I woke up to the sound of the shower. My sleep was so deep, and the bed was perfect so I drifted back to sleep. Anne was dragging me out of the bed when I woke up next.
“Time to get up you sleepy succubus, I wanna actually do shit today.”
“No, it's not even noon.”
“I am so sick of sitting on a train, then in this room, I am not waiting untill fucking noon.”
I fought as hard as I could to stay in bed but Anne was stronger so I quickly found myself on the floor.
“Serves you right,” she said looking down at me, “you should be excited, you have cash, time, and your beautiful girlfriend, what could be better.”
“I know, it just hasn’t hit me yet.”
“Well I’m not waiting until it does. I want out of this fucking uniform.”
I held out my hand and she helped me off the floor.
“Tailor’s first then?”
Anne nodded, “I already ate breakfast, and there is a pie on the table for you.”
“Damn okay, I’ll get dressed and eat on the way.”
“Don’t have to rush that much.”
“No it’s fine, if I stay here I will fall asleep again.”
When I opened the locking drawer to get my gun I saw Anne’s was still there.
“You’re not armed?”
Anne looked at me confused, “for the tailor?”
“You know I always have a gun on me.”
“I guess I assumed in the city, with things safer than your home, you wouldn’t, and I’m happy I won’t have to shoot at anyone again, I thought you would be too, especially with, you know.”
I shook my head, “it’s the opposite actually, best decision I ever made. I would do it again.”
We looked at each other for a moment. I wanted to ask her to take the fucking gun, its awful, but you shoot at someone because not shooting is worse, and I trusted her to handle it properly, to protect herself. She was there though when I shot the lieutenant; probably saw worse than I did, and she didn’t know what it was like, how fine I was with it. I’d told her of course, but I get it. Killing someone was supposed to be hard, to hurt, but I had to, and it only hurt because I was afraid of what would happen if anyone found out what I had done. I wish I could get her to understand that in the moment it just happens, but it wasn’t my place, it wasn’t right to push her to be violent. I wouldn’t ask.
Anne broke the silence, “okay.”
I took that to mean she was okay with me having my revolver, so I finished putting on the holster.
“I could go to a range, practice with it, I should anyway. Does that help?”
She shook her head, “I just don’t want either of us to have to shoot to kill again, it’s not just about what happened.”
I nodded, I think I understood, so I took my pie and gestured to the door. Anne smiled, quickly cheering up after our difficult conversation.
We got some stares as we left the hotel. I wasn't sure how much was us in our uniforms or how much was me happily munching away at my pie. I don’t think rich people ever really ate on the go, even though these little meat pies are perfect for it. A couple cabs were waiting on the street in front of the hotel.
“Hey, can you take us here?” Anne asked a cabbie who was smoking while brushing his horse. He took a look at us, clearly confused, then looked at the address on the telegram Anne was showing him.
“I don’t know what you are up to,” he said to us, clearly pissed off, “but I don’t go to those places, and it’s pretty fucking disrespectful to be wearing that.”
“What?” Anne was pissed. I put my arm around her to keep her calm or hold her back, whatever I needed to do to stop a fight.
“I know demons aren’t allowed in the army,” he said to me.
“Devil’s aren’t, succubi are, obviously.” I replied, trying to keep calm.
He laughed dismissively. “Whatever you say Miss, but I’m too proud of my work to get involved with this bullshit,” he said, turning his back to us. Anne was furious, I had never seen her tail puff up so completely before.
“He’s not worth the effort.” I said to her as I somewhat forcefully turned her around and took her back into the hotel. “We can buy a horse.”
“We should have worn our shields, and kicked his ass for that disrespect, or something.”
“I’ll get us a double saddle we can use until you learn to ride. It’ll be fun, and we’ll be able to go wherever we want, and you’ll be able to hold onto me as we ride around.”
