Dione reined in her horse when the silhouettes of the Magistrate and his escort appeared in the distance, immediately swapping to a fresh mount in case a quick getaway or escape needed to be made. Spurring her horse forward, her mind recalled the plan, quick discussion, turn around and gallop back. Able to make out the individual riders, their swords bouncing on their hips, she galloped and encouraged her horse to whinny. The last two escorts started to slow, and Dione called out and shouted to ensure they wouldn’t ignore her, at the same time trying not to be mistaken as a threat. The back riders of the escort whistled and the other five riders including the Magistrate slowed and in a well-practiced manoeuvre swung their horses around, while preparing their weapons to meet her face to face.

The set jaws and piercing eyes of the escort softened when they recognised their pursuer, sheathing their weapons almost as one and making way for the Magistrate. The Magistrate nudged his horse forward between his mounted escort until within talking distance.

“Hold girl, what is the urgency, is your mistress in danger?” the Magistrate asked.

“No sir, I have a dispatch from a dead messenger we found on the trail. We entrust it to you as you are the nearest Law we know.”

They agreed that there was no need to show any one of them could read and the reason they thought of, him being the only law, would be enough, after all once he read it he would know it was for him. She stretched out to offer it. One of the escorts took it and then handed it to the Magistrate. While he was reading Dione prepared to turn herself and her trailing horses around to leave.

“Hold girl, a moment more please,” the Magistrate stated. The Magistrate’s escorts who were already facing her, nudged forward to crowd her and her horses to prevent her leaving.

“I must return as soon as possible good Magistrate as my mistress is waiting on the trail without horse and we must continue our journey as soon as possible,” Dione panted, realising she babbled as she spoke.

The Magistrate looked up and dug into his pocket and threw Dione a gold coin. Dione was so shocked she hesitated and only just managed to catch it, reaching out at the last moment! A gold coin was it even real? She guessed, since it was being given to her by the Magistrate it must be! Her first ever gold coin!

She noticed even some of the Magistrates escort were surprised, it was a month’s pay to them. The Magistrate and his escort where leaving as Dione gathered her composure again and galloped back to Charis and Otonia.

Dione stopped before mid-afternoon to change horses again. Once mounted she looked at the trail before her and noticed a rider galloping down the trail towards her. She wasn’t sure she was spotted, but three horses would be difficult not to notice at the worst of times let alone in your direct path. She decided that if the rider was in a hurry and not after her, they wouldn’t follow when she rode off the trail.

She rode cautiously as she didn’t know the ground well, but after a short distance, she decided it was firm enough. There was only the occasional bush and stunted tree as the land was being cleared by the looks of it. Cleared for farming not stock grazing it seemed as generally more trees would be retained for shade for the stock if nothing else, well that is what her family did.

The rider veered off the trail on an intercept course towards her. She knew then she was in trouble. She checked the reins of the two horses that were tied to hers and then continued to move further away from the trail. The rider showed no fear of the uncertain ground he was travelling over and continued at furious gallop towards her. Dione turned her horse back towards the trail and kicked her horse into a gallop, glad that she was still skin and bones light! She could afford to go as fast as the horse could carry her since she knew the ground now.

As her and her horse leap to reach the trail the rider fell in behind her even though he cut though the field. His gamble failed by the narrowest of margins as he just missed catching up to one of her trailing tethered horses. Dione wasn’t sure what he would do if he did, it didn’t make sense to her. She gave all her attention to galloping back to Charis and Otonia and it was always a mistake to turn around and look at your pursuer, if you were making ground you were safe in any case and if you weren’t you hoped it would be quick when they struck!

“Bitch! Where are the other two?” his voice rang out behind her. The extra clatter of horse’s hooves definitely behind her now, she resisted the temptation to look, as she took heart that he was swearing at her and not using a weapon of some sort instead. With her fresh horse she managed to keep ahead of him amazed that his horse wasn’t tiring as it should be. She thought he must have raced after her from earlier in the day since he was expecting three riders given his question. There were only ever three riders when they left the messenger’s body.

