The horses neighed in their stalls and kicked at the doors. They were making such a ruckus and, the furling was still making sharp noises. Gwinn’s hope of slipping away unseen was fading fast.

Kellin stepped between her and the darkwing holding a pitchfork. “Get out of here!”

“We will when we have the creature.” It hissed at him.

“Get out now!” He shouted.

“Is that supposed to scare us?” It cackled at him.

The floorboard above creaked and every muscle in Gwinn’s body tightened. “Everyone just stay calm.” Gwinn said. “Stay where you are. Everything is fine.” She said to Alcor more than anyone else. He was the last one she wanted down here.

Kellin gave her a strange look. The creature ignored her and stepped closer. “I can smell it. You can’t hide it from us.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Gwinn shook her head vigorously.

Several Riders rushed into the barn behind the darkwings and Gwinn groaned. Great, this just keeps getting better.

“You’re out numbered. You’d better get out of here before we hurt you.” Kellin said as he pushed Gwinn back out of the way.

“What are you doing here?” Marshal yelled at them.

It swiveled its head in his direction and snarled. “Riders, I hate Riders.”

“I don’t know. I think they taste sweet.” The other darkwing said. He stepped toward the Riders with a menacing look and licked his lips. The Riders were unarmed. They heard the commotion from the Inn and rushed over to see what was going on without grabbing their weapons.

“We didn’t come for them.” The darkwing in front of Gwinn said. It grabbed Kellin and pushed him aside with ease. He hit the ground hard and dropped the pitchfork. Gwinn stood alone in front of it. “You know what we came for. I can smell it on you.”

Gwinn shook her head. “No.” She didn’t even want to tell humans about Alcor. There was no way she was going to tell these things about him.

“She is nothing only a servant girl.” Marshal said trying to draw their attention. “We’re the ones you want.” The Riders began pulling things off the wall and throwing them at the darkwings.

She hissed at Marshal and whipped her tail. “No, you are nothing.” She turned back to Gwinn. “Give us the creature.”

Gwinn took another step backwards. She heard the floorboards creak again and her heart raced. She couldn’t let the Riders see Alcor and she was not going to hand him over to these monsters. “Stay calm. You promised.”

“I won’t stay calm. I will eat out your heart if you don’t tell me where it is.” The darkwing inched closer. “I can smell your fear.”

“Go away.” She shouted. This day was going from bad to worse. Why wouldn’t they all just go away? “There is nothing here!”

Marshal grabbed a whip off the wall and whipped at the darkwing. It hissed but didn’t take its eyes off of Gwinn. “Enough of this,” it bared its teeth, grabbed her arm with its long claws and yanked her forward. Gwinn let out a yelp of surprise but before she could pull her arm back, she heard a swooshing noise from above. A pink blur streaked across her vision and a thunderous roar echoed through the barn. The claws released her and, she fell backwards.

“No!” She screamed. There were shouts from the Riders as she pushed herself back up. She had to stop him before he got hurt. Gwinn grabbed the pitchfork that was lying nearby and stood in time to see Alcor ripping the throat out of one of the darkwings. The other one backed out of the barn with a terrified look on its face then it tucked its tail between its legs and flew off.

She raised her eyebrows and dropped her jaw. She had no idea he could do that. Gwinn noticed the Riders looking at him with complete shock and her shoulders dropped with disappointment. There was no way she could hide him now.

He growled over the darkwings mangled body. Marshal approached him with caution. “We’re not going to hurt you.” He said. “We came here to help you.”

Kellin ran over to join the other Riders. “Did you see that?”

“Of course we did.” Ethan said to him.

Gwinn stood back and bit her lip nervously. She wasn’t sure what to do now that her secret was out. The pitchfork slipped from her fingers and clunked on the ground. Everyone turned at the sound and saw her standing there.

“You shouldn’t be in here.” Marshal told her. He took a step toward her and Alcor growled. Marshal stopped abruptly and narrowed his eyes at her.

“You’re the ones that don’t belong here.” She said regaining some of her composure.

“It’s strange.” He said to her.

“I don’t see what’s so strange.” She shrugged ignoring the mangled body and the extraordinary creature standing over it.

“I know, that’s the strange part. You are the only person who doesn’t seem shocked by any of this.”

The Riders were trying to calm Alcor but, he ignored them. He only walked away from the corpse when Marshal turned toward Gwinn. Alcor stepped between her and Marshal and growled under his breath. The Riders gathered near Marshal as they gave up on their attempts to corral Alcor. They watched him in awe, even Kellin.

