I Will Pay Any Cost - 1
Sunday, August 08, 2010 (11:42:32)

Posted by TerishD

Sapphire and Cindy in -
A Dream of Meeting Friends
Story Two: I Will Pay Any Cost
Chapter One

...
A look of amazement showed itself on the mare’s face before she replied, “I was told by my master to wait here. Did he know you were coming?”

Sapphire was considering how wonderful and feminine her voice sounded when Cindy screamed while sending certain signals. “FORWARD, SAPPHIRE!”

He did not argue. Truthfully, he wanted to advance to the mare, so felt the command to be desired. He thus sprang forward. The mare reacted to his sudden movement, then spun upon seeing a number of metal-tipped shafts come toward her. Sapphire found himself having to manage his feet to stay steady after Cindy leaped from the saddle to the mare. The young lady landed while grabbing the reins of the sky-blue horse, then jerking the body in a manner that caused her to not be where the projectiles passed. Sapphire moved near the mare while waiting to obey Cindy’s next command.


Sapphire should know that all magic horses have their problems.


Sapphire and Cindy in -
A Dream of Meeting Friends
Story Two: I Will Pay Any Cost
Chapter One

Sapphire sensed that Cindy was as shocked at he was at the sight of another magic horse. It surprised him more to realize that it was a mare. While he did not hold out any hope of this being the companion for him, simply to speak to her he considered to be wonderful enough. He took a few more steps forward, then hoped that his voice would work as he thought of what to say.

“Dear lady, what are you doing here?”

The mare had very blue eyes. Beneath the long red hair of her mane they reflected lines that appeared as fire in a bright sky. While Sapphire also had red hair, his purple coat tended to have his mane and tail simply appear as a shade of his normal color. On the mare the red tail and mane were very apparent as a different set of hairs, and gave her eyes a wonderful brightness.

A look of amazement showed itself on the mare’s face before she replied, “I was told by my master to wait here. Did he know you were coming?”

Sapphire was considering how wonderful and feminine her voice sounded when Cindy screamed while sending certain signals. “FORWARD, SAPPHIRE!”

He did not argue. Truthfully, he wanted to advance to the mare, so felt the command to be desired. He thus sprang forward. The mare reacted to his sudden movement, then spun upon seeing a number of metal-tipped shafts come toward her. Sapphire found himself having to manage his feet to stay steady after Cindy leaped from the saddle to the mare. The young lady landed while grabbing the reins of the sky-blue horse, then jerking the body in a manner that caused her to not be where the projectiles passed. Sapphire moved near the mare while waiting to obey Cindy’s next command.

Fimmish rode into the meadow while expertly releasing arrows. Sapphire heard Ellemon making exclamations as he encountered someone hiding in the trees. The voice of Cindy was however what the purple horse focused upon.

“Come on, Sapphire. We need to get this lady to safety.”

Hoping to assure some cooperation with the mare, he said, “I am Sapphire, dear lady. What is your name?”

“Sky.”

The name came quickly, but Sapphire felt glad to have heard it all considering the activity around them. “Come on, Sky. Trust Cindy and those with her. They would never hurt you.”

“Okay.”

The young lady moved to kiss her mount as a sign that she was pleased with the agreement that he gained. She then pointed in a direction while checking her hold upon the reins of Sky. As Sapphire was about to lead the way out of the meadow, Sky stopped as another voice sounded.

“What are you doing with MY HORSE!”

The man appeared to have the size of Ellemon, except that he had fat instead of muscle. His belly hung over his belt. His dark-brown hair was slightly long, and from the growth on his face Sapphire considered that neither had been cut for a number of days. He understood that he had grown up as the property of a female, and had lived through some rather humiliating situations because of it, but worried about Sky having been raised by this man.

Cindy showed no concern for the appearance of the man as she moved to pull an arrow from the ground before declaring, “Somebody was trying to kill her!”

“Uh, yeah, that’s bad.” As Sapphire turned wondering about the phrasing of the man, he spoke some more that caused some real questions about his identity. “Hey, what are you doing with your magic horse?”

Cindy replied, “I am telling him to get your horse out of danger.”

“Oh, yeah, what I mean is, where will he take her?”

“She is your horse. Come on.”

“Come on where?”

The young lady exclaimed with exasperation, then yelled, “ELLEMON?”

The large man came from the trees to ask, “Yes, Dearie?”

“Are we safe here?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

Fimmish added, “I don’t think so either, Lady Cindy.”

The young lady turned again to the man to say, “We are taking your horse somewhere that we believe we can be safe. Are you coming or not?”

“Uh… yeah, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Well, uh, I mean that I don’t know you.”

Cindy turned to face Sky as she asked, “Is that your owner?”

Sapphire watched the long red hair of the mare dance as she nodded while saying, “Yes, that is Edward.”