Her horse tired rapidly now, the lather clearly visible so she needed to look back. She gained some distance, so his horse does tire it seems, but only after more than half a day at the gallop! That was some reassurance that no horse could endure and survive that amount of riding?  She made the decision to swap mounts, cutting her tired mount away and tying it to a trailside tree. In fact, the reason she considered this solely due to the tree being there, she didn’t want to cost her sisters a lost horse. Madness since she now rode for her life!

As she mounted, she heard him and his mount they were at full gallop. It was a doom descending upon her and she surprised herself missing the stirrup on her first attempt. She closed her eyes briefly and then mounted her horse like she always did. She then spurred it to a gallop and her horse responded, not completely fresh given she set a cracking pace on the other horse and it was still carrying a saddle but an improvement on the other horse now tied to a tree in desperate need of grooming and water. She didn’t release its saddle and felt guilty for not doing so, although he would have caught her if she did.

Dione gained distance again on the second mount and remembered this part of the trail as fairly flat, so her plan was to change mounts again trying to judge the distance left to ride and the condition left in the horse she was riding and her last spare mount. She looked back several times, panic and a need to be sure and he wasn’t to be seen. Satisfied, she pulled up to swap mounts again. Looking back, she was about to release the saddle on the tired mount when she heard galloping. It wasn’t coming from the trail but from the eastern flats. He was riding directly for her.

She was lucky that he was guessing when he looped back to intersect the trail and she managed to hear him before he was able to see her. As she mounted he obviously saw her, as he corrected his direction, he was trying to ride ahead of her, to force her back. Dione raced her horse to a gallop, she may have to apologise to Charis, as she would need to ride her mount hard to escape his trap and the horse unlikely to recover.

Dione rode along the trail, while he galloped at an angle from the eastern flats. She dug her heels in and used the reins to whip her horse, they were close now and she took some satisfaction in seeing white sweat froth on his horse, proving it was still somewhat a real horse. She was still in the race and it looked like they would meet at the same point on the trail, the angle he rode still the longer path.

She prepared herself as his horse was larger by a couple of hands if not more, than hers and when they clashed, her horse would go sprawling, so she needed to make sure she could jump clear if it came to that. She couldn’t help it she looked at him and his horse again.

His face was red with effort, his head forward and eager, teeth showing, smiling; a shiver shimmied down her spine and somehow her horse sensed it or it could have been his horse closing in, the flaring nostrils were a distinct noise and the sweet smell of its sweat froth was being carried to them both on a breeze. Whatever the reason her horse panicked, and its instinct locked into flight mode, run faster, run faster was all it thought as she felt her horse surge ahead.

“B ii ttt cccc hhhhh,” he drew out the word as he now rode behind her.

Then the clatter died down, so she looked. The rider was dismounted and taking aim with a bow, so perhaps his horse was finally spent and if she could survive this and ride over the rise, she would be clear. She did the only thing she could, forcing her tired horse into a measured swerve to put him off.

As she started to swerve an arrow swished by her, except it travelled in the wrong direction, aiming for the rider. She realised by luck or fate the arrow didn’t pierce her body; she didn’t collect a possible death knell! Dione peeked over her shoulder trying to follow the trajectory of the arrow, failing, although witnessing the wide-eyed surprise of her pursuer, unable to react fast enough as the arrow struck him full in the chest.

Dione swerved the other direction now, certain that arrow could have only been released by Charis and giving her a clear field of view to release another. The second wasn’t so close to Dione but she still knew it was on its way. So, she slowed so she could see it strike. The rider was struggling to remove the first arrow and the second arrow pierced his hand and struck his chest again, this time pinning his hand in place over his chest.

Otonia was with Dione by this time and held her horse so Dione could dismount easily. Then a third arrow was released although they couldn’t see if it hit the rider as her horse blocked their line of sight as it stomped about still panicked. Dione forgot about the rider and with Otonia holding the horse more firmly, she released the saddle and the horse calmed shortly after.

