The Golden Amulet (PJO, Sequel to The Silver Ring)

Chapter 38

Your companion stinks, a brown horse told me as I passed her.

"I know," I replied to her, stopping to pet her. "Psi is a pain in the neck but I have no choice but to stay with him. He's my only companion. What's your name?"  

I was at the horse stables, in charge of picking horses for our journey, while Psi was at the map room looking for directions to find the forbidden forest, where Rosaline was. 

 The horse pushed her head into my hand so that I wouldn't pull away. I wasn't complaining; a horse's head was very cute, and Charlotte's coat was soft as velvet. Everyone calls me Charlotte, milord. 

"Well, Charlotte, it's nice to meet you," I told her, too tired to fight against the formality. "Any chance you might want to go on a long journey? A horse with your personality would make it a bit more fun."

You might be wondering why I was talking with a horse—and it wasn't because I was insane. You see being the son of Poseidon gave me many powers, but one of the coolest ones was the ability to talk to horses. It allowed me to connect to them in ways regular people couldn't—and horses usually had better personalities than most of the humans I had met in my life. 

Furthermore, no one was in earshot to kick me out for talking with horses. The stables were about half the size of the mess room to accommodate the demand of horses a thousand soldiers needed, while the several stablemen who were present at this time were playing cards a few dozen yards away, far enough that it seemed as though I was mumbling to myself—or I just had a weird tic that had I suddenly procured within minutes of passing them.

Horses were very useful, providing aid in combat as well as a necessity for efficient long-distance trips where one needed to move fast—or even if they needed to bear a heavy load.

That's why we desperately needed them; we needed as much time as we could get, and—as I would later come to know—fetching Rosaline was backtracking our route since the hellhound had shadow traveled us to a base that was closer to the Deeplige.

Charlotte snuffled in thought, which made her warm breath tickle the skin of my palm. Well, it has been boring ever since they brought me here onto this planet. I've just been in this stable, since no one has the courage to do anything remotely risky with a horse . . . if your journey has any risk factors in it, I'll come along.

I chuckled, thinking of all the dangerous things I had done ever since traveling to this planet. "Oh, you won't be disappointed. I'm a magnet of danger."

Well, what are you waiting for? Get me out of here milord. Charlotte neighed impatiently and withdrew her head from my hand.

I laughed at her actions. "Alright." I slid open the deadbolt, allowing the gate to swing open. "Do you know any other horses that might want to come? And preferably don't hate Psi?" As much as I would have loved to see a horse bunk Psi off and make him break a couple of bones, I just didn't have the time to play around.

Charlotte trotted out of the stable as confident as a horse could. She was as tall as me, and her chocolate coat gleamed in the dawning sun's light. I know one. The trick is to not let them know that their rider is the hated one until it's too late.

I stared at her incredulously, not knowing a horse could be so devious. Then a smile broke out on my face. "We're going to get along well, I just know it."

But then, someone just had to ruin the wholesome moment.

An arrogant groomer (I never knew this was a thing until now) who had just showed up on his shift caught sight of me. "Hey!" he snapped, stomping over towards me. "What are you doing? That's Sergeant Hick's horse! Do you have a death wish?"