Rider (Spirals of Destiny)

by Jim Bernheimer

  The first screams and sounds of battle came while she was trying to get used to holding the rope and balancing bareback on Majherri.

  Her unicorn darted back to Francine who held the ax out to Kayleigh like it was going to bite her.

  “Recruit! You’re going to get yourself killed! Get down right now!” The guardsman she’d obeyed earlier commanded. Majherri snorted at him and charged off.

  Kayleigh was scared as hell. Majherri fought back with confidence. She could tell that he knew what he was doing. He was begging her to trust him. She wanted to, but the pounding in her chest betrayed her true feelings as they rounded the hill.

  She saw at least five or six men, swathed in dark cloaks and furs – the Yar. They carried spears, nets, axes, and vicious looking short stabbing swords. The two guards were surrounded and were back to back, trying to protect each other. The three wagon drivers were on the ground and likely dead. Bile fought its way up into her throat as Majherri went to a full sprint. His eagerness for battle brushed aside her terror as his tail would a group of flies.

  The beserkers were stopped by the sight of a charging unicorn coming at them. It allowed the two guardsmen to wound a pair of Yar warriors and improve their odds.

  One with a spear and another with a net and sword moved quickly trying to force Majherri between them. It might have worked with a regular cavalry rider and his or her horse, but Majherri shifted directions so fast that Kayleigh had to hold on for her life. Seconds later, she felt the same feeling that he was going to turn sharply.

  This must be how unicorns tell their rider what to do! She thought as Majherri pivoted hard again charging right at the one with the net. The raider tried to throw the net, but Majherri leapt to the right and plowed the man under. Kayleigh tried to block out the sickening cracks as the legs of her unicorn drove into the screaming man. Majherri paused just outside the spearman’s reach and lowered his horn to parry the thrusts. They circled each other in some kind of deadly dance amidst the fighting of the guardsmen.

  A jolt of raw anger shook Kayleigh out of her stupor. Majherri needed her to do something! She realized that somehow, she was still holding the hatchet. Not knowing what else to do, she pulled it back and threw it as hard as she could. The man ducked it, but Majherri pounced driving his horn into the man’s chest and lifting him off the ground. Kayleigh batted the raider’s hands away, but he grabbed her shoulder and her throat.

  Heat, like a sudden fever, swelled from her connection with Majherri up through her body as she fought to breathe. Her hand smacked at the masked man in a futile gesture at first, but then, she saw flames and realized her hands were on fire and so were the wrappings on the man’s head.

  The grip on her neck eased and Majherri unceremoniously dumped the man to the ground. Fire still danced around her right hand as another raider wielding a large ax charged towards them. Kayleigh pushed her hands towards him and a gout of flame leapt from her palm. The Yar warrior tried to shield himself against the magical flame, but he stumbled, falling to the ground. Majherri reared, with his front hooves on fire, and brought his full weight down on him.

  Kayleigh couldn’t hold on and slipped off hitting the ground hard. She was momentarily knocked senseless. A few seconds, or perhaps a minute later, the face of one of the guardsmen filled her vision.

  “Are you okay, girl?”

  “What?” She croaked – her throat still raw from the attack.

  “You must have hit your head pretty hard. Easy, sit up. That’s it. It’s all over now.”

  Still shaking off the effects of the fall, she heard a scream. It was the other wounded guardsman using his sword to finish off the Yar that Majherri initially trampled. Kayleigh looked for Majherri. He was about twenty feet from her. The hair on his head and neck was matted with blood, like a horrific vision of death. Her eyes drifted down to her clothes and she saw the blood stains on them as well.

  “The remaining two tried to run for it, but your unicorn ran the godless bastards down. We were pretty much done for, so thank you for saving our lives. C’mon, let’s get you back on your feet.”

  He offered his hand to help her up. When she took it, she screamed in pain. The flesh on the palm of her hand was burnt and blistering welts dotted the reddened skin. She sagged back to the ground clutching it to her chest.

