Xinyi
Rather than the pale, red-eyed knight, the silver-armored knight Ji’u led me to the paddock. I expected special horses or maybe griffins, something of that nature. Something that wouldn’t obey any but their master.
What I saw made my eyes widen and my steps stop. Huge creatures, vaguely resembling four-legged mounts, lazed about in the grass. Scales covered their bodies, long curving talons from their front paws, wicked spikes ran down their sinuous tails. A few carcasses that were probably some sort of deer and were now just a mess of bones and left over viscera lay to one side, one of the beasts pulling stray pieces of meat from the bones.
“These,” Ser Ji’u said beside me as we stood on the safe side of the paddock fence, “are called ebriaen. You see that mess over there?” He gestured to the carcasses and I nodded. “That’s what happens to anything that doesn’t belong in there. They are not horses. They are not pets. Do not let your guard down around any of them. Zephyr is the head stallion, he’s in charge of the herd. He’s the worst of them when it comes to temper and moods.”
Ji’u turned to me and I instinctively met his eyes. “Their bite carries venom, so avoid their teeth.”
Swallowing hard, I turned towards the beasts - and saw their eyes on me.
“Uhm,” I started, taking a step back. “S-ser Ji’u… why are they staring at me…”
“I - I don’t know,” he replied, glancing at each of the beasts. “They usually ignore or try to eat strangers…”
The largest of the beasts snorted and strode over to me, his tail swaying behind him as he locked eyes with me.
“That’s Zephyr,” Ji’u murmured, before taking several steps away from me. “If the Captain’s right, he won’t hurt you.”
If. That was comforting.
Zephyr stopped at the fence, his eyes still on me, before he leaned out snuffled at my hair. His nose dropped to my neck, where Zeydrick had left his mark, and the beast snorted, pulling back slightly.
Dark eyes, black as pitch, locked with me again.
“Mate,” came an odd voice in my head. “Accept.”
My eyes widened, staring at the creature. “Did… you just speak?”
Another snort, with a wave of amusement crashing against my mind. “Yes.”
“Dear Gods…” I breathed. I glanced at Ji’u, whose wide eyes told me this hadn’t happened before. “Uhm… what do I do?”
“You, uh… need to saddle him. And put his bridle on,” Ji’u replied, pointing towards where various tack sat on the fence. “His is that one. With the red trim.”
I eyed the tack, then the beast. “Will you let me put your saddle and bridle on?”
The beast sent another wave of amusement and snuffled my hair. “Yes. Like this one.”
I felt my cheeks heating again. “Uhm… thank you?” I wasn’t really sure how I felt about an intelligent beast saying he liked me. Especially with how Ji’u - and now, I noticed, other knights - were staring openly at the display.
“I’ve never saddled anything,” I admitted, glancing at Ji’u.
“We’ll instruct you,” said a dark-haired woman wearing deep forest green armor. Her eyes followed my movements as I went to the tack. “But you’ll need to go into the paddock to do it.”
I glanced at her, then back at Zephyr. He must have sensed my fear because he stepped back and gave me room, while also turning to block me from the rest of the herd.
“Mate safe,” came his voice. “Always safe.”
While I’m sure that was supposed to be comforting, it was still weird.
Taking a breath, I clambered over the fence and grabbed the saddle, choosing to do that piece first. The weight of it surprised me and I almost dropped it. The snort from behind me made me jump and suddenly Zephyr’s nose was under the saddle, helping me to lift it. My eyes widened at the sight but I accepted his help. With my stature - nearly three feet shorter than Zephyr - I briefly wondered how I was going to accomplish my task.
Then Zephyr knelt onto the ground in front of me, folding his legs until his stomach was pressed against the ground.
Gasps from behind me and I forced myself to calm down. So this definitely wasn’t normal.
I took the opportunity to get the saddle onto him and glanced behind me. “There? Or further up?”
“Ah - right over his shoulder - yeah, there,” the knight said.
“Okay, I need you to stand up so I can secure it…” I started. Before I’d even finished, Zephyr surged to his feet and stood there, patient as a statue. “How tight do I go?”
“Will say,” Zephyr told me, nudging me towards the strap. I nodded at him and threaded the leather through the buckle, pulling tight until he said, “There.”
