Bart let out a long sigh and nodded.
“Safe travels.May Asherah smile on ye.”
__________
A sliver of moon winked at them through a veil of clouds, misty and worn like a death shroud.Ulla guided Bastion with stiff movements, her grasp loosening only long enough for her to correct their course, her pale palm cutting through the dark like the rudder of a boat.Then it would snatch up the front of his shirt again, her arms locked around him in a bone-crushing embrace.
Somehow, despite the darkness, Ulla’s fear, and their inability to speak to each other, they made it to the narrow footpath behind the butcher.Finn fell into a brisk trot, clamping the bit in his mouth and pulling at the reins.They needed to get away from Cypress Shoals as quickly as possible, but Bastion hesitated to pick up their pace with such poor visibility.
Finn fought him, snorting and tossing his head, eager togo.By the time dawn kissed the sky, Bastion’s arms ached from holding the Thatian back.But now they had light.He patted Ulla’s hand to warn her, and his already-aching ribs protested her strength as she squeezed even harder.
Bastion relaxed his hold on the reins, leaned forwards, and let Finnrun.
The speed and length of his stride nearly suffocated Bastion.He could barely hear the drum of hooves beneath him over the wind whipping by.His eyes began to water, and he leaned even further forwards, bringing Ulla with him, until he felt the sting of Finn’s mane against his face.They would have left the sea grass dancing in their wake if not for the wind already threading its way across the bluffs.
Bastion didn’t want to stop.
Not when his back and arms began to scream, not when his gut churned at the sight of distant black smoke, not even when he began to question the terrible risk he took in letting Finn gallop for hours on end.A normal horse would have refused to continue or dropped dead by now, from a burst lung or splintered leg bones.Finn must have truly been goddess-blessed because he raced the wind with wild abandon, never tiring.
Twice, Bastion wrestled the Thatian to a stop so they could stretch their legs and relieve themselves.He looked away guiltily when Ulla pressed her palms, glowing a soft blue, to her inner thighs.Despite her fear and discomfort, she got right back on Finn, her expression resolute.
When the sun dropped, casting an arrow of liquid light across the sea, Bastion started to look for a likely camp.Just as it dipped beyond the horizon, he spotted a fallen tree, dead leaves clinging to its bare branches.He steered Finn towards it, the way becoming a tangle of shadows and amorphous shapes as night fully fell.They reached it just as they began–in the dark and in one piece.
Ulla released Bastion’s aching ribs and slid from the saddle, leaving Bastion’s back cold.She staggered away to collapse against a boulder.Bastion followed, tying Finn to the tree, now rimmed in the first whisper of starlight.
He tried to go to her, but she raised a hand, her face turned downward and away.He wanted to insist, but there was little he could do.Traveling so quickly over such a long distance had been challenging for him as an experienced rider.For Ulla, it had probably been grueling.All they could do was rest.
Quickly, he circled the tree to scavenge wood for a fire and almost fell face-first into a shallow stream running beneath its upturned roots.That pleasant surprise assuaged some of his worries.Minutes later, he dumped an armful of wood in a pile near Ulla’s feet.He felt her eyes on him, even in the dark, as he withdrew flint and tinder from the saddlebags and went to work on the fuel.It took him a long time to get the fire going, and he was grateful she couldn’t see him flush with embarrassment over the struggle.
Finally satisfied, he cast a concerned eye on Ulla before going to Finn.Removing the saddle, blanket, and bags revealed a layer of sweat across the gelding’s back.He hung everything over a branch, flipping the blanket upside down to dry.With nothing else to use, Bastion picked up the corner of his cloak and began rubbing Finn down.The gelding gave a whole-body shake, then stilled with a deep sigh.
Aside from his desire to run unchecked, Finn proved to be a valuable mount.Perhaps he’d misjudged the Thatian.
Ulla appeared at Bastion’s shoulder, and he startled as Finn reached around to nose her.Reflexively, she batted him away.Finn tossed his head, his inky mane and forelock catching the firelight as he squealed indignantly.She shrank back, her scrunched-up shoulders at odds with the determined set of her mouth.
Bastion reached out to steady Finn.The horse settled under his hand, and Ulla took a hesitant step forwards.
When the gelding didn’t move, she knelt and ran her hands tentatively down his leg.The soft glow of her healing magic trailed her fingertips like the afterimage of a blink.Bastion stood dumbstruck.She finished and moved to the next leg, and the next.When she’d seen to all four, she returned to Bastion’s side and placed a clawed hand on Finn’s sweaty ribcage.
The cant of her head made it look like she was listening to–feeling–his heartbeat.Bastion recalled their palms skidding across each other the night before, when she’d taken his offered hand to dance.
Thump, thump.
Loneliness had sat in his chest for years, a snarled knot that only grew tighter and tighter–until she’d shared her own loneliness with him.She’d trusted him with a vulnerable facet of her being to ease his hurt.
Thump, thump.
Ulla looked up at Bastion.He blinked, eyes dry from staring.Suddenly aware of how slack his jaw was, he swallowed.
Thump, thump.
“Why are you alone?”he whispered.
Her eyes shuttered, surprised.Then her expression sharpened, jaw clenching until there was no softness left in her face.She stood there glaring with enough vitriol to flay him open.
Bastion held his breath.
He’d gladly bleed out at her feet for the answer to that question.
