The Rescue

Her body swayed with the familiar cadence of her horse’s steps. His steady hooves plodded along the dirt road with a dozen other horses and their riders - lined up as if they were in a parade.

She wanted to lean forward and whisper words of encouragement in her horse's ear, but she knew that would be taken as a sign of weakness from the onlookers. She knew any overt signs of loyalty could endanger him. 

Instead, she lightly stroked his neck with the middle finger of her right hand. He leaned into her touch in response. She knew it would tickle him, and she knew it would convey all she needed him to know. She loved this horse. 

Memories of their adventures played in her mind as the dirt road continued to emerge from under the guards that obstructed the path in front of her. 

Memories of villages and castles in lands from childhood stories. Memories of robbers chased down by their deft moves. Memories of the times they’d protected and feared for each other. Oh, the adventures they’d been on together. The chances they’d taken.

The endless dirt road continued to roll under their feet. No. Not endless. It would end, and soon.

Her sheath remained on her left hip, empty of the weight that had kept her comfort for a decade. More, she realized. She’d been a warrior for more than a decade now. Where did time go? How could the course of one’s life change so quickly?

Flashes of new memories came unbidden. 

A youngling’s cry. A directive ignored. The freedom she felt making that decision was unlike any high she’d experienced in battle. She knew that choice was her truth, her real duty. 

She and her horse took the babe hurriedly through the darkness. Mud was flung up and smeared along her horse’s flanks with each gallop. The babe, now soothed as if rocked to sleep by their journey, looked every bit the magical creature it was. Its skin glowed as if touched by moonlight. It was a radiance unlike anything she’d ever seen. Unlike anything she’d ever dreamed, truly. Its eyes were closed, and its pointy nose wiggled ever so slightly as it slept.

Memories taken. 

She knew the babe was safe, but she did not know to whom it had been given. When she reached for those memories, she was washed over in a feeling of pride and respect and appreciation. She was faintly aware of wanting to push past it, but the warmth of having done good was so comforting she would allow herself to be enveloped by it and inevitably forget what she was trying to remember.

Some claimed the youngling had bewitched her; had forced her to rescue it. But she knew better. She wouldn’t lie. She would not forego her integrity when the time came. She wondered briefly why she could still recall their escape and the shape of the youngling’s face.

The horses stopped and she dismounted. She allowed her hand to linger on her horse an extra moment before she walked up the stairs to the small red platform that awaited her. 

So many faces stared up at her. Some she knew well. Some she had never seen before. 

She saw in their eyes a range of emotions. Fear, sadness, anger, impatience. She knew what was coming. She mastered her fear as she always had done. 

She didn’t allow herself to look at her horse. They would keep him and break him of any loyalties and give him to another.

Good. That was good.

As she said the words that were expected of her, she remembered the feeling of defiance; her choice. She had known that path would lead her here, and she knew now that she would choose it over and again. She let the strength of that feeling fill her as she kneeled down, knees touching the cold red wood that was softened by the damp morning air. Her hair fell forward as she lowered her head, cascading into a flimsy cocoon around her face, not quite reaching the wood below. Wind gently tickled the back of her neck and caused her hair to flutter softly. 

She watched as a beetle crawled from between the wooden planks, emerging through the floating strands of her dangling hair as if they were trees, as if the space below her face were a meadow. She focused her eyes on the beetle. It raised its forelegs up toward her in salute. 

She felt a soft smile come to her lips. She felt calm. 

Then she felt no more.