311

“Mind Binky, he has pointy teeth.” one of the trolls tells you. Binky is a white horse in the box at the far end. He seems quiet to you, certainly more calm than any of the other monsters you’ve had to groom and feed this evening. You approach him, your final horse for the evening, leaving the others to deal with the veritable fiends everywhere else. You’ve never seen so many different rideable animals that didn’t look safe to ride. The orc steeds were one problem, but these go above and beyond. There’s an animated horse skeleton, and all the bones except where the rider sits are basically blades, and shine like steel. There’s a creature that looks like some sort of bull, only without horns, with two tiny protruding eyes, and a mouth so big you could fit your torso inside it. On top of all that it has six legs. You’ve only seen one horse-looking horse aside from this ‘Binky’ character.

After a while you wonder if the troll’s admonishment of caution was a sort of joke. This white horse, unlike the others, appears to like you. It moves almost in anticipation of you, and always to make things easier. In next to no time you’ve combed him, cleared out and replaced his bed of hay, and dug out the nit and grit from under his shoes. All that remains is to feed him.

“He likes you.”

You look up to see the pale green girl with the sharp ears and teeth standing just outside the box. She hands you a bundle of carrots for the horse.

“Is that unusual?” you ask, “Troll said to be weary of him, but I can’t feel an aggressive bone in him.”

She smiles, “He likes his owner, and his owner’s daughter. Usually everyone else gets at least one bite and a torn up limb.”

As you feed Binky, you process her words, trying to read between them. The girl steps forward, reaches into the stall, and starts petting the horse on the nose.

“You’re Fred’s daughter, then?”

“That’s right,” she says, “I’m Liz.”

“Mortimer.”

“You must stay with us some time, Mortimer.” she motions to the horse, “Any friend of Binky’s is a friend of ours.” and leaves.

After feeding the horse all your carrots, you finally leave the stables. It’s getting dark at present, so you hurry out of there, not wanting to be blind amidst all the other monsters around. The front room of The Imp’s is emptying itself when you arrive, patrons sorting themselves between those here for a late night booze up, those here to stay and sleep, and those who live elsewhere, leaving the inn altogether.

“Ah, Mr Mortimer,” calls Fred when he spots you, perched on a stool behind the bar. “Liz told me about you. You’ll stay the week. Tomorrow when you return from your quest in the city you’ll take dear Binky for a ride. He needs a strong rider sometimes. Do the both of you good.”

Not knowing what to say, you bow to him, and are rescued by the trolls and yellow-eyed boy, who lead you off to have dinner with them.

Turn to 298.