The Choosing (22 page)

The group told Whalen good bye each in their own way, and thanked him appreciatively for his services.  Before letting them leave Whalen told them there were several stables, once within Valdadore, they could return the horses to.  He also gave them a small piece of folded paper sealed in wax to give, with the horses, to the stable master at which ever stable they returned the horses to.  Their instructions completed, the group picked up their belongings from beside their stools, and slung their packs across their shoulders.  Sara too slung her crossbow over one arm, and adjusted it for a comfortable fit.  They turned together and walked out of the inn, feeling ready as they ever would for what awaited them next.

Outside the inn were four, very large white horses.  The same breed of horse, both Ashton and Garret noted, they had seen knights ride before.  The horses were tied to an iron bar that ran for some length across the front of the inn, secured into the bricks of the inn itself.  Aston regarded the horses impatiently.  He was ready to get back on the road.  He had ridden several horses in his life.  His family owned a pair back home, though those horses had been much smaller than these.  Garret and Seth had each ridden a few times as well, though the horses they had rode had been labor animals belonging to the farms in Vineleaf.  The twins were a bit nervous, but each assumed one horse was much the same as any other and so they approached the horses with nothing more than a slight pause.  Sara on the other hand was terrified.  She had never so much as touched a horse let alone rode one.  She had seen horses of course, and thought them beautiful creatures, but had never actually approached one before.  These too it seemed were no ordinary horses.  They were monstrous.  She had never seen an animal so large before, and the thought of trying to ride one frightened her to the core.

Seth approached the horse he had decided he would ride and realized suddenly that Sara no longer was at his side.  He turned on his heels, looking back to see why she had stopped, and froze.  She stood only a few paces away from him, her face twisted in horror regarding the massive beasts before them.  He had not even taken into account the fact that she had possibly never ridden a horse in her life.  Why would she have ever ridden a horse?  She had lived in a town, unable to leave, living in fear, imprisoned by a man who intended to sell her body for profit.  Seth walked back to Sara’s side, thinking of the Brothel owner John, angered him still, but what angered Seth the most was the fact he had not anticipated Sara’s reaction to the horses.  He wrapped his arms around her, standing between her and the horses, and hugged her close to his chest.

“Everything is going to be ok Sara.”  Seth reassured her.  “They are gentle animals, trained well to carry us safely.  Riding is easy enough, and I am certain you are more than capable.”  Seth spoke the words as reassuringly as he was able.

Sara only nodded in reply and hugged him tightly before letting him go.  If Seth believed in her ability to ride one of these beasts, then that was enough for her.  She would not let him down.  They walked together, hand in hand, back to the horses.  Garret and Ashton had already mounted the horses they had chosen and watched Seth bring Sara to the nearest horse without a rider.  Seth instructed her to place her foot in one of the stirrups, and helped to lift her into the saddle.  Once seated comfortable Seth instructed her to hold on to the beast with her legs, and use her hands to control the animal with the reigns.  He showed her how to control the animal’s movement as well as its speed using the reigns.  Sara quickly committed everything Seth told her to memory, not wanting to disappoint him by being a poor student.  Seth then released the animal, and Sara was able to easily guide it around the narrow street without much trouble.  Satisfied, Seth then mounted the remaining horse, and nodded to his twin, acknowledging that they were ready to leave.

They rode slowly through the city, careful not to trample anyone walking in the streets.  The streets were bustling with activity, but even so the horses were able to maneuver easily through the crowds.  Garret led them in single file through the streets, heading a circuitous path to the south wall of the city and through the gate onto the open road.  By the time they emerged from the city wall, Sara had become comfortable enough upon her mount where she no longer squeezed it so tightly with her legs that her knees would tremble from the effort.  She realized then that her fear had been unfounded, a fear that was only due to ignorance, and she felt ashamed that she had reacted so badly before.

Clear of the narrow city streets the four rode abreast, taking the entire width of the road.  Ashton rode to one extreme side, and then Garret.  Sara rode between the twins, in case one of them should need to come to her rescue.  They rode slowly at first, gradually picking up the pace as they each began to feel more comfortable atop the large animals.  Before long they were galloping down the road at a break neck speed, smiles upon all their faces, wind roaring past their ears, enjoying the freedom of speed.

