Cleb would scream with joy as the arjaths bounded through the dense forest foliage.
And there I was, standing in silence indoors, too proud to ask to join them. I knew they wouldn’t reject me—they’d already asked me the day before!
It was no good. I couldn’t concentrate.
It was a waste of time me being at work if I couldn’t focus. That was no good for anybody at all.
A day off wouldn’t kill me. A little fresh air and somewhere to stretch my legs could help me be more productive.
I grabbed a cinnamon roll and bit into it. I chugged a mouthful of hot coffee into my mouth and swallowed it along with the half-chewed cinnamon bun. I crossed the office—this time, in less than two strides—and stepped into the hall.
“Waev!” I called. “Waev! Where are you? Ah. There you are.”
He wore an apron covered in black smudges. He must have been in the middle of cleaning something. Come to think of it, I didn’t think I’d ever seen what he got up to while I was busy at work.
“What is it, sir?” he said.
“I need my arjath saddled,” I said.
“Do you intend on joining Bianca and Cleb, sir?” he said, eyebrows rising so high I was surprised they didn’t get stuck to the back of his neck.
“Yes,” I said. “Is that a problem?”
“No, sir,” he said. “Of course not. It’s just… I’ve never known you to take a day off. Are you well? Do you want me to call the doctor?”
He pressed a hand to my forehead to check for a fever.
“You do seem a little hot, sir,” he said. “I’ll call the doctor just in case—”
“I’m fine!” I said. “No doctor. Can’t a man take a day off without something being wrong?”
Waev’s expression might have been written in ink it was so clear: “But you’ve never exactly been a… normal man, sir.”
“Are you going to have my arjath saddled or not?” I growled.
Waev reached into his pocket and raised the communicator to his lips. He seemed a little unsure of how to use it. Why would he? He hadn’t needed to use it since he joined me at the house.
“Ejam, come in Ejam,” he said. “Traes wishes to ride his arjath. Yes, I know he doesn’t usually go out but today he decided he will. I don’t care if you’re still in bed. You have to come and prepare his arjath now!”
“Problems?” I said.
“No, sir. The stable staff were just a little… caught unaware. Your arjath will be ready in about twenty minutes.”
“Good,” I said. “That’ll give me enough time to walk down there.”
“Walk, sir?”
“It’s a fine morning,” I said. “I can warm-up for when I ride the arjath.”
I wasn’t even sure I could remember how to ride it. But I’m sure it would come back to me.
Ten minutes later, at a fast walk that made my legs ache, I reached the stables. The stable hands seemed unsure who I was until they noticed my sharp suit.
“Mr. Traes!”
I thought back to the name Waev had used when he called the man on the radio.
“Ejam?” I said uncertainly.
The man beamed in surprise that I knew his name. It pleased him no end. He smiled, revealing his huge front buck teeth. I could barely understand a word he was saying. Most of it was clicks and whistles.
His assistant brought my arjath out from the stables. He was a magnificent beast. He was ten feet tall when he stood upright on his back legs. His shaggy hair was naturally pink and he had a long purple mane that ran down either front leg. His back legs were short and stumpy which made climbing into the saddle very easy. The hardest part of riding an arjath was trying not to get too comfortable. Many a Titan had lost their life by being lulled to sleep in the creature’s soft mane and slipping into a ravine or getting trampled underfoot.
I tried to climb on the arjath’s back. He backed away and seemed a little skittish.
“It’s been a while since you last rode him, sir,” Ejam said. “Let him eat this out of your hand and he’ll calm right down.”
He handed me a handful of candy floss. I offered it to the creature, which licked it up with a single sweep of its long tongue. It was much easier climbing onto his back after that.
“Which direction did the young lady and boy go?” I said.
Ejam said something—it might have been a rudimentary form of the Titian language—and more helpfully pointed with his finger. That was much easier to understand.
“Thanks!” I said.
I heeled the arjath into a gentle trot and crossed the field toward the wood. I hoped they didn’t get too far. I wasn’t sure I could stay on the arjath’s back for long.
I drew the arjath to a halt and surveyed the forest floor. At first, their tracks had been easy to identify. arjaths were not small creatures and left footprints in the soft soil but when the ground became overrun with thickets and bushes, it became next to impossible to find them.
Like now.
I’d tracked them for the past half hour and still, I hadn’t come across them. I didn’t think they would have traveled fast. Bianca was a new rider and Cleb would have been nervous taking the lead. But with how slow I’d been to come to my decision to join them, they had a sizable head start.
Was that a snapped twig? I thought. Could it have been caused by an arjath?
Maybe. Maybe not.
I didn’t want to get stuck out there looking for them. Chances were good I would end up getting lost.
Feeling a little disappointed, I clucked out the corner of my mouth and turned the arjath around to ride back through the wood.
Then I heard laughter.
High pitched and loud, it sounded like Cleb when he exploded with joy the other day in the garden.
I turned the arjath around in the direction I thought it’d
