Horace's birthdays were never really a big deal, but he always enjoyed them anyways. He didn't get a day off from his training and studies, but they were more lenient on him. Horace got to choose who his teacher was that day and what they worked on. He always chose his dad, and every year they worked on the same thing; disadvantaged combat.
Horace would spend several hours with his father learning the basic techniques about how to adapt to a fight, no matter what the situation was. On his birthday Horace would learn the basics of how to fight when hurt or disadvantaged, and he would spend the rest of the year practicing what he had previously learned so he would retain it all until his next birthday, when a new skill was added.
Horace's first birthday lesson had been when he was eight years old. He'd learned how to fight with one hand tied tightly behind his back. The next year he had done the same thing but using his non-dominant hand. In addition to this, Horace had learned how to fight while blindfolded, being unable to hear, only able to use one leg, having use of neither of his legs, or neither of his arms, as well as a few other things.
On Horace's twentieth birthday he tried to fight while under the influence of hallucinogens. It was exhausting, frustrating, completely terrifying, and a lot of fun. It was Horace's favorite birthday, even if he had to spend the rest of the day recovering alone in his bedroom because of the lingering hallucinogens in his system.
Horace could have slept the entire following day, but he was shaken awake far too early. He groaned and rolled over, pulling his blanket up over his head. "Go away, Varian." He was normally a lot more patient with the kid, but he'd had a long day, and he couldn't have been asleep for more than a few hours. He knew that Varian always got testy when he felt like he was away from Horace for too long, but could he really not stand to be alone for one day?
"Guess again, your highness." Horace's eyes shot open when he heard a voice that definitely didn't belong to Varian. He rolled over to see Adira watching him in amusement. Horace shot up in his bed, ignoring his aching body.
"Adira," Horace stared at her in shock. "What are you doing here?" It wasn't that odd for Horace to be woken up in the middle of the night by some surprise training session, but it had never happened when he'd already had a physically and mentally exhausting day. They didn't want to push him too hard. Was that changing now that he was twenty years old?
"Don't worry, you'll like it." Adira promised him. She was smiling, but Horace found it difficult to trust the mischievous look in her eyes. "We must hurry though, if we want to get there while the moon's still in the sky.
Horace barely kept himself from groaning. The Dark Kingdom loved the moon. They liked the night more than the day, both because of the moonstone, and because night time was the only time when the skies were not so gloomy. They didn't get sunny days, but night skies were always clear and beautiful. Horace had been told that the moon shone brighter in the Dark Kingdom than anywhere else in the world, but he'd never gotten the chance to see it for himself.
Because the Brotherhood loved, respected, and feared the moon they always had their most important ceremonies and rare celebrations in the middle of the night. Horace knew that the Brotherhood also preferred to travel under the light of the moon, and that they switched Great Tree duty every full moon.
Horace didn't know what Adira had in mind right now, but he knew that if he didn't willingly follow her she would tie him up and drag him to their destination. She had done it before. He may be the prince, but that didn't stop the Brotherhood from knocking him down a few pegs when they thought he was being a brat.
Horace yawned and got out of bed. He got dressed, grateful at least that Adira had turned away to give him at least a little bit of privacy. Horace didn't know what the deal was, but whenever he was woken up by the Brotherhood they didn't leave the room until he did, which meant getting dressed in front of them. Horace had gotten over the embarrassment of it years ago, though he was still glad when Adira or Quirin came to get him. They at least pretended to give him some privacy. Hector on the other hand…
Horace had just put on his cape and was reaching for his satchel when he heard a familiar shriek, soon followed by an equally familiar cackle. It seemed that Varian was the unlucky one who was woken up by Hector. Horace just barely finished putting his satchel on when Hector kicked the door open and let himself in, carrying Varian over his shoulders.
