A Companion. It wasn't Kantor; it wasn't stocky enough, and besides, it didn't 'feel' like Kantor. There was, in fact, a disturbing absence of feeling about this Companion, as if there was a wall between him and it.
A moment later, it was joined by a second—then a third, a fourth, and a fifth. They moved toward him, slowly, but deliberately, and he hadn't spent most of his life around horses not to recognize the menace in their movement. Every muscle was tense. They weren't so much walking as stalking toward him, their narrowed eyes glittering in the moonlight. There was no mistaking their hostility, and he was the object of it.
A chill ran down his back as he turned slowly, preparing to go back the way he had come—only to find his path to escape blocked by another pair of Companions. He turned back, to see that the rest had spread themselves out, and were encircling him in an all-too-familiar pincer movement. A moment later, he was surrounded.
They were huge creatures, and came armed with their own hooves. Their weight—an ordinary horse in a panic could easily kill and trample a man—a trained warhorse was as formidable an opponent as any warrior that rode him. How much more dangerous would Companions be, who had minds and intelligence of their own? His heart hammered with a surge of fear, and his throat tightened.
'Your pardon, I beg—' he said aloud, cautiously, as all the stories of White Demons rose again in his mind, no longer tales to frighten a child into obedience, but very tangible. 'Intrude, I did not intend.'
His words had no effect; none at all. These creatures were so full of deadly malice that he could feel it where he stood. He didn't know what they intended to do to him, but their eyes glittered anger at him, and he felt exactly as he had at the moment that the Sunpriest denounced him....
Like the Sunpriest, these creatures looked at him and condemned him. Like the Sunpriest, they fully intended to wipe him from the earth.
Sunlord, shield me—Suddenly he heard the angry trumpet of a stallion and the thunder of hooves behind him, and dropped instinctively to his knees, knowing it would do no good, but trying to make himself less of a target anyway. The trumpet turned to a scream, and as he winced away, a new Companion pounded out of the night, hooves throwing up clods of sod as it pounded toward him. But the new one charged through the enclosing circle and brutally smashed his full weight into the shoulder of the nearest Companion threatening Alberich. Knocking it half off of its feet, whirling to lash at another with flailing hooves, snaking his neck around to snap at the neck of a third, the new Companion skidded to a halt beside him— And Kantor stood with his Chosen, snorting defiantly, pawing the torn earth in challenge.
Instantly, Alberich rose to his feet, taking his stance at Kantor's shoulder.
:What did I do? What do they think I did?: he asked as the other Companions laid back their ears and tore the ground with their own hooves. :Why are they so angry at me?:
:It's nothing you did,: Kantor replied shortly, and rumbled warningly when another stepped forward a pace. His own ears were so flat to his head it looked as if they'd been cropped. :It's what you are. Karsite. Which they, young fools that they are, will not abide.:
Kantor whipped his head around, baring his teeth at all of the others, screaming defiance with voice and mind :But you are my Chosen, and they will not touch you! Nor will they reach you, except going through me!:
But the others seemed just as angry—and just as determined. And there were seven of them to Kantor's one. They snorted and added their trumpeting to Kantor's, pawing up the sod savagely.
:Come, then!: Kantor 'shouted,' so that Alberich winced at the strength of the voice in his mind, following the mental shout with a challenging scream. :Try and take me, if you dare, you impudent young puppies! Try—and see what fools you are!:
'Kantor, no!' he protested, knowing that, no matter how formidable his Companion was, he was still no match for the power of so many. 'Don't—'
:Stop.:
The single word rang in his head like a gong, completely driving out everything else, so powerful was it. For a moment, it was as if he'd been punched in the gut, unable even to breathe. He was blinded and deafened, and when he was able to think again, he found himself on his knees, as if the Word had driven him there.
He wasn't the only one so affected; Kantor stood with head hanging and eyes glazed, and the others were shaking their heads, staggering about, looking utterly dazed. He had recovered first, and so he was the one who saw the final Companion come pacing into the meadow, striding as a king would stride across a royal carpet spread for his pleasure.
This—this newcomer was the very essence of Companion. His shining coat glowed pearly and silken in the moonlight, his mane and tail fell like waterfalls of silver, and his eyes held the wisdom of ages past and the knowledge of ages to come—and Alberich knew, in that moment when he looked into the stallion's eyes, that the knowledge held as much sorrow as joy....
