A light rain was falling as they rode out the archway they had entered the city through. More of a calming mist than a true rain. Not even enough to gather into puddles on the dirt before it was absorbed in the ground.

Nathan had never ridden a horse before. There wasn’t that much demand for it back on earth, not when there were cars and planes to get around. And he found that he didn’t much like it. The great lumbering beast stunk, and kicked, and snorted, and didn’t like to obey his orders, and the saddle hurt his ass. But people looked regal on horses, handsome and noble, even. And the map Arnold had given him marked their destination as about a day’s ride away. So he was going to do it. Anything that made him look good was worth doing.

Arnold had given them some coin to acquire horses for a few days, and now they were off. Should only be gone a few days.

“Hurry up,” Cleo called from several yards in front of him. “I moved faster than this back when I had a cane.” Her horse was, of course, listening attentively to her every command. A noble steed of brown and white that pranced and trotted like it was made for Cleo. Nathan was fairly certain that if she’d asked it to roll over, it would have.

“Stupid bloody…” He yanked the reins of the annoying animal, desperately trying to get it to start walking again, but no matter how hard he pulled, it just kept eating grass. “So help me, I will turn you into glue,” he hissed down into the beast’s ear. It continued to chew.

I wonder what ability I’d get from a horse… A tiny flicker of energy pooled into his palm.

Cleo turned her majestic steed and rode back toward him, stopping it beside his. “Do you need help?” she asked.

Nathan pulled the reins again, grunting with effort, but he might as well have been trying to pull a boulder. “From you? No.”

She eyed him, waiting and watching as he continued to fail to get the stupid thing to move.

Finally, he tossed the reins down onto the horse’s neck. He drew his lips to a thin line of annoyance and glared at Cleo. “Fine,” he said.

“Fine, what?”

“Fine, I’ll take some help.”

“Say please.”

“Please.”

“Say, I'm an idiot and you’re smarter and better than me, Cleo.”

Nathan narrowed his eyes at the woman, grinning in challenge. She raised an eyebrow expectantly. He raised a hand, letting some energy flow into it until a low green flame sputtered to life. “Piss off.”

He slapped his hand down on the rump of his horse. It bolted its stupid head straight up, reared back up onto its hind legs, and then took off at a gallop down the trail.

There were a lot of things crowding his mind. How Cleo and he became Soulchained, the Mantle of the Ferryman, the strange negative pressure he could give off – he had tested it after the fight with Fallon and it only seemed to affect spells, not objects or people – and many more. But it all faded in the rushing wind, the beat of the sun on his face. He was alive. And for the first time, he was living for himself.

Nathan let out a wild whoop, one hand in the air as he sped down the trail, leaving Cleo in the dust.

***

The road was well worn and traveled. It was the main road out of Aelsport after all. He and Cleo passed many merchants while on the road over the past several hours. Had she been alone, Nathan was sure Cleo would have robbed several of them… or worse.

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And maybe they should’ve. They certainly didn’t have much in the way of supplies. A few days worth of provisions, simple weapons each – Nathan had gotten a crossbow of his own the previous day, rope, fire starters, torches. The usual. But, assassin or not, Nathan had honor, he wasn’t going to steal some stuff for a quick buck.

Once the sun was beginning to sneak away behind the cover of distant mountains, the two assassins decided to rest for the night and make camp. The two horses were tied up to the base of a thick tree, grazing quietly at the lush grass around them. How they could look so nice and calm, but then be the most stubborn, hair-pullingly annoying creatures ever, Nathan didn’t know.

“I thought you said Arnold said it was only a day’s ride away?” Cleo asked while staking the ends of a canvas tent into the soft ground. “We rode all day.” She turned her head back and forth, holding her hands palm up at her side. “I don’t see a dungeon.”

Nathan just shrugged. “We had a late start.” He pulled a flint and steel from the pack on his back and started scraping magnesium onto a small pile of kindling. “We should get there in the morning. It can’t be more than an hour or two's ride away.”

“If you got us lost…”

“I didn’t get us lost.” He scraped the steel, creating a spark and catching the kindling.

“I said we should’ve asked for directions from those grain merchants.” Cleo had finished setting up the tent and was now climbing into a tree.

“Yeah, only cause you wanted to rob them while I distracted them!” The fire was now large enough that it wasn’t at risk of going out and Nathan started putting some medium sized sticks on it.

“Oh, please! They were all but asking for it,” Cleo said, rolling her eyes and scowling down at Nathan from the tree branches. “You saw how they just had their bags of coins sitting on the back of their cart. They’d never have even known it was gone until we were miles away.”

“That’s not the point,” Nathan grumbled.

“Then what is the point? That just because you’ve turned over a new leaf and want to be all high and mighty, I have to too?” She chuckled and shook her head. The stars were starting to come out again, bathing the area in a silvery glow. “That ain’t happening. Be a boy scout on your own.”

Nathan pulled out a plump sausage from a sack in his pack and shoved it into a stick he’d found. Perfect for roasting. “I’m sorry for not wanting everyone to hate me. And what are you doing in the trees?”

Cleo cocked her head and looked down. She appeared to be genuinely confused by his question. “What do you mean?”

“You just finished pitching a tent.” He gestured with his sizzling sausage over at the tanned piece of canvas stretched between two trees. “Even put some of your food and supplies in there. Why are you in the tree?”

“You didn’t really think that I would be sleeping in there, did you?” She laughed, looking at Nathan like he was an idiot.

Now it was Nathan’s turn to be genuinely confused. “Well then what the hell else would you be doing with it?” he cried, throwing his arms into the air so hard that the sausage nearly sailed right off the stick. “I know you didn’t set it up for me.”

“The day I do something for you out of the kindness of my heart, is the day hell freezes over.”

The hoots of what Nathan thought were owls sounded through the chilled night air. A wind rustled the leaves, scattering several to the ground. Despite the pale light of the stars, it was very dark out. There was no telling what manner of beast stalked these woods.

“It’s a distraction,” Cleo said, settling back into a curve in the branches, adjusting her shoulders so she was nice and comfortable. “Thieves or monsters walk into the camp, try to rob us, but I’m already a step ahead of them.” She pulled out her crossbow, its string glittering like a line of silk in the starlight, and gave Nathan a wink. “Then it’s just easy pickings.”

“Quite rich for you to be worried about thieves, don't you think?” Nathan laughed, sticking his sausage back into the fire. It was getting a nice char on the outside. Arnold had said they were made of some type of animal Nathan had never heard of, and he was excited to give it a taste.

Cleo tsked and closed her eyes. “We’ll see who’s laughing later tonight. Have fun on the ground.”

Nathan grumbled and turned back to his sausage. He bit into the sizzling thing and a spurt of juice squirted out of it. It was salty and as good as any sausage he’d had back on earth. Unfortunately she has a point…

After finishing his meal and putting out the fire, Nathan settled back against the base of a different tree than Cleo. He pulled a blanket and thin sleep pad out of his pack and got comfortable, and sleep soon took him.

***

A soft crack rudely pulled Nathan from his slumber. He jerked up from the blankets, blinking, trying to see in the dim night. The horses whinied, pulling futilely at their restraints. He didn’t know how long he’d been out, but the stars were now hidden by clouds, making everything all the darker. Something moved around their camp, lurking in the shadows, rustling over dry leaves and thin sticks. Something that didn’t sound very friendly.

God dammit.

I hate when she’s right.