  Majherri was at her side instantly as the guard wrapped her hand in damp strips of cloth.

  “Walk back to camp and have someone put salve on your hand. Tell Lloyd to send a few more guards up here. We’ve got to bury our dead.”

  Kayleigh stood up, walking slowly. Her good hand firmly gripped Majherri. She could feel reassurance coming from him, but those emotional jolts crashed on the shores of her aching numbness. Kayleigh stopped and vomited at the sight of Ben, her wagon driver. His eyes were open in silent terror. People always said that when someone died that they were at peace. The look on his face told a different story. Even with Majherri as a physical and emotional crutch, the walk back to camp was on trembling legs and with tears streaming down her cheeks.

  Chapter 7 – Harsh Truths

  “Are you that eager to kill another rider? Do you expect the hand of fate will provide you with a third?” Meghan half asked and half accused Majherri. The unicorns and the majority of humans pretended like they weren't listening. Lynch had a reputation for coolness, except when it came to Majherri.

  The unicorn snorted and dismissed her. Go ahead, human. Get your angry tantrum out of the way.

  “I hope you’re proud of yourself. You dragged an untrained girl out onto the battlefield, who can barely even stay on you, for what? The chance to do battle? Is that it? You could have easily killed her!”

  He turned away in contempt as the woman continued berating him and gazed at the onlookers. There were no looks of support from the other maiden warriors or their mounts, just returned from the battle at Miros. Naturally, the two human guardsmen seemed reluctant to defend him.

  You’d think they’d be more grateful that I saved their lives.

  He lifted his head. She wasn't here during the battle. His rider was never in any serious danger. A pitiful group of raiders was not exactly the same thing as going into battle against an ogre.

  Majherri kept within a few steps of Kayleigh as the fire maiden, Annabeth, surveyed the damage to Kayleigh’s hand. He simply tuned Captain Lynch out and focused on the more interesting conversation.

  The small, waif-like fire maiden whispered to his rider, “You need to learn control, if you’re going to be throwing heat like that around. The way we teach is to put gloves over our hands. The flame is always conjured on the outside of the glove like a barrier. Eventually, we take away the glove, but maintain the barrier in our mind. Even after you master this, burns will still happen when you’re not focused on what you’re doing or rushing the conjuration.”

  “Am I going to be okay?”

  “It's pretty nasty and we used up our supply of healing tears to tend to the wounded in Miros. You’ll have to use the salve, until we can get some more.” Annabeth glanced up at Majherri and then at the water maiden like she was measuring the odds of that happening. “Anyway, I’ll start working with you on the basics of fire magic. Burns are an occupational hazard, but we don’t want this to become a habit. Welcome to the sisterhood of the eternal flame, fellow fire maiden.”

  Kayleigh smiled weakly as her hand was rebandaged. “Will you be teaching me at the Academy, ma’am?”

  “No, just here on the road. I’m on loan from one of the High-King’s battalion to do demonstrations. Your instructor is probably leading a recruiting team that went north and west.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. If you want to really thank me, put a good word in for Rhey with Majherri.”

  “I don’t understand, ma’am.”

  Annabeth chuckled looking directly into Majherri’s eyes. “My unicorn seems taken with Captain Lynch’s T’rsa. He’s courting her, but her brother here se
ems to be a bit of a stick in the mud.”

  He’s resorting to having his rider beg mine for help? How unworthy of Rheysurrah. I thought my opinion of him couldn't get any worse.

  “I’ll do what I can,” Kayleigh said. Majherri overlooked this display of treachery from his rider. She was still very young and trying to please the rest of the humans. He’d put up with this from her.

  Turning his head back to Captain Lynch, he could see she was livid that he wasn’t paying any real attention to her righteous fury. The armored woman angrily marched up to his rider. “Get up. You and I are going for a walk.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kayleigh said with a note of hesitancy in her voice.