"Hey, kiddo." Horace said. He watched in amusement as Varian squirmed and tried to climb on top of Hector to get an advantage over him. He didn't look like he was having very much success, but Horace knew that if Varian was trying to escape from anybody else he would have easily managed it. Varian may just be ten years old, and not very physically impressive, but he was fast and extremely flexible. If he was up against anybody that wasn't a professionally trained warrior he would kick their butts.
"Hi, Horace," Varian said. He tried one more time to squirm away from Hector. The man smirked and let go of the boy. Varian yelped as he fell headfirst from Hector's back. He would have hit his head on the ground if Adira hadn't swooped in and caught him at the last second.
"Hector, Quirin has talked to you about giving his son a concussion." Adira scolded. She righted Varian, who stumbled slightly. He didn't even look bothered about coming so close to hitting his head.
"He's fine," Hector shrugged. "Aren't you, kid?"
"Yeah," Varian nodded. He adjusted his bracer. The bracer itself was different from the bracers he'd originally been given, but the fur that lined it was the same. Varian looked at Hector and Adira. "Where are we going?"
Hector smirked. "You'll see." He adjusted his cloak and led the way out of the room. Horace quickly put his boots on and followed behind him, with Varian at his side and Adira bringing up the rear.
Horace had no expectation of where they were going, and yet he still somehow ended up surprised when Hector led them out of the castle and into the stables. Even though it was the middle of the night all of the animals were wide awake. Hector walked up to his bearcats, greeting them.
"Alright, beauties, who wants to go on a trip and who wants to stay here and protect the castle?" Hector asked. One of his bearcats growled and walked out of the pen. It made its way towards the castle. The remaining bearcat walked up to Varian, who smiled and pet it.
"Wait...wait a second," Horace felt a spark of hope in his chest. "Trip? What trip?"
Adira put a hand on Horace's shoulder. She looked excited. "You'll see. Go saddle up Domino."
"Domino?" If Horace was hopeful before he was ecstatic now. He'd ridden his dad's horse before, but he doubted Hector and Adira would wake him up just for a quick trot around the castle. And Horace hadn't forgotten that he hadn't actually received a birthday present yesterday.
Every year Horace was given a single gift on behalf of the entire Brotherhood. Sometimes it was the latest book in the Flynn Rider series. Once it had been a letter that his mom had written for him. Her death had been unexpected, but in a kingdom plagued with darkness and death everybody was prepared for their next day to be their last.
Varian seemed to be thinking something similar to Horace, because his eyes brightened and he looked almost as excited as the prince felt. Without a word Varian went to help Horace prepare Domino. Because the horse was so large and Varian was still so small he couldn't do much more than just hold the reins to keep Domino still while Horace saddled up.
It wasn't a necessary job, as Domino was much too well-behaved to act up, but Horace knew that Varian liked to feel helpful. Once Domino was all prepared Horace lifted himself into the saddle. Hector was already sitting on the back of his rhino, with Adira sitting just behind him. Varian was on top of the bearcat that would be joining them.
"So, where are we going?" Horace asked eagerly as they left the stables. He didn't really care where they went, he was just excited to be getting out of the castle. Sure, he'd left the castle before, and he'd even left the kingdom and made it all the way to the Great Tree, but this time was different. This time he was allowed to leave, at least for a bit. And if they were taking Domino that probably meant that his dad knew about this.
Horace didn't know why, but it felt so good to know that he wouldn't be getting in trouble for expanding his horizons this time.
"Just to the borders," Hector said, like it wasn't a big deal. Horace didn't think that Varian had ever been past the boundaries of the Dark Kingdom. Horace was looking forward to seeing the kid's face when he felt grass under his feet. Maybe he could convince Hector and Adira to let them stay out until tomorrow night so that Varian could properly see the sunset.
The castle wasn't actually too far from the borders, which Horace had always been confused about. The Dark Kingdom had been built on top of the destruction spread by the moonstone, with the castle built around the opal. The destruction didn't spread out equally though. Most of it went to the north, south, and east. For reasons that Horace never understood and Varian had always wanted to investigate, the moonstone had only completely destroyed a few miles worth of land to the west.
