Abhorrent Practices - Book 1

Chapter 8.5 - Orrin's Rock (Scene 5: Biscuits)

It was twenty miles to the Drum, as Brunlen's compound was known, a full day's ride by mulket. Leaning forward between the shoulders of the straw-coloured mount Farrer had picked out for him, Perrick muttered under his breath. Mulkets were not comfortable rides. With every step, their huge muscles rolled beneath their shaggy coats, pitching their riders first to the left, before their next stride threw them to the right. In many ways, it was not unlike being at sea.

An experienced rider learned how to shift his balance with every stride, automatically compensating for his mount's irregular, loping gait. For the less experienced, like Perrick, staying in the saddle at all meant being permanently tensed, trying to anticipate the length and timing of his animal's every step.

Progress was slow, and he found himself wishing for the horses he'd grown up with on Thar. It was a foolish thought; the mulkets may not have been swift, but their progress was steady, their huge bulk impervious to the fierce winds assaulting them from every side. The fleet-footed horses of his homeland would have struggled against the headwinds, and stumbled every time they were buffeted from the side. No. As uncomfortable as they were, the mulkets were perfectly suited to the barren yellow plains of Orrin's Rock.

Ahead of him, Alyss and Farrer rode side by side, completely at ease in their saddles, seemingly at one with their mounts. Although he knew that the winds made conversation impossible, Perrick couldn't help imagining them laughing together at his expense: scoffing at his fear of heights, and ridiculing the discomfort he felt lying prostrate on top of a mulket.

He would be glad when they arrived at the Drum. Arranging the ship's supplies would be something familiar to take his mind off the cliffs and the mulkets, and especially, off Alyss. His nausea had abated now and, as his head cleared, he was beginning to close in on just what had been troubling him: Alyss had done something to him. There was no way he could have mounted that cradle otherwise; no way he could have overcome the fear that should have left him paralysed. He could think of only one explanation, and it wasn't one he liked. The sooner they handed Alyss over to Brunlen, the better.

But that wouldn't be until tomorrow. Soon, they would have to break their journey. Roaming the rocky plain was treacherous after dark, and the stable master had made it very clear that they would forfeit their deposit if they didn't stop at a rest-hole overnight. He'd recommended one twelve miles out. There were few landmarks by which Perrick could measure their progress, but he was sure they must have travelled nearly that.

He'd tried to take his bearings from the city of Orrin's Rock which had remained visible their entire journey. At first it had been ahead of them, off to the left, its roofs a mass of squashed domes, bubbling up out of the rocky ground. They'd drawn level with it after a few hours but, as their road followed the coastline east, the bulb-shaped roofs shrank farther into the distance until they were little more than tiny blisters on the granite surface. Perrick wondered whether Sandrine and Naylor had managed to find lodgings for Alyss. He doubted whether Brunlen would take her to Durhoun, in which case she was going to need somewhere here to see out the Dry Season.

It was almost dark now, and the city was behind them, so far away that when he risked raising his head above the mulket's bulging shoulders to look behind, he could barely see its roofs at all. They had to have covered twelve miles!

The mulket beneath him shuddered, expelling gastric gasses, but he could smell nothing; the wind was good for that at least. For hours, he'd watched the mulkets of Alyss and Farrer defecating as they lumbered on ahead of him, leaving a trail of dung that led all the way back to the stables. He wondered how long it would take for the wind to clear it away. Left where it fell, there had to be enough to fertilise even this barren rock of an island!