Prince of Time

Chapter Fourteen - A Loathing of Horses

“Where have you been?” Nicanor exploded. “We were meant to leave this morning!”

“The unicorn compound,” Maple retorted. “Trying to solve the problem of the illness.”

“And it took you this long?” Tobiah looked disgusted. “Clearly, this is going to be a wonderful journey.”

“You try navigating a labyrinth in pitch blackness!” Maple shouted. “You want to do that? You try trying to find a mention of last root in a library of pretty much everything ever written!”

“Last root? Isn’t that a myth?” Nicanor frowned.

“Not necessarily,” Zeno interjected. “There are speculations…”

“There are always speculations,” Nicanor returned, dismissively. “You wasted our time on that?”

“Why did you think to go, anyway?” Zeno asked. “I’d never have thought of last root.”

“Someone…recommended it to me,” Ane blushed.

“Her young man,” Pepper wriggled her eyebrows.

“Oh,” Tobiah’s face was unreadable. “Love. That thing.”

“That thing?” Pepper turned on him. “You love your sister, don’t you?”

“There are kinds of love,” Tobiah waved her away. “I don’t see the value of loving someone enough to sacrifice yourself and the world for them. It’s dangerous. It’s compromising.”

“Everything must be tactical,” Maple summarised, her tone icy. “Everything must have a purpose.”

“Yes,” Tobiah’s eyes bore holes in her skull. “Everything.”

“We don’t have time for this,” Nicanor interrupted. “We need to get moving. Now.”

He tossed Maple the reins of a bay horse, one belonging to the castle garrison. She caught them and mounted clumsily, wishing she had more experience. She had a sickening feeling that horses were going to prove a humiliation for her.

“We ride,” Tobiah announced, and clicked them forward into a brisk trot.

 The thing was, Maple didn’t like animals. All around her, heroes and fictional characters and friends from all circles had that elusive way with animals, devoted to the furry things. Maple couldn’t see the appeal. They were vicious and difficult to understand and people got upset if you hurt them.

 She caught Nicanor grinning at her and scowled.

“I suppose riding a horse is just like riding a dragon?” she snapped. “A home away from home?”

“Actually, they have nothing in common,” Nicanor replied, cheerfully. “I grew up riding horses, though.”

“Really?” Maple was interested. “Who were you?”

“My family were common labourers,” Nicanor told her, emotionlessly. “I grew up working a farm with them. All my siblings before me had remained Third Tier.”

Maple couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Nobody expects it,” Nicanor sighed. “I’m a dragon rider champion. They don’t think I’d come from a family of nothings.”

“You didn’t go back to see them, either,” Maple guessed. “You were in punishment.”

“I never want to see them again.”

Startled by the venom in his tone, Maple lost her balance slightly and it took her a moment to regain a proper position.

“Never?” she exclaimed, once she was correctly upright.