Guardian by Sam Cheever Page A

watched me with an Elvin gleam in her lovely blue eyes.
    I bristled but ignored them as I snatched the reins and grabbed a handful of mane. I bent my knees and sprang upward, toward the thing’s sleek, well groomed back.
    The horse trotted forward and I hit its rump hard, pinging off to land against Ian’s mount. I slid toward the ground in a less than graceful manner.
    Renewed laughter exploded around me and the evil white horse turned a suspiciously sparkling brown eye in my direction. Ian pressed his lips tightly to keep from laughing.
    I levered myself up from an unattractive puddle on the ground and narrowed my eyes at the nasty beast. It simply turned its head toward me and swished it’s thick, flawless tail disdainfully, lifting one rear foot in silent threat.
    I grinned and, with a thought, entered a travel layer.
    Murmuring ensued as the elves debated where I’d gone.
    I stepped up to the horse quickly, before it could register that I’d disappeared, and grabbed a handful of mane, springing onto its back.
    When I popped back into view on the back of the evil beast the elves laughed and a few clapped their hands.
    The horse’s head flew up and it turned a wild eye toward me.
    It hopped around a few times, snorting wildly, and spun in a circle in an effort to rid itself of me.
    As a few of the elves called out congratulations for my handling of the horse, I took a slight bow from my unsteady spot in the flat, soft saddle.
    But my victory was short lived.
    The damnable creature threw up its head, bellowed its displeasure to the sky, spun around, and took off at a gallop back the way it had come.
    The amused Elvin faces of Faerydae’s convoy flashed by like colorful blurs as I grabbed mane in both hands and wrapped my legs around the monster’s barrel, holding it in a death grip. The laughter of the convoy seemed to spur the evil horse on and he ran faster, until my eyes watered and my cheeks felt as if they were flapping around my ears.
    I swore into the wind and promised myself, if I survived the ride to Faerydae’s castle, the first thing I’d do was apply an annihilation level of power to the stupid horse. And then dance on his still twitching body while he died.
    The damnable thing headed straight for the largest waterfall in the center of the ridge, its head held high in outrage and its huge nostrils flared in temper. Legend held that Faerydae’s castle was hidden behind a wall of water, magically enmeshed within the heart of acres of rock.
    I hoped legend knew what it was talking about.
    I prayed the horse wasn’t stupid enough to plow into the waterfall and straight into rock, just to spite me.
    I was pretty sure it wasn’t that stupid, but as the first pounding streams of water hit my head, driving into my skin painfully, I hunkered down over the thing’s neck just in case. I’d let the stupid animal soften the blow with its own stupid head.
    The water drove into my head and shoulders, causing me to hunch lower onto the horse. The roar and rush of the water went on for what felt like hours. It pounded against my head and skin with bruising intensity.
    I tried to hold my breath but after a few minutes of unending pressure from thousands of barrels of water driving into my body I finally gave in and sucked air. Fortunately for me I mostly got air and not water.
    Choking and spitting the cupful of water I’d inhaled, I covered my head with my arms and prayed we’d reach the end of the water soon.
    Suddenly the pounding stopped and soothing heat from a bright sun replaced the water beating on my back. The horse drew itself up to a slow trot and then a walk, snorting noisily and shaking its mane to spray water into my face.
    I looked down and realized the water he’d sprayed came from me. Other than the water streaming off of me in liberal amounts, the damnable creature between my legs was completely dry. “What the hell!”
    The horse stopped and turned as Faerydae and her convoy emerged from the