“I guess that there could be bad owners. I am sorry that you got one.” Cindy grabbed the reins of the mare while saying, “Come on, we will find a place of safety where we can talk and get to know each other.” She then turned to another to say, “Fimmish, could you help Sapphire find a good place to camp?”

The man had his horse turn one way, another, then had the animal ride up beside the purple horse before giving directions. “Probably back toward the hills, Sapphire. I believe that we can head in that direction.” Sapphire looked where the woodsman pointed as he listened to the further directions. “Find a meadow, then head toward a slope looking for a protected area.”

The purple horse turned to Sky to say, “Sounds like a better method of finding a place to camp than some of the places where I hid last year. Come on.”

The mare moved to trot along beside him as she said, “I have never met another magic horse before.”

Sapphire really did not want to say a certain phrase, but a desire to speak to the mare caused him to go ahead and voice the words. “Almost all that I met were dead.”

“All the other magic horses that I have seen were dead.”

The voice of Edward caused Sky to stop, even though he spoke to another. “Hey, lady, don’t you ride your magic horse?”

Cindy replied, “Yes, I ride Sapphire. At the moment I am concerned for him however.”

“Well… Sky, come here. I want you to carry me.”

Sapphire saw the mare look to the man, then she turned back to him to say, “I really must obey him.”

He felt a need to comment, “I guess that I have it easy. I only have to carry a girl.”

“Edward is quite heavy.”

Sapphire heard Cindy call his name, and as he simply made a sidestep maneuver to put his body next to hers he almost smiled as he heard her whisper, “You can keep up with Sky should she suddenly ride off?”

He whispered in response. “Easily. You don’t weigh half as much as that man.”

“Then keep your eyes upon her. If she suddenly moves off, I want you to follow.”

“That is an easy command, Cindy. I don’t mind keeping my eyes on Sky at all.”

She mounted him while saying, “All right, Sapphire. Therox and I have been around each other for years. We are allowing things to develop in its own time. You can hold yourself for a while as well.”

Assuring that the young lady understood a certain fact, Sapphire replied, “I still want to speak some more to her.”

“Then there is no problem with my command?”

“None at all.”

“I love you, Sapphire.”

The purple horse felt the commands from his rider, but did not consider if he was following or not as he moved back to the light-blue mare. “Follow the directions of Lord Fimmish, Sky. I don’t really like him, but he does have a wife that will keep him in line. As for Ellemon, I think that I like the guy. Not much, but that guy is not afraid of a fight.”

She whispered in return, “How about your rider?”

Sapphire knew that shock showed on his face as he said, “Cindy? She is the most fantastic lady that I know.” He tried to recover his composure by adding, “You can trust her. We are guarding your back, so move on behind Fimmish and Ellemon.”

The mare moved off behind the mounted woodsman. There was a period of tension as Ellemon had to regain his mount, but he soon enough rode to the group. While all wondered about the earlier encounter, they moved off understanding that whatever threat had been present had not been completely dealt with.

Sapphire found himself enjoying being behind Sky. He had heard men speak of Cindy being attractive from the rear, and found himself agreeing that there was something entertaining watching the movement of Sky’s flanks and flowing red tail. He however found himself wondering about what he saw. The big lumbering man on top of the lady just did not have the same quality to his appearance that Sky had. His hair did not seem to have been washed, while her coat glistened and her lengthy tail and mane flowed. Sapphire knew that he looked good, but Cindy tended to treat him just as she treated herself. Over the years she had allowed him to appear in a manner he considered more masculine, but he had long ago accepted that he would always show details of having a female as a rider. Sky however appeared to be all lady, and the purple horse cheerfully moved behind her.

The man riding the mare turned to say, “Hey, lady, how old is your horse?”

Sapphire noted a disgusted tone to Cindy’s crisp reply, “Four.”

“Mine, she just turned three. That is the best age for selling them.”

“What?” Cindy however quickly recovered herself by saying, “I guess that is why a year ago Sapphire felt a desire to travel. We stopped the curses however, so now there is no force causing magic horses to feel the need to put their owners into danger.”

While the purple horse felt glad that his rider had managed to find an acceptable avenue of discussion, he still recognized that there was something very wrong with the rider of Sky. Sapphire thus lifted his gaze to inspect the one riding the mare. He gasped upon seeing a certain sash tied above the belt of Edward. While his fat belly had helped hide the ribbon of cloth, as his body moved to the rhythm of Sky it became very evident.

“Cindy.” Sapphire tried to speak only loud enough for his owner to hear. “Edward is wearing the insignia of the Nixoops.”

The lady moved her head to place it near the ears of her horse as she replied, “I had already seen it, Sapphire. Yes, Sky is in danger, but she is also in danger of dying should we kill Edward. We need to be careful.”


Hopefully a confusing enough start to hold your interest.