A Training Race (NaNoWriMo Resubmission)

Cass stood next to Lady Justice, a hand resting on the rift mark on the cremello mare’s neck. She hadn’t been sure how to handle the tall mare at first, the rift marking that colored the mare’s cheek also leaving her eyes a milky and unseeing blue. Normally she wouldn’t use a blind horse for the kind of training she intended today, but Lady Justice hadn’t missed a step in their other rides and so she figured she’d give her a chance. 

“Morning,” Ellah called as she led Lover’s Greed up to the fence at the edge of Thorn Rose stables fields. The grey on smokey black mare seeming ready for the ride as she sniffed in Lady’s direction. “Haven’t seen you on her yet.” 

“She’s newer. I’ve had her in the arena and wanted to see how she’d take to a ride like this. Might be nice having a horse that won’t get turned to stone or anything when hunting certain monsters.” Cassandra shrugged, stroking the mare’s neck as the blind horse’s ears flicked in the direction of the sound and sniffed in Greed’s direction. 

“Yeah, I could see that. Might have to try that with my rift as well sometime.” Ellah nodded, holding on firmly to Greed as the mare danced excitedly in the cooler fall air. 

“I might have to join in with one of mine.” Clementine’s voice sounded closer than either of the demonkin anticipated, causing both of them to reach for their knives on reflex. The possum beastfolk leading a pangare bay rabicano mare with faint markings of a skeleton didn’t seem at all phased by their actions. Skin’t Tom seemed unphased by the tension, but a flick of her long curly tale and the way she watched the other two implied she was well aware of it. 

Cass nodded in greeting and relaxed her stance, brushing Justice’s neck reassuringly, the mare having tensed when she did. “Be happy to have you. Could be fun to see how much magic we can toss and not have them worried about it.” 

Greed seemed to pick up on the word magic and tossed her head, the morning light catching the rabicano markings and making the shine for a moment. Ellah kept a firm grip and calmed the mare. “Well, I’m definitely not doing that with her. She’s gonna have to get used to it, but maybe not on the trail with three of us playing fast and loose with it.” 

Cass chuckled, checking Justice’s halter. She’d ride the mare bareback today as the connection between them was even more important given the horses lack of sight, but the reins would likely prove useful. “I’ll have to setup a course for it. I haven’t done a good night training in while and it certainly couldn’t hurt to see how they handle it. But for now we’ve got a good course to run with these three.” 

“About that. You weren’t exactly clear on what it was we were doing today.” Clementine checked Skin’t Tom’s gear, the mare watching the other two mares closely, her ears flicking towards whoever was talking. 

“Yeah, a bit more detail would be nice.” Ellah quipped as she did much the same. “Only reason I’m out here is you always manage to keep it interesting and you promised not to setup any more borderline suicidal courses for awhile.” 

“I’ve got three trails looping through the woods out there. We’ll start off together to get a feel for how our mounts run together, but about half of the time we won’t be able to see each other clearly, but we should be able to catch glimpses and hear each other. Each path has different obstacles and targets that will need to be cleared or dropped. The goal is to keep up a pace that puts us into the clearings and points where the path meets up at roughly the same time. Which means being very aware of what our horses can do, and what each other can do.” 

“Are signals allowed on the trail?” Clementine asked, mounting the bay mare as the shifted excitedly in the fall air, ready for the trail. 

“Yep.” Cass replied, climbing on Lady Justice, the blind mare’s ears turning as much as they could to keep track of the other riders. 

“So what signals are we using?” Ellah mounted Greed, taking the smokey black mare firmly in hand as she tried to make for the trail. 

Cass looked between the two grinning mischievously, turning Lady Justice towards the gate out of the fields and onto the road up to the trail. “We’ve got until we hit the wood line to figure it out, so you’d best work it out quick. I’ll work with whatever you decide.” 

