The Forest

Nineteen.

The stable was full of all sorts of horses, but Court wanted a specific type of mare.

Celeste was a descendant of some fancy line of horses that had been in his adoptive family for generations. Celeste is the only living one of the lines so Court seems keen on keeping that line going in whatever way he can.

While he may not be blood to his family, he does have respect for them. He also very much likes Celeste.

He searched the stable looking for a horse before he decided on the perfect mare.

She is a large horse with a palomino coloring and on her back, it went into an appaloosa pattern. Her mane and tail are white. And lastly, she had a white stripe on her forehead.

Court purchased her with just enough leftover coins in case he ever decided to make a trip back to the cities.

She came with a halter made of tan rope and a lead attached to it. Court tied her up to the cart to walk along with it. Another benefit to buying her is that she came with her own feed and Court bought more horse feed and a few bales of hay.

Once he had all of that sorted out, we made our way to the edge of the city.

The mare he bought is quite beautiful and nice. 

The stable hand insisted that she is exceptional quality with a lovely temperament. So far, she seemed to be friendly. We would get to know her as the time went on.

Court had his hand on my thigh as he drove the horses on.

"You seem nervous." I commented.

"It's hard not to be. I'm taking a bunch of humans back with me when I was only responsible for one and on top of it have to break it to Thorin that skin-changers were hunting us and could still be hunting us." Court admitted.

I leaned over and pressed a kiss to his cheek before laying my head against his arm. Court smiled affectionately at me.

"I will admit having you here makes it a lot better." 

I smiled as I tucked myself to his side. Soon enough the edge of town appeared followed by multiple carts and people on horses.

Court took a look over at the mare and then at me before he forced a smile on his face.

At the front of the people was a cart with my parents in it and to my surprise Court's adoptive mother sat in it. She had been one of the biggest reasons Court had wanted to come to the cities. Her mental stability had been fragile since the king's death.

Even now you can see it based solely on how she carries herself.

"Catalina, your son is here."

She looked up and made eye contact with Court before forcing a smile on her face. Court was already smiling at her when she looked.

"Okay, I assume these are all the people who agreed to come with us?" Court asked.

"Yes, some people have already fled this city and others I couldn't find. A few rejected the offer as well." Dad explained to him.

"It's good enough. I'll stay in the lead and you guys can just follow along with me. The place we set up at is a few days' travel away from here. Once we are there I'm going to need all of you to wait for I can talk to the other leader. He isn't aware any of you are coming, I'll need time to explain things to him." 

Court kept his voice loud enough for the majority of the people here to hear him. For the ones who couldn't, the others explained for them.

While the entire village didn't come with us, a decent amount of people did. There were multiple carts spread out as well as saddled up horses.