Trotting past him was a majestic horse with a burnt golden coat and a mane black like the encroaching night’s sky. Her back was bare, but her chest was protected by a leather chest covering. Palu was stunned by the horse’s appearance.
“How? How did this horse appear?” He looked back towards the closed entrance and then back at the horse.
Jaeger cracked a grin as he ran a hand over Ventress’ mane.
“Magic.”
He eyed his oldest companion and took in the subtle changes she’d gone through. Her coat was now darker, with a hint of something that he couldn’t place. He couldn’t get the image of a sunset from his mind, though, the bright burnt orange. His grin turned to a frown as he noticed the lack of a saddle on her back. He hadn’t much considered what he’d do with the old one, but it held not only sentimental value but also most of his bigger travel gear; to not see it was disheartening. Sensing the mood of her rider, Ventress pushed her head against his chest before nipping at the bottom corner of her peytral.
Following her odd behavior, Jaeger saw a small parchment piece sticking out.
To the Bounty Hunter,
Your horse barged into the Guild stables and somehow forced a stable boy to take your saddle. Don’t ask how I don’t know, and he won’t say. Either way, I managed to stop her long enough to write this up. We’ll hold onto your saddle until you need it.
Stablemaster Bastion, Patterson Adventurers’ Guild.
Folding the letter, he looked at his horse.
“I’ve a lot of questions for you,” Ventress huffed into his face, and he smirked. “Yeah, I thought that’d be your answer. Alright then, no time to waste.”
He moved to and then hefted the saddle.
“Sorry, there ain’t no blanket, but you appear to have left the old one with the guild.”
Putting it on her back, he bent down to connect and tighten the saddle straps when he saw the saddle blanket. It wasn’t there when he’d grabbed the saddle, and yet it sat between it and Ventress’s back. More magical effects, he assumed, its black, red, and orange coloring fit her and the saddle at least.
A few moments later, satisfied that everything was as good as it could be, he stood and faced the others.
“She’s fit as can be. And with the saddle’s power, we’ll be out, it’ll be a tight fit though.”
Hopping onto Ventress’s back, he motioned for the others to join him, and it was a tight fit. At first, they sat with him at the front, Kaeleth behind him and Palu behind her. That lasted until Palu, needing to hold onto something, put his arms around Kaeleth. That scuffle almost turned deadly and ended with their current seating arrangement. Kaeleth in front, Jaeger behind her, and Palu behind him; Jaeger didn’t care about Palu holding onto him, and Kaeleth cared almost too much about him holding her.
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“Satisfied?”
“This will do.” Kaeleth huffed, leaning back slightly as she did.
Jaeger swept a few strands of her hair out of his face.
“Good. Now the saddle reads like it's more of a single rider and mount situation, so this is going to require some magical finagling on my part.”
He recalled the first, and so far only, magic Mischief had given him.
Patron Boon - Collect what you can. Use it wisely.
Magic is a part of the life-force of Rangaea, and the greater world beyond. For some, it is a power to worship, to others an out-of-reach dream, but to most, magic is a formula, an equation in which there is only one right answer, only one right way for a skill or spell to be used. Not so for us, my dear contractor. For us, it is a soft mold that we bend and shape to our wishes.
Waiting for you to do something like this was long, but satisfying. Now that you’ve done it once, you can do it again and again. Be careful, though, as you’ve just seen, bending magic, especially when it is borrowed, may break it. Remember, when is a croquet mallet like a billy club? Whenever you want it to be!
All he needed to do was try to push the magic. This should be easier than the last time he tried this for two reasons: first, he’d already done this, and since then, he’d felt this boon poking him with everything he used magic; it wanted to be used. Secondly, he wasn’t trying to change an ability like the first use; he was simply trying to expand it. So with one breath in and one breath out, he urged Ventress to start a trot forward.
“You’re gonna have to start this magic girl, I’ll pick up the slack once you do.”
She whinnied in response and started to trot forward. As she did, a slight waver appeared around them, the mounds of gold and gems flickered into hills of rolling green grass. The bright, sourceless light of the spatial vault was replaced with a more natural evening sun light. When that came, Ventress picked up speed, and the flickering matched her; the time it was this outdoor setting started to last longer.
Jaeger held the reins in one hand and placed the other over the saddle horn. He focused his magic into the saddlehorn and tried to reach the power his horse was accessing. Looking into himself and the saddle, he found a familiar link between the two and followed it. As he did, he came to realize it was Ventress’s magic that connected him and the saddle. With that revelation, he followed it more and found the source. With a focus of his will, he pushed it, finding it to be less rigid than the Entrapment bracelet had been; the saddle’s magic was of a more flexible nature.
It was also greedier, taking a larger portion of his magic to enhance, and he felt himself draining of magic. He felt as though he’d been fighting for days; the drain pushed him to the brink of consciousness. With a force of Will he held tight to his faltering consciousness and left the focused vision. He came out to find himself in a land of rolling green plains and an ever setting sun; the peace of this locale was but a moment’s grace, though. He felt the magic start to drain him again as he saw the land flicker, becoming the vault. He knew they couldn’t stay here, and unless they left, they’d be returned to where they came from.
“Ventress, get us to the Melodom.”
He felt confident that Ventress would know not only what the Melodom was but where it was. She might not have journeyed on it with him, but she’d never been far from him; an ever present shadow watching over him. The peculiarities of this place made him feel certain of that. With his last command, he closed his eyes and focused on keeping his magic going; held in place by the saddle and the tight, near frantic, grip of a wide eyed Palu.