On the road

Their father’s entourage had indeed just passed by without incident, and their ride had been pleasant from then on. So far, they had made it about halfway along the path that led around the estate, enjoying the sunlight and admiring the fields. Vel really did love being in the saddle, and while his sister might exaggerate his skill level just a bit, he was not so modest as to deny that he was an excellent rider. He had thrown himself into learning it from a very young age and had even learned how to fight from the saddle. The master at arms had been happy enough to teach him, and Adeline had been a willing if not super skilled sparring partner. If he had entertained ideas of earning his father’s approval that way though, he was sorely disappointed. Horses were big targets, and a soldier who was only useful until his horse went down was no soldier at all. Vel thought that might have been when he had finally just given up on ever pleasing him. Clearly nothing he did would ever be good enough for Lord Luthor, except maybe growing a functional right leg. He had kept up with his combat practice though, simply for his own enjoyment. As a result, he was well versed in the use of most weapons one could wield on horseback and was even a pretty good shot with a bow. For most people shooting a bow from horseback was an extra level of challenge, for Vel it was the only way, his bad leg would never allow for the kind of stable stance he’d need to shoot on foot.

They had spent most of the early ride chatting and had been comfortably silent for a while now, but Adeline seemed to pick up on her brother going from comfortably silent to gloomily silent. “What’s wrong, you seem down? It’s not that run in with Father, is it?” Well did his best to smile despite his soured mood “It kind of is. Some days it’s harder to deal with being a disappointment than others, and today is one of the harder ones.” His sister moved her mount a little closer and gently took one of his hands in hers “Fuck Father and everyone else, you’re great Vel, and I know you know that.” She squeezed his hand tighter as she said the last part. “I’m sorry to hear that you’re having a bad day though, is there anything I can do to make it better?” Vel affectionately squeezed her hand back “Just you being you already helps a lot.” Her smile at that emboldened Vel, and figuring he could always pass it off as a joke he added “But if you want to do more, a kiss from the prettiest girl I know would go a long way too.” To her credit, Adeline seemed only very briefly taken aback by her brother’s words before her smile returned and she leaned in to kiss him on the cheek. This proved to not be an easy task though, even at their slow pace the movement of the horses still caused them both to bob up and down, and so her lips mostly ended up rubbed all over Vel’s cheek and beard. She kept trying though, and eventually managed to land a proper peck on his cheek, after which she pulled away and they both laughed. “Eeeww you got spit all over me!” Vel was pretending to complain, in truth he did not mind his twin’s spittle one bit, and the way his sister had just agreed to what he asked had affected him quite a bit. A kiss on the cheek might not be a big ask, but she’d just done it so unquestioningly, had even seemed happy to do as he asked. That far more so than the act itself aroused him; he couldn’t help but imagine her fulfilling other, much more daring requests.

Vel interrupted their little moment when he picked up on the horses being uneasy. It was a slight thing, he wasn’t even sure he could explain exactly how he noticed, but both mounts were clearly disturbed by something. He stopped Glaweder and signaled Adeline to stop Celina as well. “What’s up?” his sister asked, concerned by the way her brother’s expression had gone from flushed amusement to serious and concerned.

“The horses, they’re uneasy, something’s unsettled them.” Adeline seemed to take his word for it and looked around “Okay, but what? I can’t see or hear shit.” Neither could Vel, but that didn’t mean the horses couldn’t. “Some of their senses are a lot sharper than ours, if they’re worried, we should listen to them. Glaweder doesn’t spook easily, not by horse standards, anyway.”

Adeline was about to reply but was interrupted by a rustling loud enough for both of them to hear coming from a copse of trees just ahead of them.