Ellah gave the other demonkin a really look and then came up alongside Clementine, the rabicano marked mare shooting the phantom marked mare an appraising, almost challenging look. “Well, clearly she’s not going to be any help.” 

“You surprised?” Clementine shot Cass a look before turning back to Ellah. “So, what are you thinking? I’m partial to fire, personally, but Greed doesn’t seem so fond of flares or magic.” 

“She’d probably be okay if you weren’t on top of her while using it.” Ellah ventured, eyeing the gray on black mare under her for a moment. “Or throwing it at her.” 

“So maybe when we’re split up and a target is down along our path?” Clementine kept Skin’t Tom at a bit of a distance from Greed, the two horses still largely unfamiliar with each other for all they were boarded near each other in the stables. So far, they seemed okay with each other. 

Cass listened to the pair talk as she kept Lady Justice to a steady pace along the path up to the start of the trail. There weren’t many people she’d be willing to ride something like this with, but even without a lot of experience the pair behind her were quick and skilled enough she wasn’t worried. There’d be some adjustment for all of them in the first few splits as they learned their pacing and each other’s tendencies, but she had no doubt things would be running mostly smoothly by the time they came up on the last several splits. Lady Justice’s pale tail swished as she walked calmly down the road, her ear occasionally turning towards sounds in the woods but otherwise comfortable to trust Cass to be her eyes.  

“Do all the paths have a target?” Ellah asked.

“Nope.” 

“So how do we signal there’s a problem in the first place?” Ellah looked to Clementine, well aware of the fact that Cassandra meant it when she said she didn’t intend to be helpful. 

Clementine considered the question for a moment, having to break off their attention when Skin’t Tom decided to make a play for passing Greed. Greed disapproved enough to nip when Skin’t Tom got too close, but both Clementine and Ellah were skilled enough riders to manage the situation with little fuss. 

Much to Cassandra’s pride, Lady Justice barely reacted to the slight commotion behind them, her ears flicking in the direction of the noise and changing her position just slightly to allow for more room on the trail in case one of the others decided to run. When the two were brought under control, she simply twitched her ears and huffed, seeming to glance back for all the rift marking meant she couldn’t see them. 

“You said we’d usually be able to hear each other moving, right?” Ellah verified as they approached the start of the run. 

“Yep.” Cass replied, easing Lady Justice to a stop and turning to regard the other two. 

“Can you whistle?” Ellah glanced at Clementine as she pulled Greed to a halt, the mare resisting for a moment, clearly aware that they were about to get a good run out of the deal. 

Clementine pulled Skin’t Tom to a halt as well and nodded. The slick mare seemed to be watching the other two horses and riders closer now, almost as if calculating something, his long tail swinging back and forth. “So a whistle if we find a target and a flare of fire once it’s clear?” Clementine verified. 

“Works for me.” Ellah shrugged, the casual tone belied by the focus in her eyes. 

“How do we know what trail to take when we split up?” Clementine asked, not waiting for Cassandra to say if she was okay with the options or not. 

Cassandra smirked, Lady Justice staying still as she waited for the demonkin to tell her when it was time to run. The mare was truly well behaved, even if they were still learning from each other. 

“We’re going to have to figure that out for ourselves, aren’t we?” Clementine said more than asked when no actual answer was forthcoming. 

“Really?” Ellah brought Lover’s Greed up alongside Cassandra. “You’re not going to tell us anything else?” 

Cassandra’s smirk turned into a smile as she nudged Lady Justice into motion, a quick trot into a canter, calling back as Ellah and Clementine both set their mares into motion as well. “You won’t have any trouble telling which trail, I promise.” 

“Well I guess that’s some kind of concession,” Ellah muttered as Lover’s Greed practically lept into motion, the gray on black horse needling little prompting. Particularly not with Lady Justice already in the lead and a race clearly in progress. 

