The Rikifur Chronicles: Chapter 11 - Closure
#11 of Chronicles of Rikifur
My apologies for the long period of time between the last chapter and this one. Summer here in Seattle drags me outside. When the rains return, I will be writing more again. I will finish this novel eventually.
We are probably about one third to half way through now. Most of the next chapter is written.
The next chapter has several new and interesting characters. The cast grows.
Airy awoke panting and frightened, clutching Jak's fur in her paws. Wild and searching eyes stared past the Wolf sightlessly, still lost in some far off nightmare plane of unreal existence. Her ears were turned flat on the back of her head, and her nose was twitching madly.
"Airy, it's OK. I'm here. It's Jak." Jak stroked Airy's face and put an arm around her to draw her towards him as they lay facing each other on Jak's old blanket. As if noticing him for the first time, she stared deep into his functional eye and began to cry. It was several minutes before the tears stopped and Jak was able to cajole her into speaking.
"What you are feeling, Airy? Tell me what's wrong."
She clung to him without speaking as though collecting her thoughts. He was beginning to think she had gone mute. "I don't know what I feel," she said in a soft whisper. "It's like I am broken inside, like a shattered porcelain doll. I ... I can't make sense of any of it. No one has ever hurt me so badly before. It's like I am dirty and stained within where I can never wash the filth away." Tears ran down her cheeks again, and Jak felt them as they dropped to his chest. She made no more sound, though, as if her emptiness were a vacuum through which noise could not penetrate.
Not knowing what he could say to heal a pain so vast, Jak sat up pulling her onto his lap and hugged her tight to his chest. He slowly rocked her back and forth like an injured pup. The minutes passed with no words as they shared the warmth of their bodies and the comfort of each other's presence. Airy's paws alternated between stroking Jak's pelt affectionately, and clutching desperately to his fur as if she feared she would fall into some dark chasm if she were to let go.
"Jak?" she finally asked.
"Yes, Airy."
"I need to be alone for a while."
"I don't think that is a good ..."
"Please, Jak. Just for an hour."
"Airy, I am worried about you. You are upset and hurting. I can help. Let me be your strength."
"I know that you love me, but your strength can't help me with this. I need to work this out by myself."
The old wolf eyed her critically. "Tell me you don't intend to hurt yourself."
Airy raised her ears erect, and her nose twitching ceased. "I won't hurt myself," she declared. I am stronger than that."
Jak doubted that, but could smell no lie. "Let me at least watch over you. I can move away and give you some space, but I cannot bear to let you out of my sight when you are like this."
Anger flared across her face. "Like what? Like some pathetic, fragile thing? I can take care of myself. I intend to take care of myself. Now go." Her voice abruptly softened. These rapid mood swings were disturbing to Jak. "Leave for a while, please."
Jak was uncertain how to proceed. Rape did occur among his kind. Young wolves sometimes became frustrated when females shunned them for higher status males. Jak had passed judgment on multiple similar incidents during his reign as pack leader. He had never had to counsel the victims, though. That task was left for the females of the tribe.
Why was Airy taking this so hard? he wondered. It was done and over. They had escaped and were safe again. They were together and still loved each other. What more was needed? He had been raped also, though not as brutally. Yet he had mated with so many females over the years, the she Cat had just seemed like one more. It was an unpleasant mating, but still was just one more. Jak knew that Airy's customs were different. Her kind did not take multiple mates. Jak suspected that Rikifur's insistence on monogamy would make the experience different for her. Also, she did not have as much experience as Jak. She had only ever mated with twice, with him. He was certain that a part of Airy's problem was what happened between him and the female Cat. It was nothing to him; a bad event to be forgotten. Airy would see it differently and might even think of him as unfaithful. Jak felt that was unfair if it were true. It was all so confusing that Jak relented and gave Airy her time alone so that he had some time alone, also, to figure out how to help her through this. He knew she would not hurt herself out of despair. He had been stupid to ask. She was too strong for that. Of that, he was certain.
"I will be out of sight, but near enough that I can hear you call when you need me. I will be back in an hour if you don't call."
Airy agreed to his conditions. Jak took his spear and found a high rocky outcrop that overlooked the line of trees where Airy remained in their camp. He had not been sitting long before he smelled Cat. She had snuck up on him somehow even though he faced so he could look towards their camp and still see downwind. It was true that his vision was halved, but that still did not explain her success. Her ability to move about seemingly invisible was uncanny.
