Rannok held on tight as his horse chased after Driver, his hooves pounding like hammers on the hard cobblestone street. They flew past shops and toward the other end of town, hidden by the still-silent night. Rannok's wings threatened to rip him from the horse's back as they left the narrow street behind and started up a dirt lane. His legs ached in protest as the horse climbed upwards.

Erean drove out ahead of him, back straight, as easy on the horse as he had been born with him. They headed out of town and down the valley, through brush that grew up and coated the mountainside like moss, and up a narrow mountain pass. The horses' hoofbeats slowed as they took to the jagged rocks, disappearing the town from view as the trees swallowed them.

He felt much better with the trees hiding them, although he could not manage to say why. Rannok pulled his horse up beside Sasha. She brushed a damp strand of hair out of her eyes and patted Driver's foaming neck. Steam rose from his back, catching in the light as it streamed through the treetops. 

"I'll go ahead and find a place to make camp," Erean said

"No!" Sasha raised her hands and Driver snorted, which made Rannok flinch and draw away. "I mean...we can't stop yet. What if the innkeeper comes--"

"The innkeeper was interested in our money, he's not going to chase us all the way out here." Erean's voice had a hint of a laugh in it, like Sasha was silly for worrying. Her eyes darkened as he pushed his horse into a trot and pulled ahead of the group again.

"What was that?" Rannok asked.

Sasha shook her head and didn't answer. Worry gathered deep in the pit of Rannok's stomach. He stared at her as she pulled at Driver's face, trying to keep him from charging ahead. They'd run for miles and he was still anxious. It made him wonder if the horse knew something he didn't.

"Sasha."

She turned toward him. Her eyes were narrowed, but her eyebrows creased upward in worry, like there was something terrible there that she wouldn't allow him to see. 

"Stop asking."

Rannok turned his eyes down to his horse's reins, which were balled in his hands like weapons. She booted Driver in the ribs and held him back as he trotted ahead. 

"She is worried about something. A bad something. Something she should be worried about," the bird said, in the echoing way that told Rannok the voice was only in his head. Rannok nodded in response.

"If only she'd tell us about it," he muttered.

"She is afraid you will leave her, or send her home."

Rannok stared ahead at her without saying anything. His horse followed Driver's pace automatically, a few paces off until they caught up with Erean again. A stony silence hung in the air over them, along with a terrible shadow of dread that clung over Sasha in her posture and her facial expressions and the way she kept making soothing noises and patting Driver's neck.

"You didn't have to stress your horse," he said.

Sasha said nothing, but pulled Driver to a stop as Erean ducked into a small clearing. He danced and started under her as she fought to get control. His teeth snatched at the bit as his feet jigged bac and forth, kicking up small chunks of sod. Erean grabbed at the reins to help. The horse exploded in a buck that made Sasha cling to his neck.

"Let go," she said. Rannok watched in horror as Erean did as she asked, and Driver lurched forward. Sasha tumbled off him, scrambled to her feet, and grabbed at his reins.

"That animal is dangerous," Erean said. "You should have brought a different one."

Rannok dismounted and loosened his horse's cinch. The horse let out a grateful snort and began nibbling at the tender shoots that poked out of the ground. Sasha brushed the dirt from her clothes, then slipped the bridle from Driver's head, glaring at Erean all the while. She looped one end of the reins around his neck and fastened him to a tree. 

"It's too far for you to go home, you know," Rannok said to her as he began gathering dry kindling so they could set up a fire pit. She let out a loud snort that sounded a little too much like an angry Driver.

"Why don't you keep your thoughts about our terrain to yourself and let me lead us to the crow's nest," she said, a terrible gleam in her eye. "You just sit on your pony like a good little deer and I'll take care of it."

The crow cackled loudly and alighted on his shoulder once more. "At least she said it in Terrean this time." 

Rannok's face burned. Sasha let out a brisk laugh and began pulling the saddle off Erean's horse. She rubbed at its sweat marks and shot a look in his direction as he tossed the sticks into a pile. Rannok muttered something under his breath while he fished out the flint he'd mercifully kept in his pack instead of his saddlebag. 

"Maybe once you get the fire started, you can take care of your own horse," she shouted.

"Enough," Erean replied. He bundled a small pile of leaves under Rannok's flint and watched as it flickered to life. He chuckled and fanned the flames with his hands. "I don't suppose she's anything other than scared, but it must be hard to deal with."

"She thinks we're going to send her home," Rannok said as he fed one of the smaller sticks into the ever-growing blaze. It flickered to life and consumed it almost immediately. He fed it another few sticks, then placed the largest one on top of it. His mouth watered for something to cook over top of it.

"I might have, had I known when we were closer," Erean muttered. "Watch out for her, she's hiding something."

"Thanks," he said, though he'd known that for a long while, even without the crow. He'd known it from the minute he'd noticed two sets of tracks in the mud, and confirmed it when she'd forced Driver to cross the stream.

Erean patted Rannok's shoulder, wrung his hands together, and left him to tend the fire. The crow picked at the grass next to him, its presence somehow soothing to him as it poked into the roiling thoughts inside his head.

"She is not dangerous, but whatever she is running from may be."

"Can you find out what it is?"

"I've tried. She is very good at not thinking about it. She is very much like you, in a lot of ways."

Rannok nodded. He knew the fear of running from something dangerous that you couldn't stop. He also knew the fear of running away because you were too scared to stay and watch the outcome. But at least his choice hadn't affected anyone else. It hadn't gotten anyone else's horses stolen or their paths tracked or their money gone. And as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was angry with her for doing it. For putting them in danger.

Rannok had a feeling that the horse was the least of their worries.