Clementine gave a bark of laughter, glimmers of fire sparking from her hair as she and Skin’t Tom joined the ride with a smooth transition from a fast trot into a racing canter. If the phantom marked horse had any feelings on the matter, they were hidden beneath their brown eyes. Though the speed at which they ran suggested a certain interest in the matter. 

The first part of the trail was reasonably wide with more than enough space to accommodate all three horses alongside each other if needed. For the moment all three mares rode close together. Lady Justice was still slightly out front, the cremello mare following Cass’s instructions easily. Lover’s Greed and Skin’t Tom were close on her heels, both mares only a step off because their riders were requiring it of them. It seemed both Ellah and Clementine wanted to see which way Cassandra would break off with Lady Justice first. 

The first of the splits came up quick, the three trails easily visible in front of them. One was unmarked, one was marked with a lightning sign, and the other with fire. Without looking back to see what the others would do, Cass turned Lady Justice down the unmarked path. 

Clementine and Ellah shot each other a look before Clementine guided Skin’t Tom down the path with fire and Ellah turned an excited Lover’s Greed down the path marked by lightning. At least Cassandra hadn’t been lying about the paths being easy to figure out. 

Cassandra didn’t know what was coming next as she’d made sure the individual setting things up hadn’t informed her of all the details, but she kept an eye and an ear on the surrounding woods. She couldn’t see the other two riders or their horses, but she could hear them not far off. Lady Justice’s ears kept turning in the direction of the sound as well, a good marker for Cassandra as she rode. 

There were a series of three jumps, but no training dummy to be seen and so she slowed her path as a sharp whistle sounded on her right, Ellah’s path. 

Ellah and Lover’s Greed had stumbled upon a training dummy in the shape of a smaller demon and Ellah gave a loud whistle. Lover’s Greed hesitated at the sound, and nearly threw off Ellah’s aim as the mare shifted when the demonkin launched a series of daggers at the dummy. Two of the weapons struck home with enough force to topple the training dummy, and Ellah sent up a flare to signal the all clear. 

Greed, still not caring much for fire, balked and tried to bolt, but Ellah was ready and managed to keep a tight grip on the reins and control of the m brindled mare, though the action did send them backwards down the trail a few feet. 

Ellah convinced Greed to stand still for a moment, the brindle marking on their neck catching the light brilliantly, as the demonkin listened and looked around for signs of either of the other riders. A sudden, louder crash of bushes to the right and just in front of her gave her some idea where another rider was, as did the barely visible flash of bay in through the woods. She wasn’t sure where Cassandra was, but Clementine was further ahead. Rather than waste time, Ellah nudged Greed back into motion and down the trail, listening for Cassandra and trying to keep track of the sound of Skin’t Tom through the trees, while still watching for any other training dummies or obstacles along the way. 

Clementine heard the whistle and then spotted the burst of fire not long after the sound and flare coming from her left and up ahead, urging Skin’t Tom just a little faster as if seeking to catch up. She hadn’t seen any training dummies along her course so far, but there’d been an easy jump or two. It didn’t take her long to realize that if Ellah had been forced to slow to deal with a training dummy that’s increasing the pace would put her too far ahead, Clementine slowed her mare’s pace and tried to listen for the sounds of magic. She didn’t hear any, but it was possible Ellah had decided to use physical force instead. She pushed Skin’t Tom just a little faster, unable to hear Ellah and being on the farthest path from Cassandra and Lady she was pretty sure she wouldn’t see or hear the pair. 

It was a good thing she’d urged Skin’t Tom faster as the path curved into what was nearly a blind jump. The pangare bay mare made it, only clipping their back hoof slightly on the obstacle, before landing a bit heavily on the other side. The mare tossed her head in annoyance but didn’t put up a fight as they continued down the trail. Only a lucky glimpse to the right gave Clementine a glimpse of Cassandra and Justice, though she didn’t spot Ellah and Greed. The pair was either just behind or just ahead too far to spot. It was really only chance she’d seen Cassandra and Lady. 

