Ziggy lifted her cupped hands and held them at eye level. The loose soil resting on her palms was damp and cool. An electric blue light, hazy and faint, flickered in a halo around the dirt and her hands. She watched it, intently, as the blue light flared bright before quickly fading away.
Ziggy let the dark earth trickle through her fingers back into the shallow hole she'd scooped it from only moments before. The musky sweetness of Dunia's Promise, an old reference to the land within the ancient borders of the Tajiran people, wafted on the dry breeze blowing across the plains. The familiar scent tickled Ziggy's nose as she inhaled deeply, centering herself for the fight that was soon to come.
"They're getting closer", she said softly as she stared off into the not so distant horizon. Seeing and unseeing at the same time.
Three riders on sturdy ponies had been following Ziggy since she'd left the last township two days ago. She had no idea who they were or what they wanted from her, but before the sun goddess, Rassa, retired for the evening Ziggy hoped to be rid of these 'shadow riders'.
Ziggy had made every conceivable effort to shake the three riders off her tail, but they seemed to know her next move as soon as she made it. Ziggy rode down overgrown back roads, sloshed through murky swamps and crept along every well concealed game trail she could remember from her late night study sessions of the old maps of Aishinda. She alternated between traveling by day and night; and made false tracks, sometimes riding her horse Wafiza for hours in one direction only to backtrack several miles before heading in a different direction.
Yet, the riders persisted. Always just out of sight and reach. Ziggy was supposed to have completed her mission and reported back to her squad leader two days ago.
She'd been riding in zigzags and circles for miles, always careful not to travel too long or too far in the direction of home. From her current position, nestled between two natural rock formations made of sandstone near the mouth of River Candace, Ziggy and her horse were only a half days ride away from her township.
"We could make it to the academy gates before nightfall if we left right now," the road weary girl thought to herself.
Ziggy stood from her crouched position and dusted her hands against her thighs, leaving dark, blue tinged smudges on her leggings. She started stretching and warming up her muscles, just like she did every morning at sunrise conditioning. Working each muscle group, starting with her neck and shoulders, working her way down to her feet. She didn't know what may transpire within the next hour, but staying ready meant she didn't have to get ready.
Ziggy glanced over to her Fulani-bred horse grazing under a near copse of Jackalberry trees.
"We could ride, full gallop. The wind in our face, danger at our backs! You'd like that, wouldn't you Wafiza?" she yelled to her horse as she twisted her upper body, first clockwise then counter-clockwise.
The horse turned his head towards the silly girl and gave her the full force of his equine gaze. Then he snorted in the disdainful way only horses can and resumed his mid-day meal of Jackalberry leaves.
"Rude," Ziggy sighed with exasperation. "And no help at all."
Ziggy finished her warm up and walked over to Wafiza. She leaned her forehead against the horse's neck and buried one hand in his mane while stroking his withers with the other. The closer Ziggy was to Wafiza the clearer she felt their connection.
"You were right to suggest we try and lose them before heading home, but I think your new plan to stand and fight is dum...uh... not well thought out," Ziggy said, choosing her words carefully as to not anger her faithful steed.
"I mean, I'm a Tador cadet. Not a fully vetted Tador of Aishindan Empire. Not yet, anyway. Don't you think we should try to make it back to the academy? Get some help from the sentinels?"
"And how do you propose we go about doing that?" the grey gelding asked, feigning nonchalance while snatching Jackalberry leaves from the low hanging branches.
The motion of the unnecessarily rough chomp reverberated through Wafiza's body, jostling Ziggy from her leaned position against the horse. As Ziggy caught herself from falling to the ground, an annoyed Wafiza shook his mane and found a new spot full of the feathery pink and orange leaves to wreak havoc on. Ah, Wafiza. What a joy. Who knew the sweet foundling Ziggy fell in love with all those years ago would turn in to such a grump?
Ziggy and Wafiza have a special bond that began the day Wafiza was born. Ziggy had been checking in with the stable master all day to see if her father's favorite mare, Nova, had foaled yet. The eager girl had been promised the next foal born to Nova, as a present for her sixth name day, and she wanted to be there when her most prized possession was born.
As it turned out Dunia, patron Goddess of Tajir, was smiling down on Ziggy. For just as the anxious young girl walked into the stable for the fourth time that day she heard the grunts of difficult labor coming from Nova's stall. Ziggy hurried over and "helped" the many years' experienced stable master turn the struggling foal's shoulders and pull it free from the laboring mare.
