An Author's note: Well I got nothing to say here…but…
On with the show! (God this is becoming a habit!)
Chapter Fourteen
Of Night Horses and Friendly Attacks
Jinx was completely and utterly bored.
This was not a good thing.
You would have thought that a place with so much magical energy would have been a bit more interesting. You would have thought there would have been interesting things to see and hear and fiddle with. But no. Everywhere she looked Jinx saw people reading and meditating and reading some more and writing down things and meditating and…and…it was BORING!
Drat, this was a waste of her time! Wandering outside in a desperate attempt to find something to do, Jinx heard an odd noise coming from a place that looked like a horse stable. Thinking that she finally found something to do with her time, Jinx wandered over to the stables and let herself in.
It was full with night horses. White ones, brown ones, tan ones, paint, buckskin, grey, and just about every horse color in the horse rainbow. They varied in size from small racing night horses to large war night horses. They nickered and growled and stamped restlessly, as if they knew something Jinx did not. Jinx heard a rather familiar snort coming from her left. She looked and saw Mithrah happily eating some sort of bloody meaty mess in a horse trough in a stall. The stall door was wide open and nobody had even tried to tie the creature down. Jinx, who knew Mithrah rather well, surmised that the big night horses' homing instinct had lead him here, and the groom in charge must have decided to feed him. Smart. A full night horse was less likely to snap at you than a hungry one.
Still Jinx's ears detected an odd sound coming from the other end of the room, behind a closed door. It sounded like squeaking. Curious, and not at all inclined to resist temptation, the sorceress walked boldly toward the door and peeked in. What she saw caused the instinct inherit in all females to go "awwwww!" at anything slightly cute and fluffy attacked Jinx in full force. Though she said nothing aloud, she did think Oh, how sweet for a moment.
Baby night horses.
Hatching.
And they were cute.
There was a least a two dozen eggs in the center of a large pile of sand in the middle of the room. Many of the eggs had already hatched into little baby night horses, and still more were rocking violently. Jinx was momentarily entranced by the miracle of life, so she did not notice something slithering toward her until it spoke into her ear.
"Who are you?" it spoke in a hiss of a voice.
Jinx jumped and turned to face a gigantic cobra with a pair of arms and an inquiring expression. He and Jinx was fairly certain it was a he, was flicking his tongue at her like a normal cobra would have. A normal girl would have squealed or fainted, but Jinx was never the squealing or fainting type. Besides, she knew a naga when she saw one, and she knew that they were relatively harmless.
Unless you made them mad.
"Hi, I'm Jinx. I'm a friend of Raven's."
The naga's eyes light up. "Ah! Raven! I knew sssshe musst be back. Mithrah'ssssss pressssence here is proof of that. If you are her friend you are welcome here!" He slithered over to one of the eggs and turned it gently, then he spoke again "Raven wass the only young persssson here intresssted in thessse marvoluss creaturss. Did you know that ssshe raissed that wild thing of hersss all alone?"
Jinx nodded, and stared as the little creature inside an egg started sticking its little tan nose out of its egg. The naga noticed Jinx's stare and asked "Would you like to help me?"
Jinx grinned broadly. Finally! Something interesting!
While Jinx was discovering the baby night horses, the others were rapidly approaching the exact same stables. The General paused and listened to the audible squeaking, and smiled for a moment.
"Sounds like the new batch is finally hatching." He said, and was almost knocked over by Raven. If there was any night horse hatching going on in there, she wanted to see it. She opened the door and entered and only paused to briefly scratch Mithrah, who was frankly to busy eating to even notice "Mother" for once. She then went strait for the door at the other end of the stables and let herself in.
She stopped and almost burst out laughing at the scene. There was Jinx, standing in the middle of the sand pile with a bucket of raw meat strips in her hand being mobbed by the hatchlings. Jinx was actually doing a fairly good job. Still, Raven decided to pitch in all the same. There was no way she was going to miss out on helping with a hatching. Raven walked over to Jinx and selected a handful of meat and started passing them out the squeaking equine chorus, who were more than happy to have another "mommy" to feed them. Jinx, who had begun to feel slightly overwhelmed, gave Raven a grateful look.
