Dragon's Wings

Chapter 16

Tadeo led them onward. It was a slow journey at first, silent too, but Rashmi nudged her mare until she was riding next to Shui. Their stirrups clicked against each other, feet tapping together. Thankfully, the horses didn't appear to hate each other and so Rashmi felt confident letting her attention move away from the horse.

The path, like Tadeo had said, was fairly wide. But Rashmi was partially used to that, mainly due to the desert than her academy—although, that was plenty open too. At first, they rode on a path between paddocks, various creatures joining them as they did so. Then, soon enough, they were beyond the paddocks and in open fields.

Long grass surrounded them, and in the distance there looked to be another group. "It's so... yellow," Shui admitted quietly to Rashmi and Rashmi laughed.

"I guess," she agreed. Compared to Tiānkōng Xuéyuán, it was less green, more dry long grass around them rather than lush greenery. "But the desert is much, much more yellow."

Shui rolled their eyes, likely only not shoving Rashmi since they were riding. "You don't have to bring the desert up so often," they said. "As in, you don't need to bring it up every time I talk about our surroundings."

"But where's the fun in that?" Rashmi retorted, all good humour.

"If everyone's willing, we can go a bit faster," Tadeo called from up the front. Shouts of agreement came from the rest of the group, Rashmi and Shui voicing theirs as well. The horses began to trot, with none jostling for position changes, fortunately. That was probably to be expected, though, considering that they all had to learn to ride and horse handling at the academy. After all, riding was a staple of life, especially for those who had no other way of travelling like, say, a dragon.

Up ahead, the path curved to the left, trees starting to form a small bushy area to their right. Tadeo slowed down and, following his lead, everyone else dropped down to a walk. "We can keep going along this path and see the main grounds, or we can head right here and head into the forest towards the waterfall which—personally—I think is way better."

They come to a halt, milling around the fork in the path. "I vote into the forest," Rashmi eventually said, raising her voice. "We've got more time anyway, so we can always see the rest later."

"That's true," Shui agreed, and soon enough the group came to a decision that seemed unanimous. "Lead on, Tadeo and Amor."

Tadeo flashed them a grin, something softening in his eyes at the acknowledgement of Amor's intelligence—and, for a brief moment, Rashmi wondered how many people ignored Amor or thought him to be a simple horse. She couldn't imagine anyone doing that for Vera, but Vera was a dragon and she could speak to Rashmi, if she chose to. Kelpies, on the other hand, could not.

Amor leapt into a canter, taking off down the pathway with Tadeo's laughter trailing on the wind. Rashmi didn't curse, grinned instead, and urged the bay mare to follow along behind. Despite the bushy appearance around them, the ground is plain dirt on a slight incline, safe enough to move at such speeds. Rashmi wasn't the only one to leap into a canter and follow either—another student was ahead and Shui was right on Rashmi's tail.

However, Rashmi knew races. Maybe not in the forest or in the bush, but she loved racing in the desert when she got the chance. They didn't do it too often, since it wasn't great for the horses and they did need breaks. But, when they were camping for a long period of time or with other tribes? Races didn't just happen randomly, but were organised and Rashmi had loved it. The burst of speed, the strength of the horse beneath you, the coiled tension and power—it was awe-inspiring and exhilarating. Rashmi always just wanted to let go of the control and see how fast the horse beneath her could run.