  Majherri followed to see what Meghan intended to say to his rider. T’rsa fell into step next to him glaring at him. Her body language quickly told him that she was of the same opinion as her rider.

  I did what I had to do and I’d do it again. The human has spent too much time teaching and not enough time doing. I choose where I fight and when I fight. You either battle on your terms or someone else's.

  Humility wasn’t one of his strong suits. Outright defiance was. He and Danella had perfected it into an art form, which was why she was such a good independent scout.

  The foursome walked back to the road and the scene of the battle. As soon as they were out of the earshot of the camp, Lynch said in a stern tone, “I want you to understand this, Reese. My anger is directed at Majherri and not you.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I understand.” His rider responded.

  “No, I don’t think you do. He knows how the bond works. Each recruit and the unicorn spend years sorting each other out like when a couple gets married. All the other recruits and their unicorns are discovering it for the first time … except you and him. There’s no way you wanted to charge into battle on his back. He made you do it!”

  “But we saved those guards’ lives. Well, mostly it was him.”

  “Yes, the two of you did just that. It’s the upside in all this, but here’s what I’m looking at Reese. Majherri is a strong willed unicorn. He will run roughshod over you if you let him. If it were just the two of you, I wouldn’t be as interested. Trust me, there’re plenty of maidens out in the battalions that are ‘horn whipped’ and allow themselves to be led around by their steed. But you, you’re going to likely be lead rider for this new class. Every one of these recruits in this year is going to look to you for guidance … especially after this. Fair or not, you’re going to be a role model to all these girls.”

  “Your rider’s being a bit overbearing, sister.” He flared his nostrils at T’rsa.

  She responded that the truth must be a hard thing for him to hear and that this is entirely his fault.

  He pawed the ground with his hoof. “Oh, I brought a bunch of human raiders into the area. Maybe I should make certain that young male sniffing your backside most every second of the day knows what a fool you really are!”

  “What are you asking me to do?” His rider asked, oblivious to the spat Majherri was having with his sister.

  “You’ve got a tough road ahead of you, Reese. I’m going to ride you hard and not take any of this wishy-washy rubbish from you. I’m responsible for the whole class – every rider. If you can’t stand up for yourself, the others won’t either and everyone suffers. I’m telling you now so we’re perfectly clear on this. If you start becoming a burden to the class, you’re going to get promoted to the second year or even the third year and be completely lost in your training. You’ll be Captain Anella’s or Sycroft’s problem then.”

  “You’d do that?”

  The woman fixed her gaze on his rider. “In a heartbeat, recruit. You and I know that I hate him. He hates me. I will do my level best to separate my feelings about you from what I think of him. That’s why I’m telling you this up front. You deserve a chance to succeed, just like every other recruit. You’re not going to wash out, if that’s what you’re worried about. There’s never been a recruit who was able to manifest elemental magic that’s washed out of The Academy before. That’s a strong bond after only a few days. And I know Majherri won’t let you fail, you’re his only chance at redemption. So let me offer early congratulations. The years ahead are a formality for you. But what I’m concerned about is what kind of fire maiden you will be at the end of your training? Will you be Majherri’s equal partner, or his tool? That’s what we don’t know yet.”

  They stopped. Three small piles of earth on the otherwise flat grassland marked the passing of the wagon drivers. The bodies of the Yar raiders were left to rot in the open. In the faint light, the two that were charred could still be seen. Captain Lynch rolled the most badly burnt of the two over and surveyed it looking for something. She reached onto his belt and retrieved a knife made completely from bone. It was straight and designed for throwing. She held it, testing the balance and nodded.

  “You’re blooded now, Reese. Our tradition is to take a weapon from our first kill and make it our own. Eventually, you’ll be able to store some magic inside of it and call on it even when you’re not in contact with your unicorn. Search around for a sheath or get one in Miros tomorrow.”