"I am not in the mood for your company, Cat. Go away," he said flatly without even turning to confirm her presence.
"Such ingratitude," she replied with mock disappointment as she moved from behind him into his limited field of vision. "I saved your lives. Haven't I at least earned 'thank you'?"
Jak growled with a dangerous rumbling in his throat. He was not going to thank her, considering the manner of her rescue and the pain it was causing Airy. "I'm serious, Cat. I have the consequences of your rescue to deal with and need time alone to think. Unless you can help in some positive way, you should go. I won't ask again." He growled again for emphasis.
Cat was not frightened nor inclined to leave. She brazenly sat next to Jak with her arms holding her knees in front of her chest. Her tail lay on top of Jak's. Whether the placement of her tail was intended consciously or not, Jak was on the verge of breaking his honor, and the deal, by striking her for her impudence. Before he could act, she surprised him by saying, "I am sorry for that."
Jak was astounded. Had he heard her say 'sorry'? He had been so certain that this creature could not feel empathy, sorrow or any other worthy emotion. He thought she was only capable of caring for herself. Cynicism born of experience made him wonder if this was real or just another game. "Are you truly sorry?"
"Yes. I am truly sorry. Though I am not sure how else I could have vorked my brother into letting himself get tied up, I should not have let things go so far. That vas possibly unnecessary."
Jak leaned in to smell her, but could detect no lie. His senses weren't infallible, especially when dealing with unfamiliar people like Cats, but she seemed sincere.
"Vhat are you doing, puppy? Do you like me after all? Am I enticing to your senses?"
"Just checking the veracity of your apology." She cocked one ear forward and one back in confusion. "Since you are sorry, then you deserve my thanks. Thank you for helping us to escape."
Cat responded slowly to his unanticipated expression of gratitude. "You are velcome, puppy."
"Jak. My name is Jak. I stopped being a puppy a long time ago; before you were born most likely. Call me Jak, and I will call you by your name. What is your name?"
"Cat."
"That's not a name any more than calling me 'puppy' is a name."
"Cat's do not share their true names vith strangers, puppy. It is not our vay."
"I can't just keep calling you 'Cat'."
"Vhy not? There are no other Cats around. You yell 'Cat', no one else vill come. Just me."
"Fine. 'Cat' it is. Will you at least call me Jak?"
Cat looked intensely into his eye for a few seconds as if trying to divine his inner thoughts. "I don't think Jak is your real name. There is more to you than that." She shushed him when he tried to tell her his warrior name. "Do not tell me now. Secrets are fun. You try to discover mine, and I vill try to discover yours. Unless ..."
"Unless what?"
"Unless you vant to make another deal."
"I am already in trouble because of my first deal with you. Why would I want another?"
"You are alive because of that deal."
Jak sighed knowing she was right. "Fine. I am open to consider it. What is this new deal?"
She released her knees and lay back on the rock stretching out her long sinewy legs. Arching her back seductively, she continued, "You do special thing for me, and I tell you my true name." As she said this, she placed one foot on Jak's thigh and began to gently skritch his fur with her claws, which snicked out from the end of her toes like diminutive switch blades.
Jak was sure he knew what she wanted, but he stubbornly refused to let her lead him to that conclusion. "What is this 'special thing'?"
She smiled and purred. The sound was surprisingly loud and compelling. "You make love to me by licking like you described yesterday. You lick me all over like you lick Bunyic."
Jak snorted his derision. "I think I will keep calling you 'Cat' instead."
She pouted and rolled away from him onto her stomach. She had not given up, though. Her long, slender tail writhed in Jak's face. "You can have me like this if you prefer." She raised her rear in the air slightly. "Doggie style."
It was not her amorous pose that caught his attention. Jak had deliberately avoided looking at her as she continued her attempted seduction, but even with just one eye, he noticed the breaks in the patterns of the stripes on her back. Curious, he examined them closer. They were scars from some terrible wounds. Many had never regrown fur to cover the puckered gray skin beneath. For those where the fur had grown back, it was short and white, and did not match the rest of her orange and black pelt.
"How did you get these scars?"
Cat's ears flattened and her tail collapsed. All the sexual suggestiveness of her posturing vanished. She said nothing.
"Did your brother do this to you?"
