Skeletons

Adrian raced down the road on Ivory Flame, enjoying the crisp fall day. It was beautiful outside and he meant to take advantage of the nice weather and the few moments of freetime he’d been able to manage. Silver Fist had been busy of late with people trading goods and materials ahead of winter. It had meant an increase in administrative duties and just generally being seen by the populace he cared for. 

He waved at several people in the field as the tall, smokey cream colored horse cantered down the open lane. The stallion was becoming a familiar feature along the roads, its long cream and white tail a tell-tale sign of who it was riding by. Not that anyone was likely to have mistaken the blue and gold of his usual outfits anyway. 

Ivory Flame seemed to be enjoying the run. No monsters to fight, not crises to manage. Just a pleasant, morning run. 

Unfortunately, few good things seemed to last forever. As Adrian and Ivory Flame rounded a bend in the road just out of sight of Silver Fist, they found themselves faced with a handful of walking skeletons. 

The smoky, cream rabicano reared as they came to a sudden stop, their light colored hooves flashing in the early morning sun and their blue eyes narrowing with annoyance and anger. 

Adrian wheeled Ivory away from the skeletons, hoping for a moment the walking undead didn’t notice them. The clanking for bones a moment later, combined with the fact the skeletons kept coming, meant that hope was clearly in vain. 

The skeletons closed on Adrian and Ivory Flame as fast as the white, cursed undead could. For a moment, Adrian considered just running. There wasn’t much of a chance of the skeletons being fast enough to follow, but then they’d just be there for someone else to have problems with and he couldn’t abide by that thought. 

Ivory seemed to share this sentiment as the stallion, with little prompting from Adrian, struck the nearest skeleton and sent bones flying from it, shattering a few of the smaller pieces. He followed this up by charging and running down another skeleton. 

Adrian took a swipe with his shield and bashed another away from Ivory’s unprotected cream side as the group of walking skeletons closed in around them. 

The stallion, using his unusually long tail as a shield, or at least as a distraction, swiped away several more skeletons. Their bones disconnected or broke on impact with the ground, though the agitated clicking of teeth could be heard softly over the sounds of the rest of the fight. 

Adrian turned Ivory, the smoky cream rabicano maneuvering easily at the signal, the two having ridden together enough to understand each other quickly. 

A few skulls broke as the stallion stomped down on them, and Adrian finished the last of them with his sword and shield. All things considered the fight was over quickly. Then again, walking skeletons tended to fall apart with little effort. It was why they were usually found in groups. 

“Good job, Ivory.” Adrian patted the horse’s neck as he heard the sound of other riders approaching. Apparently there was enough noise to attract the attention of someone in the vicinity. “At least there’s little need to cleanup. Just a lot of dust and bones.” 

Ivory snorted in agreement, moving out of the clutter of broken skeletons and shaking out his tail. 

As soon as Adrian had people there to clean up the mess and investigate where the skeletons had come from, he turned Ivory back towards Silver Fist. “Well, Ivory, looks like you and I might be going out on another ride before long. Can’t be having people sending walking skeletons to bother us, can we? Particularly not when they interrupt a good ride.” 

Ivory Flame flicked their cream and white tail, tossing their head in agreement as the pair rode through the gates of Silver Fist and towards the stables. There’d be more work for the pair to do before long, so best to catch a break when you could.