The Believer

Chapter Eleven: The Horses

The next morning, the travellers arrived in Queeran, a small city that was overwhelming in size but underwhelming in its population. The streets were bumpy enough that a wrong step could result in a twisted ankle, and the faintly marked buildings led to confusion as to where one was going, and the inevitability of getting lost. Despite these hardships, the people were helpful, and seemed to know the uneven streets like the backs of their hands.

Soon after arriving, Casey revealed that there was a Library of Magic in the city, and that he had planned all along to come by here to visit it. To save time, he suggested to the others that they split up, assigning Thea and Wilky the task of finding and purchasing horses, while Helewis would come with him to the Library of Magic.

"I want to see a Library of Magic!" Wilky complained, upon hearing this suggestion.

"There are plenty more in Lorea," Casey reassured her. "Really nice ones too, famous ones. Like Iliana in Ezrimond, that place is huge. I've always wanted to go there, it's supposed to be beautiful."

"It's a crifted library, they're all the exact tiffing same!" Helewis snapped.

"That's what you think," Casey countered. "Now come along, we're going to go appreciate some culture!"

He grabbed Helewis's hand, and began dragging him in the general direction he believed the Library of Magic to be.

"If only I had a choice in the matter," Helewis muttered, as he stumbled to keep up.

"Okay, horsie!" Wilky declared, marching off in the opposite direction. Sighing, Thea reached out and grabbed hold of the back of her cloak.

"Wait for me. And I think it's this way." Thea began heading in the correct direction, glancing back to make sure Wilky would follow.

"Oh, ok, this way then!" Wilky said, running in front of Thea as if to lead.

They managed to find a stable just outside of town, after getting lost only about three times. Thea began negotiating with the handler a price for two healthy, able bodied horses, while Wilky examined each horse carefully, petting their noses and cooing at them.

After picking out two or three she liked, Wilky returned to Thea. The handler, whose name was Thagron, was a scruffy fellow, with hair that covered so much of his face it was a wonder his skin ever saw the sun. Thea seemed to be having difficulty with the haggling, so Wilky, who was getting impatient, entered herself into the conversation.

"Forty quills for the brown one there, and the black one down there," she suggested. Thanks to Casey, she'd gotten a good handle on Kownian currency, as well as how it translated to Tawnian money. Forty quills was low for two horses, but having seen Wesley haggle in the market so often, she figured this was the way to do it.

"Absolutely not," Thagron said. "Those are good horses."

"Fifty quills?" Wilky pressed.

Thagron shook his head. "These horses are worth at least sixty quills each."

"Oh. Okay!"

Thea elbowed Wilky side. "Fifty five quills, no more."

Thagron raised an eyebrow, glancing from Wilky to Thea in confusion.

"Seventy quills for the two of them," he decided. "Take it or leave it."

"Done."

Thea counted out the money to pay Thagron, and they were given the two horses, whose names were Ditto and Tempest. Wilky and Thea each took one by the reins and began leading the horses back to the city, with the intent of meeting back up with Helewis and Casey.

There was definitely something strange about Wilky, Thea thought. How could she ever haggle when she believed the price she was first told?

"They're so pretty!" WIlky cried, stroking her horse's nose. Tempest was a black mare with white markings on his nose and rump. The creature whinnied softly in her ear.

"We'll have to figure out how to ride them," Thea pointed out.

"This will still be faster though!" Wilky insisted. "We should've done this much earlier!"

"That's because there are too many of us. It's not going to be convenient to share a horse." Thea sighed. "This is all because of Casey."

"What did Casey do?"

"He keeps just letting people come with us! First you, then that Helewis guy, who should be my enemy, but... well, Casey treats him more like some kind of weird pet."

"Casey is weird like that. Are you sure you two aren't a couple?"

"Positive." Thea reassured her.

"Are you sure you don't like him?" Wilky teased. Thea blushed furiously at the idea.

"I don't! I've never- no. I don't like him."

"Why not? You said before it was complicated. Why is everything so complicated with you?"

"Casey is a complicated in a different way. The thing with Casey is-"

Before Thea could finish her sentence, both horses reared back on their hind legs, eyes rolling, manes tossing. Ditto's hoof smacked into Thea's chest, sending her sprawling on the ground. Then, as one, the horses galloped away down the street, in a wild frenzy of panic only otherwise seen in those under the influence of incorrectly used Grey Coran Squid ink.

"Are you okay?" Wilky asked, grabbing Thea's hand and jerking her to her feet. Thea gasped, the wind having been knocked out of her.

"No..."

"Well, come on!" Wilky exclaimed, dashing after the runaway horses. "We paid money for them!" she called back to Thea, who was groaning and stumbling along like a drunk.

Fortunately, the stampeding horses left a trail of mass hysteria (and some amusement) in their wake, which made them easy to follow through the city. Unfortunately, Wilky was not a very fast runner, and she was already exhausted from travelling the past few days, so it came first as a great relief when she rounded the corner and saw that a hooded man had stopped and calmed the horses using two shiny red apples.

"My... horses... thank... you... sir... so... much," Wilky panted, approaching him and taking the reins of both steeds.

"No problem," The man said. "Glad I could help."

"What's your..." Wilky began, only to look up and see he had already vanished. She began heading back the way she had come, and soon ran back into Thea, who was looking even worse than before.

"Really, I'm not okay. I think something is broken," Thea gasped.

"Oh, want me to-" Wilky began, raising her staff, but Thea shook her head viciously.

"No, no, it's not that bad, I'll live."

"Oh, ok good. Maybe Casey can fix it!"

"Great. Casey can fix it."

Wilky looked around, before choosing a direction at complete random. "Got the horsies, now we better go see what those two are up to!"

Sorry for the shorter chapter today, I promise the next chapter is gonna be a good one ;)

As always, thank you so much for reading, and don't forget to leave a vote or a comment if you enjoyed!  You guys are the best!