She shook her head but not in sorrow or pain, but instead as one would when about to upbraid a student for not understanding a lesson. She rolled onto her back again, this time towards Jak. "You think he is monster, don't you? I suppose he vould seem that vay to you, but there are many monsters in this vorld. You vould be surprised, I am sure, if you vere to find out they vere hiding among you and your kind."
"What do you mean?"
She sat up and turned her back to Jak, her movements always graceful and controlled. "Put your paw on my back."
"I said I don't want to ..."
"Not that, dumb puppy. Put your claws over the scars."
Reluctantly, Jak did as she asked. The scars fit reasonably well with the spread of his claws and paw.
"What is the point of this? I didn't scratch you if that is what you are implying. These are old."
In response, she held up her right paw. "Place yours against mine." Jak did. His paw was much broader than hers. In stark contrast to her height and strength, she had surprisingly slender and delicate paws. With a subtle motion of her paw, her claws sprang forth from the tips of her fingers. They curved inward somewhat as opposed to Jak's, which angled outward slightly. Jak placed his paw back over her scars and traced the motion that made them.
"Not a Cat then. A Wolf did this," he concluded.
Cat had curled up tight into herself, hugging her knees in response to Jak's tracing of those scars. She shivered uncontrollably as if reliving a traumatic moment.
"Four volves," she said in a quiet voice laden with sadness. Jak could not believe the sudden alteration. Cat had transformed from sassy confidence to dejected humility before his eye. "I vas very young; only just of age for breeding. There vere four who raped me savagely and left me for dead. They took turns. Then they used me three at a time. There vere others who killed all of my family except for my brother, who found me and healed me as best he could. Though older than me, he was too young for such responsibility."
"Then why did you save me? Surely you must hate all Wolves for what they did to you."
"I do, or at least I did. My brother and I have spent many years killing for revenge. I can't remember how many Volves ve have tortured and killed since ... that day." She was silent again. Jak was tempted to comfort her with an embrace, but he did not know how she would react to physical contact. "I did not intend to tell you any of this. It seems I vill be revealing some secrets for free. I vill only say more if you svear to tell no one else, especially little Bunyic."
"I swear as I swore to the deal yesterday."
"You are honest and easy person to deal vith, Jak," she said from between her knees. The unintentional use of his real name was not lost on him. "Your Bunyic is very lucky to have you."
There was another long pause before she continued her confession with her face still hidden. "My brother vas not able to fully heal me physically or ... emotionally. In some vays he only added to pain. Ve became lovers because he vas the only person I could trust anymore and because no other Cat vould have me after being used by Volves. His over protective lust for vengeance manifests itself in the vay he craves sex. I don't think he has ever been deliberately unkind to me, but lately I have come to realize that he vas not helping me. As long as I stayed vith him living only for vengeance, I vould never heal and become whole person again. I need to find trust and real love again and not be slave to my brother and his desires."
She halted her speach to collect her thoughts and control her emotions. Jak kept silent to let her tell her story at her own pace. "This is not easy thing for me, talking about vhat happened. I have never told anyone this, not even my brother.
"Then you came along, and I see opportunity. I see tracks of Volf not acting like Volf. I suspect Volf is helping Bunyic. My brother cannot imagine such a thing. His hate blinds him to possibility. I investigate and find Volf and Bunyic in love and, oh so tenderly," she says wistfully. "I think back to the love of my parents and I vant love like that again. It was there, outside your hiding place, I decided it vas time to leave my brother. It vas time to begin healing and find me again, find who I am. I am not just hate. I am not just my brother's toy. I van't to be more than that."
Jak saw that she was silently crying. Her tears were staining the rock where they fell between her legs. "Is that why you exposed your neck to me? Are you looking for trust? Were you hoping you could trust me?"
"Yes. It was risk, but not big risk for me. If you had killed me, then I vould be no vorse off than the living death of mindless revenge. Since you didn't ..."
"Since I didn't?" She made no answer. Jak felt compelled to return her trust with kindness. "Will it help for me to apologize on behalf of my kind for what was done to you?"
She was quiet long enough that Jak wondered if she would answer. "Yes. From you it vill have great meaning. You do not break your vord."
Jak placed a paw on her shoulder, but before he could utter an apology, she leapt up with the lightning speed of which her kind were capable and wrapped her arms about him. She buried her short snout in the thick fur of his neck and shoulders. Caught off balance and unprepared he staggered backward a step to keep from falling over. It felt awkward to Jak to be comforting this dangerous and moody female who was taller than himself, but he returned the embrace, gently stroking the silky short fur on her back while trying not to pause at the scars.
