Previous to Ever After

Thirteen

I called down the hill, my hands positioned around my mouth, echoing my voice down the ruins. "Wesley!"

I saw his white head pop up. He broke into a gallop up the road and stopped right at the end of the ditch and looked up at us. Now, without the drawbridge, the jump seemed a lot longer.

"Wes, you have to listen to me carefully, okay? I need you to jump over this ditch–"

He neighed loudly in protest, rearing up on his hind legs. William stumbled back in surprise.

"Wes! Wesley!" I yelled as he came back down on all fours. "Wesley, calm down, it's alright, you can do it, boy. You have to trust me. I know you can do it, just take a running start, okay?"

My horse stared at me, his big, brown eyes never leaving mine as he started to back up a few paces. My eyes grew wide as he started to gallop forward. I pushed William out of the way just in time for Wesley to slam on the ground where we were originally standing.

I grinned as he trotted over and nibbled on the back of my dress. I stood up and wrapped my arms around his neck. "Oh, that's my good boy!"

I climbed on and pulled William up behind me. Then I grabbed Wesley's reins.

"Okay, bud, let's see if you can do that a second time."

Wesley whinnied and paced back three steps. Then, we broke off running right to the edge of the cliff, William and I both screaming as Wesley leaped off the ground.

When we leaped off that cliff, William wrapped his hands tighter around my middle, and Wesley stretched out over the drop, I felt invincible. I could have sworn we were flying. I heard William's shout in my ear as he cheered Wesley on, and those butterflies that were once caged in my stomach now fluttered up into my chest and swirled around my heart like a tornado. If we weren't two hundred feet above ground, I probably would have turned around and kissed William. I felt like if I was with him, I could accomplish anything.

Is this what love felt like?

As we hit the solid ground again I cheered at the top of my lungs with William shouting behind me. I felt him lean forward and kiss my cheek.

"Alright, Wes! Now, let's go, we've got a wizard to see," I said as I whipped his reins. Wesley whinnied and broke into a gallop down and out of the ruins.

We turned and started up the trail of one of the mountains. It was thin, and Wesley had to walk slowly so he wouldn't slip and fall but we were making our way up pretty quickly.

"Alright," I said focusing on steering Wesley's reins, aside that fact that I would be able to do absolutely nothing if Wes took the wrong step and slipped. "On which of these mountains is the wizard's lair located?"

William sighed looking around to the mountains next to us. "You're going to have to cross the bridge that'll come up in a few minutes. Then he'll be at the top of the mountain, you see, the one over this peak," he said as he pointed above my head. I craned my neck to look above our mountain's peak to see a snowy tip of another mountain.

"Alright," I said looking back down. "Where's the..."

My voice trailed off as we turned the bend of the mountain. There was a bridge alright, if you could even call it that. It was attached to our mountain by four ropes tied to top and bottom of two wooden pegs. There were boards of wood nailed next to each other stretched out all the way across the gap between the mountains, swaying slowly in the wind.

I turned around to face William, now utterly annoyed at the challenge we had to face next. "Really?" I asked. "Really?"

William shrugged. "I really don't know why you expected any different."