Anne huffed, still angry, but her tail wasn’t so puffy anymore. “Fine, but I am still gonna tell the hotel what happened. He shouldn’t be out there if he doesn’t want to do his fucking job.”
“Of course,” I replied, quickly finishing off my pie as we made our way to the front desk.
“The cabs out front, do they have a deal with the hotel?” Anne asked the front desk clerk.
“No,” she replied, “it is a public street, and we occasionally have issues with them, so we recommend letting us arrange a cab. Did one of them try to overcharge you or behave inappropriately?”
“No,” Anne said, “refused to serve us.”
The clerk looked us over like she just now realized we weren't human, “that does happen sometimes, sadly. We try, but we can’t control their behavior, and there is no law against refusing service for any reason. Would you like me to arrange a cab, I assure you the ones who work for parliament will not disrespect you in any way.”
“Maybe,” I said, “but after that, we figured it would be better to buy a horse. Any recommendations?”
“There are a few places parliament recommends, but, I would worry you might get a similar treatment. They are used to a wealthy clientele, and may not know how to deal with your needs. I know the stable master, he’s a good man, and he might know of a place that would meet your needs.”
“Is it really that bad?” Anne asked.
The clerk looked a little sad, but remained calm and professional. “Not everywhere, but in wealthier areas businesses worry about their image. It makes them reluctant to deal with anyone who might upset their conservative customers. Officers are not always happy to share space with privates.” Anne and I frowned. This overly euphemistic way of saying there are bigoted shits everywhere pissed me off as much as the bigotry, but at least the clerk seemed to dislike it, even if they felt they couldn’t say it directly. Guess it’s not her fault, probably part of the job.
“Take us to the stable master then.” I said.
The clerk showed us to the stables and left as we opened the door and stepped inside.
“Damn, I mean, I heard you were staying here and I was hoping to meet you. I am Fanaka, I run the stables here, was just reading about you early this morning.” He was smiling as he looked through the mess of papers on his desk. “Here it is,” he said triumphantly as he handed me a small newspaper. It was called “The Standard Issue” and seemed to be a straightforward army paper.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Fourth page, bottom right,” he said as I flipped through it. Most of the articles were short and to the point. Factual telling of promotions, demotions, funding changes, battles, things like that. The article about us was no different, a one sentence summary of why we got royal shields, our names, and to my surprise, it said I was the first succubus to receive any kind of combat medal.
“I didn’t know that,” I said in disbelief.
“Know what?” Anne asked as she moved up against me and put her arm around my waist so she could read the paper as I held it.
“Your woman is the first succubi to get a combat medal. Some nurse whose name I can’t remember was the first to get any sort of medal. You got a royal shield though, hardest one to get, or hardest one to get if you don’t die. Impressive stuff Private Zalgeth, and you too Private, sorry I don’t know which one you are?”
“Anne.”
“I’m still surprised I’m the first.”
Fanaka shrugged, “it’s only been 21, 22 years of succubi able to enlist, and soldier’s must have a pretty shit reputation among your kind.”
“I wouldn’t know, grew up in the middle of nowhere, don’t know my own kind.”
“Poor woman, I’m sorry to hear that.” Another person more worried about my isolation than I was. He continued, “I hope you got some sense of what you're missing in the army, I know I did, still drink with a few of the boys, though I ended up marrying a man who was a contractor, he wasn’t in the army proper, but close enough.”
“Oh where on the front were you?” Anne asked, cheering up now that she knew he was a gay veteran.
“I got out a long time ago, before the war started. I didn’t want to leave but,” he patted his left leg, “got this fucked up in an accident, so I moved back home, worked for the family business, horses obviously, then got the chance to work for parliament and eventually ended up here.”
“It worked out at least.” Anne said. He nodded, sitting down at his desk, wincing in pain a little as he did.
“As much as I would love to chat, we can do that another time. I would be honored to show you some good bars with my husband. He’s not the biggest fan of war stories, but I think that’s ‘cause he’s heard my friends’ and mine too many times, and, sorry, I ramble when I’m nervous, should focus on work. What brings you two here, looking to learn to ride?”