"I am sorry, Cat. Truly sorry."
She wiped her weepy checks in his fur, and with an abrupt push, disentangled herself from Jak's embrace. "Thank you for that." The tears were gone now, and some of the cold and cruel Cat was back. Scowling at Jak, she continued, "Now you know a great secret about me, but I have many more. I trust you, puppy, to keep this one, but I do not trust Bunyic. Don't disappoint me by telling her any of this. I am not hurt or betrayed vithout consequences. Now get back to your little Bunyic before she vakes up. She needs you more than I do."
"She's not sleeping. She wanted time alone, and I came here to ..."
Cat's scowl turned to mild panic. "Stupid puppy! You left her alone?"
"Yes. She won't hurt herself. She is stronger than that."
"Ach! I can't believe how dumb you are. I know you and Bunyic for one day and see things clearer than you. There are many ways to hurt one's self, foolish doggie."
"What do you mean?"
"She is stubborn, prideful and reckless. That should be obvious even to love blinded puppy like you. She needs to take back vhat vas stolen from her by thief. Do you not see this?" To emphasize her next point, she pokes her finger on Jak's forehead. "Think how she thinks."
Jak suddenly understood, and ran away from Cat and towards the canyon trail as fast as he could.
Cat stayed standing on the rock for a while wondering why she was helping the horrid little Bunyic. She did not believe in karmic reciprocity, yet somehow she felt that this was required of her. If it might help fill the emptiness inside her soul with something, she would try it once. If it didn't help, she was not obligated to repeat the kindness.
Jak caught up to Airy just a short distance into the canyon. She was unhappy to see him.
"Don't try to stop me Jak. It hasn't been an hour so you must have figured out what I intend to do."
Jak wanted to tell her that it was Cat who had known and told him, but his honor forbade him from divulging her secrets. Also, he knew Airy's response to any help from that source would be irrational. He placed himself in front of her to block her access down the canyon.
Airy seethed with determined rage. "I need this Jak. Don't stand in my way."
"You'll be killed."
"Maybe. Maybe not. You can't be sure of that. And if I die, so be it. It's him or me."
"No, Airy. It's not. It's you and me. We are all that matter. I love you. You love me. You do not need to do this."
Airy wavered for moment as if remembering something pleasant that had been forgotten. The cold determination returned just as quickly. "If you love me then help me right this wrong."
"You know I cannot do that."
Angry, she lashed out verbally at Jak. "Because of you honor? Because of your deal? Are they more important to you than me?"
"They are important because I love you. How can you trust me and know ever again what I say and do is true, if I break my word and throw aside my honor now? Even if we kill the Cat, what will we have accomplished? You won't get anything back from him. You will still be hurt and empty inside. You can't fill that void with revenge. You can only fill it with love."
"I need revenge. It will help. I can't live knowing he has this powers over me."
"He has no power over you except what you give him."
She drew her sword and pointed it at Jak's breast.
Jak looked sadly into her stony and resolute eyes but did not flinch or retreat. "You want to kill me, then do it. That is what you must do if this is your choice. I am dead without you, Airy. I would rather die clean and quick at your paw than linger on to die slowly without you. Do it or accept the hope that you may heal from this one day."
She pulled the sword back as if to thrust, but it fell from her paw instead to clatter on the red sandstone. In that instant before she dropped the sword, Airy had been lost in a wilderness of pain, self-loathing, and hatred. So consumed had she been by her need to reestablish control over a situation in which she had been utterly powerless, she was blinded to the fact that she was moving farther out of control by yielding to those negative emotions. It had been the choice that Jak had forced upon her, his life or her vengeance, that had made her realize her folly. It was within her power to choose her own future and control the life that she wanted to have. Just by opening her paw, she ended the madness. It was such a simple act, yet it created profound consequences. She became momentarily empty of any purpose, as though the history of her being had been erased. Her soul was searching for a goal and meaning to fill its meaningless void. Her ears and shoulders slumped, but she did not cry nor did she speak. Her rage and hate had broken upon the rocky buttress of Jak's devotion. It was as though she were lost and alone back at the high pass again, but this time Jak was here in front of her reaching out to comfort her in her moment of intense need.