They rode hard and fast the entire day stopping only once to eat, and allow the horses to rest and drink from the river that had snaked back to parallel the road closely.  Their stop did not last long though, each of them wanting to feel the wind on their faces again, they hurriedly ate, and remounted the horses kicking their flanks once again, driving the beasts to resume their amazing pace.  They passed several people on the road that day, waving in greeting as they thundered by.  They did not stop to speak to anyone, did not even slow for that matter, yet the horses were able to maintain the pace through the entire day without as much as a sign of tiring.

The day passed quickly, and before the four companions realized it, the sun had begun to set.  They followed the road still, now at a slower pace, and decided together that they should find a place to rest for the night.  They did not want any interruptions, or any trouble for that matter, from other travelers who may be following the road after dark, and so they turned off the road.  They could see the river still lazily meandering this way and that off in the distance, and decided to make for it, thinking it would be best to let the horses drink their fill.  The sun shrank ever nearer to the horizon, as the twins and their companions neared the river.  With only minutes of sunlight remaining they followed the river to a small cope of nearly bare trees.  The leaves that did remain on the branches here were darkened hues of orange and red.  Most however had already fallen to the ground or been blown away by the wind.  Even so, the small grouping of trees seemed a perfect place to spend the night.  They tied the horses at the river’s edge, letting them drink and graze on the grasses that grew there.  Pulling supplies from the horses’ saddle bags they sat in a circle eating and telling their vibrant descriptions of how it felt to each of them to ride the massive horses.  Before they had finished eating the sun disappeared over the horizon, taking with it all traces of light.  Too impatient to wait till morning, they all settled down to get to sleep early, as to rise early to ride again.  Garret and Ashton settled on the ground as was accustomed, and were quickly asleep.  Seth laid himself down and gathered Sara unto his body, and shared a few moments with her before snuggling up to one another to fall asleep.  He was very proud of her this day, she had managed to face her fear of the animal, and more than that she had easily mastered riding it as well.  Sleep took all four of them quickly, not even the excitement of the day was able to keep their minds alert enough to avoid the dark nothingness that was sleep.  It would not be until morning that they would realize the error of their ways, and come to regret their long day’s ride.

Garret awoke, and opening his eyes noticed that the sky had just started to lighten on the eastern horizon.  Feeling well rested, Garret quickly jerked himself into a seated position as was his morning custom.  A burning, throbbing sensation painfully overtook his backside and he yelped despite himself.  Thinking he had rolled into something hot, Garret jumped to his feet to relieve his rear end.  At least that was what he attempted to do.  He did nearly make it to his feet before he realized the explosion of burning, searing pain down his thighs.  Unable to keep his legs beneath him Garret collapsed back to the ground in a heap.  He thrashed about wildly on the ground, rolling this way and that sure he had somehow caught himself on fire.

Sara woke to Garrets yelp and quickly untangled herself from Seth’s body.  She rolled over just in time to see Garret collapse to the ground thrashing violently.  She looked quickly around to see if anyone had come across their camp and was attempting to ambush them in their sleep.  Spotting nothing she quickly awoke Seth, who immediately sprang to his feet to see to his brother.  Seth was nearly overcome with pain that exploded in his muscles, nearly driving him back to the ground.  Sara too had begun to rise, but feeling her muscles begin to cramp settled herself back on the ground.  As Seth paused to regain himself Garrets thrashing had brought him precariously close to the still sleeping Ashton.  Ashton’s peaceful sleep was torn away from him from a spastic kick from one of Garret’s still flailing legs.  He opened his eyes in time to dodge a second kick, this time aimed for his groin, and rolled swiftly out of range of Garrets assault.  Bringing himself to his knees, Ashton’s face crumpled into a grimace of pain and realization.

The four companions had spent the entire previous day upon their massive horses.  They had rode fast and hard with no thoughts as to how their bodies might respond to the punishment.  Their bodies, now it seemed, had decided to teach them a lesson.  It would be a lesson well learned.

