"Just remember," Raeka reminded me, "ask him for it after he's done working. He may get angry when he's interrupted."
Raeka asked me if I would accompany her on a "small walk" this morning, A.K.A. robbery, seeing as I was so good at lying. I accepted, obviously. However, when asked what we were stealing, she told me we were stealing a horse to cheer up Scarlett. Of course we were. What better to steal on a fine Wednesday morning like this one?
I nodded, flipped my scarf over my shoulder in determination, and allowed Raeka to slip away into the pasture. I approached the farmer carefully but confidently. He was tall and gruff, with a scruffy beard and broad shoulders and a dusty leather jacket. He was finishing up tending to a horse that was the complete opposite of him: white, clean, attractive. The rest of his horses were different colors, but just as beautiful. "Excuse me, sir," I said while his back was turned.
The man grunted and turned around reluctantly. As soon as he saw me, his eyes widened and he broke into a grin. "Ah! Lady Emalia! What can I do for you this lovely morning?" He shook my hand. "Where are my manners? My name is Gregory Alson. How may I help you, Lady Honesty?"
It took me everything in my power not to roll my eyes and smile politely instead. "I was wondering if you had any advice on how to take care of horses, seeing as the Virtues and I may get some for ourselves."
"Ah, yes." George Alson gestured enthusiastically to his horses. "Well, you see, they need a big pasture. I don't know what your pastures are like at the castle..."
He then proceeded to talk about horses for ten. Minutes. I had to stand there pretending to listen until I saw the signal (Raeka throwing a rock across the road) which meant the horse was out of sight. George Alson was in the middle of talking about how to pick the hooves - whatever that means - when I cut him off.
"I think I understand now. Thanks for the help, sir. I'll put a good word in for you at the royal stables!" Which, of course, was a lie. I bowed for some reason and walked nonchalantly around the bend where Raeka was waiting awkwardly with a big black horse.
"Oh, thank God you're here," she said. "Let's go." The three of us proceeded down a dark alleyway to not be seen.
"Why do you have a horse?"
Raeka and I whipped around. There was a small boy standing a few feet behind us, looking curiously at the beast. Raeka hesitated. "We, uh..."
"We found it walking around the village," I improvised. "Do you know who it belongs to?"
The boy nodded eagerly. "Mr. Alson." He pointed in the direction we just came from.
The horse wiggled it's head. I sighed.
"Okay. Thank you very much," I told him. He nodded again and smiled shyly, then ran off.
Long story short, we returned the horse under the excuse that it had escaped and we were looking for it's owner. On the way back to the bunker, Raeka told me how she stole the horse and I told her how George Alson talked. A lot. "Too bad we didn't get to bring the horse back," she sighed.
"Yeah. She'll be amused by the story, I guess," I replied. "She'll probably tell us that-"
"BOO!" Raeka screamed.
I screamed in fear.
Raeka screamed again.
I screamed back.
Just as she was about to scream between laughs, a distant shriek sliced through the air in the direction of the old house slightly away from the village. We looked at each other.
Then we almost tripped over our skirts running back to the bunker as fast as possible, holding hands as we went.