A fourth arrow whisked by and missed as the target dropped prone. The rider’s horse wandered off and no more movement occurred.

Instructing Dione to remain and tend her horse; something she didn’t protest at all, Charis and Otonia approached the still prone body, the location marked by the tips of Charis’ feathered arrows. Charis knocked another arrow while advancing and Otonia made ready a throwing knife.

Between blood spittle the rider spoke.

“Three young bitches, death by three young bitches, I cannot understand how! Do you know who I am, who you have defeated bitches?”

“I don’t think that matters now?” Otonia replied.

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“Who do you work for?” Charis asked as she bent down and quickly ripped the bronze loop from his ear.

“That hurt you bitch!” The pains from his real wounds momentarily forgotten. “Oh yes, sure, I am dying and suddenly a sweet question from you and I blabber. Go get laid by a real man and then ask me!”

“I am sure they will not be pleased when they know of your failure.”

Charis emphasised the word ‘they’ to test his reaction. She noticed from the start, the bronze loop in his ear and deduced for all his bluster he made up a small piece in a bigger picture, and his defeat allowed her to keep her promise to the elder, albeit one evil death at a time. Recognition of ‘they’ briefly flashed across his face before he recovered. Charis assumed he would know who they were, so pushed some more.

She placed a certain foot with a certain bronze ring close to his head – the top of his head, no point in letting him bite her.

“Your quarry is well away now as my friend there warned him and delivered the dispatch in spite of you killing the messenger.”

He smiled now; a red smile as blood escaped between his lips.

“You mean the false dispatch I planted on the messenger so the Magistrate would be lured into a trap thinking he was meeting a friend, is that the dispatch?” His teeth painted blood red adding to the horror of his joy.

“You didn’t have time to swap it, we were looking when you checked the messenger and then tracked our horses and galloped after them. If we were delivering the false dispatch you would have turned away satisfied,” Charis accused.

“Well……you have me there then don’t you! Can you be sure?” Ironically his last breath expelling an aerated blood bubble.

“Charis we can be sure. Search him to see if he has another message.”

While Charis desperately searched, Otonia called Dione over.

“Dione do you think you can round up his horse?” Otonia asked.

Dione smiled as she looped a rope taken from the saddle now on the ground and approached his horse. She lassoed his horse and it didn’t move. His horse spent; the head down and stumbling slightly on his legs. She started to whisper to it out of habit and coaxed it into the shade of Charis’ tree.

 “What made you so sure he was lying?” Charis asked.

“I don’t know. I hoped he was and hoping we would find some proof. I saw the effect of his last words on you and knew I needed to give you back some hope. We will search his body and when Dione has his horse settled, we will search his saddlebags. He would have a message on him, false or real, he couldn’t leave it anywhere else. So, you can read it and then determine what we need to do next.”

Charis looked up at Otonia, disappointment on her face and Otonia knew then the dispatch wasn’t on him.

“Pass me your knife please I have always wondered about something,” Charis asked.

Once handed Otonia’s knife Charis imagined a rabbit, half skinning, and half cutting. She wiped the knife on his clothes and handed it back to her sister while rising to her feet.

“I did find this though, so small bonus.” She held out a silver ring with a horse engraved on the inside surface of it. Both ignoring the finger flesh still attached.

Dione removed the saddle from his horse, slowly and carefully. She filled her leather horse water bucket from his waterskin and offered his horse a drink. Gradually lowering the bucket until it settled firmly on the ground. Patting the horse’s forehead to calm him and leaving him to finish. She prepared a feedbag and drew his head from the nearly empty bucket and tied the feedbag on, waiting until she confirmed he ate and breathed with ease. She then tendered to her own horse in the same fashion.

Charis searched every part of his horse’s saddlebags, looking for the important piece of evidence, the piece that would confirm he lied. She sat down at the end exhausted and defeated. Nothing, no dispatch, she didn’t find the absolute, damming piece of evidence she ached for. Dione’s eyes darted at Otonia searching for an explanation.

