Maora woke Ryker the next morning, shaking his shoulder gently and exiting out the small hut. She had the horses tacked up and ready to go, their leather reins tied in a quick release knot to the post.
She'd packed his things she'd found lying around, putting them in his saddle bags. Maora also managed to clip hers onto the younger horses saddle, where they hung over his quarters.
It had been surprisingly hard to get him to trust her; compared to horses she had been with before. In many ways, the horse reminded Maora of herself. She'd stood for a couple seconds, holding her hand out towards the horse who stuck his nose out cautiously, sniffing her hand. He'd let her closer after that, cold morning air freezing both their breaths.
Ryker was at the least, surprised. "He let you tack him up?" he questioned, untying Pollux and leading him forward, flicking the reins over his neck. Maora followed with the steel gray.
"Yes. Although, he's not as easy to trust as most horses I met." she told him, watching as he mounted swiftly onto Pollux. Only being closer to them now did she realise how tall they were, although she'd seen taller.
"To tall for you?" Ryker said, poking fun at her. She grinned as she slipped her foot in the stirrup, pulling herself up. The horse shuffled under the saddle, pacing a little. Maora put the reins in one hand, patting him reassuringly on the shoulder.
"Surprising. He would barely let me near him, never mind on him, in the first day." Ryker told her, smiling warmly. She returned it, squeezing him lightly with her legs and asking him to walk forward. He did, and she relished in the swift, smooth movements he made.
Pollux and Ryker appeared beside her, and they made their way as a pair down the track, the thudding of the iron shoes on the horses feet one of the only sounds.
A half hour later, the horses fully warmed up, the steel grey horse Maora rode had started to prance, raring to go faster. Maora craved to feel the wind in her hair, and looked right to see Ryker looking at her with a smug grin.
"Think you can stay on at a gallop?" he dared her, winking cheekily.
"Nevermind me," she grinned playfully, watching his expression change to one of confusion, "the real question is, can you keep up?" Maora didn't need to ask twice as she barely squeezed the horse again, who lurched forward under her and down the track, kicking dirt up behind him. He thundered ahead, and Maora crouched low, letting her body move with him. She turned her head, hair whipping behind her, to see Ryker close behind on Pollux, yet still too slow to catch up. She turned her head to look forward again, through his ears that were pricked with joy, and down the twisting path lined with trees and foliage as they raced down it.
She whooped, happier than she had been in a while; forgetting her mothers death and the lack of Atlas beside her. Ryker returned her shout of joy, almost as if he was howling like a wolf, and the horses seemed to catch on, Pollux giving out a shrill whinny that the youngster Maora rode returned.
Trees flashed by, but the horse began to slow, allowing Pollux to finally draw level. They slowed to a trot, then a walk, the horses taking deep gulps of air, sweat dripping off them despite the cold weather. Maora and Ryker's cheeks were flushed, their noses and ears red too, and as they looked at each other they burst into laughter.
"I've been waiting to see how fast he can go." Ryker said between gasps, putting the reins in one hand.
"Vulcan." she said, looking ahead.
"Vulcan?" he asked, questioning her words.
"I'm going to buy him."
Ryker laughed sadly. "He is not going to be cheap. He's a rare breed."
She fixed her eyes onto his brown ones, smiling at him. "I have some money. And if it's not enough, I can always-" she stopped, preventing herself from saying the word steal and loosing Ryker's trust completely. Her smiled faltered.
"What were you going to say?" he almost demanded, his gaze making her shuffle her hands. His smile had disappeared to, and she wished she could go back to that moment.
"Steal. If I don't have enough, I can always steal." she said with finality, turning her now hardened eyes to him, daring him, daring him to say some smart remark about it. He seemed to shy back under the furious look on her face, though, but told her something the moment she turned her head away.
"I never trusted you, you know. So don't bother about trying to keep it." he said, and when she looked at him he was looking straight ahead with his jaw clenched. "I could tell you weren't telling me the full truth. I don't care if your family is really dead, or if your town was burned to the ground. I wouldn't even care if you'd killed a man, for that matter." he said, and Maora gulped. "But you kept your end of the bargain, and now we are at the end of the pass. I will tell Evander to keep hold of the horse till a girl with golden hair passes by, as a thank you. That seem good?" he said, pulling Pollux to a halt. Maora said nothing as she slipped from the saddle, unclipping her saddle bags and flinging them back over her shoulder, nodding her head. She held herself back from snapping completely, watching as Ryker carried on down the path, towards the town she could see from the hill.
Vulcan cast her a look from behind as he was lead down the path, but she shook it off as she slipped into the bushes, towards where she believed the tunnel ended.
She heard the thudding of feet, and suddenly Atlas burst out the tunnel and the dark, colliding straight into Maora and making them roll along the ground in a tangle.
Maora was smiling when they came to a stop, but then she saw Atlas' face. It was covered in blood, as were his hands and clothes. They were ripped and torn, and his bag was hanging by a thread over his back. The twin swords had been hastily stuffed and tied into their sheath, and his small dagger was dripping with blood. Arrow's bow was in his right hand, and as she caught his grey eyes, she saw fear instead of the usual map she'd missed the past night as she sat alone by the fire.
That's when she realised Arrow had never come out of the tunnel exit.
