Chapter Six

The trees covering any sign of light on the forest floor wasn't exactly helpful. Each horse had it's share of stumbles. We ran into a few trees, actually. Not pleasant.

The light flowed soundlessly across the tops of the trees as the sun raised over the horizon to the right.

"Finally!" I said as the ground grew to nearly half the usual light.

"Still not very bright." Roy replied as his horse stepped over a log he would have tripped on before.

"Better than before." I said, distracted by the beauty sleeping behind him. As she had bathed, and was hooded before, I hadn't noticed.

"Look behind you." I added.

He did

"I don't see anything." I kept my eyes on her.

"At the person behind you." He turned his body half way, and his head the rest.

"Stop staring at her like that!"

"Like what?"

"Like that! She's mine!" He raised his voice a little.

"Don't you know me well enough to know I wouldn't steal her from you?"

"I guess so."

"You guess so? We've been best friends all out lives!"

"Fine, I know you wouldn't even try. Not like you could, anyway." It had always been this way. In public, he seemed much more respectable and reserved. In private, not so.

"We'll see about that." I laughed.

As it slowly got brighter and brighter, and I couldn't stop looking, I noticed certain things to say Zahra wasn't asleep.

"How long have you been awake?" I asked, looking at her.

She was leaning against my partner's back, either looking at the ground, or with her eyes closed.

"Haven't slept this whole time." She looked up at me with her dazzling emerald eyes.

"Oh." I was a little embarrassed at the fact she had heard our conversation earlier.

Just then I heard the sound of hooves closing fast behind us.

A man in a blue cape riding a black horse rode by at full speed.

"What was that about?" Zahra asked, as she was new to this sort of thing.

"Just some guy. Actually I've seen him before, talked to him a few times too." I said breaking my view willingly from his trail, to her.

"He was handsome." Roy looked back at her.

"What? How could you tell?"

"Uh, I looked at him?"

"I could barely see him?"

"Of course you couldn't."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing." She looked as though she had said something she didn't mean to.

"You sure?"

"Yes."

Silence held ground as we rode the fairly straight paths to the ranch called 'Dusty Trails'. I knew nothing about it, as I had simply picked it as the nearest to where we were.

"Before we go in, who's paying for this thing?" Zahra looked at Roy

"Don't look at me."

"Fine, I'll pay for him."

"You want a boy, then?"

"Naturally."

"What about you girls and your little pink ponies?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, right." I remembered the title of her past; slave.

"Well?"

"Normally the female types are interested in such things as horses, princesses, the color pink." The voice of an elderly man came from behind a nearby tree.

"Who's there?" I looked at the tree as I said this.

"No need to be alarmed." He stepped into the light. As Zahra saw him she put her hood up to hide her face.

"Who are you?" Roy asked.

"No one in particular."

"Ok, what do you want?"

"I'm a ranch hand, sir."

"Oh! Good."

"What business have you here?"

"The lady wishes to purchase a horse."  Roy spoke up for her.

"Oh she does, does she?"

"Yes, I do."

"Follow me." He lead us through tall wooden gate, into the surrounding fences, and into a large two story house located somewhere near the middle.

"You might want to talk to this man." He pointed.

"Thank you"

"I want a horse." Zahra walked up to him ahead of either of us.

"What kind of horse?"

"A black one"

"No, I mean what kind? A fast horse? Work horse?" She looked to us.

"Somewhere in the middle is what I've found best." Roy advised.

"Somewhere in the middle it is, then."

"Alright. Follow me." He took her outside, with my partner and I trailing behind.

"Now I've noticed you're not too smart In the ways of horses, so I'm gonna dumb this down for you."

"That should help."

"We've got three black horses."

"Ok." They continued walking and he pointed them out to her.

"This one, slightly smaller, which I would advise for you. This one, is a bit larger, you wouldn't have too much trouble with him. Ah but now, we have the largest steed here. I'm not even going to let you go near him."

"I'll survive."

"So which one do you want?"

"Hmm" she thought for a minute "Do they have names?"

"No, we leave that to the customers."

"Will either of them be able to keep up with those two?" She pointed at Epona and Lon, our two brown horses.

"The smaller could keep up, but probably not win in a race. The other could race them fine."

"I want that one."

"Which one?"

"The racing one." As Roy heard this he hung and shook his head.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. He's beautiful, and faster."

"If that's how you pick 'em."

"How much will that be?"

"Two thousand" Zahra opened her pouch and looked disappointed.

"I've only got four." She had four fist sized pieces of platinum, each worth about fifty thousand rupees each.

"Four what?"

"Of these" She showed him the insides of the bag.

"Whoa!" He stammered backwards.

"You've got plenty enough, ma'am." His tone changed as he found she was a rather rich woman.

"But you said two thousand?"

"I'll settle for four, since you're such a beauty" It was easy for anyone but her, blinded by the compliment, to see how he was charging quite a bit higher, not lower.

"You're so kind!" She handed him the bag.

"I'll even throw in everything you'll need to ride."

"I'm amazed!" I pulled out my bow.

He took the bag and walked toward the stone house.

I took an arrow out of my quiver, aimed, and shot the bag right out of his hand, the arrow sticking in a nearby fence, with the pouch still hanging from it.

"What kind of an idiot are you?" I yelled at Zahra.

"What do you mean?"

"He just took enough money to buy every horse here!"

"But he"

"But nothing! I don't see you'll be needing that money anymore."

"That's my money!" The man said after standing stunned for a few seconds.

"No, that's my money." He ran towards me.

"You really wanna fight?"

He took a barely aimed swing at my head, I ducked, and hit him on the back with the side of my sword.

"That wasn't too hard." I said as he fell onto the ground.

"You're fast.."

"Just think if Roy here had been doing it." I dropped rock onto his head to knock him unconscious.

"Lets go get the stuff we'll need." I said as I picked up the route back to the house.

"What about him?" Zahra asked.

"What about him?"

We got everything we needed, mounted Zahra on her new horse and rode out.