It only took about an hour of riding before they started to travel through trees and greenery. There were still plenty of black rocks surrounding them though. They were in the middle lands. It wasn't exactly part of the Dark Kingdom, but it somewhat was. They were near the official borders.
All of the trees looked the same to Horace, but Hector seemed to know exactly where they were going. At one point he led them off the beaten path, with the rhino somehow managing to navigate through the trees without trampling everything. The large animal was incredibly used to walking through the wild. It helped Hector patrol the Great Tree, after all.
Usually when Horace wandered this far from the castle he would look at the trees and wildlife as he passed it. This time though his gaze was on Varian. The kid was looking at the trees in awe. He kept on trying to lean closer to the bushes and leaves. He probably wanted to grab a sample or two.
Horace didn't know what was more entertaining, Varian's enthusiasm, or the way that the kid was so distracted that he frequently almost fell on his face. Hector's bearcat's intervention and focus was the only thing keeping the boy from hurting himself.
After a few minutes of travelling through trees and bushes they found themselves in a clearing surrounded by black rocks. The combination of nature and the unnatural black rocks was oddly beautiful, especially in the light of the moon.
"It's so pretty." Varian said. The bearcat finally let him climb off its back. Varian ran towards the middle of the clearing, only to stumble over his own feet and trip to the ground. Horace didn't think Varian was really hurt, but he started to second guess it when Varian didn't get up from the ground.
"Kid?" Horace hopped off of Domino's back and ran towards Varian. He knelt at the kid's side. "Varian, are you okay?"
"Uh-huh." Varian hummed contently. He turned his head to look at Horace, and the bright excitement in his eyes was one of the most amazing things the prince had seen in a long time. "The grass is so soft."
Horace chuckled and sat back. The grass in this particular clearing was actually a lot softer than it was in other places. "Feels nice, doesn't it?"
Varian nodded and rested his head against his arms. He closed his eyes. "I could just lay here for hours."
"Hey, that's what Adira does." Hector said.
"It's a good place for meditation." Adira said.
Horace and Varian had both done some meditation with Adira. The prince might think that was the reason why they had come here if it weren't for the fact that Hector was there. The man was good at a lot of things, and meditation wasn't one of them. They had to be here for another reason why they were here.
"You two ready for the real surprise?" Hector asked. He looked really proud of himself. He sat on the ground next to Horace and Varian. Adira joined them.
"What surprise?" Varian asked curiously.
"Just be still and quiet for a minute and you'll see." Adira said. She closed her eyes and started meditating. Horace took a deep breath and decided to join her. Hector watched the trees cautiously. Varian also sat up and watched with him, which Horace was disappointed about. He admired Varian's vigilance, but the boy was just a kid. He deserved to be allowed to act like it.
The minutes passed slowly and pleasantly. The silence was only broken by some rustling in the trees. Horace started and jerked, but Adira put a calming hand on his leg.
"Be calm," Adira said. "Give them a little more time."
Horace grimaced, but he forced himself to remain still. If Adira wasn't concerned and Hector was keeping Varian from attacking whatever was out there then it probably wasn't something to be worried about. A minute later the rustling picked up a little more before a small deer that looked like it had tusks wandered into the clearing.
Horace watched the musk deer with bated breath. It was nervous, but surprisingly brave. It watched them for a minute before it took a few steps closer. Immediately afterwards more animals wandered in behind the musk deer. They were animals of all sizes, from a few bats to a bear. Horace saw wolves, a lynx, a few rats, a raccoon, some lizards, and something that looked like an awkward deer that got a bad nose job.
"What...why aren't the predators attacking the prey?" Varian asked. He didn't look the least bit concerned about being so close to several dangerous animals.
"It's the blessing of the moon." Adira said. "This clearing is neutral territory, and even animals respect that."
"We thought we'd bring in a variety to pick from." Hector said. "If none of these work we can always find something else that will."