"Let me be your strength as you were my strength for the climb down the cliff," begged Jak. That simple statement reminded her of all that they had suffered and accomplished together. She was not a victim. She was a princess. Enduring hardship was the price she had to pay to wear the crown and lead her people. She had not traveled this far against terrible odds to let one horrendous event destroy everything that she had accomplished. Jak embrace her and she returned his hug gratefully. They marched paw in paw out of the canyon and back to their camp.
Cat was watching as they returned, and she made herself visible to Jak. Airy was oblivious to her surroundings, and either did not see Cat, or did not care that she was present. Jak secretly wished that Airy and Cat could talk to each other. He was sure that they both would benefit from sharing their experiences.
Airy wanted to rest and lie with Jak, so they spent the rest of the day cuddling, but not making love. It was as though they were newly met strangers with an instant fondness for each other taking their time to get to know each other better. Jak was content that she would return his kisses, hugs and gentle caresses. By evening, she was actively discussing their future again. Jak proposed that they continue their journey. Encouragingly, she agreed.
They consumed the last of their rations that evening. Jak would have to forage again in this strange land or beg for food from its inhabitants if he could find them. The uncertain path forward consumed his thoughts when he wasn't continuing to worry about his love.
Airy was even more like her usual self the next day. There was no desire left in her to return to Aserth. Instead, she seemed eager to put as many miles as she could between herself and the land of the Cats, so they made excellent progress across the grassy plains of this strange new land. There was no need for stealth, so the two walked briskly in the open. Help from others was necessary to learn about this land and how to cross it safely to reach the next leg of their journey. At dusk, they stopped again near a stream and the accompanying shelter of trees. Cat had been absent all day. They caught some game birds, and Jak agreed to a fire.
"We might as well advertise our presence. I think it is better that we are found now."
"Are these the lands of the Horse and Cattle people?"
"I think so." He did not add that Cat would know. "These lands are unknown to me, but the Cat mentioned 'Cows' when we ... fought." Jak watched for Airy's reaction, but she showed no outward change in expression at the mention of he rapist. She remained grim and determined.
Jak smelled Cat this time before she appeared. Jak suspected it was deliberate on Cat's part since she would not be so foolish as to come from up wind otherwise. If she was extending courtesy so that Jak could forewarn Airy, he was grateful.
"Cat is coming," he said. Airy visibly tensed, but said nothing.
The tall feline made a show of approaching the camp noisily and visibly. Jak and Airy sat together beside the fire. Cat stopped at the edge of the flickering light with Jak between her and Airy.
"Mounted Horse people are coming this vay. Ten of them. They vill be here in five minutes. It vasn't smart to build fire."
"We want to found," Jak answered. "We need information and help to continue our journey north."
"I could have taken you north. It's that vay," she said while pointing in the general direction of north. "I could have led you through this land unseen."
"Do you think we are in danger?"
Cat pondered Jak's question. "Possibly not you two. They von't like me, but they trade vith other peoples. Bunyic should be fine. She vill not seem to be threat. I don't know vhat they think of Volves." Before Jak could ask more, Cat had vanished.
The riders appeared within minutes of her departure. Ten riders, just as Cat had said, approached on horseback and surrounded their fire. Airy and Jak stood, but left their weapons on the ground. The riders were attired in uniforms and armor similar to Airy's in form, though theirs glowed a golden color in the firelight unlike the dull silver sheen of Airy's tarnished steel. Each rider had a bronze breastplate with a rampant horse in bas relief in the center front. On their legs they wore bronze calf guards. A pleated leather skirt with bronze medallions at the tips of the pleats covered their loins. Identical, round bronze caps with chinstraps covered their heads, except for the leader upon whose helmet rose a plume of horse hair dyed bright red. Each soldier carried a spear in one hand, a sword in a scabbard attached to his waist, and on the opposite side, each had a short recurve bow mounted to the saddle with a quiver full of arrows. A red, hooded cloak with the hoods thrown back completed their uniforms.
