Born In The Palace

Chapter 9: Sandstorm

"I'm not wearing that."

"Yes, you are," I said, forcing a hooded cape over Eros's head as he grumbled his protests.

He looked at himself in the mirror with a scowl. "It looks terrible."

"Now, don't insult Kingdom Pesok's attire and put these on." I offered him a tan, cotton scarf and a pair of protective eyewear. 

Eros pretended not to see them.

I gritted my teeth. "You're acting like a child."

Lena laughed at that, adjusting the hood of her cape and wrapping a scarf around her mouth and nose. She lowered the scarf to say, "You will regret not wearing those, Eros. Especially when we step foot into Pesok's desert. Sandstorms happen often there."

Fully dressed, Bion tapped his foot impatiently by the door. The satyr was in his human form, hiding his hooves and horns from overly curious strangers he'd encountered. "Are you all ready yet?"

We were currently in one of the chambers of Kingdom Gora's castle, getting ready to depart on our trip to Kingdom Pesok. Bion had decided to join after finding us in the library and hearing out our plan.

A servant had brought us each full Pesok attires as per mother's request and if it wasn't for Eros, we would have already been on our horses, far away from this castle.

I was all out of patience. 

Throwing the scarf and goggles at Eros, I headed toward the door. "Choke on sand for all I care."

Bion snorted and followed me out the door. 

"You can put them on later if you'd like," I heard Lena say to Eros before she joined Bion and I in the hallway, as we made our way to the stables. 

Four majestic stallions greeted us outside the stables, ready to be mounted. Their black coats shone in the sunlight, and their silver manes tousled slightly with the wind. It would have been easier to ride on Nephos, but mother told me that he was away in Olympus.

Having made her choice after a careful inspection of each horse, Lena climbed onto one. "I will take this beauty."

"It's been a while since I rode a horse..." Bion cleared his throat and admired his stallion. "They're much bigger than they looked from afar. And this one doesn't seem to like me much."

As if on cue, when the satyr tried to climb up, his stallion's nostrils flared and he tried to kick him.

"Oh Gods, get away from that horse, Bion! You can ride with me," Lena offered, taking the reins and shifting forward in her seat. "Climb on behind." 

When Bion seated himself behind Lena, her stallion whinnied in protest and began to raise his front legs to shake the satyr off. 

"Easy, boy," Lena cooed and calmed the stallion with a gentle caress. She turned to Bion. "Why don't they like you?"

"They smell the goat," he explained. "Stallions are snobby, and they're not happy that I'll be riding them. I'm not worthy enough in their eyes." He looked around. "Speaking of snobs, where's Eros?"

Seated on my horse, I too looked around, until I finally saw him walking toward us, scarf and goggles dangling on his neck. When he reached us, he wordlessly climbed on behind me on my stallion. 

"There are two other horses here you can take," I said, pointedly looking at the two stallions without riders.

He leaned forward, pushed his arms under mine and took the reins. "I know," he murmured in my ear before sending us flying from the castle, the hooves of my stallion raising dust around us as it sped off.