Page 24 of Fires of the Forsaken
So, I was being a little (a lot) rude. And I definitely shouldn’t have accused Cheriour of raping women. But how was I supposed to react? Did he expect me to behappy? “OMG, this is so exciting! It’s been a lifelong dream to trade in all the conveniences of modern America and come to Viking Land where monsters exist, and everything smells like horseshit. Best. Day. Evah!”
Speaking of horseshit…
“Oh no,” I mumbled as Cheriour strolled back up the hill, leading a small, brown horse.
I hoped toGodhe didn’t expect me to ride that animal.
“Belanna.” Cheriour rubbed at his temples. “Can you please help Darren get the wounded on horseback?”
I totally forgot Belanna was standing next to me, so I nearly jumped out of my skin when she spoke. “He complainin’ again?” she asked.
“Always,” Cheriour said.
“I’ll go sort him out. Oi!” She shouted as she walked away. “Stop staring! Some of ye were new arrivals once. Ye didn’t like to be stared at then, did ye? No. So mind yer manners!”
I blinked.
I hadn't even noticed a group of people were gawking at me. And it wasn’t a“hey, who's the new kid?”kind of stare. They looked at me in absolute shock and horror, as though I’d drop-landed from a UFO.
At Belanna's shout, they dispersed, but a few of them still cast sidelong glances at me as they tacked their horses.
“We're leaving in ten minutes,” Cheriour called as he came to a stop in front of me. The little horse halted too and blew out a long puff of air, its nostrils flaring. Its (adorable) ears swiveled back and forth.
“This is Sacrifice.” Cheriour flipped the reins over the horse’s head.
“That name sounds ominous as fuck,” I muttered. And it didn’t suit the little horse, who wassostinking cute. Especially with its facial marking: a crooked white stripe that ran between its eyes and tailed off on the right side of its nose. It looked like a drunk tried to draw a straight line down the horse’s face.
“She’s the quietest horse here,” Cheriour continued. “Sacrifice won’t shy or spook, but she is sensitive. Donotpull on the reins. Or kick her. There’s no need to. She’ll follow the group.”
The horse lowered her head and batted her eyes. Almost as if to say:don’t listen to him. I’m an angel.But then she pinned her ears and squealed because a horse walking at thebottom of the hillhad pissed her off. What abitch.
“No, no, nope.” I waved my arms through the air and backed away. “You’re crazy.Crazy.I can’t ride a horse. I never even figured out how to ride abikewithout training wheels. So I—I’ll wait here and try to flag down the next airplane...” I retreated into the trees. “There’s bound to be one at some point, right? And there are plenty of branches here. I can find an empty spot to spellhelp...ooof.”
A calloused hand snatched the scruff of my neck, dragging me back to Sacrifice’s side. “If you stay here, you die,” Cheriour said. “Give me your foot.”
“That’s a daring thing to say. How about I shove my foot up your—hey!”
Cheriour grasped my left leg and tossed me into the air. With another“ooof,”I landed belly-down over Sacrifice’s back.
“Swing your leg over,” Cheriour commanded.
I stared at the ground, which seemed dizzyingly far.
“Swing your leg over.” Cheriour pressed his hands against my ass, pushing me upward.
“Hey! Hey!” With a grunt, I brought my right leg up, ramming my knee into Cheriour’s chin.
He grunted.
“Oops,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm.
Also, thankfuckI wore leggings under this dress. Otherwise, Grumpy Pants would have gotten an eyeful of my flowery underwear.
Once I was straddling Sacrifice and sitting upright, the dizziness only got worse. This was way too high. Sacrifice’s back was way too narrow. Her mane was too snarled for me to get a good handhold.
“I want to get down,” I said.
“You can’t.” Cheriour stroked Sacrifice’s neck. “We’ll be leaving in—why are you pulling on the reins?”
