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“Quicksand near the palace. I can find it. There’s only a few places it could be.” He leapt to his feet. “I have to go!” The genius hastened off, knocking an inconvenient elm tree out of his way. It flew thirty feet, roots and all, before it hit the ground. “Goodbye, my human friend! Goodbye, human woman! I’ll never forget you!”

“Goodbye, shunt-nugget,” Ilyana muttered at his retreating back. “I’ll try to forget you as soon as I can.”

“Anyone else notice he didn’t bother saying goodbye to the horses?” Sunbeam asked. “What a jerk.”

The Freemartin wasn’t paying us any mind. She munched on the grass without so much as a pause to sniff the air. We were, I strongly suspected, beneath her consideration.

“Should we come up with a new plan?” I asked Sunbeam. “This doesn’t have to all be on you.” If things went badly, she could crush him beneath a single hoof without much effort.

“No, no,” he said. “I’ve got this. Magical herbivores have an inherent understanding with each other. Like horseshoes.”

“Horseshoes?”

“If a set of horseshoes are all made for the same horse, they have a connection. They just get each other, you know?” He sounded like he was trying to convince himself more than me. Nonetheless, he trotted bravely forward until he was standing in her monstrous shadow.

He cleared his throat. The Wild Freemartin lifted her head. A cascade of half-chewed grass poured onto him from her jaws.

“YES, LITTLE ONE?” she said in a voice that boomed across the clearing.

“Um, good afternoon,” the horse replied. “I was hoping to ask you for a favor.”

“AND WHAT FAVOR WOULD THAT BE?”

“If you would allow my friend over there to capture you—”

The Freemartin snorted. “I WILL NOT BE CAPTURED.” Her front hoof scraped a deep muddy furrow in the grass. “I WILL NOT BE CONSTRAINED.”

“Technically captured!” Sunbeam said hastily. “To fulfill the requirements of a quest. You’ll be ‘captured’ and then immediately released.”

“It’s to save my sister!” I called out. The Freemartin swung her massive head in my direction.

Sunbeam shot me a warning look. “Let me handle this.”

“I DO NOT LIKE THIS,” the Freemartin rumbled. “IT SMACKS OF A RUSE.”

“You only have to say that you’re captured,” Sunbeam said. “It doesn’t have to mean anything.”

“IT DOES. MY WORDS HAVE WEIGHT. IF I SAY I AM CAPTURED, I WILL BE BOUND TO THE HUMAN’S WILL. FORCED TO OBEY UNTIL THAT HUMAN DECLARES I AM FREE.”

I hadn’t known that. Judging by Ilyana’s appalled expression, she hadn’t, either.

“You have my word as a fellow talking beast,” Sunbeam said. “Jules is honorable. You will be freed immediately.”

The Freemartin regarded him with her hair-covered eyes for a long, silent moment.

“YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH, AS YOU KNOW IT. AND I AM INCLINED TO TRUST THOSE OF MY KIND.” She swung her head in my direction. “BUT WHAT ABOUT YOU, LITTLE HUMAN? ONCE I AM IN YOUR POWER, DO YOU SWEAR TO SET ME FREE?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice only squeaking a little. “I promise. I’ll set you free without a moment’s delay.”

There was another long silence.

The Freemartin ambled toward me. Ilyana held Stinky’s reins tightly and soothed her with quiet murmurs. The mare was understandably terrified at the sight of the great creature’s approach. For that matter, I was pretty fucking terrified myself. If the Freemartin decided I was lying, I was about to be impaled, trampled, and smashed into paste.

When the Freemartin reached us, she lowered her head until the needle tip of her horn was an inch away from my chest.

“YOU UNDERSTAND THE CONSEQUENCES?” She spoke without emphasis, but the volume made my eardrums ache. Stinky whinnied in alarm.

“Yes, I understand.” I reached out and took hold of its horn. It was smooth to the touch, and surprisingly warm. “I capture you,” I said, “on behalf of the Red Empire.”