I hope you like the last episode. This one is a little shorter, I was
a little shorter on time. Fall sports only last about a month longer
though, and I am incapable of doing any of the offered winter sports. Of
course, the setting and some of the characters belong to Tamora Pierce, may
she write many more books set in Tortall.
Stella looked back only once; she saw Agile and Fury watching after her; their figures were vague and distant in the gloom. She rode at a walk in the beginning; she had no misconceptions about what would happen to her-and Fury and Agile-if the bandits woke up. When Pinecone had gone far enough down the path that they were out of hearing distance she paused.
Maybe, she thought, maybe, I should go home, I'm liable to get myself hurt. She thought this and it made since, but somehow she couldn't move to turn Pinecone towards home. A part of her wanted to keep going, wanted to see the world and live her own life. And, more than that, she felt compelled to keep going. It was as if someone had a grip on her and wanted to drag her off in that direction. In any case, there were lots of bandits between her and home. So, pretending to herself that she was only avoiding the bandits, Stella continued on in the direction she had been going.
She passed the place were, a few hours ago, she had been planning to make camp. She couldn't stop then though, she had to keep riding. She set Pinecone at a slow steady canter and his hoof-beats sung to her all night; keep going, keep going, keep going. So, she kept going and going and going. (Authors note: Stella is not related to the Energizer Bunny.)
She had never felt so strongly connected to Pinecone. He kept running because she kept riding, and she kept riding because he kept running. Their will flowed forwards ahead of them. Stella was free, free to ride onwards, even if she wasn't exactly sure where she wanted to go.
~~
By mid-morning Stella exhausted. She was slumped forward in the saddle, day-dreaming about her bed. Pinecone was drooping over, dreaming about an endless mountain of carrots. A little while after Stella started envisioning a pillow made of carrots, she slid of Pinecone's side and fell asleep.
Pinecone stopped and woke up. Snorting at her in exasperation, he grabbed the shoulder of her cloak in his teeth and dragged onto some moss a little ways off the path. He even bunched up some of her cloak under her head as a pillow. Then, he chomped at his bit, and glared back at his saddle. Sighing resolutely with his martyrdom he walked over to the stream.
~~
"Wake up," said a shrill, piping voice into Stella ear. "I'm hungry." The voice sounded as though its hunger where the equal to immediate war.
"Go away," Stella murmured. Then she felt the knife against her back.
"And that concludes this week's episode." Now for the quote:
"Good luck you can never know until the last minute." - Solomon The Price Arthur Miller Please, if you a reading this, review. I think that when this is published I will have more chapters than reviews which would be incredibly pathetic.
Stella looked back only once; she saw Agile and Fury watching after her; their figures were vague and distant in the gloom. She rode at a walk in the beginning; she had no misconceptions about what would happen to her-and Fury and Agile-if the bandits woke up. When Pinecone had gone far enough down the path that they were out of hearing distance she paused.
Maybe, she thought, maybe, I should go home, I'm liable to get myself hurt. She thought this and it made since, but somehow she couldn't move to turn Pinecone towards home. A part of her wanted to keep going, wanted to see the world and live her own life. And, more than that, she felt compelled to keep going. It was as if someone had a grip on her and wanted to drag her off in that direction. In any case, there were lots of bandits between her and home. So, pretending to herself that she was only avoiding the bandits, Stella continued on in the direction she had been going.
She passed the place were, a few hours ago, she had been planning to make camp. She couldn't stop then though, she had to keep riding. She set Pinecone at a slow steady canter and his hoof-beats sung to her all night; keep going, keep going, keep going. So, she kept going and going and going. (Authors note: Stella is not related to the Energizer Bunny.)
She had never felt so strongly connected to Pinecone. He kept running because she kept riding, and she kept riding because he kept running. Their will flowed forwards ahead of them. Stella was free, free to ride onwards, even if she wasn't exactly sure where she wanted to go.
~~
By mid-morning Stella exhausted. She was slumped forward in the saddle, day-dreaming about her bed. Pinecone was drooping over, dreaming about an endless mountain of carrots. A little while after Stella started envisioning a pillow made of carrots, she slid of Pinecone's side and fell asleep.
Pinecone stopped and woke up. Snorting at her in exasperation, he grabbed the shoulder of her cloak in his teeth and dragged onto some moss a little ways off the path. He even bunched up some of her cloak under her head as a pillow. Then, he chomped at his bit, and glared back at his saddle. Sighing resolutely with his martyrdom he walked over to the stream.
~~
"Wake up," said a shrill, piping voice into Stella ear. "I'm hungry." The voice sounded as though its hunger where the equal to immediate war.
"Go away," Stella murmured. Then she felt the knife against her back.
"And that concludes this week's episode." Now for the quote:
"Good luck you can never know until the last minute." - Solomon The Price Arthur Miller Please, if you a reading this, review. I think that when this is published I will have more chapters than reviews which would be incredibly pathetic.