"Work for what?" Horace asked as the awkward deer approached him and started sniffing at his hair. Horace glared at it. "Don't even think about it, weirdo."
"We know how lonely the castle can be," Adira said. "Hector thought that if you two had pets, it wouldn't be as bad."
"Companions," Hector said as he pet the fur of a wolf that was almost the size of a horse. The beast was massive. "Not pets."
"We get to keep one?" Varian grinned excitedly. He giggled when the raccoon climbed onto his shoulders and started grabbing at his goggles.
"If you want," Hector said. "All these animals are already more than happy to move to the Dark Kingdom and join our ranks." Horace didn't even bother asking how he knew. Hector just had a way with animals. He could somehow understand what they were saying. He was the only one who understood Hamuel.
Varian smiled. He took off his goggles, which Horace rarely ever saw him do. To Horace's shock the kid slipped the goggles over the raccoon's head. The raccoon looked around curiously. It looked proud to be wearing the goggles. Horace didn't think that Varian would even be giving a second glance to any of the other animals. He'd already chosen his companion.
Horace was going to be a little pickier. Right away he knew that he would want a larger animal. He wanted something that he could ride. He didn't have any active plans to leave the Dark Kingdom, but he hadn't given up on the hope yet. He wanted to explore another kingdom, and it would be a lot easier to do that if he could escape quicker, which meant having a ride.
The animals that were big enough to ride were the bear, the large wolf, the lynx, and the awkward deer thing that Horace wasn't entirely sure what exactly it was. Horace was drawn a bit towards the bear, just because it would match the fur cloak that his dad wore. The bear was definitely large enough to ride, but it wasn't a traditional mount. Horace didn't know if it would be able to run well enough to be a good mount.
The wolf was his second thought, just because the thought of riding a wolf was really cool. Nobody would dare to mess with him. Of course, giant wolves weren't exactly the most inconspicuous, and it would definitely draw attention if he brought it into another town or kingdom.
Horace stood up to look between the two predators. As he went the weird deer followed right behind him. Horace stopped and turned to glare at the deer thing, which tilted its head curiously at him, like it didn't understand why he was frustrated.
"What even are you?" Horace crossed his arms as he glared at the animal. It huffed and stomped its feet like it was insulted. It threw back its head like a proud house flipping its mane, except the creature had no mane to speak of. It was a bit of a pathetic sight, but a funny one.
Adira walked up to the animal and pet its back. It also looked about the size of a horse. "This is a saiga antelope." Oh, an antelope. Not a deer at all. "It's a migrating animal."
Horace crossed his arms and gave the animal his first real look. The saiga antelope looked incredibly awkward and a bit unattractive to him, if it was a migrator then maybe it would be more willing to help him get away from the castle and migrate a bit himself.
Horace hummed to himself and approached the antelope. He held a hand out towards the antelope, though he didn't touch it. He let the antelope take the last step towards him and nudge its muzzle against his hand. Horace smiled.
"You're definitely not a looker." Horace commented. The antelope huffed, clearly insulted. Horace laughed and rubbed the antelope's muzzle comfortingly. "But you're obviously proud, and I can admire that."
The raccoon chattered and climbed up on top of Horace's shoulders. It jumped onto the antelope's head. It was completely unbothered by the smaller animal scampering all over it. Horace looked towards the bear and wolf, which were watching the raccoon impatiently.
Horace hummed thoughtfully and picked up the raccoon. "Do you want to help me with a small experiment?" The raccoon looked excited at his suggestion. "Okay, just go to the wolf and bear and annoy the moon out of them." The raccoon looked far too happy at the thought of antagonizing predators that could easily swallow it whole.
Horace put the raccoon down and watched it scamper towards the others. The raccoon climbed onto the bear's back and started chattering endlessly at it. It poked and prodded at the bear's face. The large bear growled and whined in annoyance as it tried to gently swat the raccoon away. It wasn't quite what Horace was looking for, but it wasn't half bad either.