Ashton remained kneeling, but repositioned himself to try and relieve his pained muscles.  He looked to the heavens and whispered an inaudible prayer.  Chanting quietly to himself, his entire body began to shimmer.  The shimmer lasted only a fraction of a second and quickly turned into the glow the companions had all witnessed before.  A few moments passed and the light that had engulfed Ashton from head to toe vanished.  Ashton quickly rose to his feet and flashing a smile in Sara and Seth’s direction he turned and strode towards Garret.  Garret’s thrashing had ceased, but sure his body must be terribly burned he kept his eyes closed tightly, refusing to look upon the damage.  He lay still now in the dirt, certain he had rolled far enough from whatever it had been that had ignited him.  He was panting loudly and sweating freely when Ashton dropped to his knees beside him.  Garret did not see nor hear Ashton approach, but he did hear his friend’s prayer, and the low chanting that followed.  Ashton took little time to heal Garret’s bruised and sore muscles, and almost before he had started his healing chant, it was over.  Hearing his friends words come to an end Garret opened his eyes.  He lay on the flat of his back looking up at Ashton.  Garret smiled in thanks.

“How badly had I been burned?”  Garret asked with a sincere tone to his voice.

Garret’s question was followed by robust laughter from all three of his companions.  Seth laughed so hard it brought tears to his eyes, and Sara was forced to lie back down, gasping for air when she finally stopped laughing.  Ashton’s laughing on the other had did not last long.  He was directly in front of Garret when the man’s mood turned from one of sincere concern to one of anger.  The change in his friends face had stopped Ashton’s laughter in its tracks.

Seth and Sara had finally stopped laughing, and both apologized quickly to Garret.  They explained their amusement to the fact that though Garret had thought he had been burned, in actuality he was simply bruised and sore from the previous day.  Even Garret got a laugh in retrospect.

Ashton took turns healing both Seth and Sara, and then suggested that they should eat before they returned to the road.  They all agreed, and gathering their supplies, sat together for a quick breakfast.  While finishing up his food Seth mused about how much had already happened that day, yet they had only been awake for less than half an hour.  Today he was sure would be an interesting day.

The day passed quickly without anything else out of the ordinary.  They rode their mounts a bit slower than they had the day before.  Each of them remembering, all too well, the consequences that would await them tomorrow.  They passed several people on the road, and noted that many of the people they passed were around their own age.  Houses too began to appear in the afternoon, spread apart from one another at great distances at first, ever growing closer and closer as the group traveled.  They rode much of the day in silence, simply enjoying the ride.  It was a cool day, but not uncomfortably cold.  As afternoon approached the land leveled out, and again the river had come near to the road and traveled parallel to it as far as the eye could see.  Farm lands lay barren all around them as they rode, having already been harvested for the season.  The sky was clear and the sun shone bright already past its peak, descending slowly.

The four companions rode their mounts side by side in a wall of thundering hooves.  The Afternoon was growing late, but they still had a few hours of light to ride with.  They had slowed their pace to a trot for a while, allowing the horses, and their back sides a short reprieve.  They had not yet stopped to eat this day and so decided together, to find a place to let the horses graze for a while and eat a late lunch.  Riding for about a quarter of an hour more they found a place where the land had not been plowed for crops, and so grass grew thickly enough for the horses to graze.  There was only one scraggly tree in the grass, a tree the horses could easily uproot if they desired, but having no other option, the companions tied all four horses to the small tree.  They left the horses liberal slack so that they might graze enough to fill their bellies.  While the boy’s tied up the horses, Sara spread out Seth’s blanket on the ground, preparing a place for the four of them to eat.  The young men returned carrying with them food, and seated themselves on the blanket with Sara.  They took their time eating to allow the horses to graze, unsure how much such a large animal was supposed to eat.  Finishing their meal the group continued to sit upon the blanket for a short while.  Without any formal decision to leave they each stood after some time anxious to get going.  Seth returned the blanket to his pack, and the four walked together to retrieve their steeds.  Untying them from the tree the four friends led their mounts across the road to where the river flowed a short distance away and allowed the animals to drink.  After the beasts’ thirst appeared to be satiated, they led them back to the road and climbed back into their saddles to continue while they still had light.