I shook my head, “No, I’m pretty good on horseback, we had an issue with a cabbie and decided it would be best to buy a horse. The front desk clerk who’s name I forgot to get said you might know a place. We’re not looking for anything fancy, just a reliable animal to get around the city.”
He gave his scraggly beard a couple of strokes, “My family’s place is the obvious choice, if you don’t mind the nepotism. They mostly deal with the postal service, exactly the kind of horse you are looking for, hard working, reliable, not fast or fancy, though I don’t know how well they will do with a succubus.”
“I’ve never had any trouble with horses, is that some stereotype I don’t know about?”
“Shit sorry if it is, maybe it comes from most of you having to live in cities and not having the money or reason to learn to ride. I just assumed you smell different from humans the way beastfolk do, but I guess not, or not in a way horses care about.”
I shrugged, satisfied with his apology, he was far nicer about it than any other human I’ve met.
“I’m surprised it isn’t the opposite.” Anne said, “She weighs like half what a human her height would, makes it easier on the horse.”
“Really?” Fanaka seemed genuinely surprised. “I assumed that was made up.”
“I’m used to it, but I get it’s weird.”
Anne looked up at me. “Don’t call yourself weird. It’s good, since I have to ride with you until I learn. We won’t be too heavy, a regular horse can handle us no problem.”
Fanaka agreed, “A particularly small horse might not like it, but it’s good, and if you can ride well. Have you ever tried racing? Your pretty tall so getting down enough so the wind doesn’t fuck you might be hard, but you would be lighter any human jockey. I guess a short succubus would be perfect, why have I never seen that?”
“Bigots.” Anne replied.
To my surprise I considered trying it. I guess my life was stable enough now I could do whatever stupid bullshit I wanted. Might be fun.
“You know,” Anne said to me, “we should make an actual list of all the stuff we wanna try down. I am not gonna remember it all, and you certainly aren’t”
“I know, I keep forgetting about that dinner with Ezrylliil”
A moment passed before Faraka redirected the conversation.
“Here,” he said, pulling out a map of the area and drawing a route on it, “it’s not that far, about fifteen minutes. Stay on the main road, you can’t miss it. I’ll get Dawn saddled up for you. She’s a good, friendly horse, and uh, Abasi, my brother, he can be, he means well, but he says stupid shit sometimes.” Fanaka wrote something on a piece of paper and handed it to me, “just give him this.” I laughed when I read it. All it said was “Don’t be an ass, they’re war heroes.” He didn't even sign his name.
Dawn was a great horse. She seemed to know the way, which let me focus on Anne. I wouldn’t say she was afraid, but she was certainly uncomfortable. I could tell by how tightly she held onto me. I get it, being on an animal that could, if it wanted to, throw you off and kill you with a kick is scary, it scared me when I first started learning, but horses are predictable once you know how to handle them and what to watch for. The city is what made me nervous. Watching for people, carts, and other horses was all new to me and I wasn’t very good at it. Thankfully Dawn was used to it and weaved through traffic effortlessly.
The not at all creatively named 54th Street Stables was surprisingly large. I associated horses with fields, dirt roads, open spaces in general, but of course there were massive urban stables like this. The city ran on horsepower. Not knowing where to go I rode up to what seemed like the front gate and waited. I guess it was the right thing to do as it wasn’t long before a young man opened the gate for us.
“Hello,” he said, taking a look at us as he waved us in. “Any chance Fanaka sent you?”
“Abasi I take it? How’d you know?” Anne asked as I helped her down.
“He’s always sending his army buddies here, not that I mind.”
“I wouldn’t say we are army buddies exactly.”
“Oh are you gays then?” Anne laughed and I tensed up a little.
