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Voids. I force myself to swallow, hard, as Alindra comes close enough for me to see the wrinkle in her forehead. The big brown horse is with her, sure, but there’s another horse on her other side. And another right behind her. I look down at their enormous hooves, then back at the flimsy piece of sun-bleached wood that’s the only thing separating me from a pack of animals that look like they want to trample me into the dirt.
“Phaedron,” Alindra whispers.
Fuck. I grit my teeth together and slide the piece of wood back, opening a gap in the fence. The horse next to Alindra pivots its ears and snorts. Alindra pulls a piece of dried apple from her bag, then puts her hand dangerously close to the beast’s massive mouth. Huge, velvet lips almost engulf Alindra’s fingers. I inhale, then close my teeth around whatever stupid thing I might say next.
I can hear the monster horse chewing as Alindra leads it through the gap in the fence. I can even smell the damn thing, sweat and dirt tinged with the sweetness of the dried apple. I step back from the sheer mass of the creature, the force of that muscular body, and another horse snorts next to me.
“Phaedron!” Alindra snaps.
I turn, and there’s a white horse approaching the fence. Damn it! This second horse looks like a ghost, with wide eyes and flaring nostrils. He’s following right on Alindra’s heels with an expression that says horses aren’t supposed to eat meat, but he’s thinking maybe just this once he’ll give it a try.
“The gate!” Alindra growls.
With my heart hammering inside my skull, I shove the piece of wood forward, blocking the gate Alindra just used to pull the brown horse away from its companions. The pale horse huffs. For a heartbeat, I’m certain he’s going to kill me, and then the horse backs off, swinging his head angrily from side to side. I bend down and slide the lower piece of wood back into place, until this gate looks just like every other section of fence we’ve passed.
I step away from the gate and turn to Alindra, my heart still pulsing in my throat. She’s scratching the horse behind one of its big, triangular ears and muttering something under her breath that I probably don’t want to hear. She reaches into her bag, feeds the horse another slice of apple, and then she jumps.
I blink, certain I’ve missed something in the gathering gloom. Not that I’ve seen many people mount a horse, but still, I’m not entirely certain how she went from standing beside the horse to sitting so comfortably on its back. Its very high back.
“Come on,” Alindra whispers.
I stare at her. That wrinkle in her forehead reappears.
“We need to move,” she says. “The other horses will get upset if we linger.”
I glance back toward the pasture. The pale horse is watching us closely, and yes, he does look fairly upset. There’s a thudding sound as the horse Alindra is riding does a sort of sideways step toward me. It takes every bit of my training not to step backward.
“Go!” Alindra snaps. “Use the rock to mount. Get up here!”
I look down at the little rock beside the horse, then squeeze my eyes shut. Shit. Somewhere in the back of my head, I can hear Rowan laughing.
On my third attempt, I finally manage to clamber onto the horse’s back. The horse is hot between my legs, and it moves forward as soon as I sit down, yanking my gut with it in a way that makes me feel like I’m going to be sick. I throw my arm around Alindra’s waist and cling to her like I’m being dangled over the void itself.
“Phaedron,” she gasps. “I can’t breathe!”
Oh. I loosen my grip around her waist. The horse, as if sensing weakness, moves again. My fingers make a fist in the loose fabric of Alindra’s cloak.
“Stop it,” Alindra snaps. “You’re scaring the horse!”
Me? Scaring this monster? I almost laugh.
“Sorry,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
Alindra takes a deep breath. “Relax your legs,” she says. “You don’t need to squeeze it to death.”
I take a breath. Every muscle in my body feels like it’s made of iron. With a long, slow exhale, I try to relax my legs. The horse makes a strange snorting sound that probably means it’s thinking about mangling someone beneath its massive hooves. Me, to be precise.
“Okay,” Alindra whispers. “We’re going to walk forward now.”
The horse takes a lurching, massive step. I gulp as the beast’s back sways beneath me, pressing me into Alindra’s body.
“We’re going up the river,” she whispers. “So they can’t track us.”
“Great,” I manage to whimper as the horse moves again, shifting below me.
If I don’t fall off this damn thing and kill myself, it’s going to be a freaking miracle.
* * *