"Hello Raven." A familiar voice called out. Raven looked and saw the naga who had helped fuel her love of night horses curled up with his own bucket, feeding another group of hatchlings.
"Hellow Irike. How have you been?"
"Fine. I ssssssaw Mithrah jusssst a while ago. You are raisssssssing him well." The naga hissed with appreciation.
"Wow!" Cyborg's voice came from the entrance of the doorway. "Look at all the little night horses!"
"Yessssssssssssss." Irike hissed "It's a wonderful amount of eggsss this year. Two dozen of them, and they all look like they will sssurvive!" The naga looked at the Titans one by one "Are you all friendsss of Raven?"
"We are indeed!" Starfire gushed "Please where do you come from; how did you get here; what is your favorite color; do you wish to be my friend?"
Irike stared at her as if she had grown an extra pair of heads then "Azarath, wass hatched from an egg, my speciessssssss is colorblind therefore I do not have a favorite color and…I sssssssssssssssuppose." Irike leaned over and whispered in Raven's ear "Isss there something wrong with that human?"
"She's not a human, she's an alien and this is how she always acts."
Irike blinked then lowered his voice even more. "How do you ssstand it?"
"High threshold for pain." Was the dark girl's response. She then smirked a little as Starfire enveloped her new "friend" in one of her infamous killer hugs. The naga, who had never been hugged before, almost bit her out of pure savage instinct. Thankfully, however, Irike realized that biting a friend of Raven's was not a good idea, and he resisted the instinct. But he would not allow himself to be hugged for more than a moment and he quickly slithered out of Starefire's grasp.
"Pleasssse, do not do that again." He said as he backed away.
"If you don't mind we need to get busy here." The General said. "Irike, we need some horses for these people. Can you help us?"
Irike nodded "Raven, can you take over feeding the little one'ssss?"
"Of course I will. I'll be taking Mithrah, so I really don't need to help." Most of her attention was focused on the hatchlings.
Arella walked over to her daughter and said "Mind if I join you?" Raven looked at her mother and shrugged. As the others followed Irike out the door they heard the faint sounds of the two of them talking. Beast Boy guessed that they were doing some mother-daughter catching up and Beast Boy would never have even dreamed of interrupting something like that. The death of his parents had been hard on him, and he knew how important a bond like that was.
However, his pointed elf ears could not help but pick up little bits of the conversation:
Raven: ….my fault he died, Mother, I should….really stupid….your familiar.
Arella: He wasn't a young bird….Zip would…only a few more years…not your fault.
Raven: Changes nothing…not causing anymore…you hear me?
Arella: Zapolio is not…as Zipatila was. Honestly…sense your connection…the boy doesn't know.
Raven: Of course he doesn't. It would…Starfire would be crushed….not to a friend…don't tell Robin…just not right and you know it…seen them together…
Arella…bond…with a human…you can do it with both…can't keep letting the past get in the way of…
Raven: I'm not taking Zap…not telling Robin either…drop it.
Beast Boy tried to shut off his darned ears. He knew that eavesdropping got you into trouble. Especially if you were eavesdropping on Raven, whose vengeance could cause a certain green teen much pain. But what where they talking about? Who were Zapolio and Zipatila? What was the bond they mentioned? And what did this have to do with Robin? Beast Boy shoved those questions aside. He knew that if he started butting into Raven's private conversations it would kill any chance of him having any sort of relationship with her. He fought back his curiosity and focused on the business at hand.
(A/N: to all my reviewers who are following this: I'll give a nice hint. Read back to chapters one((chapter two on your little right drop bar thingy, remember the chapter one on there is the prologue and the author's note.)) and three ((four on the right drop thingy)) and see if you can piece together what's happening with this little subplot! See if you can figure out what the heck is going on before B.B. does! I won't have a door prize for you, but I'd like to see what you come up with! I want to see if the little clues I've scattered around those chapters are too easy.)