The soldiers said nothing at first, watching and appraising Jak and Airy until the Horse rider with the plume on his helmet dismounted. The others remained in the saddle. The leader approached Jak and Airy and planted the butt of his spear in the ground, two paces from them. He was slightly taller than Jak, but less so than Cat. Like Jak, he was powerfully built with broad shoulders, strong musculature and a narrow waist. What Jak could see of his pelt under his clothes and armor was colored with a random pattern of white and brown patches of short fur. He had long, thick, curly, brown hair atop his head that stuck out mischievously from beneath his helmet, which he removed and tossed casually, but with practiced ease, to one of the mounted warriors who deftly caught it. Now free of its prison, the rest of his flowing brown mane billowed in the light evening breeze. All the riders including the leader shared the squared muzzles of their animal mounts. Jak guessed his age to be around thirty-five based on the practiced authority he exhibited, but he a had an almost boyish appearance to his face. His ominous red eyes were surprisingly friendly.
"Greetings travelers," he said in a rich, deep voice that had the most unusual accent Jak had yet heard. The words were familiar, but were spoken differently than the way that he, Cat or Airy spoke them. "I am Raeph of Alteeryh, a captain of the royal guard of the great Juht who rules all the lands of Storvey." He paused and stared at Jak with his large red eyes. Despite the formal and haughty meaning of his words, everything he said had been delivered with a congenial charm that was captivating and inviting.
The Horse captain and Jak were both surprised when Airy stepped forward and spoke in a voice steeped in confidence and authority. "I am Airiphryone, Princess and first in line to the throne of Rikifur and Captain of the Rikiguard."
Raeph seemed to notice Airy for the first time having assumed that Jak was the leader of the pair of travelers. He quickly appraised her, noting her unusual armor and the hilt and length of her sword, which was narrower and thinner than the broad short swords the Horse soldiers wore. He must have been impressed by what he saw for he bent his right knee, bowed at the waist and placed his right hand with palm open over his left breast while saying "Greetings, Princess Airiphryone. Please accept my humble welcome to the empire of Storvey. Also please accept my apologies for not greeting one of your station properly." To Jak, the Horse leader's rapid acceptance of Airy's nobility and the grace and charm with which he yielded to her seemed ridiculously swift, yet he could smell no mockery.
"And you, Sir?" he asked addressing Jak. "How may I address you?"
Jak felt strangely out of place in this conversation as if he were the errant pup sneaking in among the elders at council. Though he had once been a leader at least as high ranking as this soldier, he opted to keep his role simple but accurate.
"My name is Jak, Captain Raeph of Alteeryh. I am the Princess' protector and a soldier of the Rikiguard.
Raeph held out his right hand for Jak to shake; it was furless and a rich, chocolate brown color like the hair on his head. As Jak shook his proffered hand with his paw, Raeph exclaimed, "A pleasure to meet you, Sir," in a manner that conveyed he meant it.
Less enthusiastic, but with equal sincerity Jak replied, "I am greatly pleased to me you, also, Sir. We had not hoped to receive such a warm welcome, but we are grateful for it nonetheless."
Raeph continued to hold Jak's paw a bit longer as if he wished to say something more, but instead he released him and turned his attention back to Airy.
"Princess, I believe that I can offer you better accommodations tonight than this camp."
"Are we to be prisoners, then?" asked Airy.
Raeph was aghast at this notion. "Certainly not. You will be honored guests, most likely of the Great Juht himself. He will be interested to meet a Princess from a new and unknown land. I think it certain that he will want you to sit at his table tonight and feast with him. Will you not ride with us to his camp? It is not far."
"Captain Raeph, your offer is generous. We graciously accept." Jak was happy to see Airy in command again and dealing with the issue of their journey rather than dwelling on the events of days past. He would prefer that Cat and she discuss the issue to reach emotional closure, but he was willing to settle for the distraction at hand.
Raeph ordered two of the riders to dismount and offered their horses to Airy and Jak. Airy mounted with practiced ease, but Jak had never even seen a horse before now. He was mistrustful of this large animal that looked like it would better serve to fill his belly than to bear him on its back. The horse appeared to be less unfamiliar with Wolves, but eyed Jak warily. At Airy's insistence and with Raeph's instruction, Jak was able to mount the beast without incident or too much embarrassment. Once in the saddle with his feet in the stirrups, Jak was sold on the utility of this animal. He could envision how from this height he could see so much more of a battle. If this animal was capable of the speed it seemed to be made for, then opponents on foot would be helpless before a rider with a spear charging on its back.
During the ride that followed, his horse knew its business, and could navigate its way back by the pale moonlight without his guidance. Even so, Jak experimented with learning control, taking whatever guidance Airy gave him as she rode alongside. He was determined to know how to ride in the event they needed to escape this land in a hurry.
[END OF CHAPTER]