Page 47 of The Red Rider
“Where else would you be when Rage Heads surround us? Honestly, there’s no safer place to be. Meremoth has seen me through all kinds of war and death, and he’s never thrown me once. He’s kept me safe. Wait here.”
Aeron disappeared into the Costco and left me alone with four huge murder horses that didn’t like me. I gave them a wide berth. Aeron said they were scared all five foot eight inches of me was going to hurt them, but how could I possibly hurt an angel horse, even if I was okay with hurting animals?
I had all this bravado when it came to Nazis, zombies, and random Bubbas, but those horses could kill me in so many different ways, even if we were supposed to be on the same side.
Aeron came back like he’d just won the lottery and was holding something behind his back. Knowing him, he’d found a huge Costco sized stash of condoms or lube. I had no idea what he was doing when he produced a bag of sugar. I hope he knew I wasn’t one of those girlfriends who was going to bake for him. I made a mean pot brownie, but I only baked if I was getting baked.
“Hold out your hand, Speedy.”
I didn’t know what he was doing, but I knew he was trying to show me something, and he wasn’t laughing at me for not understanding this time. Aeron reached into the bag and placed a few sugar cubes in my hand.
“I’m glad we haven’t gotten to this aisle yet because you are going to make friends with my horse, Speedy. I can’t have my girl and my steed afraid of each other.”
“I have way more reasons to be afraid of your horse than he does of me, Aeron.”
“You and Meremoth got off on the wrong foot, and you didn’t get a proper introduction because I couldn’t tell you the truth when you first got on his back. You know all of us except Asher. It’s time you got to know our horses. Stand totally still, don’t say anything, and hold out your hand. Let him come to you.”
I didn’t know the first thing about horses. I was never one of those kids that wanted a pony growing up. I had bigger things to worry about. I had no idea how I was going to bribe a murder horse with sugar, but if I was going to date three of the Four Horsemen, I really needed to get over my shit with their horses. Maybe they were really nice murder horses.
Meremoth was eyeing my hand and let out this massive snort. In fact, all four horses had zeroed in on the sugar. Great, I was going to get murdered by four horses over some Costco brand sugar. I took a step back right into Aeron’s chest.
“Easy, Speedy. You’re making them nervous.”
“Yeah, we have that in common right now.”
“They won’t hurt you. You have something they want. Let them come to you and get to know you.”
“Why don’t we find a coffee machine and some coffee and give them some caffeine too? Do we really want to give the murder horses sugar? That doesn’t go down well with toddlers.”
“We’re giving them their favorite treat, and they will be wonderful. You’ve trusted me with a lot of shit, Ariel. Trust me about this.”
“If your horse kills me, I’m going to haunt you for eternity, Aeron, and I’m going to be one of those mean ghosts that hides all your chargers and changes the television station right at the last ten minutes of a season finale.”
“Ghosts aren’t real, Speedy. Now, just relax.”
Aeron pressed himself against my back and wrapped his arms around my waist. I felt much better about this with him right there. Hopefully, the horses wouldn’t flip their shit with him touching me. I could do this.
I focused on the horses. I hadn’t realized how beautiful they were now that I was just staring at them. They were so shiny and muscular. Meremoth met my eyes. I’d seen his eyes turn red, and I swear, he winked at me sometimes, but now that I was really looking at him, there was this preternatural intelligence in his eyes. It was the same for all four horses.
I found myself lost in those eyes and much less afraid of them as they started taking tentative steps towards me. These horses really were as nervous around me as I was around them. I wanted to get past this because I felt like shit I was spooking something so beautiful, even if they had given me a reason to be afraid of them.
I started making cooing noises. Iwantedthem to come closer now. I wanted at least one of these horses to take sugar from my hand. I didn’t like being afraid of anything, and I wanted to get over my shit about this.
They started moving closer, and soon, I was surrounded by four massive horses, but I was less afraid of them than before. Meremoth’s snout felt like satin in my palm as he gently ate the sugar. He didn’t even bite me. The other three horses were checking my hair and my clothes for more sugar. It tickled, and I couldn’t help laughing.
“Do you have some more of that sugar?” I asked Aeron as the red horse nuzzled my neck.
“Of course.”
The horses were clearly intelligent because they weren’t fighting each other over the sugar, even if they clearly liked it and wanted it. They were still nudging my neck and hair, but it was more like they were trying to caress me instead of getting me to hurry up with the sugar.
I managed to get sugar to all the horses and was loving every minute of this when Aeron kissed the top of my head.
“You’ve given them one of their favorite things. Why don’t you try petting their necks? Meremoth has a sweet spot right where his neck meets his shoulder, and the rest of the horses love it too.”
I walked forward and started stroking the horse’s necks. I couldn’t call them murder horses anymore. Sure, they killed things pretty damned well, but they were just so sweet right now.
“Angel horses like sugar and pets?”
