Riley looks down to where his hands are wrapped tightly around the pommel of the saddle since it has no horn to hold on to—nothing for my armor or weapons to get caught on in the heat of battle.
I swing up onto the beast’s back behind Riley. “Quill, head for the destroyed Door.”
And Quill sets off at a leisurely walk and stops about five paces later in front of the destroyed door of a pen. Then he shakes his whole body like he’s just going to shake us off right here after a job well done. It makes Riley cling on tighter.
“I don’t think your beast understands what you’re saying. Maybe he doesn’t understand English?”
“Nah, he’s a godly beast. He understands everything I say. His stubbornness, on the other hand, is his downfall.”
Quill starts sharpening his antlers on the broken door.
“Look, he’s sharpening them to better gouge out my eyeball.”
“Ooh,” I purr.
“Are you thinking about my eyeball being gouged out?” Riley asks as he whips around to face me.
“No, just how sexy you’d be with an eyepatch.”
He threatens to shove me off while trying not to grin. “You’re the absolute worst.”
I only laugh as I give Quill a nudge with my heel and the obstinate creature walks outside. “You ready?”
“To ride this thing? No.”
“If we walk the whole way, it’ll take us a long time to reach it… he’s going to have to run.”
“I’m getting off,” Riley says, but I lock my arms around him and kiss the side of his face.
“I’m here.”
“Your kisses aren’t going to fix this,” he complains, tucking Kit into his shirt a moment before Quill breaks into a gentle lope. It’s none too fast, but Riley is still convinced he’s going to die.
“You’re fine, see? He’s going slow.”
“This is slow?”
“Sure is. He’s going to go a little bit faster once you’re settled.”
It soon becomes evident that Riley’s never going to get used to any part of this, so Quill speeds up to avoid this task taking all day.
“I will never trust you again,” Riley cries.
“Why? What did I lie about? Nothing.”
“Let’s see if one of Mickey’s undead can get a car out here.”
“Nah. This is fun,” I say, squeezing him tighter. I’m not quite sure he has a joyous time, but I sure do. Nothing is more fun than riding on Quill’s back with the sun shining down on me and Riley in my arms. When I reach the area where the final battle took place, I slow Quill down and swing off before helping Riley dismount. It looks like such a normal area. We’re surrounded by rolling hills that were once covered in wildflowers that are now long dead, petrified in their last state.
I gaze out onto this field where I once stood among my companions, all now dead. The people I loved. The people I cared for and promised to protect.
Riley walks up and carefully reaches out to me. “Are you okay?”
I force myself to look normal as I nod. “Yeah.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” he asks. “You… it’s not like you’ve had anyone to talk about it to besides your eye-gouging beast.”
I smile, glancing at Quill. “He’s a good listener. He doesn’t sass me back like you do.”
