath. His heart betrayed him as it pounded heart against his chest.

She could feel everything, it was hard for her to relax. His raging heart reminded her of their kiss and the previous day. His other hand snaked past her left leg and held on White-Fire's fur tight.

It was at this moment she finally relaxed a fraction. He brought his lips close to her ear and whispered, "Lean in, relax yourself, its going to be one h.e.l.l of a ride Astrid."

He wanted her to relax, but whispering and breathing softly into her ear wasn't going to help.

White-fire was tired of waiting for them, whether Astrid relaxed or not, it was confident she wouldn't fall off with Jareth holding unto her.

Without another warning, it dove higher far into the sky, its wings flared to its side as it moved vertically upwards.

"Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Astrid screamed her lungs out, closing her eyes as White-Fire went further up into the sky before releasing its wings and flapping them, then it steadied itself and flew horizontally.

"White-fire!!"