“You knew the Airwolf was here.” Marshal went on.

Airwolf? Alcor was an Airwolf? She nodded. That made sense. “Yes, I did.” She admitted. The Riders stared at her.

“How did you know?” He asked.

Gwinn frowned. She was almost certain they would try and take Alcor away. “I brought him here.”

“You found an Airwolf and decided it would be a good idea to bring it home?”

She shook her head. “No, I found his egg. I didn’t know what he was.”

Marshal rubbed his forehead and then sighed. “So, you can speak to it and it appears to have grown attached to you.”

Gwinn nodded. “Yes, he has.”

“Can you tell him to relax?”

She paused for a moment. It would serve them right if Alcor turned on the arrogant Riders, but finally she relented. The Riders hadn’t caused her any real harm though they could use a lesson on manners. “Relax, they are not going to hurt you.”

“I’m not worried about them hurting me. Are they going to hurt you?” He growled.

“I’m pretty sure they won’t.” She assured him. “But you should sit down. You’re scaring them.”

He finally relaxed and sat down beside her. The Riders continued to stare at her incredulously. Kellin’s jaw dropped.

“Are they going to take me away from you?” Alcor asked her.

“I don’t know.”

“I won’t let them.” He said to her.

“What is he saying?” Marshal asked Gwinn.

“Can’t you understand him?”

“Not really.” Marshal admitted.

That puzzled Gwinn. She assumed the Riders would be able to understand Alcor since he was a special animal like their horses. “He is worried that you’ll take him away from me.”

“No, were not going to do that.”

“You’re not?” She said with surprise.

“No, we can’t. He has already chosen you as his Rider.” Marshal said with an edge of disappointment.

“Rider? What are you talking about? You mean, like you?”

Marshal frowned. “Yes, the Airwolves are like the Sky horses. They choose a Rider when they hatch and this one has apparently chosen you. You are the only one who can ride it, at the present time.”

“Ride? Like into the air?”

“Yes, that’s the general idea.” He nodded.

“Like you ride the Sky horses?” She was the one in shock now. “You want me to ride him?” She pointed her finger into the air and took a big gulp.

“It looks that way.”

“Are you crazy? Me? A Rider?” She laughed.

“This is no joke and if it was, the joke would be on me.”

Gwinn’s jaw dropped. “But…No… I can’t. I don’t want to be a Rider.”

“You can’t stay here with him.” Marshal pointed at Alcor. “And the Riders need the Airwolf back.”

“Back?”

“Yes. It was stolen from us.” He said.

“Oh.” She said with a frown.

He put his hand on his hip and frowned at her. “Do you really want to stay here anyways?”

She dropped her shoulders as she remembered what the Cuthberts had done. They had sold her off. “I can’t.”

“Then I guess you’re going with us.” He said.

Gwinn crossed her arms and wriggled her toes in her boots but didn’t respond. She had nowhere else to go and the Riders wouldn’t let her leave with Alcor. She didn’t like it but Marshal was right.

“That’s what I thought. Get your things together we’ll be leaving once we get this mess cleaned up.” He pivoted on his shiny boots and headed for the door. Hal came in waving his hands hysterically.

“What’s going on in here?” He saw the bloody corpse on the floor and paled.

“Don’t worry Mr. Cuthbert. Everything is under control. We’ll clean this mess up and be out of here soon.” He put his arm on Hal’s shoulder and turned him back toward the Inn.

Kellin was still staring at her. The other Riders had gone to help Marshal. “Stop staring at me.”

“Sorry…It’s just…I’ve never seen an Airwolf before and I’m surprised to see him with you.” Kellin stammered.

“You’re surprised that he likes me?”

“No. You could talk to the horses and they seem like you.” He paused. “But, the Airwolf, you don’t understand. That’s what we’ve been looking for this whole time. I’m surprised to see it right under our noses.”

“Oh.” She said slightly embarrassed for jumping to conclusions. “That’s what you were looking for?”

“Yeah. They are very rare and it was stolen from our hatchery.”

“He, He was stolen.” She corrected him. “I wish everyone would stop calling him it. He has a name.”

“Oh, sorry.” Kellin said sheepishly. “What’s his name?”

“Alcor.” 

Gwinn heard a chirp. She hit her own forehead. “Oh no. I forgot.” She knelt on the ground and searched the straw which littered the ground for the furling. “I’m sorry I dropped you.” She said when she found her.