The raccoon bothered the bear for another minute before it jumped off and ran towards the wolf. The wolf didn't even give it the chance to start messing with it. It growled threateningly at the raccoon and swiped at it with its claws. The raccoon dodged out of the way and scampered back to Varian, who held it protectively. The wolf hadn't hurt the raccoon, but Horace thought that it had definitely tried to do so.
The wolf was still growling and glaring at Ruddiger, and now Varian. Horace narrowed his eyes. He moved, ready to step in and protect the kid if he needed to. He saw Hector and Adira do the same thing. The one to make the first move though wasn't any of them.
The saiga made a sound similar to a bleating goat. It stomped its feet and lowered its head so its horns were pointed right towards the wolf. Horace knew that in a fight between the wolf and the saiga antelope, the wolf would win hands down, but he could tell that the saiga wouldn't be going down without a fight.
"Enough." Hector growled. He stepped between the two animals. He glowered at the wolf, which returned his glare for a moment before it whined and ducked his head. Even a wolf wouldn't dare to mess with Hector. Especially when they were under a truce.
Horace smiled in approval and pet the saiga. "Calm down, buddy. You did good." He could admire an animal that had the guts to not back down from a fight, even one that it was sure to lose. This saiga was proud and confident, probably needlessly so, but Horace had been told the same things about himself.
Most importantly though this saiga had protected the raccoon and Varian. If there was one thing that Horace needed from an animal companion was a natural protector. The Brotherhood were guardians, had been for generations. Any animals they worked directly with needed to have that same drive.
"I guess I'm going to have to get used to that snout of yours," Horace said to the saiga. "Anybody who puts their neck on the line to protect this kid is someone worth having around."
The raccoon nodded in agreement and nuzzled against Varian's face. The raccoon and the boy looked completely comfortable with each other, like they had been with each other for years. A raccoon was not the first animal that Horace had imagined seeing with Varian, but looking at them now he couldn't imagine the boy with another animal.
"You can claim more than one animal." Hector said as he looked towards his bearcat and rhino.
"Nah, I'm fine with just Ruddiger." Varian said.
"You've already named it?" Horace gave the kid an odd look. It wasn't like Ruddiger was all that common a name either. "Where'd you pull that name from?"
"I read it in an alchemy book." Varian shrugged. He wasn't even ashamed or sheepish about it.
"Nerd." Horace said. Varian pouted at him and the raccoon, Ruddiger, shot him a glare. Yep, those two were made for each other.
"I'm fine with just this guy too." Horace said. "I have enough on my plate with Varian, especially now that he's got another mischievous pair of hands getting him into trouble. I don't need any more responsibility."
"What's his name?" Varian asked.
Horace hummed thoughtfully and looked at the saiga. His eyes kept on wandering to its nose and somewhat awkward look. "...Nelovko." He finally said. Hector burst into laughter and Adira had an amused look in her eyes. Only Varian looked confused.
"That's from the old language, right?" Varian asked. Everybody in the Brotherhood learned the old language, though over the centuries it had become more of the Dark Kingdom's secret language. They only spoke it when they needed to discuss something private but were somewhere they could be overheard by outsiders.
Horace didn't think he could remember a single time when it had been necessary to speak the secret old language, but they all learned it just in case. Horace thought he was fairly fluent, but Varian was still just a kid. He probably knew a lot of random words, and he could piece together some decent sentences, but it wasn't surprising that he wasn't familiar with this particular word.
"It basically translates to 'awkward'." Horace said. He smirked at the saiga. "Because that's what you are, isn't it?"
"Nelovko." Varian muttered to himself. He nodded and tried to commit the word to memory.
Horace looked at the saiga. "Why don't we see what kind of mount you're going to be." He put his hands on saiga's back. It was thinner and shorter than Domino, though not by much. Horace jumped and lifted himself onto Nelovko's back. The saiga made a surprised sound, once again resembling a goat, and it shifted uncomfortably. Nelovko was not used to having a weight on its back.