All three riders spilled out onto the wider trail within moments of each other. Cassandra and Lady Justice were still out front, but only by seconds. Clementine brought Skin’t Tom alongside the pair, with Ellah and Lover’s Greed quickly following, though the mare seemed a bit agitated. Probably by the magic used earlier. 

“Not bad. Let’s see if you can do it again.” She called as the three took a wide jump almost in unison, all three mares holding their own against each other. “Two more splits for today, and if you do well we’ll up the ante next time.” 

“Who says we’ll want to do this again?” Ellah shot back, barely hiding their own smile. 

“A hunch.” Cassandra replied as she urged Lady Justice just a bit faster towards the next split. 

Clementine didn’t say anything, but the fire growing brighter in her hair was a good indication as to her feelings on the matter. Fortunately, Skin’t Tom didn’t seem to mind. Or if he did, he kept it to himself. 

Lover’s Greed had more qualms about the fire and tried to pull away from Clementine and Skin’t Tom, nearly veering Ellah into a tree. Only a sharp pull on the reins and a solid seat kept the demonkin on the path and only a pace or two behind. 

The gray on smokey black mare didn’t have long to tolerate the fire though as the trails once again split. This time Cassandra’s unmarked path was down the middle with Clementine on her left and Ellah on her right. She didn’t even bother to slow Lady Justice as the rift marked mare followed directions flawless onto the much narrower path. 

Ellah had to cross behind Clementine to make the narrow trail for her and Greed, but the mare proved agile and more than willing to get away from the fire coming off the beastkin. 

Skin’t Tom only hesitated a moment as the trail narrowed to just barely wide enough for the phantom marked bay to fit down, but continued on his way at a little urging from Clementine. 

This time the trails were close enough to catch glimpses of the other riders if the positioning was right, and Cassandra kept half an eye to either side as she kept Lady to a pace with the other pairs. As they came around a tight curve, she pursed her lips and whistled loudly at the sight of two training dummies along the trail. A second quick burst of fire from her hand set one ablaze and made the darker rift marking on Lady’s shoulder and side nearly glow. Cassandra took note, but didn’t have much time to consider it as she knew Ellah and Clementine should have heard the whistle and adjusted, and she hadn’t heard a whistle from either of them yet, though there was still time. 

The second training dummy she dropped with a series of well placed knives before sending a small burst of fire into the air. Again, the rift mark on Lady seemed to glimmer ever so slightly with the magic, but Cassandra was more focused on marking her position relative to the others and so kept the blind mare to a quick, if not overly fast pace until she could spot the others. 

Ellah and Greed were the first she spotted on her right, the white of the rabicano markings standing out for a moment amongst the trees. 

Ellah heard the whistle and slowed Greed enough that the pace should allow Cassandra time to deal with whatever had been placed along the trail while not falling too far behind Clementine and Skin’t Tom. The mare seemed annoyed at being held back, but that annoyance quickly turned to disobedience as the brindle mare spotted the burst of flame from Cassandra. Apparently it was just close enough to upset the horse and suddenly they raced through the woods. Ellah managed to wrest back just enough control that the series of four rather tricky jumps didn’t end in disaster, and by the time they’d landed on the other side Ellah had the mare well in hand. Though she once again had to slow her so she didn’t get too far ahead of the others. She couldn’t see Cassandra at the moment, but she could just barely see Clementine and Skin’t Tom on the furthest trail from her and heard a whistle from that direction. 

Clementine’s trail had been clear so far, but extremely narrow. There were several times a branch had caught her or Skin’t Tom. Not enough to do any harm, but enough to be an annoyance, a fact the mare wasn’t shy about letting Clementine know as the pangare bay gave a snort of irritation as another branch clipped her. Clementine was just about to say something when the path widened enough the problem went away as long as they kept to the center of the trail. She heard the whistle from Cassandra and slowed, catching sight of Lady through the trees along with a burst of flame she figured was the training dummy being incinerated. She was about to pick up Skin’t Tom’s pace again when she realized there was a training dummy not far ahead of her as well. 

