Shadow disappeared before he could. She unraveled into a twisting black cloud that shot away, flying off along the riverbank. Ruin broke into a gallop after her, hooves pounding along the gravel. She took a few strides, and then she transformed too, shifting to ashes. Now dark and pale blurs soared along the riverside.
Lucent and my horse, the giant slowpokes, were last to follow. Lucent became light, like sun rippling on water. Then Big Red turned into a flurry of flames, and he was gone, too. There were no horses anymore. Just slashes, shooting across the water.
It all happened in seconds.
We ran to the edge of the bank to watch them. Streaks of light and dark, fire and ash, twisting and threading through trees. Climbing suddenly into the air, and then plunging to fly over the glassy water again. My heart didn’t beat for a solid minute as I stood there. Of the four horses, mine drew my attention most. I’d never seen anything so incredible. Never.
Sebastian was hooting and yelling his head off. Daryn and Marcus were laughing and jogging along the river, following the horse race. Only Jode and I stood there, incapable of even moving.
Jode shook his head. “Caused a bloody riot, your horse.”
That was him, I thought.
Riot.
*
Later that afternoon, with the rest of the guys up at hutquarters working on a fire and a delicious dinner of rice, beans, and canned peas, I recruited my favorite horse trainer and great buddy to give me a private lesson.
Daryn gave me instructions as we hiked down to the water: Keep talking while I worked with Riot. Be firm, but also understand that horses had different personalities, like people.
“Some are confident,” she explained as we reached the training field, “but others are timid and—”
“Timid isn’t his problem.”
“But what if it was?”
“It’s not.”
She gave me a smile with a little eyebrow waggle. “I think you’re timid.”
“You do?”
“Mm-hm.”
“Really?” I took a step toward her.
She saw what I was up to and took off running. She was fast—I had to step on the gas—but I chased her down. Then I lifted her onto my shoulders and windmilled her until I had to bring us in for a soft crash landing.
“You’re pretty easy to do unremarkable things with,” I said as I waited for the sky to stop rotating.
“I was thinking the same thing. It’s going to be so easy to forget all about you.”
Painful. Every moment with her was awesome and painful.
The clouds were gray and thick above us, an unbroken expanse of steel wool, stretching from mountain to mountain. We’d been there just over a week. How much longer until I saw Alevar’s black wings soaring across that sky?
Daryn rolled onto her elbow. Her hair spilled over her shoulder, covering the key. “You’re thinking about the Kindred, aren’t you?”
She already knew I was, so I just looked at her.
Daryn sighed, her eyebrows drawing together. “I know it’s not in my hands, but I feel responsible. Why can’t I just know what to do next?”
“You will.”
“But when?”
“When you’re supposed to.” I couldn’t stay there any longer with her lying right next to me. I hopped to my feet and reached down, pulling her up. “Let’s get to work.”
I summoned Riot for the second time that day. He appeared in licks of flame, fire one second, horseflesh the next—charging horseflesh.
I lunged in front of Daryn, calling up my sword and armor in an instant, knowing that even with those I stood almost no chance against the two thousand pounds of fiery animal bearing down on us.
“Gideon, it’s okay,” Daryn said. “Just stand firm.”
It didn’t feel okay. I waved the sword in front of me. “Riot, back!”
His front hooves dug into the dirt when he was almost on us. His eyes bulged; then he jumped to the side like a cricket. Then he was off, galloping away before he doubled back and charged me again. On Daryn’s instruction, I stood my ground.
Riot freaked out again, sped off, circled back, and that was how it went for about thirty solid minutes, time after time, until foam sizzled and dripped from his mouth and he finally settled to a quivering, steaming, burning stop a dozen paces away.
I glanced at Daryn. “Well, this feels like a good place to wrap for—”
“We’re just getting started.”
I shook my head, eyeing my horse. Riot looked spent, but still scary as hell.
Daryn had prepped me on how to approach him slowly. Talking. I had to do that now, before I lost my nerve. I got rid of my sword and armor, and then took a step forward.
“How’s it going today, Riot?” I said. “I’m Gideon.”
Nice. Two sentences and I’d already managed to embarrass myself. In front of Daryn and a horse. I hadn’t even realized the last part was possible. I continued speaking as I stepped closer. “I’m sure we have a lot in common. You’re clearly a stallion in top physical condition. Extremely dangerous. Badass. Impressive looking.”
“Wow,” Daryn said behind me.