Riders (Riders, #1)(87)

Marcus hadn’t moved. He looked more anxious than I’d ever seen him, up on the balls of his feet like he was about to take off sprinting. He looked like he had no idea what to do.

“Daryn?” he said, shooting her an uncertain glance.

“Go ahead,” Daryn said. “Go to her.”

Marcus took a few steps toward the mare and stopped. Then the mare took a few steps of her own, closing the last of the space between them. She lowered her head. She was so close her ears brushed his chest. Marcus reached up, running his palm along her smooth forehead. The mare closed her eyes and leaned into him.

And that was it. Marcus’s shoulders loosened. His entire body loosened. He kept his hand on the mare as he moved next to her, and it was a done deal. They were good.

I shook my head. Seriously? That easy?

Marcus grinned at me, really loving how this was shaping up. “Ruin,” he said. “That’s what I’m calling her.”

It was a good name for her. She looked ancient. Like she’d been dug up after a couple of thousand years in some crypt and dusted off.

“All you, War.”

“Thank you, Death. I’ve been following along.” I let out a breath as my gaze moved around the circle. Bastian and Shadow. Jode and Lucent. Marcus and Ruin. Daryn, steady as ever. Such a peaceful formation. I’d never been faced with a challenge that actually made me want to run the other way before. This came close, but there was no way I’d be the only guy who didn’t deliver. No possible way.

“Okay,” I said. “You’ll all want to back up. My horse is extra spirited. He’s kind of intense, actually. Maniacal.”

“Shocking turn of events,” Jode said.

“You’ve got this, Gideon,” Bas said.

Daryn smiled. “It’ll be fine.”

“Totally.” I was starting to sweat and my heart was racing. I had to get this over with.

Summoning the sword and my armor had become instinct, but I felt clumsy searching for Fire Horse. I was stumbling in the dark again as I searched for the zone where I felt focused, in line with my intentions to serve, to defend, to yield even as I found strength. Finally, I felt the thread that was him. I locked in and thought, Come on out, you hellion.

Everything happened pretty fast then. My horse came up like a blowtorch at the center of our circle. Rearing up, big burning hooves scraping at the sky. Pure blazing fury. Bad attitude in horse form.

All the humans in the circle scrambled back—myself included—but not the other horses. They went full-throttle—right in for a fight. Instantly, it was manes and tails whipping all over, teeth flashing, dirt flinging, an all-out horse battle.

The five of us stood at a safe distance and watched. What else could we do?

These horses were wicked and fast. Their power was incredible. And their fighting was vicious. My horse and Lucent had the advantage on size and strength, but Ruin and Shadow had the edge on speed and agility. Every movement created blurs of shadow and light, ash and fire in their wake, and the sounds they made cracked through the silence of the fjord.

“Are they ever going to stop?” Bastian asked.

“Yes,” Daryn said, but she didn’t sound sure.

“They’ll sort it out,” Jode agreed. But he looked worried, too. Even Marcus looked like he wanted to get in there and break things up.

Not me. I had no attachment to my horse. I didn’t even know if I could touch him since he was, you know, burning.

As I watched, he took a wicked bite to the neck and scrambled to the side, his dinner-plate-sized hooves flinging mud and rocks everywhere. He crashed into Shadow. She slammed into a piece of driftwood and stumbled. She was going down, and my horse was, too. Big Red was going to land on her and crush her.

Shadow disappeared before he could. She unraveled into a twisting black cloud that shot away, flying off along the riverbank. Ruin broke into a gallop after her, hooves pounding along the gravel. She took a few strides, and then she transformed too, shifting to ashes. Now dark and pale blurs soared along the riverside.

Lucent and my horse, the giant slowpokes, were last to follow. Lucent became light, like sun rippling on water. Then Big Red turned into a flurry of flames, and he was gone, too. There were no horses anymore. Just slashes, shooting across the water.

It all happened in seconds.

We ran to the edge of the bank to watch them. Streaks of light and dark, fire and ash, twisting and threading through trees. Climbing suddenly into the air, and then plunging to fly over the glassy water again. My heart didn’t beat for a solid minute as I stood there. Of the four horses, mine drew my attention most. I’d never seen anything so incredible. Never.

Sebastian was hooting and yelling his head off. Daryn and Marcus were laughing and jogging along the river, following the horse race. Only Jode and I stood there, incapable of even moving.

Jode shook his head. “Caused a bloody riot, your horse.”

That was him, I thought.

Riot.

*

Later that afternoon, with the rest of the guys up at hutquarters working on a fire and a delicious dinner of rice, beans, and canned peas, I recruited my favorite horse trainer and great buddy to give me a private lesson.

Daryn gave me instructions as we hiked down to the water: Keep talking while I worked with Riot. Be firm, but also understand that horses had different personalities, like people.