Instead of slowing, she picked up the pace, aware of the fact it would take a second to deal with the obstacle. It would put her almost up to Ellah and Greed but ahead of Cass and Lady, though she had no doubt the two would catch up quickly. 

Clementine snapped her fingers as she whistled, both alerting the other two riders and setting the training dummy on fire. Or at least it was supposed to set the dummy on fire. It caught, but wasn’t burning enough to drop it. She figured it had been soaked with water at some point, just to add to the challenge. She brought Skin’t Tom up alongside the dummy and wheeled the horse, signaling them to kick. It was a newer maneuver, but the mare handled it well and managed to knock over the smoldering dummy easily enough. 

Clementine took note of Cassandra and the pale, Cremello horse through the trees and she could just barely make out Ellah and the gray mare beyond and ahead. She sent up the fire to signal all clear and almost paused when she thought she noticed something shine on Lady, but the demonkin didn’t pause as they seemed to take note of Clementine and Ellah’s locations. Maybe it had been a trick of the night. 

Ellah was still in the lead with Greed, the smokey black mare still unsettled by the magic and while under control was still racing faster than the demonkin would have liked. 

Cass was closing in quickly with Lady, but seemed to be balancing her position relative to Clementine’s as she was in the middle trail and had the best chance of keeping track of the other pair of riders and horses. 

Clementine kept track of Cassandra and tried to keep Skin’t Tom as even as she possibly could along the bends of the trails. There were a handful of points where she lost sight of one or both of the other riders, but the sound of the horses on the trails and a quick glimpse here and there allowed her to manage reasonably well. 

Finally the trails came back together. Ellah was still several paces ahead on Greed, the brindle mare still stirred up from the magic. Cassandra and Clementine exited the trails almost at the same time, this time Clementine and Skin’t Tom a few steps ahead. Cassandra had been forced to slow Lady at the last moment to navigate a narrow passage through some thick underbrush. 

Greed eyed the other two horses and riders suspiciously as Ellah managed to slow the mare enough to fall back with the other two. The three riders didn’t say anything this time. They all knew things were going well and that the last split would likely be the hardest of the set, so each of them was focused on the task and their mounts. It would take all of them working together, riders and horses, to keep the last leg smooth. 

This time the trail split wide with Cassandra on the far right, Clementine down the middle, and Ellah to the left. Cassandra slowed Lady and veered her off, giving Clementine room to pull over and race down the middle as Ellah coaxed Greed in between the two and down the path on the left. 

The paths branched out wide, and before long the only cue was the occasional sound of brush being broken or branches being brushed against. Clementine kept hoping to catch a glimpse of either pair through the woods, but it didn’t seem likely the trails would allow for that. The path was relatively wide, but not so wide as to allow for carelessness. Skin’t Tom seemed unphased by the activity, though the possum beastfolk could tell she was starting to tire. There were a series of jumps, followed by a narrow stream, each one of them forcing her to change the phantom marked bay’s pace. 

At the end of each obstacle, Clementine found herself listening intently to the woods around her and trying to pick out the other riders, but even that was hard. She did hear a whistle from the left and right at almost the same time, but it was far enough away it was hard to gauge the exact location relative to her own. It seemed this time she’d just have to trust her knowledge of the other two and their horses. Though she did slow Skin’t Tom so she could watch for the fire that would signal the other two had downed their targets. 

Ellah kept Greed on the narrow trail, the path easy to follow. Every now and again she thought she could hear Clementine, but for the most part she might as well have been riding alone. Greed was beginning to wear out, but still seemed to have enough steam. Or they were just stubborn enough to not quit. 

