One Word Prompts

Ride - Joy Ride

The list of places they were allowed to enter in the palace was quite long. Most places fell into this category, actually. From the deepest parts of the library, to the highest observation tower, to the darkest sections of the dungeon, all were fair game.

From these, the list of places they were actively encouraged to spend their time in was significantly shorter, but it was by no means a short list either. Had he, their father, the king, had his way, he would have happily had them spending their mornings on the training ground refining their swordsmanship, their afternoons in the study with their tutors learning statesmanship, and their evenings in the parlor building their alliances with other young nobles. He rarely got his way with his children, but he would have settled for any number of other arrangements. The forest, hunting. The town, shopping. The garden, painting.

In comparison, the list of places they were forbidden from entering was short: the quarters of servants, the king's private rooms, the Blackwing Stable. That was pretty much it. Everything else was fair game.

And yet, under the light of the full moon, in the still of night, two young princesses and one prince found themselves lurking outside the Blackwing Stable. All three knew that they would be reprimanded if their caretakers were to catch them here.

And yet, here they were.

"You see them?" the younger princess asked, clutching the skirt of her older sister.

"No, not yet," she said, peering through the stable's window, squinting through the dark. "Wait, maybe. Yes. I think so."

"It's real then?" their brother asked. He squinted through the dark beside her, also trying to make sense of the shadows within the stable.

"They could still be normal horses," the older princess said.

"But, why would Father restrict this area if they were normal horses?" the prince asked.

"Then do they really have wings?" the younger princess asked. She stood on her tiptoes but still could see through the high window her older siblings had staked out.

"We won't know unless we go in," the prince said.

"We shouldn't." The older sister shook her head. "It's one thing to look from out here. --"

"And it's barely anything more to look from inside," he finished for her.

She crossed her arms but didn't move to stop him as he opened the stable door.

"Coming?" he asked from the doorway, that mischievous smile of his on his lips.

"Wait for me!" the younger sister exclaimed, racing after him.

"Guys!" Their older sister hung back, her head sweeping back and forth, on the lookout for witnesses. When she didn't see any, she scurried after them. "We should go back."

"After this," her brother promised her. He lit one of the lanterns on the wall, letting the warm light fill the stable.

None of the three could believe what they saw.

In the lamplight, four magnificent beasts stood in the stable's stalls. Each was pure black, with silky manes and tails. Had they been ordinary horses, they would have already been prized specimens. But they were more than horses. Sprouting from the shoulders of each were black wings.

"It's true," the elder sister whispered.

"He really has them," their brother said.

"Can they really fly?" the youngest sister asked, cutting to the heart of the issue.

The two elder siblings turned to look at the other.

"No," the older princess said.

"Yes." The prince was already pulling a saddle from the wall, dropping it on the back of the nearest pegasus.

"No," she repeated.

"Why not?" he asked. "We're already here."

"You said we would go after we saw."

"And we will." He waved aside her concerns. "It will just also be after I ride this one, and we find out if they fly."

He saddled and bridled the pegasus, stroking its mane gently, making all the cooing noises one did to keep horses calm.

"Would you get the door for me?" he asked his older sister.

"Please don't do this." She said that, but she still opened the door of the pegasus's stall. "You can still--"

"Be right back." He kicked the pegasus's side, sending it galloping forward.

As soon as it cleared the stable, it flared its wings. They beat in the night air, blowing dust and gravel into the air.

The two took off into the night, the pegasus whinnying with its newfound freedom, the prince holding on for dear life.

The wind rushed around them, as the pegasus bucked wildly. It danced before the moon, dove for the palace, skimmed inches above the palace lawn.

As they skimmed over the lawn, the prince pulled at the reigns for control. There hadn't been a horse he had been unable to train. Never had he ridden a creature as wild as this. His attempts only angered the beast of the open skies. It reared. It bucked. He held on.

It flapped its mighty wings again, gaining altitude, snorting and snarling under the prince's continued attempts to direct it under the bridle.

At the peak of its climb, it tucked its wings and dropped. Air screaming past them, they fell, their speed mounting.

Before they hit the ground, the pegasus opened its wings again, banking hard.

He wasn't prepared for the maneuver. Helplessly, he was thrown from his mount's back. He tumbled off, spinning into the bushes with a horrible crunch.

The pegasus stabilized a few feet above its fallen rider. It snorted at him before flying off into the night, never to be seen again.