“We are trying to find a false dispatch to prove the rider lied. He said he swapped the dispatches so the one you gave to the Magistrate was the fake one that would lead the Magistrate into a trap,” Otonia answered.

“What an evil thing to say!” Dione replied.

Charis, tired and frustrated, looked up at her two companions.

“Well what are our chances of finding our two missing horses Dione?” Charis asked.

“His horse is near recovered already,” her voice rising as she spoke, “so I will put my saddle on him as soon as I have groomed him and then ride out and find them.”

“Well I guess it is time to honour the messenger and then dispose of this liar. Otonia can you please help me put his body over our remaining horse and we will go back to where the messenger lays,” Charis stated, eyes downcast and kicking at a clump of grass.

Charis and Otonia spent late afternoon gathering wood for a funeral pyre for the messenger and building a frame to lift him from the ground to be closer to the sun so the smoke of the pyre would be closer to carry his spirit into the arms of Judge. There he would be Judged and either join Judge in Olympus or be sent down to Jury, Goddess of the Underworld, either way he would be sent with a coin on each eye.

They prepared the body as best they could, his clothes tied to him to cover his wounds. They lifted the body onto the frame and before daylight fled quickly fired it, as they weren’t sure of their building efforts. They didn’t need to worry, the dry wood, hungrily and quickly devoured by the flame. The few green leaves they added, to ensure smoke would be created to carry his soul.

The rider was laid face down in a shallow body length hollow and dry wood piled on to minimise the smoke given off. They stripped him of all clothes and sent him to Jury, without clothes and without coins to pay the Ferryman, his soul to be forever lost and beyond redemption.

There was enough light to clean up the equipment and clothes of the dead and pack these on their remaining horse, now groomed, fed and watered. They then led the horse up to the camp Charis and Otonia setup earlier in the day.

On the cusp of dusk, a rider could be heard on the trail. Charis waited by her tree and laid eyes on Dione returning in triumph, trailing their two horses. She stepped out well before Dione approached so she wouldn’t be surprised.

“They’re both spent Charis and will take a couple of days of care at least before they can be ridden again. I am sorry.”

“What are you sorry for? Your life is far more important, don't you ever forget that. Follow me, Otonia should have something ready to eat and we can start to care for the spent horses you have in tow.”

The horses were relieved of their saddles and packs, hobbled, and left to graze on the grass near to them. Dione ensured they were watered and groomed as well. Otonia tried to comfort Charis; it did not break her mood. Dione said some kind words, which Charis at least acknowledged. They were soon all asleep trusting in a few alerts Charis placed at dusk. Dione asked Otonia about them given her first time witnessing such a practice. Otonia revealed little, along the lines of some hedge magic an elder taught Charis some time ago and to leave it for now.

They broke their fast with some hard tack, stale bread and cheese. The silence was eventually broken when Charis asked the question, they knew they needed to consider.

“Well, do we warn the Magistrate, not really knowing for sure if we are warning him or just making fools of ourselves?” Charis asked.

“Dione what are you doing, we need to all consider the options,” chased Otonia.

“I am packing away the messenger’s armour and packs, I thought we could at least return them to his parents or commander perhaps and retell his tale so they would know he died bravely.”

“Sorry but this doesn’t change our position.”

“Oh, wait it might, Charis, read this!” Dione shoved a letter into Charis’ hands excited, jumping back.

“Where did you find this? Oh, never mind.” She broke the seal and read the contents eagerly.

“In the message pouch, like the original one was. Well, I suspect the original one was. This one must be the fake. The rider clearly out of options. He thought to leave this with the messenger and then catch up with us and take back the real one, probably kill us at the same time so we couldn’t tell a different story,” Dione surmised, aloud.

“The seals look the same, sender and receiver so they know who to imitate, they must have a spy. This message tells the Magistrate to proceed immediately to my Baron’s lands, going over the mountain spur if necessary as they have identified a potential Acolyte of Saph, and he must escort her back to Parium!”

