A Solstice Journey Read Free Page A

answered.
    More laughter from the two of them. I wanted to ask if they knew how to use a computer, because that was a lot more useful to me than dealing with an animal to go from one place to another, even if it did smell better than public transportation in Boston. But I wasn’t going to argue with them, because this was the only rescue I could expect. As insane as it sounded, I almost believed them when they told me I wasn’t in Boston anymore. It was true, this didn’t feel like Boston. The air smelled different and the snow felt different too. It seemed fake, like it was whatever was used in the movies for snow, but it was cold enough to kill me if I stayed out too much longer.
    “You will ride pillion behind me,” one told me, as if he expected me to argue with him. I was grateful for the ride out of there. It wasn’t like I knew how to ride, so having someone else controlling the animal wasn’t an insult.
    He looked me over critically and then got off his horse gracefully, like he was a gymnast dismounting from a balance beam. “You are going to need help up,” he said, sounding annoyed.
    Had I been warm enough, I would have blushed. I felt really stupid, but he helped me onto the horse, and I managed not to fall off on the other side after I was up there. I sat on my coat, and it was a little bound and bunched up underneath me, but I was warm. My savior managed to remount while in armor and with me sitting there like a bump on a log, with the same grace he had shown climbing down. He settled into the saddle, and I sort of guessed what to do, because I had ridden on the back of an old boyfriend’s motorcycle while in high school. I shifted a little and leaned forward so I could grab him if I needed to. I was strongly of the opinion I was going to fall off as soon as the horse started moving.
    “My name is Celyn,” he called back over his shoulder. “And yours, Álfr ?”
    I wasn’t going to get upset about him calling me elf until we got to someplace warm. Principles were nice, but living was a lot better. If I got him mad at me, he might dump me back into the snow. “Gunnar,” I said, wondering if I was bold enough to grab onto him if I started to slide off the horse. “Gunnar Dagviðurson.”
    I got a grunt at that, and then the horse began to move. I couldn’t call it a trot or a gallop, the thing just moved. It was a smooth ride, though, so I didn’t do much more than hide my head against Celyn’s back. The ride reminded me even more of a motorcycle because it seemed so fast and smooth.
    I couldn’t see where we were going, because every time I looked up, the scenery around us seemed blurred. I had no idea where we were, but I was finally convinced I wasn’t in Boston, no matter how crazy it was. I felt a little panicky, but I wasn’t freezing to death anymore. I was tired, though, and was fighting the urge to nod off now that I was warm, because I didn’t know what would happen if I fell off the horse. Would it be like a fall off a motorcycle, which could be deadly? Or actually be like slipping off a horse’s back, painful and embarrassing, but not deadly. I didn’t want to find out and just hung on.
    We eventually arrived… someplace, because the horses stopped. Celyn dismounted easily, and then he turned to look at me, a slight smile on his lips. I slid off the horse more than climbed, but I landed on my feet without hurting myself. I thought he was impressed. As I straightened out my coat, I became aware of how warm it was, so I unbuttoned it. My suit was probably a mess, but I didn’t care. I wasn’t going to make a good impression on these people in a plain blue suit, not when they ran around in silver armor.
    We stood in the middle of what could have been a village green. I didn’t understand, one minute we were riding and the next we were stopped. The place was pretty. The ground seemed to be covered by a mixture of clover and grasses, soft underneath my feet. I looked around in