As Nova lay on her side, breathing heavily from her birthing efforts, the new colt rested on the fresh clean hay laid by the stable hands just that morning. Ziggy slowly lowered herself to the ground, laying flat on her stomach. She inch wormed her way to the panting animal, careful not to get too close or make any sudden movements as dam and foal were still bonding.
The newest Fulani horse to be added to the stables, with a chestnut coat and eyes like liquid amber, looked at Ziggy. They locked eyes. Instantly, a finger of electricity zapped the unsuspecting girl like the sting of a swamp eel.
Surprised and slightly irritated, That hurt!, Ziggy looked around the stall and outside the stable doors, but the night sky was clear except for the moon and stars. There were no storm clouds of any sort to be seen for miles and certainly no lightning.
"Where did that come from?", she wondered to herself.
Turning back to the colt, Ziggy saw a new awareness in his eyes she hadn't seen a moment ago. As she pondered this new development, the colts name bubbled up in Ziggy's mind. Wafiza, which means fresh air. Ziggy whispered softly, almost reverently, 'Wafiza" out loud and watched as her breath was swept up in a twirl of a breeze, swaying to and fro, before gently landing on her new friend's nose, making him sneeze.
From that day forward Wafiza and Ziggy were inseparable. He became her best friend and confidante, though she'd never tell that to any of her fellow academy cadets, for fear of being teased. Soon after Wafiza took her first shaky steps, the pair discovered they had the ability to speak without words. Not that they could read each other's minds, more like a conversation with their minds. One that either of them could tune in and out of at will. The pair also always know what the other is feeling, even from very far distances.
Like right now, Wafiza could "feel" that Ziggy was feeling very anxious and unprepared. Normally enthusiastic and ready for any action, no matter how small, Ziggy was being uncharacteristically cautious. She kept hinting that she and Wafiza should ride back home and let the academy sentinels or town guardsmen take care of the mysterious riders stalking her throughout the Indigo Plains.
Ziggy was also saddle weary, fatigued and hungry. Her water skin was once again full, thanks to the river, but she'd eaten the last of her travel rations at breakfast yesterday morning. None of the Jackalberry fruit was ripe and she hadn't seen any fresh game trails in days. Not that she could really hunt. Only stopping for a couple of hours a day, just long enough to rest herself and Wafiza before moving again.
There was also that pesky little academy rule stating cadets were expressly forbidden from engaging in any combat outside of academy walls. Of course, every cadet was allowed to defend themselves if the situation warranted it, but they were not expected to uphold the honor of Aishinda as full Tadors were sworn to do. Wafiza, however, had a difference of opinion on the situation and he wasn't shy about expressing it.
"Should we ride up to the township gates, waiving our Idana colors above our heads like pennants of failure? Yelling and pleading with the sentinels to hurry and open the gates before the scary shadow riders get us?", Wafiza turned towards Ziggy, giving her his full attention.
"Stand before the council of masters, look them in their eyes and tell them we let three unknown horseman chase a future Tador of the Empire all over Dunia's Creation?"
Wafiza paused from his angry tirade to roll his eye at the skittish, two-legged filly. He was angry--his hunger completely forgotten. He'd been keeping these thoughts to himself since Ziggy first brought up going home and he wasn't going to stop until he'd said everything he was thinking.
"That doesn't sound like the actions of a true Tador. That sounds like the mewlings of a fraidy-kitten. Are you a fraidy-kitten, sister?", Wafiza asked. He wasn't really expecting an answer from Ziggy. He turned his back so he couldn't see her either.
Wafiza knew Ziggy wanted to go home because she was tired and she truly respected the Council of Masters, if not so much their rules. But Ziggy needed to learn a Tador is only as good as his or her reputation among other Tadors and those who employee them. If a Tador backs down from a challenge or shirks his or her duty, their reputation becomes almost irreparable. Wafiza didn't want that for him and his best friend and so he took it upon himself to try and convince Ziggy that engaging the enemy would be better for their image.
Ziggy took several steps back from Wafiza with a sigh and a look of irritation. She was trying very hard to keep a cool head and be understanding, but she was in no frame of mind to deal with one of Wafiza's moods. Her best friend had a tendency for theatrics and tantrums when he didn't get his own way.
"First, you are being quite dramatic. More so than usual and it's not getting us any closer to a decision," Ziggy stated to Wafiza's back side, "Second, it's too hot out here for all the extra huffing you're doing."
Wafiza stayed silent, swatting at flies with his tail.
"Third, we need to actually have an image", Ziggy snorted, guessing at the many times before discussed issue Wafiza was not talking about, "preferably one that isn't already tainted by centuries of previous Tador losers and screw-ups." Ziggy hated to admit it, but she was well on her way to becoming one of those "losers".