While Beast Boy had been distracted, the General had been leading the others through the stables looking for night horses for all of them. Beast Boy walked up to him just as he was showing Cyborg a huge specimen that kind of looked like a brown Clydesdale. It was huge and should have looked like something out of a nightmare, but it had calm, gentle expression. Beast Boy, who knew animals better than anyone, knew that this guy was gentle, despite his size and fangs.
"Gigantus here should be strong enough to carry you, and he is pretty relaxed and calm. You've never ridden a night horse have you?" Cybdorg shook his head and looked intimidated "have you ever ridden a normal horse?" The General asked.
"Man, I don't do horses. I'm a city boy!" Cyborg said.
Then General gave him a condescending look, then the look was passed on to the other Titans "So, do any of you know how to ride a horse?" he asked the question like a Earth person would ask if someone knew how to write.
"I know how to ride." Robin said couldn't have not learned, growing up in a circus with all those show horses. He added silently.
"I have ridded a creature on my planet similar in function to a horse, but it was only once." Starfire admitted.
"Dude, I've BEEN a horse!" Beast Boy said "and a zebra, and a donkey, and a mule, and a night horse!"
"I've ridden Mithrah." Jinx said. Everyone stared at her. "Well I have!" she said defensively.
"How come you are still standing here with all of your limbs, then?" Cyborg asked.
"Well…Raven was kind of leading him around on his collar and muttering at him the whole time" Jinx admitted "That's probably why he didn't maul me. I think he was thinking about it, though."
More staring followed this little statement then the General sighed. "Once we get you people the night horses I should probably come with you for a little bit. Give you a crash course in riding a night horse."
"Um, why are we even taking these?" Cyborg asked as he gestured toward Gigantus, who gave him a dignified snort.
"One, because Raven with be taking Mithrah, and when that creature bolts he can reach up to seventy miles per hour, and he can go that way constantly. Only another night horse can keep up with him. Can you run seventy miles per hour, metal man?" The General said, and Cyborg grumbled.
"Two" the General continued. "Night horses have a strong homing instinct. If, by chance, one of you gets lost and you are with a night horse the creature with automatically seek out the closest members of their herd. Meaning that the night horses will all be able to congregate together wherever you go if you give them the command. It's the main reason people use night horses."
Cyborg grumbled something about doing the same thing with his GPS locater, but the General ignored him. Instead he showed Cyborg how to saddle the night horse. Cyborg paid attention, but only under duress. Then the General lead the night horse out the door and tied him to a post. He would teach the Titans how to ride all at the same time.
Within moments they had each been assigned there own night horse. Beast Boy got a young little chestnut mare named Athena, Starfire received a white stallion called Sleipnir, Jinx got a grey mare called Raincloud, Robin received a red roan stallion with the amusing title of Hotrod and Cyborg of course had Gigantus (who was also a stallion).
"Um, you don't have any geldings here?" Beast Boy asked, knowing first hand how touchy stallions could be together.
"These night horses are meant to be breed, boy. Don't worry though; night horse behavior is not like normal horse behavior." The General replied.
The next thirty minutes were spent trying to learn the basics of night horse riding. Naturally Robin and Jinx caught on first, and the two of them were literally riding around the others in circles within minutes. Actually, it was Jinx who did most of the circling, and the laughing, and the taunting. Robin was just trying to demonstrate to the others how it was done. After a while it worked on Starfire, but Cyborg and Beast Boy were utterly hopeless.
Beast Boy soon learned that riding a night horse and being a night horse were two different things. He just could not seem to get Athena to obey him. The night horse was a stubborn one, and never seemed to listen to a word Beast Boy said. He signaled to go right, and she went left. He wanted her to speed up and she would slow down. And she would randomly spark between her horns, worrying Beast Boy to end. He could swear that the mare was laughing at him. However, this was nothing compared to what Cyborg was going thru.
No matter what Cyborg did, no matter how hard he tried, the metal man just could not stay on top of Gigantus. He would stay on for about two seconds then he would fall off. And it was not as if Gigantus was bucking, in fact the longsuffering creature barely moved at all. Gigantus just stood there snorting every time Cyborg fell, as if he was praying to the horse gods to save him from his moronic rider. Cyborg was completely disgusted. He could build a car from scratch, disarm a bomb and beat Beast Boy's butt at every video game but he could not even stay on a stationary and totally cooperative night horse.
