Stopover in a Quiet Town

The sun feel slowly behind the distant mountains, leaving the sky ablaze with color. Soon the moon and the stars would shine in the heavens.  But my hope was that sometime before then we would take a rest.

“How much longer until we get there?” I asked.

Damien scoffed at my question. “Is his majesty not used to riding?”

“I am perfectly used to riding, but not to the ends of the earth.”

“We will get there soon enough.”

“Would you mind if we stretched at least?”

He sighed heavily and cursed under his breath, then brought the horse to a halt. I dismounted and began to walk through the field of grass. It was the countryside, but there were no houses to be seen for miles.

And assuredly, no place to water the horse.

“Maybe we should find a stream,” I said.

Damien kept stroking the horse’s head. “I suppose you’re right. Too bad you don’t have any royal servants to fetch you one.”

“What do you think I am?” I asked, offended by his jab.

“Just another rich kid, spoiled rotten, born to sit on his arse and command the world to do his bidding.”

“You aren’t a Kolarian citizen, so I don’t expect you to know all the good I’ve done, or that I am diametrically opposed to servants assisting me.”

“I’ll believe it when you learn some common manners. For instance, you didn’t even so much as give me a bloody thank you for saving you back there.”

This time I scoffed. “Well, forgive me, I was thinking of surviving and making sure you weren’t going to kill me as well. I completely forgot to thank you for popping up out of nowhere. Who even sent you?”

“Father Vincent,” he said, pointing behind him as if the man were there. I then assumed he meant the man was where we were headed. “He had another one of his visions, and the old guys is never wrong so I figured to come out and save you.”

“Sounds to me like a load of bollocks,” I said. “I suppose however I will find out when I get wherever it is I’m going.”

“And we will never get there if you aren’t on this horse like you should be.”

He climbed back up, and then helped me on. “And for your information, there is a stream about a mile ahead, Stefan.”

I nodded. “Thanks for stopping here.”

I couldn’t see him from behind, but it seemed as if he were stifling a smile. “Well, that is a step in the right direction.”

Author's Note

Ignore the formatting