“Where did you get this?”
“It’s been in my lair,” Linton replies. “My mate suggested I bring it to you as a present.”
“So you’ve had the amulet of Alnworth all this time?” Warden rasps. “All the time we’ve been looking for Hazel, all the time I was fighting with Beal?”
Linton grins. “It’s good, isn’t it?”
I don’t think even he was expecting Warden to wrap him up in the most enormous hug, squeezing the mothman as he struggles against him, along with shoving his mouth against Linton’s cheek with a smacking sound.
“Get. Off,” a dishevelled Linton says, eventually managing to extract himself from Warden’s embrace as I try not to laugh.
“What exactly doesthisamulet do that the other one doesn’t?” I turn it over in my fingers, marvelling this time at the intricacies of the horse which stands out in relief as it is entwined in a series of swooping knots.
“How about we find out?” Warden says, taking the leather loop and putting it over my head. “We’ll need it for the Underhill.”
“We’re going back?”
“You’ve already been?” Linton asks.
Warden rolls his eyes. “Yes, we fell through a portal into it, then we got out, then we found out you were mated to Hazel’s sister,” he says, slowly.
“Ah. And when did you ask me for the amulet?” Linton queries.
“I didn’t…” Warden raises his hands to the air. “Look, are you coming to the Underhill or not?”
“And miss the chance to see you kill a Thegn? Of course I’m coming.” Linton flares his wings. “Wouldn’t miss it for all the scales I’ve ever shed.”
Warden twirls on the spot, rearing on his hind legs as I cling on for dear life.
“My little mate, I need to be something I keep hidden. Can you forgive me?”
“What’s that?”
“I need to become the Warhorse, or there’s no way we’ll ever break back into the Underhill.”
I clasp my arms around his waist.
“I’m ready when you are. All I want is for you to become what you are supposed to be and deal with that creature once and for all. Do what you need to do. I love you, Warden.”
What explodes under me is dark, feral, and dangerous. A long mane whips in my face, and I gather great handfuls as the horse which was Warden paws at the sand.
“This is going to be fun,” Linton says, opening his wings once more.
The Warhorse rumbles deep within its chest, something otherworldly, something which might have been dredged up from the Underhill itself. I clutch tight to the mane in my hands as Warden sets off at a pace he’s never used before, down thebeach towards the black rocks which rise in a huge cliff face. One I recognise from not so long ago.
The huge natural arch through which the sky is no longer moving. The Underhill. The place we escaped from with only moments to spare. And the place we are returning to in order to finish everything.
I have to hope it won’t finish us.
WARDEN
The feeling of power which flows through me is not what I was expecting. Being the Warhorse is not even something I thought I had control over, and yet, here and now, I do. I want to be the Warhorse, because I have my lady on my back and she cares for me.
What more could a Warhorse want?
I gallop onwards, across the beach, up the narrow cliff path to the very top which overlooks the narrow channel between the land and the archway. As we reach the top, I put on even more speed.
“Warden!” Hazel’s voice is being carried away on the wind. “What are you doing?”