As he fell for the tenth time, Cyborg glared up at Gigantus, who was looking at him from above. "I so hate you." He growled. Gigantus signed, as if to say that he was not very fond of Cyborg either.
"It's not his fault that you can't stay on, Cyborg." Said a familiar voice. It was Raven. Apparently she was done taking care of the hatchlings and had lead Mithrah out of his stall. The black night horse was saddled and obviously ready to go.
With Raven's help they managed to finally get Cyborg on top of Gigantus permanently, even though he still looked a bit tipsy. She also managed to solve Beast Boy's steering problem by simply verbally ordering the frisky mare to follow the herd, which she did.
"Can we go now?" Raven growled as soon as they all looked somewhat ready.
The General nodded "I'll come with you as far as Falcon's Eye Tower. I doubt you'll get any farther than that today and I'm sure that Arucules will want to see you."
"What he'll do is attack us on sight." Raven muttered "Lunatic minotaur."
"It wassss good ssssssssseeing you again, Raven." The naga said and Raven gave him a warm (for her) nod.
Arella looked at Raven with concern. "Are you sure you don't want-"
"For the last time, Mother I do not want one of your familiar's trailing us. It's not happening." For a moment her voice was harsh and cold, but then Raven seemed to…melt a little bit "I'll miss you Mother." She said softly, so only Arella and the sharp eared Beast Boy could really hear her.
They left, and frankly Beast Boy was glad to see the back of that city and that temple with all those racist people in it. Sure a few of them were nice, but they were outnumbered by the bigoted ones that seemed to infect the place like a horde of cockroaches. They used another bridge on the other side of the city and ended up on a large plain that seemed to stretch forever. Beast Boy fervently hoped that they would receive a warm welcome in this Falcon's Eye Tower.
He was right, but he was also very wrong.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, my buuuuuuuuuuuttttttttt!" The groan echoed throughout the plains.
"O sweet Azar!" The General muttered.
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, my tttttttttthighhhhhhhhhhhhhhs." There it was again.
"Does that green goblin ever shut up?" The General asked Raven.
"Not really." Came the reply. The General groaned, but he kept his groan to himself. Unlike Beast Boy, who was wailing in pure agony. As it turned out Beast Boy was unfamiliar with the fact that horse backs generally hurt first time riders, and no matter how many times he BECAME a horse, that did not change the fact that he had never RIDDEN a horse.
"Ohhhhhhhhh, my ba-"
"WILL YOU PLEASE SHUT UP!?" Raven gave a completely unnatural (for her) bellow. "Sweet Azar you are driving me nuts!"
A moment of precious silence…then:
"But Raven, it huuuuuuuuurts!" Beast Boy whined.
"Live with it." She growled.
"Come one, can't we take a break?" he asked.
"We took a break thirty minutes ago; we are not taking another one." Robin said firmly.
Beast Boy moaned and cried and generally drove everyone crazy for ten full minutes. Finally, Raven spotted a large tower looming in the distance. It was made of black stone and had a statue of a huge black falcon on the top; wings spread wide and beak open in an eternal screech.
"Finally." She muttered "Falcon's Eye Tower." Then she raised her voice and said "We are almost there."
"Oh thank you Azar, Jesus, Buddha and He-Who-Created-All-Things!" The General raised his eyes to the sky in reverence "I was about to throttle that green horror right here!"
Excited at the thought of rest, Beast Boy somehow managed to figure out how to make his night horse to go faster. He charged toward the tower with the hopes of getting rid of the night horse.
"Beast Boy, wait!" Raven urged Mithrah to follow and tried to stop him, but it was too late.
Seemly from nowhere a huge creature landed in front of Beast Boy, who was bucked of by his startled mount. The night horse fled to others, obviously not wanting to stick around. Beast Boy landed on his already sore posterior and stared up at the creature before him.
