The Forgotten Olympian |BOOK 1| PJO X HP | Alexandra Marine

Chapter 7 - Alex - Horse Riding At The Beach

How much can a fifteen-minute ride on a lorry be when you're running on foot? Apparently, too much.

When I came back to that lonely farmhouse that John Bowser had stopped at, I was sweating like a pig (no offense Pumba) and my shirt was wet, and my back ached as though I was carrying 20 kilos of rice on it, and it was already nighttime.

"This is where they store horses?" I muttered to myself. To one side of the farmhouse, there was a large chicken coop, and to the other was the horse stables. Dodger must have been there.

I did sort of jog-run towards the stables and found it- yep, locked. Now this is a useful technique I actually learnt over at Mrs. Dorling's house when she unlocked her stores with a hair pin. I was so shocked until she taught me the trick herself. I took out the one hairpin that I had pushed into my head before leaving, and stuck into the large lock until I heard a satisfying click.

I kicked the door open. Pardon me, but I could never resist a touch of drama.

In an instant, my head was abuzz with different voices floating around.

"A girl! Master will not be pleased," said a voice.

"Maybe she's the new servant," another one said.

"I hope she can clean our hooves well, the last one was no good," another one said, and I realized that I could hear them talking. Horses. Seriously. I was liking this group less by the minute.

"All of you, shut up!" I bellowed at them, and the horses went quiet. "I am not your servant!"

"She can hear us!" a horse neighed gleefully.

"She is the chosen one!" another said.

As the horses continued to cheer, I heard one small voice, quite distinctly, "Maybe she'll set us free."

But the other horses seemed to not want to leave. Instead, they invited me to ride them at the nearing horse race instead of Dodger, the ungrateful horse that their owner loved very much for his racing ability.

The horses made me feel queasy. They wanted to be famous. Silver Blaze, a superb looking horse with gleaming black fur even tried to flirt with me in an attempt to convince me to take him to a race. But I was looking for the one that was hoping to be free.

In the middle of the table stood one horse, very quietly, accepting of his fate. Dodger, I realised. He was the most well-kept looking horse in the stables. He had shiny white fur, and his black eyes reflected the moonlight all over the stables. He looked like he was- glowing.

With a lot of force, I opened the door that kept Dodger in place and with a strike of my dagger, the ropes that held him let him go.

"Thank you," the horse neighed, and I saw large drops of tears welling up his equally large, beady eyes.

"You're coming with me, Dodge," I said, pressing my forehead to his.

And that's when the most interesting thing happened. Dodger's body seemed to extend two large arms, except, they had no fingers, really. He had sprouted wings.

"How-?" I stuttered, completely in shock.

"I was born like this, boss," Dodger replied, his face showing off a toothy smile that I really did not wish to see again. His teeth were scary. The horse bowed down low to help me hop on to his back.

"Let's go," I said, and Dodger started off at the speed of an airplane on the runway, and I had hold on to his slippery white fur with great difficulty to not fall off. And then, he spread his wings, and- and we were in the sky in no time, looking down at the small town. The horse did his own version of 'WHEE!' by neighing out loud.

"This is the best day of my life!" I shouted through the air, and the horse screamed gleefully.

"Where to, boss?" he asked, his long neck turning to me.

"Somewhere fun," I said, letting go off the horse's fur and raising my hands to feel the wind in my arms, my face and my hair. All the sweat had disappeared, and I was feeling fresh with a new fire kindled in my heart. I will no longer be afraid of anything. I will not just exist; I will live my life.

After a long time, Dodge (as I now preferred to call him) started to land. The altitude became lesser, and the air clearer. The wind smelled salty as we descended. I could feel the cold breeze hitting against my chest and took a deep breath. The ocean.

I descended from the horse's back and ran to the waves that called me. Its cool water washed my feet and I saw Dodge licking the water and retching in regret soon after. I laughed out loud.

 Dodge and I sat peacefully in the sand, looking up at the stars as he told me the stories of races and thanked me at least ten thousand times for freeing him. Apparently, his owners never realized that Dodge actually had wings and preferred him running on his feet which, of course, Dodge did not love.

As Dodge blabbed on, I watched the stars in a new feeling of calm. And suddenly, Dodge stopped, his ears wilting suddenly.

"Did you hear that, boss?" he asked, and I looked at him, frowning. "The- the footsteps."

I didn't have to focus on my hearing as much as my sight right now. He was seven feet tall, and his arms and legs looked so much like those on Gym advertisements, and his skin was webbed with veins. He wore no clothes except for a large underwear which I suspected did not fit him very well, and his top half had coarse thick brown hair about until his belly button. His neck was as large as a boulder and his face- he had the face of a bull. His snout was as long as Dodge's leg, and he had a large nose ring hanging off his snotty nostril. And his horns- they seemed to be even sharper than any normal blade and as long as my arm.

I tugged at my necklace, and the trident appeared. I clutched the many daggers that had appeared at my leather belt, ready to put up a fight.

"The Minotaur," Dodge whispered. The bull guy roared angrily, as though the name was a curse word.

I cursed out loud as he charged at us and jumped out of the way. The Minotaur seemed to run for quite some more time until he realized that I wasn't even in front of him. He straightened up, and looked for me, squinting his eyes.

"Over here!" I shouted, smiling. The Minotaur turned to my direction, bent down, and- charged. As he neared, I jumped out of the way and onto his back. The bull guy panicked and straightened up, his arms trying to reach me. I sat on his neck, my daggers piercing both his shoulders, and he groaned loudly. I took another dagger, and with a swift slice, his large horn fell into the palms of my hand. I smirked.

The Minotaur finally reached me, and he picked me by the scruff of my collar and held me up so that I was face to face with him, dangling from his mere fingers. He growled angrily, and I frowned at the bad breath.

"Don't forget to brush your teeth at hell," I said, and pushed the large horn into his chest. The Minotaur, still holding me, was determined to perform his last act. He threw me into the sea as he disintegrated into yellow dust slowly, his horn still in my arms. Dodge followed, his large wings trying to protect me as we crashed into the deep ocean, and I was sure that we were going to drown.

The last thing I remember seeing was a small woman with folded hands bowing to me saying, "Don't worry. We'll keep you safe." I closed my eyes, clutching onto Dodge's shiny, slippery fur with a hard grip.

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