Horace adjusted his position to redistribute his weight. Nelovko soon got used to it. The saiga started to walk slowly around the clearing, getting used to the feeling of having a rider. Horace had to get used to the feeling as well. Riding on the back of an antelope was surprisingly different from riding on Domino's back.
Not only did Nelovko move differently than horses did, but it wasn't as experienced a mount as Domino was. Horace's dad's horse didn't really need any guidance. He was skilled enough as a mount to know exactly what to do, even if his rider didn't have a clue. Nelovko, on the other hand, was brand new to this. He needed a lot more steering and control. It would take some getting used to for both of them.
"It suits you," Hector commented as he watched Horace and Nelovko walk around. Hector's smirk made it hard to tell if he was sincere or teasing him. Horace decided to take it as a compliment. He felt pretty incredible, riding on the back of an antelope.
"Hang on," Adira went to Domino's saddle bag and grabbed an extra set of bridle and reins. Horace put his hands on the antelope's shoulders and pulled it back, though it took multiple tries before it stopped. Adira came over and put the bridle over the saiga's nose. It didn't fit right, as Adira had to make them extremely loose for them to go over the muzzle at all, but for a temporary solution it would work fine.
"This may help." Adira said as she handed the reins to Horace. "But be careful."
"We'll take it nice and slow." Horace said. He knew he would need to give the saika a lot of time to get used to this new accessory. Horace didn't want to yank and tug on the reins so much that Nelovko got anxious and started resisting him. The saiga was really well-behaved, and Horace didn't want to do anything to change that.
"Will you be okay with riding back to the Dark Kingdom on the beast?" Hector asked. "Or do you want to take Domino and have your new friend follow behind us?"
"I'll ride him." Horace said. He could always change his mind later if it became too much for either of them.
"Then I'll take Domino." Adira said. She hoisted herself onto Domino's back. The bearcat came over to Varian, ignoring the way that Ruddiger hissed at it. The bearcat nudged Varian's leg until the boy climbed onto its back.
Horace was a little disappointed that they were heading home already. It would be dawn in a few hours Horace supposed that they wanted to get back before it got too warm out, even though it never really got hot in the Dark Kingdom.
He wasn't going to complain though. Horace had appreciated being able to get out of the castle, even just for a few hours. If he appeared ungrateful he could say goodbye to any chance of being given another opportunity like this.
Besides, once they got back to the castle Horace could probably convince Varian to make a custom bridle and reins set for Nelovko. The boy worked best with alchemy and mechanics, but he was creative enough that Horace was sure that he would at least be able to come up with a basic design for Hector or Quirin to go off of.
And maybe the others would let him go back to bed. After the long day he'd had yesterday, and the early start this morning, Horace was exhausted and felt like he could sleep for a week. Still, he was content. Sparring with his dad yesterday had been fun and educational. Getting to step outside of the kingdom, even if just for a few minutes, was always exciting. And on top of that he now had a new, odd looking friend.
All in all, it had been a pretty great birthday.
A/N: This one's just a one-shot. I mostly wrote it because I wanted to give Horace a real animal companion that's just his own. In the show he kinda has Max, but that doesn't really count, as Max is his own horse. I wanted him to have a mount, but not a boring old horse. By some miracle I found the saiga antelope, and it's one of my new favorite things. Seriously, look it up if you aren't familiar with it. They're just one of those animals that look like they don't really exist.
As soon as I saw it I knew that it had to be the animal for Horace. It's the nose thing. Saiga antelopes have noses that you wouldn't really expect from an antelope, and we all know that Eugene makes a big deal about his own nose. It's kinda a match made in heaven. And even though real saigas aren't big enough to ride on, this one is because I said so. Hey, if Hector's bearcats can be absolutely massive, Nelovko can be a bit large too.
The next story is going to be the start of the real plot of this series. So far it's just setting the scene and such.