“I assume that is a long journey, so they could either ambush the Magistrate or ambush the unprotected acolyte perhaps?” Otonia offered.

“Well, I am satisfied that we have the fake,” Dione declared, standing with her hands on her hips. Both Charis and Otonia laughed. So much youthful attitude and certainty, along with their own relief at the truth finally confirmed.

“I doubt that a potential acolyte would be within the Baron’s land as there were no twins there before I, well, left. So, on that basis I think we have the fake,” Charis replied.

“Charis do you think it is time that we let Dione know some of our secrets?” Otonia asked.

“Secrets, oh I like secrets, you can trust me, and we are family, aren’t we?” Her grey oval eyes eager and intense.

“Yes, Dione, we are family. When we bested the rider, I found some interesting items on him. One I have seen before, another I haven’t. The first I will gift you is a bronze loop. Both Otonia and I have one each and it is useful for making friends. You need to concentrate and think about the friendship and depending upon your will and conviction and sometimes the amount of danger you are in you can make a difference. For example, Otonia convinced one of the two men who captured you that she was a friend and needed protection from the other.”

Charis could have kicked herself, probably not the best example for Dione, but the damage if any, done now, although the distraction of the gifts and being a secret occupied Dione’s attention well enough.

After some instruction, Dione reverently took the bronze loop and hugged Otonia.

“With this you were able to save yourself and then me. I will never forget what you did, and I will make sure I use this gift with purpose.”

Charis and Otonia heard the first serious words ever spoken by Dione and knew she was indeed the third they needed.

“There is a second item, again we don’t know what it does, but it is inscribed with a horse. So perhaps it allows some subtle control or contact with a horse. Did the rider exhibit anything special when he chased you?” Charis asked.

“He was totally foolhardy when galloping over the field beside the trail. He would not have known the terrain there at all. There could have been many footfalls and burrows that the horse could have broken its leg on. Also, his horse displayed unending endurance, it lasted as long as three normal horses for a start and it had already done some galloping for the day.”

“He wore this ring on his finger. Your fingers will be much too small, and I don’t know if this will close the difference like the bronze loop will. I also don’t think it would be ideal to display, which is why we wear the loops on our toes. I suggest you place it near your breast.”

At Dione’s gasp Charis gently touched her arm to reassure her. She then loosened her shirt top and asked Dione to touch the silver circle buried under her left breast nipple. Dione’s face turned red, but she understood as Charis relaced her shirt top.

“Is that how you set the alerts at night?”

“You are a clever girl! Now you must be very clever and try to discover what your silver ring can do. It would probably be best if you rode his horse in case there is some link or bond to the ring that we don’t know about. We will leave his saddle and only take what we need from him in case someone knows him well, which given the fake dispatch is a near certainty. So, he will be missed, and his accomplices will be looking out for him or his possessions in the hands of others I fear.”

“Well as much as I like the horse, we purchased in Oxrest, his horse is a far superior beast. Would someone know his horse well?”

“Let us hope not Dione. Be warned though when you meld the ring, there will be pain, so it is best we do this on the slopes of the mountain spur and not in an Inn in a crowded town. We will travel further up the spur and then towards the town to make some distance between our fire of last evening and our camp of last night. So, let us be away. We will lead the horses as I don’t think they’re fit to ride. Also, we would be more easily seen from the trail if mounted upon them.”

The journey slow going; half a day on the trail took them a full day to shadow the trail in the lee of the mountain spur. They looked at the trail most of the day and observed very few travellers and relied on them hurrying to their destination in the morning and the shadow cast by the setting sun in the afternoon to cover their passage. They stopped when they could see the Town in the distance. Raised up high, built on stranded portion of the mountain spur, separated from the mountain spur proper by a deep cut and they stood on the mountain spur proper side, so near and yet so far. This granted the town an easily defensible position, it also meant they still needed to travel some distance.