An Ill Tempered Mount

She was one of the most beautiful women I had ever seen. I was reminded of the woman in my dreams who was my wife. It wasn't that they looked alike, it was just the impression they gave me. Her face was so familiar, I just couldn't place where I'd seen it before. Even after she turned to head back into the inn I couldn't take my eyes off of her.

"Looks like someone's smitten. Wassa you have a romantic rival." Diocles said.

"I'll just have to increase my girlish charms." Wassa grabbed my arm and pulled me tight against her chest.

"It's nothing like that." I said as I pulled myself free. "I just thought I recognized her."

"An old flame coming out of nowhere. The Three Faced One must have their eyes on you." Diocles said.

"What, no. I don't actually…" I stared.

"You three will start the day on horseback." Captain Manx said. "Get to the stables. The Master of Horses will assign you some."

"Yes sir." We said together.

When we arrived at the stables a few of our other guards were walking out their horses. The Master of Horses, Odilo, was yelling at some stable hands to get the last of our horses saddled. He had been brought on at the last minute and had never had a job this large before. From the few interactions I had with him, I found him to be high strung and prone to anger if his orders weren't followed. His hastily thrown gestures and quick half sentences didn't help the current situation.

The man that was supposed to be our Master of Horses was also there trying to get his own company's horses ready to be hooked up to their carts. He added to the confusion, yelling at the same stable hands, leading to horses from the two companies getting mixed together at various points. Seeing one of our branded horses waiting in a stable I made my way over to get it ready myself.

"No, not that one, you idiots." Odilo said. One of the stable hands was in the stall next to me. I could tell by the reaction of the horse that he was in the wrong place. It's ears were flat against its head as it started to bare its teeth.

I rushed over pulling the young boy away as the horse shook its head, snapping at him. The horse continued to be agitated, as they raised their front hooves towards the boy. Odilo moved to calm the horse but his presence only made the animal more troubled.

"It's okay, it's okay." He said in a calming manner, but it had no effect. Faster then he or I could have expected, it lunged at him with its front hooves. Instinctively I started to circulate my aura through my veins. I grabbed him just in time as the horse's hooves flashed downward. A trail of silvery magic trailed behind the hooves before fading away as fast as it appeared.

"Down." I yelled.

Standing before it, I prepared to jump out of the way again. "It's alright. It's alright."

As our eyes met, I felt a slight chill run through my bones. To my surprise the horse lowered its hooves. It continued to shake its head with its teeth bared as I continued to calmly talk to it. As it settled down I cautiously moved forward. When I sensed there wasn't any danger, I approached and with a gentle hand I began to pet its head to further soothe it.

"Definitely glad to be rid of that beast." The Master of Horses from the other company said.

"What is going on here?" The young woman that was talking to Vuleram stood in the entrance to the stables. Her eyes went wide when she saw me petting the horse.

"Move away." She said as she quickly made her way forward. "I gave strict instructions that no one was to approach my horse."

"Well if that beast was tamed properly we wouldn't be having these troubles." The other Master of Horses said.

"Your pride caused all of your troubles." She replied before turning back to the horse. "It's okay. We've talked about this. There's no need to view everyone as a threat."

She then turned and looked at me with confusion. "I… Thank you. He usually doesn't respond well to others."

"You're welcome. I grew up around stables and have always had a good rapport with... horses." I said.

My own unintentional pause turned her confusion into a stern look of study. "You're with Vulferam, correct?" She said.

"Yes, guard Wilmaer, at your service ma'am." I said. Why was I so formal with her? And why did I give pause? I gave away my suspension that this wasn't a normal horse. Another thing that would leave an impression on someone.

"We'll be finishing the journey north together, so I may take you up on that offer." She said, guiding the horse back into the stall.

"Alright you lot, get the hurry back on. You're wasting miles." Odilo screamed.

I broke out of my stupor and turned to get my horse ready. I caught sight of Diocles and Wassa staring at me. His eyes had a troubled worry to them, while hers had a hint of fear. As soon as our eyes met, Wassa's returned to normal. A moment later Diocles' did the same.

A veteran guard should be able to tell when someone used their aura to increase their physical abilities. Which both of them seemed to have done, but were they expert enough to tell the strength of the aura used. Probably not Diocles but Wassa might be a different matter. She had noticed something more. I hadn't used or made it known that I could use aura and it wasn't unreasonable for someone my age to have started to learn to use it. Though very few my age would have my level of strength, at least outside certain groups of people.

The basic use of aura was tapping into one's life force to augment your natural abilities. It started from the heart and was rotated through the major arteries. The more advanced someone was in its use, the smaller the veins they could move their aura through and the better their abilities would be. This was an area that my dreams of Earth seemed to help me. From an early age I had an understanding of the human body that astonished my teachers.

There are five main stages of aura control; Novice, Intermediate, Expert, Master, Grand Master. I was fairly close to breaking through to the Expert level with basic aura use. To put that into perspective, less than 10 percent of the guards were even in the Intermediate stage and they were all veterans. Less than half could even use aura. Only Captain Manx and the Vice Captain were at the expert level.

Then there was Linage Auras. While anyone could obtain the novice stage of Lineage Auras, it took generations of training to pass down the ability to use their higher stages. What would they think if they learned that I was at the beginning of the Intermediate stage of a powerful Lineage with the potential of Grand Master? Not to mention being a novice of another equally powerful Lineage. I wasn't sure of the potential for that one and was scared to find out since it would call into question my parentage.

"What a way to start a morning." Diocles said, breaking the tension.

"Yeah. Who would have thought you were so skilled. With horses." Wassa said. Was that pause deliberate or unintentional?

"Like I said, I grew up around them. I sensed he was agitated early on." I said.

"Of course you did." Wassa said with a smile.

We finished saddling our horses and made our way out to the main road. In less than an hour we were making our way north. Nearly a hundred carts rolled along the road, with roughly 150 guards, only about half of them with mounts. The rest road with the teamsters driving the horses.