Chapter 3
Rikki was not watching where she was stepping that time and the next thing she knew, she was flat on her butt, screaming in pain. Her foot was at an odd angle, not right for a human foot at all. The pain was too excruciating to ponder it more than that as Walker scrambled down to her.
"Hang on, I'll help you!"
"Lay one finger on me and you'll regret it, horseboy!"
"Someone has to help you, Rikki. Your ankle is broken and you won't get down this slope on your own," he pointed out, even though Rikki knew that. She didn't want to admit it, much less be helpless like that. She was better on her own. If only she hadn't even seen this guy, none of this would have happened. Why didn't she go back into the sea as soon as she'd seen him?
"Look, I know you have some kind of magic powers. I can sense that in you. I have my own; one of them is healing. I haven't yet found anything I can't heal, either. Let me at least try." Rikki only nodded agreement. The pain was getting worse and harder for her to think straight. Just the touch of his fingers on her ankle made her wince, and then the pain started to go away.
She watched him as her mind lost that pain-induced fuzziness. There was no visible effect from his hand, yet it felt warmer than normal, and then her ankle began to move back to a proper angle. He wasn't touching it with his other hand, either, though he did when it looked like the healing was almost done. The pain was gone by then, but Rikki still felt weak. Walker seemed to be done by then, just looking at her foot, and moving it around to make sure it was fully healed.
"Any pain now?"
"No, none," she whispered, swallowing.
"That's good, but you don't look well. I'll have to carry you, and the easy way," he added, standing up to take a swig from his canteen. He transformed back into his centaur body, all tan and strong again. He stepped over to her left side where the rocks were a little flatter, and sat fully down on his belly. "If you can climb on, I'll take you the rest of the way down."
"Okay," she said, her voice a little louder yet still weak. The pain had taken more out of her than she'd imagined. Still, she managed to climb onto his back, grabbing onto his brown mane for stability.
"May I?" he asked, turning half around at his waist to offer to help her on.
"If you can get your arms around my junction, you'll be able to hold on better."
"Okay," she agreed. "Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now, hold on. I'll go slowly, but it should be pretty smooth for you." With that, he got to his hooves and began back down the slope. Rikki had her arms around his 'junction' like he'd suggested, looking down to the side and trying to forget she was on the back of anything other than a horse. How did she always manage to get herself into situations like this? She was getting to be worse than Cleo!