Intrepid

Nix tied up Flash outside the stables and walked in. The Ever Flame stables was an elongated structure big enough to house three dozen horses. There was a row of stalls on each wall, with a third group of stalls that ran down the middle. The pungent smell of horse manure put a smile on his face; briefly, he wondered how his own horses were doing.

A dark-skinned older man leaning on a pitchfork waved a greeting at him. "That's quite the horse you have there."

"He's fierce and runs like the wind." Nix sized up the stable master. "Got mares in heat?"

The older man's face turned pensive. "I do, but before we talk, I would want to test him."

"Go ahead." Nix smiled pleasantly when the older man motioned for one of his assistants.

The old man's voice held a slight accent, one of the first Nix heard in Colonial. "Take him around the perimeter of the town; see what he can do."