Daughter of Death

XXVII

Should I do a double.
I mean, I could.
Do I want to?
Hmmmm...

Hallez stood cautiously. She looked at the horse as it huffed, its head having to duck to peer into the room. It gave her a stare as if asking What are you waiting for?

    When she still didn't move, it snorted, and fire shot out of its nostrils, setting the wooden cabinets aflame. Hallez just stared at the dark smokeless flames eating away at the cabinets, seemingly absorbing light rather than emitting them, before concluding that it was probably a good idea to get out of there. She grabbed Mercury's arm again, propped him up, and, making sure he was still unconscious, dragged him across the dusty floor by the armpits. She was not strong enough to carry him, so if he turned furious at her when he woke up, then too bad.

    After a few seconds of struggling and arriving at the doorway, she dropped the supposed-god unceremoniously, waved away a few hundred strands of spiderwebs that were caught in her hair and clothes, and turned to the horse.

    In all honesty, she had no idea what she was even doing. At this point in time, she just went with the flow, and improvised as things progressed. She wasn't about to question the horse. That didn't mean she was completely immune to the fear of being burned alive as she stood with its muzzle a few inches away from her face. Her posture was stiff as it snorted again—no flames, just smoke—and sniffed her, then the shield, then the lump of a god beside her.

    Admittedly, the horse was beautiful, in a dark, gloomy, insane sort of way. It did smell of horse manure, though, which kind of ruined the whole image. It looked like it'd just crawled out of the Underworld after torturing someone's spirit, which was a fun thought, especially since it was apparently their only way of escaping this place alive. She couldn't remember any stories of horses like the one before her, and she had even less clue as to why it was inside the CEIRA compound—maybe it was trapped here as well? But given how it was standing in the corridor with its head inside the room, calmly, without any concern after carelessly busting down the door, it could've escaped a long time ago.

    Seemingly satisfied after sniffing them, it lowered its head, and knelt, its strong neck still partly through the doorway.

    Hallez blinked. Then, feeling a little self-conscious, she said, "Do you...want me to get on?"

    It tossed its mane, as if saying No duh. Or maybe something more sarcastic.

    "Do you mind if I put Mercury on your back?"

    Another toss of the mane, and the flames from its hooves extinguished themselves. She took it as a no.

    She placed the Ancile copy on the ground, and grabbed the god's shoulders, heaving Mercury up, draping him over the horse' neck. The horse lifted its head again, and the god slid unceremoniously down its neck onto its back. Mercury's body flailed and, somehow, bonked his head on the door frame.

    "Sorry about that," Hallez said, unapologetically. The horse dipped its head again. "You want me to get on?"

    It nodded.

    "I can just walk—"

    The horse seemed to scoff and nudged—more like shoved—her with its head. It snorted a puff of flame.

    "...Alright." Not really having a choice, she picked up the Ancile and also got on the horse's back before it raised its head again, making sure to avoid hitting her head.

    She'd ridden a horse once before, because apparently this one particular dig site was impossible to get to in a car, and a long way to go on foot. Therefore, they settled for horses, who all seemed to have something personal against Hal, and almost made her wish they'd taken a helicopter or something.