“Have you ever ridden one of these things?” Elvish asked his friend as he was helped onto his steed by two ostlers after bargaining with the tavern keeper.

“There be a first time for everything, I reckon.” said Grimly, looking pleased with himself. “I think I might be a natural.”

Elvish had asked because his friend had hopped onto the back of his dappled white mare as if it were something he did every day, but he didn’t recall either of them on top of a horse during the time they’d known each other. How long that had been he didn’t recall. It was beginning to worry him that he didn’t have an inkling about how he’d met Grimly or where they were from, but Elvish pushed that thought aside and focused on not falling off his horse. It whinnied as it took his weight.

“Maybe I should have taken the other one.” Elvish said, observing his friend sitting comfortably in the saddle of an elegant-looking young animal, while he felt awkward on his light brown older steed that was clearly straining under his weight. It didn’t help of course that Elvish was dressed in a chain-mail tunic whilst Grimly wore leather.

“Come on, Elvish,” Grimly said, “let’s be off.” He tugged on his reins and started moving. Grimly tried copying his friend, but his horse stood still on the spot. He tried again without success. The ostler who was still outside the tavern then slapped his horse on the flank and it started following the white dappled mare. Before long, Elvish had caught up with Grimly and as they rode side-by-side out of town, Elvish decided to ask his friend if he recalled how they had met.

“Of course, I remember.” said Grimly, “How could I be forgetting that?”

“Tell me the tale, Grimly.” Elvish said when it became clear his friend hadn’t planned on sharing any details.

“It was in spring, a long, long time ago.”

“Are you talking years? Months? Weeks?”

“Yes, I be talking one of those. It was definitely weeks, months or years ago to be sure.”

“And where did we meet exactly? It wasn’t here, in Sunrec, was it?”

“Oh, no, no, no, no. Not in Sunrec to be sure.”

“So, where was it, then? Somewhere beyond the land of Tupelosee, perhaps?”

“That’s right, Elvish. It was in the lowlands, somewhere beyond the land of Tupelosee, to be sure.”

“So, we’re not from the same place, then, you and I?” Elvish was starting to become annoyed his friend could use lots of words without really saying anything.

“No, that not be it for sure. We chanced upon each other in the lowlands, as I said, and have been firm friends and companions at arm’s length ever since.”

“You mean ‘companions in arms’ I think.”

“If you say so, Elvish. You be the bright one in our party pack.”

“Right, of course.” Elvish was starting to think his friend knew less about their origin than he did, but he felt the urge to push to know more. He wanted answers.

“Where are you from, Grimly?”

“There or thereabouts, Elvish, or here and hereabouts.”

“So, you don’t know? Or don’t want to tell? Which is it?”

“What does it matter? Live for today, not yesterday or tomorrow.”

Where am I from? Why are we together?”

“Well, we be both a mixture of elf and human, me on my father’s side and you on your mother’s. That be why we be naturally drawn together. You trained with your longbow and sword in a castle and I spent years in a thief’s guild mastering my particular skills.”

“Somewhere nearby was it?”

“We best be stopping here,” Grimly said, “to refill our water bottles.” It sounded to Elvish as if Grimly needed more time to work out their back story. Strangely enough, as soon as his friend had said it, it had started to become real to Elvish. Was that how it worked? He or his friend could make things up and then they were facts? Wasn’t there any grander objective truth or reality?

They had been heading west out of Sunrec and had arrived at a stream just as the sun was setting. They could now see the wood from the trees of the forest where they expected the goblins to be up ahead of them, a couple of hours ride away. Grimly pulled gently back on the reins and his horse stopped. Elvish tried doing the same, to no avail. If anything, his mount was speeding up.”

“Err…how do you make this thing stop?” Elvish asked his friend, feeling more than a little awkward.

“Pull back on those leather things.” said Grimly. “You could also try saying ‘Woah’ as well, see if that helps.”

“Woah! Woah! Woah!” It hadn’t been his intention, but Elvish found himself singing as he pulled back harder on the reins. “Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!”

He felt the beast below his saddle squirm. The horse continued to trot on, picking up speed. He didn’t know the difference between a trot and a gallop, but he felt the steed was now dangerously close to a gallop.

“Uh-huh-oh-yeah!” Elvish was now wiggle-waggling his hips in the saddle and having let go of the reins, was clapping his hands above his head in time to the hummed song issuing involuntarily from his lips. As if on cue, and in time with his singing, his horse bucked, lowering its head and raising its hindquarters into the air. It then kicked out with its hind legs and sent Elvish flying off its back.

“Hooby-hoo-hoo!” Elvish cried out appropriately as he shot over his steed’s head and was flipped one-hundred-and-eighty degrees onto his back. Fortunately, he landed in a bramble bush by the side of the stream and watched as his horse whinnied, reared again and then sped off back in the direction they had come from.

Ten minutes later, the two of them were both on Grimly’s dappled white mare, crossing the stream and moving towards the edge of the forest. Elvish was surprised the horse hadn’t seemed to even notice the extra weight on its back. It was clear the Gods were looking after them.