After securing the leather, I turned to get the bridle - only to have it held out to me. My eyes soaked in the sight of red armor and, turning my eyes up, I mirrored the smile offered. Zeydrick stood there with saddlebags slung over one shoulder, packed and ready to go on his mount.
“He likes you, I take it,” Zeydrick said as Zephyr stayed where he was, right behind me, the beast’s head resting atop my hair.
“Ah - yes. Apparently,” I murmured, flushing.
“Do you want me to finish?” he asked.
I shook my head, taking the bridle from him. “I should finish… you gave me a job to do.”
Affection crashed over me from two sides and I shot out an arm, grabbing onto Zephyr, to steady myself. Zeydrick’s hand clasped around my other arm when he saw me teeter.
“Are you alright?”
“...yes… I just didn’t expect that.” I shook off the surprise and clenched my fist around the bridle, turning towards Zephyr.
“Didn’t expect… what?”
“To feel emotions from both of you,” I said, as I motioned for Zephyr to lean down. He obeyed, practically pushing his head into my chest. I managed to get the bridle on him, but I wasn’t sure where all the straps connected. “Zey, where do these connect?”
When I glanced over my shoulder, Zeydrick was staring at me openly. In surprise and awe.
“W-what?”
“You can feel him? Not just me, through our bond, but him as well?” he asked, his voice quiet.
“Uhm… yeah, I thought you expected that? To hear him and feel him?”
“I expected him not to eat you and not to be a pain in the ass, but to feel him? And to hear his voice? That’s… unexpected. Not a bad thing. It’s… actually pretty amazing, Xinyi.”
I flushed at his praise and looked away. “W-we should finish.”
“Of course,” he murmured, coming up behind me. With his chest against my back, I watched his fingers secure the straps on the bridle. Then he stepped past me and dropped the saddlebags onto Zephyr’s rump, securing them to the saddle. Turning his head to look over his shoulder, he motioned for the other Knights.
“Go ahead and get your partners dressed. We’ll leave as soon as everyone is mounted up.”
The Knights all shook their heads in disbelief, having been there for much of the unusual display, as they strode to their mounts with their tack. Zeydrick turned to me and smiled.
“I think you have their respect.” He motioned towards Zephyr, who swished his tail and let out a little growl when one of the Knights got too close to him. “See how he is with everyone else? Even with me, he’s not that sedate. You, though… he’s different with you. I’ve never seen an ebriaen react the way he just did.”
My cheeks heated again. This was becoming a habit I didn’t particularly care for.
“W-well... I admit they’re frightening creatures at first,” I conceded, turning my eyes to exam Zephyr’s scaled hide. The muscles beneath his scales shivered and flexed when I ghosted my fingers over the soft hide. “But despite all the warnings Ser Ji’u gave me, he didn’t do anything to hurt or threaten me. He… uhm, well… Zephyr gave me directions. On how to saddle him.”
Zeydrick let out a bark of a laugh and shook his head. “I saw him on the ground for you to put the saddle on, that in itself was pretty spectacular… but him helping you put his tack on is pretty unheard of. He hates getting saddled up.”
“Maybe because you do it too tight?”
That made Zeydrick pause and narrow his eyes. His eyes fell on the strap that ran under Zephyr’s belly and inspected the leather. He let out a snort and tickled his fingers over Zephyr’s belly. A whoosh of air came from the beast and he snorted, digging his front paws into the earth in agitation. Zeydrick quickly pulled the leather strap tighter, synching it another two holes.
Zephyr swung his head to glare at Zeydrick and snorted in his face.
“Yes, yes, I’m sure you thought you were so smart,” the dragon muttered, patting Zephyr on the nose. “You didn’t think I’d check the tack to make sure you didn’t trick him. I can’t believe you’d try that old trick.”
“Well, it worked on me,” I muttered, puffing out my cheeks and crossing my arms. I glared at Zephyr and the beast turned, meeting my eyes. “You tricked me. That wasn’t nice.”
A wave of apology flowed over me and I took a breath to steady myself.
“You won’t do it again?”
“No. Not to you.”
I let out a breathy laugh, shaking my head. “You are a mischievous little gremlin, aren’t you…” Zephyr nuzzled into my cheek and I had to push his nose away. “I get it, you’re sorry. I forgive you. No harm done.”
Comments (4)
See all