The Rosewood Prophecy

Chapter 27

Indigo

We got up nice and early the next morning. The festival would go on for a few more days, but we had no time to lose. Who knew how long Lord Victor would stay at Devil's Peak, if he really was there? Katherine brought up the idea of buying horses, so we could travel faster. Surely there were sellers here?

Lucian found one, a man in his forties showing off his prized stallions. When asked about the price, he stated, "A hundred gold coins per horse." Lucian came back with eyes wide as saucers.

"One hundred gold coins," he spluttered out. "Per horse."

"That's seven hundred gold coins," Aaron said, doing the math. "We don't have that much."

"And even if we did, we need it for our entire journey's worth of food and boarding," Katherine pointed out. "Indigo, what do we do?"

"Can we bargain with him?" I asked. We really can't afford to spend too much time on foot, but we also didn't have that much money.

Lucian shook his head. "I already did. He lowered it to a hundred gold coins."

"How much was it before?" I was almost afraid to ask.

"Two hundred fifty." The group was stunned into silence.

"Maybe we should just travel by foot..." Ashley said slowly.

"Are there donkeys? Can we travel by donkeys?" Jason asked.

"I don't think they sell donkeys," I said. "But...I might have an idea on how to buy enough horses."

"How?" Everyone asked eagerly.

"We split off into pairs. That way we only need four. Or three, if a horse can carry three people." That was the only way left. Otherwise, we really have to travel by foot.

Everyone eyed each other. "I suppose that would work. But we need four horses. We can take turns riding solo," Katherine said.

"Yeah, I guess. So, let's divvy up the money?" We took out our money pouches, counted out the money, and sent Katherine and Ashley to get four horses. Four hundred gold coins took a huge chunk out of our financial supplies. Katherine and Ashley returned with four beautiful horses, and in different colors too: a white one with a flowing mane; a sleek black one with fire in its eyes; a calm, light brown colored one; and a grey dapple mare.

"Okay, four girls, three boys. How are we going to divide this?" Katherine asked as she petted the white horse, dubbed Winter. I looked at Aaron. "Boy and girl?" He said. "And then one girl just rides alone."

"Okay! Ashley, ride with me." Jason grabbed the reins of the grey mare, swinging himself up.

"You're not going to help her up? What kind of a man are you?" Rachel teased.

"Oh whoops." Jason slid off and bowed towards Ashley. "My lady, may I please help thy up?"

"Oh shut it," Ashley giggled and rolled her eyes. "Let's get going already."

Lucian paired off with Rachel, saying that he needed the protection of a great sorceress, which earned him a playful punch on the shoulder. Katherine volunteered to ride alone, which left me with Aaron. He helped me onto the black stallion before getting on in front of me himself. "Better hold on to me, lest you fall off," Aaron said over his shoulder. "We can't risk losing our mastermind."