“Yea we are.” Anne replied, “army too, but we just met him actually. He said to give you this.” She took the paper from my pocket and handed it to him.
He laughed when he saw it, “fair enough, what did you do?”
“Covered a retreat by ourselves,” I replied.
“Saved a lot of lives I take it?”
I nodded.
“Guess I should give you a good deal. What are you here for?”
“A horse to get around the city, and a double saddle. Doesn’t need to be anything fancy, but I don’t do well with crowds, and I want to teach her,” I gestured to Anne, “to ride, so a calm one would be best.”
“A bigger one too, if it’s going to carry both of you.”
“No, I’m light, magically light, together we weigh as much as a large guy.”
“You sure? I didn’t know that was possible.” He asked.
Anne laughed at him, “Yea, we’re sure.”
He looked away before making eye contact again. “Sorry, my mouth works faster than my brain sometimes. I think I have a good horse for you. The post didn’t want her ‘cause she is a little lazy, but I think you will like her.”
He came back leading a roan horse. “This is Sweetheart. She’s exactly how you would expect with her name, but when we tried to get her to work for an entire day she got a little difficult. No aggression, but she can be stubborn if she decides she doesn’t want to do something.”
I looked her over. Seemed healthy, and she was gentle, letting me touch her and even inspect her hooves without issue.
“Anne, it’s up to you, I think she’s good, but it is important you are comfortable.”
“Here,” Abasi brought a carrot for Anne to give to Sweetheart. I was nervous, but I didn’t need to be. Both of them were instantly comfortable with each other. Abasi showed me how the double saddle should sit on her and let me take her up and down the street. I liked her, she listened, and liked people so much I had to pull her away sometimes.
“How does $200 sound, for horse, saddle, everything.” Abasi asked when I got back. I knew I should haggle, but I had no idea if that was a fair price. It seemed about right, but I didn’t want to get cheated.
“That’s fine,” Anne replied, “You know, your brother invited us out for drinks with him and his husband, I’m sure he will love hearing about our new horse, and she will be in his stables, so he will get to know her first hand.”
“You wound me,” Abasi said, pretending to be seriously offended, “I wouldn’t cheat my brother’s friends, or anyone.”
“Sure,” Anne said, rolling her eyes.
“I swear it, I want to make a good impression. I don’t know his gay friends, he doesn’t let me near them. I get it, I was an ass when I was younger, but I would appreciate it if you could put in a good word for me.”
“I can tell him that you wanted us to put a good word in for you.” Anne replied sternly.
He laughed, either missing that he bothered Anne, or not caring, “close enough, thank you.”
“Oh I almost forgot, do you have a map, and can you maybe help with directions?” I asked.
Abasi frowned when he saw the addresses in Cathrine’s telegram. “These are all in pretty rough parts of town, or I mean, might be different for you, they probably look after their own, but they wouldn’t know who’s horse it is. Let me get a lock for you.”
The device was simple enough. It went around the horse’s chest and could not be taken off without being unlocked, and it had a chain that could be locked to a hitching post or whatever was available.
“Now,” he explained, “a proper horse thief could get through this easily, but considering how Sweetheart is likely to walk off with anyone it is best to use it. Means random people won’t be able to take her. This might be out of line for me to say, but it might be good to spread the word that it’s a demon’s horse, you’re horse assuming they like you down there, especially if you’re leaving her in the same places at around the same time. That is when proper thieves might notice and bring the tools to get through the lock.”
“How much?” I asked.
“It’s on me.”
Anne insisted on splitting the $200 evenly, but I convinced her to take Sweetheart once she learned to ride, and I would pay for my own horse.
Anne was right to be so angry about the cab driver. One of us should have at least punched him. I thought it didn’t bother me that much, but being on my own horse, Anne’s arms around me, knowing I was able to get around without depending on someone who could be a bigoted shit, it took a weight off me I didn’t know I was carrying. Riding to the tailor’s felt peaceful, despite the chaos of the city.