  Lynch reversed her grip and extended it to his rider, who took it by the handle and stared at it as the Captain continued, “Blooding usually doesn’t happen until the fourth or fifth year of training. Many recruits make it to the battalions without ever being blooded. Part of your training is supposed to prepare you for this eventuality. Taking a life is never easy – it should never be. Be afraid if it ever does become that way for you. Fortunately, this was cut and dry. These were raiders and they needed to be killed. They deserved to be killed. You did help save two men under my command and it is more than should have been asked of you.”

  “I’ll be okay … ma’am.” The pronouncement lacked conviction, but his rider said it anyway.

  “I expect nothing less, Reese. I doubt you will ever seek me out, but if you need to clear your mind, Lieutenant Sheppard or Rider Welsh will be available for you to speak with in private.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You are welcome. After we leave Miros, I’ll need a day or two to recover before I can use my healing magic on your hand. There are still too many there who require my help. I don’t want you to think that I am needlessly cruel. In the meantime, the pain you feel will be a reminder that you need to prepare like no other recruit before you, because there has never been another recruit like you before.”

  There was a pause and Lynch signaled for T’rsa to come close, sliding into the saddle in one fluid movement. “I am going for a ride to clear my head, recruit. Make your way back to camp and think about what we discussed this evening. ”

  Seconds later, they were alone and staring at each other. It was somewhat uncomfortable. He stepped closer and she hesitated before sticking the knife in the length of rope she used as a belt, and placing her uninjured hand on the side of his neck. He vehemently denied what Lynch was implying about him. Kayleigh's eyes showed that she didn't entirely believe his denials.

  “She has a point. I didn’t leave my home just so you could be the next controlling force in my life. I wasn’t ready to fight.” She said quietly.

  It was easy to use hate to justify his decisions with Lynch, but less so with Kayleigh confronting him.

  “If you’re expecting me to be Danella, you’re in for a letdown. I can’t be her. You just heard her. They’re going to hold me to some unreachable standard. It’s not fair! I just want to be a battle maiden, not the second coming of General Jyslin!”

  Her words were tinged with her fear and insecurities. Majherri knew how much Kayleigh worried about fitting in with the others. Young human females tended to concern themselves with things like that. He sent her a feeling of camaraderie.

  “That’s what we’re supposed to be – a team. I can do that, but you need to meet me part of the way. I’ve got enough on my hands without being a part of what you and Captain Lynch have going on.”r />
  Another awkward silence ensued. Even among beings that can communicate raw emotion to each other, sometimes there was nothing else to say. “Come on, let’s get back to camp. I need some rest. We probably both have a lot to sleep on.”

  Majherri kept his head held up, but it was much more of an effort than before. He paced his rider back to the wagons and after she climbed into her sleeping roll, he made his way back to a clear area to watch the stars. Pasha found him there.

  “You angered your rider, my rider…actually just about every rider in camp,” Pasha commented without any accusation in her tone.

  “Better the two human warriors died without injuring any of the barbarians and then the whole group descended on a camp filled with children and unicorns that know not their horn from their tail. That would have gone well.”

  “True, but did you really need your rider at this time?”

  He thought the female’s question over. Majherri had been separated from Danella in battle before and thought nothing about waging war on his own. He knew why this was different. Perhaps giving the answer its own voice would help rid him of the demons plaguing his steps.

  “I had … doubts of my own ability. I lack the confidence of my earlier years. My last battle, I did not win. I don’t even know what really happened, other than my rider was killed. I may never know. Could I have done more? Could it happen again? That failure haunts me, Pasha. There! I’ve said it. Does that make you happy? Both you and T’rsa have been looking for a confession this entire trip.”

  The younger female maneuvered around to look at him from his scarred side and where the crack in his horn was most prominent.

  “None of us could come out of a fight with the scars you carry without giving our all. It’s obvious you fought to the best of your ability.”

  “And it wasn’t enough!” He reared and pounded his hooves in frustration. It was strong enough to make her flinch.