It was huge, bigger and more muscular than even Cyborg. It had the basic body structure of a human, two arms and two legs, but said legs ended in huge hooves that looked like you could eat out of them. He, it was defiantly a he, was covered in long brown fur. He was dressed in nothing but a loincloth and a light blue cloak in the same style as Raven's with the same belt with Falconblood stones set in. Its head was the head of a bull with long sharp fangs and huge glittering horns. Beast Boy wondered if there were creatures in this world without long sharp fangs. Beast Boy noticed that this creature had a lot of grey around his muzzle. So he was probably old, but he still looked ready to thrash anyone who got in his way.
Raven rode up to the creature, pulled out Whistler and said "Hello Arucules."
"Greetings my scrawny little girl-child." Arucules said in a deep booming voice. Then he assumed a fighting stance "Now defend yourself!" With a roar he lunged for Beast Boy and Raven, horns lowered to skewer.
Beast Boy yipped in surprise and shifted to cheetah. He dodged the attack with his feline reflexes. Somehow Raven had managed to dodge as well, so Arucules had shot between them.
Beast Boy sifted to human and turned to Raven "Dude, why is he attacking us!?"
"This is his way of saying hello." Raven answered calmly.
The other Titans were close enough to hear this statement, and all of them were completely bewildered by it. However, this did not stop them from defending themselves. Robin did an impressive pole vault from his horse. He flicked open his bo staff and hooked it between the attacking minotaur's horns. He hung there for a moment and meet Arucules's eyes for a moment.
"Ever heard of the rodeo?" He asked.
The minotaur smiled. "Ever heard of orbit?" he asked and flung the Boy Wonder with a mighty toss. It was far more forceful than Robin had calculated, and he flew thru the air like the bird he was named for. Robin twisted in midair and tossed some of his smoke balls, trying to blind Arucules. The minotaur was enveloped instantly, but that did not stop a pair of golden beams of light that emerged five seconds later. They hit Robin squarely and sent him spinning like a little top thru the sky.
Starfire, enraged, pelted the minotaur with starbolts. Or she tried to anyway. Arucules dodged every single one like they were nothing. Even when Jinx and Cyborg joined in with hex bolts and sonic blasts the nimble minotaur still evaded everything they threw at him. But somehow all of HIS blows always seemed to connect.
For thirty minuets the battle raged on. Fro once the Titans, who seemed like the perfect team, found themselves at the losing end. Arucules may have been old, but he was more skilled a fighter than any of them, and he was proving it. Finally, the team just could not go on anymore. Arucules took them all out, and while it was not easy, he still was most defiantly the winner. The Titans found themselves in a pile on the ground, and everyone looked just about as black and blue as you could get.
"Hmmmm." Arucules glared at them like he was evaluating them "You are a pretty good team, all around. I mean for a bunch of Earth people. Not many can last thirty minutes in combat with me. But you!" he glared at Raven with a stern look "You did not use your powers even once! After all I tried to teach you, you skinny little thing. Why do you not use it? How dare you shame me like, this Scrawny!"
Raven glared at him "Stupid old fool." She said "Are you going blind? Can't you tell that my powers are lost?"
Arucules stared at her dumfounded as Raven went on "They were stolen from me by a rouge wizard. I don't even have the power to light a candle. Don't talk to me about dishonor, old man. If you didn't spend all your time attacking people you would have sensed it long ago!"
"Grrrrrr." Arucules snarled "I apologize for berating you, girl. It was wrong of me. Bring the Earth people. I can see we have a lot talk about."
Raven nodded. "We do indeed.
An Author's note: He's such a nice, pleasant little minotaur, isn't he? Can you believe that some people have never even heard of minotaur's? It is a shame, they are cool! That's why I made Raven's old Makhar trainer a minotaur. He actually is an okay guy, once you get to know him, even though this chapter makes him look like a violent nutcase. Anyway hope you are still liking the story!
Coming up next week: more on Hadiran's untimely death and Raven's demon form! Oh God, I sound like a television announcer. SOMEONE SAVE ME!