The first part of the trail was easy enough, but a small creek crossing and embankment slowed the pair down enough that Ellah was tempted to push Greed just a little so as not to potentially fall behind. She hadn’t heard a whistle or seen fire anywhere, so she could only assume the others were still in the clear. Though there was a chance that their paths were just a setup with obstacles as hers was. 

She rounded a narrow bend in the woods when she spotted a series of three training dummies in the woods. Greed seemed to remember the magic from last time and tried to buck, but Ellah was ready. She kept the horse on task and whistled loudly, not sure how close or far the others were. She was fairly certain she heard an echoing whistle from further out, but for the moment she shifted her focus to the dummies. 

The first one she knocked over with a pair of thrown knives, Greed actually holding steady this time for all the mare’s ears flattened and they snorted loudly, the brindled, Smokey black mare didn’t dance or try to bolt. 

The second dummy was too far for a thrown knife to be reliable, and after making sure her grip on Greed was steady, Ellah chanced a lightning bolt. The mare danced and bolted down the trail at the use of magic and the smell of ozone, but Ellah brought her under control quickly and wheeled her to deal with the last of the training dummies, now behind her. It didn’t take much to land another two knives in it, as she wasn’t willing to chance Greed’s patience with two spells back to back. Though she did shoot off a flare, the mare’s ears flattened once again, but this time she didn’t bolt. She was just about to turn Greed back onto the route and see about catching up when she spotted a second pop of flame, the whistle she’d heard apparently being Cassandra if she was judging the distance correctly. 

If Cassandra was clear and there’d been no signal from Clementine as to trouble, then they’d both be moving quickly as well. Or maybe not. Skin’t Tom had been looking tired as well, and Lady wasn’t Cassandra’s usual endurance mount. So perhaps they’d slowed as well. Ellah gave Greed a calculating look and decided on a slightly slower pace as to give the mare a little break and hope she was right. 

Cassandra had heard the whistle from further out as she wheeled Lady Justice, testing the horse’s kick as she signaled the mare to buck. The cremello mare managed admirably, though their aim was a bit to the left. Cassandra wasn’t sure if it was just inexperience on the part of the horse, or a missignaling on her part, or just that it was a newer scenario for the rift marked mare, but the target dummy went down so it was well enough for the moment. The second target was larger and Cassandra nearly laughed as she circled it, setting several points on fire. First with magic and then a branch of dead leaves she snapped off a tree. 

The magic had once again made the rift marking on Lady glow for a moment, and Cassandra knew she’d need to investigate that more, but for now there was a task to finish. The dummy was soon well enough on fire to topple over and so Cassandra sent a ball of fire into the air. She’d seen the one from further off not long before her own, and so she set Lady on a steady pace towards the end of the trail. Even if she arrived at the end a bit out of pace with the others, she didn’t want to risk tiring Lady too much. And she trusted Ellah and Clementine to look after their own mounts as well. 

It seemed all three had guessed the other’s actions accurately, as the three emerged just moments after each other at a brisk trot. The last split opened into a clearing with a small stream and grass for grazing the horses. All three mare seemed pleased with themselves as they came up alongside each other. Even Greed seemed tolerant of the flickering bits of fire in Clementines hair. At least for the moment. 

Lady Justice’s rift mark seemed to shimmer for a moment as Clementine got close, which got all three riders attention. It was only for a moment and Lady seemed unphased. 

“I was right. Thought I was seeing something at first.” Clementine commented.

“Yeah, I’m going to be experimenting on that once she’s rested. But for now I’m not worried.” Cassandra shrugged and glanced at Ellah, the demonkin having nodded  in agreement.

“Looks like someone setup a picnic.” Ellah gestured to a clear space.

Cassandra shrugged as she eased Lady to a stop and dismounted. “Figured we could use as much of a break after that as the horses could.” 

Neither Ellah nor Clementine argued as both dismounted, and like Cassandra brushed down and tied off their horses so the mares could rest, graze, and drink. And then the three of them did much the same.