I was starting to question the wisdom of this entire plan—at least if we’d done what I suggested we’d be warm in the stables, snuggled up against the bull-horses and hay bales. But Yelena always thought she knew better…which was probably why I spent so much of my time saving her ass.
“I think I hear something.” Yelena rose up on her knees, listening. I did the same. A few moments later footsteps approached, and Ragnhild’s voice cut across the yard.
“Get the bull-horses ready, the fastest we’ve got.”
The door to the stables creaked open, and the bull-horses started to whinny in greeting. Now was our chance. We crept over to our bull-horse, who had woken up at the sound of his friends—I hoped that it wouldn’t make a sound, and that its absence wasn’t going to be noticed. Hopefully we’d taken one of the slower ones.
The guards proceeded to walk the bull-horses around the stable yard, loading on saddles and weapons.
“You keep watch,” Julian murmured to me, “Yelena and I will get the horse ready.”
I nodded in agreement, peering as closely as I dared around the side of the stable. Soon, each of the guards had mounted a bull-horse and Ragnhild sat atop his, giving orders to the ministers on duty to open the barriers.
“We need to move now!” I hissed, running back to Julian and Yelena. Both of them were already sitting on its back, and Yelena reached out her arm to pull me up. I scrambled on—not a moment too soon. Hooves clattered as the army rode across the grounds, heading in the direction of the opening in the barrier.
“Go, go!” Julian spurred on the bull-horse with the reins.
Nothing happened. The bull-horse lowered its head, munching on the grass.
“Julian, do something!” I cried.
“I’m trying!”
“Do you think it only responds to sentries?” Yelena asked.
“No—I saw Ruby ride one,” I spluttered. Maybe it just needed a bit more encouragement…Leaning back, I smacked the bull-horse on the rump as hard as I could. It reared up, and I held on fast to Yelena. The bull-horse shot out from behind the stables, following the rest of the army.
The guards were so intent on navigating their way through the tents that covered the gardens of the palace that they didn’t turn around at our approach. Julian managed to gain a bit more control over our ride, and soon we were passing through the barriers with the rest of Ragnhild’s small army. A few ministers gave us puzzled looks, but they didn’t say anything—I guessed for all they knew we might have been requested on the mission.
We clattered down the pathway that would eventually lead to the main road that ran through Nevertide. Thanks to the dim light of the dawn, and the fact that half the sky was still midnight black, none of the other riders seemed to notice us. We stayed a few paces back from the last three riders at the end of the line, just to be safe. As long as they remained unaware of our presence till we got near the cove, there would be no way that we’d be sent back—it would be too dangerous for us to travel through Nevertide alone.
As we approached the main road, I held my breath. The turn was sharp enough for Ragnhild to see us if he looked sideways. Luckily, he navigated the bend head-on, continuing to ride at a fast pace without closely observing his troops.
We didn’t say a word to one another as the journey progressed. The dawn rose fully, and I started to feel a bit warmer—especially as I had to tense every muscle in my body just to stay on the horse. Ragnhild never let up his speed, and neither did any of the other riders.
Suddenly, just before the turn that would take us to the cove, the line came to an abrupt halt. Julian didn’t stop the bull-horse in time, and so it reared up with a loud neigh, nearly ramming into the butt of one of its friends.
“Order!” Ragnhild yelled, riding down the line to see what the disturbance was.
Oh, crap.
“What are you doing here?” he thundered, catching sight of the three of us.
“We thought we’d join you,” I replied, as confidently as I could. Maybe if it seemed like no big deal, he’d just accept it?
“WHAT?”
Okay. Maybe not.
“Look,” Julian replied, using his reasonable, grown-up tone that made him sound like a news presenter, “we just thought that we might be able to help—the entity’s army might be made up of supernatural creatures that we’re familiar with.”
“Does the emperor know you’re here?” Ragnhild raged, completely ignoring Julian’s argument.
“No,” I replied, “but I’m sure Ash will be glad when he finds out—glad that we wanted to help.”