‘Yes, Troop Sergeant!’ shouted Arthur and Fred, who figured that it would be best for him to join in as well.
‘If we had a few more Not-Horses here, I could have taken a troop after those Nithlings,’ Terzok continued. ‘None of ’em would have got away then. Right. I will repeat the basics for the fifth and final time. This here is Mowlder, the oldest Not-Horse on the post. Made up more than four thousand years ago and still going strong. He is a typical Not-Horse, with three toes on each leg, not the four-toed variant that is occasionally seen. Each of these toes has been fitted for combat purposes with a four-inch steel claw, as you can see. The Not-Horse’s skin is a flexible metal but the creature itself is a Near Creation based on an original design of the Architect. It has living flesh under the metal skin, which serves as a very useful armour. Like us Denizens, the Not-Horse is extremely hardy and heals well. Not-Horses are also smart and must be treated properly at all times. Any questions so far?’
‘No, Troop Sergeant!’
‘Right, then. I will now demonstrate the correct means of approaching a Not-Horse to fit a bit and bridle. Watch closely.’
Arthur watched closely as Terzok demonstrated how to get the harness on a Not-Horse. It looked straight forward, provided the Not-Horse cooperated, but was not quite so easy when Arthur got to do it himself. Getting up into the saddle and actually riding the Not-Horse also proved to be more difficult than he’d thought.
Six hours after the lesson began, in the cold, dark early time before the dawn, Terzok pronounced Arthur and Fred as capable as they were going to get in the time available. Which was not capable at all, but he hoped they would stay on long enough to learn from experience. Before they left, he whispered in the ears of the two Not-Horses chosen to carry them.
By this stage, Arthur in particular was so tired that he didn’t care if he was tied across the saddle like a blanket. He just wanted to rest and not have to listen to – or watch – Troop Sergeant Terzok and his mustache ever again. He’d thought he was used to being exhausted and had got much better at staving off the swimming vision and loss of coordination. But now even the proximity of a sergeant couldn’t stop him from swaying on his feet.
But he wasn’t allowed to go to sleep. Another unknown lieutenant, this one unwounded and wearing Horde armour, arrived as the lesson concluded and announced that he would be leading them to GHQ.
‘I’m Troop Lieutenant Jarrow,’ he said. ‘Seconded from the Horde to Fort Transformation. We’ll be riding out in fifteen minutes, after I’ve checked your weapons, equipment, harness, and mounts. Which of you is Gold and which Green?’
‘I’m Priv … Trooper Gold,’ said Fred.
Arthur mumbled something that sounded like it might be ‘Green’. Jarrow frowned and stepped closer to him.
‘I know there’s a medical advice about you, Green,’ he said. ‘But the file’s gone missing. Are you fit enough to travel?’
‘I’m just tired, sir,’ said Arthur. ‘Very tired.’
He was so tired that he wasn’t entirely sure that he’d actually said anything aloud. And he was also confused about where he was and what he was doing. Surely if he was meant to be going anywhere, it was school. School with Leaf and Ed.
Arthur shook his head. What was this school he could see in his mind’s eye? Who were Leaf and Ed, and why were they looking down at him with the blue sky behind them?
‘Have you shown these two the Horde method of carrying wounded, Troop Sergeant?’ asked Jarrow.
‘No, sir!’ snapped Terzok. He looked at Arthur. ‘Should I sling him up, Troop Lieutenant?’
‘Yes, do,’ said Jarrow.
Three Not-Horses had been readied for the ride ahead and were standing patiently outside the stable door. Terzok took what appeared to be a large canvas bag with leather straps and steel buckles from behind the stable door and hung it between two of the Not-Horses. Muttering something to them quietly, he buckled one side of the sack to the left-most Not-Horse’s saddle, and the other to the Not-Horse in the middle. Thus strung, it made a kind of hammock between the two mounts.
‘This here’s a double-ride sack,’ said Terzok. ‘Not-Horses are able to perfectly match each other’s stride, unlike other mounts. But the double-ride sack’s only to be used when ordered, because the mounts can’t gallop with it fixed.’
Arthur stared at the sack between the two Not-Horses. He was so tired it took a few seconds for him to understand that it was for him.
‘How do you get in?’ asked Fred.
‘If you’re fit enough to climb in, then you should be riding,’ said Terzok. ‘If you’re not –’