Gwinn placed Merith on her finger and the furling chirped. “I don’t like those things.”

“I don’t either.” Gwinn said as she rubbed the top of Merith’s fuzzy head.

She could hear Hal arguing with Marshal and she had to keep herself from smiling. Someone was causing him distress and she couldn’t help feeling glad about it. He and his wife had made her life miserable for years. She walked over to witness the event herself.

The Riders were shoveling up the carcass while Hal argued with Marshal. Alcor followed Gwinn closely as she stopped to watch. Hal saw her and it threw him into another round of ranting. “You can’t take her. She belongs to me and I decide where she goes. You are interfering with my business.”

“I’m sure the Board of Riders will compensate you for your loss.” Marshal said.

Hal’s face was red as he argued. “They won’t pay me the same amount of money that Mr. Ferrol offered me for her.”

Marshal was about to respond but Gwinn interrupted. “I wasn’t going with him anyway.”

“You shut up and stay out of this girl.” Hal snapped.

Hal turned back to Marshal but Gwinn wasn’t through. “This is my life you’re talking about, and I won’t go with that farmer. Not now. Not ever.”

“You’ll do what I say.” He said with annoyance.

Alcor growled deeply. The dirt floor beneath them vibrated and Hal stopped, noticing the Airwolf for the first time. His eyes grew extremely wide and the lines on his face were edged with fear. “Get that beast out of my barn.”

“Calm down, Mr. Cuthbert.” Marshal said as he gave Gwinn a pointed glare of annoyance. “We will but we have to take Gwinn with us in order to do so.”

Hal looked at Alcor again and then at Gwinn. His lip quivered and, he took a step backward. “Fine… I guess, just get that thing out of here.”

Marshal turned to Gwinn. “You’re making things worse. I thought I told you to get your stuff together.”

“Uh, yeah.”

“Well, then. Don’t just stand there, go get them.” He said.

“Right,” she gave Hal a look of disgust before turning around. Alcor lifted off his feet and flew through the rafters. He beat Gwinn to the loft and, she climbed up behind him. “Show off.”

He scratched his head and yawned. “Who me?”

“I guess we’re leaving this place, whether we like it or not.” Gwinn grabbed her things in a rush. She picked up her apron but then threw it back down. What would she need an apron for? She made sure she took her brush and her heavy stockings and shoved everything into an old sac. She sighed. All of her things didn’t even fill up the entire sac.

“I’m happy to go, as long as I’m going with you.” Alcor nudged her with his nose.

She stopped packing her shabby belongings and smiled. “And I would never go anywhere without you.”

The Riders finished cleaning up and went inside to pack. Kellin stayed behind to settle the horses. They were upset by the darkwings and he could understand why. He didn't like those things either. The horses were still skittish. They must have been smelling the darkwings for awhile.

“It’s all right. They’re gone now.” He patted Markab on the neck. He heard jingling coming from the far end of the barn. “That’s odd. I thought everyone had left.” Markab nickered and Kellin nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

Kellin walked down the isle of stalls and peered around the corner. He saw Marshal and Ethan getting their saddles ready. He was about to ask them if he could help but then he paused when he heard them talking.

“Are you sure about this?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, we have to get the Airwolf back and they’ve already grown attached. He’ll only go if she goes.” Marshal said.

“Yeah, but…” He hesitated. “She’s not exactly the type of person we usually accept for ridership.”

“I realize that.” Marshal said. “But there’s nothing we can do about that now. Let’s be grateful that at least we found the Airwolf.”

“Right, but what do we do about her?” Ethan asked.

“Maybe we can separate their bond later but right now he trusts her, so we’ll have to bring the girl in.” He shrugged with disappointment but went on. “Whatever happens, this definitely complicates things.”

Kellin stepped back. He knew Marshal didn’t think Gwinn was Rider material but, this was more than disapproval. The horse always chose the Rider. It was the most important principle of ridership and Marshal knew it as well as anyone did. The principle would also hold true for Airwolves, Kellin was sure of it. The bond between horse and Rider was sacred. It was one of the first things he ever learned. One of the few ways to break a bond was through death. He shivered at the thought. His bond with Markab was already strong. He couldn’t bear to think about losing him. How could they even think about breaking Gwinn’s bond with Alcor?

He tip toed back to Markab and shook his head. “They can’t do that.” He said to his horse. “Why is everyone so against her becoming a Rider? I just don’t get it.” Markab nodded and nickered softly in agreement.