Page 13 of Orange Sky
What alarmed me though is why I felt confident he will not strike back at me if I make a tantrum.
Odd. And definitely not me. Big guy with a sword, on an alien planet. Even if he is handsome, my instinct is to flee.
Like before, I do not feel any of his movements.
When for the umpeeth time I looked back at him to check if he’s following me, he actually growled.
I just smiled at him and saw no traces of our footsteps on the sand. Strange. Maybe it’s the wind?
I looked forward and walked. I noticed as we go further there are less and less plant life. Orange plant life. Rocks are more sand like. The wind also picked up and reached my face so I used the scarf to partially cover my face by winding it on my head then closing the ends loosely around my neck.
One minute all I see is open dunes then suddenly, the wind stopped. I stopped. All of a sudden, there’s a building on our right side that shielded us from the wind. It is not dilapidated like where we stayed before.
7
Brynn
Zirc went to the front and simply opened the tall wooden doors. Outside it looked like any normal building but no windows. When the doors opened, I smelled plants that looked like the tall weeds I saw on the way.
Zirc stepped in and that’s when I saw the windows are on the side of the building, not in the front. It was a huge open space and the windows started from what could be the second floor all the way to the edge of the ceiling. Inside, I saw first the tall weeds bundled like hay. I smelled animals, like wet animals mingled with the weeds.
That’s when I saw the stalls and saw the giant black horse-like creature! Well, there were all kinds of similar horse-like animals. I think someone owns this land because the animals look healthy. They were of course tall to probably suit the tall inhabitants in this world. About 21 hands tall! Zirc stands close to 7 feet tall.
We went to the farthest stall. It reminded me of my friend’s photo when she went to the Middle East. A huge, similar to an Arabian-like horse is looking at us with a hostile look in his eyes. I took a step back.
Zirc crossed his arms in front of him, legs akimbo, and glared back at the animal. It has big eyes actually, with a much longer mane from Earth horses. Again, the color is off. It looked almost white, almost a dirty white. Probably to blend in with the orange color. When Zirc tried to get closer, its color changed to black.
A chameleon horse? It blended well to the dark interiors of its stall.
Zirc opened its gate which is made of iron. The ones we passed earlier were made of wood but the horses here at the back had iron or some kind of black metal gates. I tried to glue my back to the nearest wall in case there’s a stampede. Yet, the horse changed color again when Zirc touched its skin. How strange. Zirc nodded as if the horse would do. The horse-like creature snorted or maybe sneezed.
Zirc led the animal by grabbing a mane. The animal looks docile enough even though it has mean eyes, too tall, all four massive legs gentle, almost silent as it walks, and built for war.
Still, I tried not to get too close.
Outside, Zirc dug into his knapsack and out came a small device. It looks like a black metal thing that quickly untangled itself to reveal a saddle. The horse made a noise and reared back but Zirc crooned to the animal in a soft tone. While doing so, he approached the animal and even though it was stamping a bit, he managed to fit the contraption to its back.
I guess we are going to use this animal as transportation. I wonder if he will give me a horse. I have very little horseback riding experience. I prefer cars to horses. Maybe –
Zirc suddenly grabbed hold of my arm and he jumped onto the horse. Jumped almost seven feet off the ground! Then he deposited me in front of him. My heart was beating a million beats per second.
I can kill him for this. I looked down and realized it was not a good idea. With so much blood pumping in my veins, I suddenly felt dizzy and felt like throwing up.
I leaned against Zirc and I could feel him leaning his head towards mine.
“Weak knees,” he murmured but he started to purr and for some reason that calmed me down a bit not to strangle his neck.
Taking deep breaths, I tried to calm myself. Sitting atop this horse is like a test to my fear of heights. I had already overcome my fear of heights but my recent experiences, literally falling from the sky, are bringing it back.
Not good.
I calmed myself enough that I am able to straighten myself up. My back is ramrod straight to prevent myself touching him. The jerk.
The seat had reins and he took it in such a way to urge the horse to move out from the building. It’s a miracle the horse is not spooked by all this.
Once we were outside, Zirc urged the horse forward at a faster speed so I held onto the seat which surprisingly is big enough to accommodate me and his bulk. The seat felt like leather, not slippery. But when I found myself leaning forward too much, Zirc grumbled then put one of his arms around my torso and pulled me towards him.
I sighed and leaned. There are battles that are too dumb to fight about and this is one of them. I leaned back and surprisingly, felt warm and comforted. His body shielding me from the suns and the wind.
