The Truth - Part 1

As we walk down the dark corridor I ask the man leading me, "Who are you?"

"Donae, and you?" He replies.

"Tallia, Tallia Burnham," I say then add, "How do you pronounce your name, again?"

"Doe - neigh," he says, "like the name of a female deer and the sound a horse makes." He laughs at his description.

I blush because I know it sounded stupid when I asked. "Donae, how did you know I was there, and why did you ask me to come with you?"

He says slowly, "I was at the emergency meeting that the prince had called and seen how you looked when he said 'new princess'. I knew by the look on your face you didn't know he was planning on marrying you and that you didn't want to marry him."

"But how did you know I was in the closet?" I ask trying to see what is ahead of us.

"That's the only place you could've gone, considering you were smart enough to hide from that prince," he says and stops walking pressing a stone in the wall ahead of him.

A door opens showing the stables, "How do you know all of these passages so well?"

He looks at me and says, "You don't need to know at the moment, just trust me." He goes to a stable and opens the gate, motioning for me to look inside.

"Wow," I say looking at the beautiful pure black horse standing in front of me. "it's so beautiful," I reach out to touch it's snout and it reaches it's neck down to meet my hand.

"He likes you," Donae says, "and I don't blame him." Donae disappears into another stable and brings out a dark grey mare, "That stallion is Shadowmere. This here is Smokey." He pats the mare's neck and smiles at me.

I look for the saddles while he makes sure the horses are well fed and watered. He also goes back into the castle to get some food and water jugs. Luckily my mom had put me in those riding classes, I think while saddling the horses.

~~~♢~~~

As soon as we finish packing our saddle bags, we hear a bell start to sound. "He found that you were gone," Donae says mounting Smokey.

I mount Shadowmere and say, "I hope you know where we're going."

He smirks and motions for me to follow him before taking off. I follow, smiling from ear to ear, and laugh because it had been awhile since I felt the freedom of riding a horse.

~~~♢~~~

"At seven years old the noble-blooded were finally old enough to catch and train their own beast, the beautiful horses of the water the Hypacampus. Dangerous, yet beautiful, creatures only the Rider could control and speak to it with just the mind," I recall from a book I had read in the castle library. "What are Hipacampus? I was going to ask the prince but, seeing as that is no longer an option, I'll ask you," I say to Donae making my horse ride next to his. We had ridden well out of the kingdom and were riding our horses slow in the woods.

"The Hypacampus is the first horse breed that is known. They were supposedly made from sea foam," Donae says looking at me. "They are carnivorous creatures though."

"If they are horses, shouldn't they be like vegetarians or something?"

He laughs and says, "You would think so, but whomever made the first horse breed didn't think so. It's said that unless you have the soul bond with one that they will lure you into the sea."

I look at him shocked, "Why? Do they eat you when you drown? Do they feed you to something bigger and meaner?"

He sighs, "They more than likely feed their families or their leader."

"Is it true that they can be spoken to with the mind?" I ask trying to understand these beasts.

"Yes," he says, "but it is very rare for them to listen and be obedient to the person with a soul bond strong enough to speak to them. They are powerful creatures and can only be bonded to powerful souls." He says the next part quieter and while looking at me, "I have a feeling Prince Dracome won't like you taking his, but he likes you too much to have let us leave silently without him."

I look at Donae shocked then down at the animal beneath me, "You mean Shadowmere is a Hypacampus?"

Donae nods and pats Smokey on the neck, "They both are."

"Wait." I look at him, "Are you of noble-blood? I read those were the only people allowed to catch one."

He laughs and says playfully, "Maybe, but I could've taken her from someone else like you took him."

I blush and grin looking down. 'He's a strange man, but somehow I trust him,' I think looking into his silver eyes.

"We'll make camp here," he says as we ride up to an overhang. "Let me go get the food for us and our beautiful beasts," he looks at me. "You should get them comfortable inside and maybe start a fire up." He nods his head to the overhang. "I've camped here before, I always keep a good sized pile of dry wood inside. Along with a few more things I've collected since finding this place."

He smiles at me and suddenly I hear a voice in my mind, 'He's an honest and fine man indeed.'

"Are you okay?" Donae says seeing the shocked expression on my face.

"Yea I'm fine, um, did you hear that voice?"

'He can't hear me,' the voice says. 'I'm your Hypacampus. Did you forget the reading you did? We can communicate with our mind.'

"Wow," I turn and look at Shadowmere, "that's amazing."

Donae laughs realizing what had happened, "Your first experience with mind communication, huh?"

"Was I supposed to be able to talk with my mind before this?" I ask turning to him.

It's his turn to look shocked now, "What?"

"I'm guessing you know nothing about the fact I'm from a different world?" I laugh at his shocked expression and say, "Guess not."

"You're from the other world?" He says looking at the Hypacampus behind me. "How did you know of the prince? How can Shadowmere talk to you?"

I sigh and reach into the satchel at my side, pulling out the book I found that explains my family history the best, besides the little black book that is now in ashes. "According to this my family originated here, but when my twice great grandmother couldn't cure the prince she snuck to the other world and that's where the book leaves off until I came here."

He walks over and looks at the book in my hand, "I'll have to read that some later." He looks into my eyes and I almost melt under his silver gaze, "First, I should go do the hunting. We can talk about this more later." He turns and walks into the woods leaving me to unsaddle our horses.

As I finish watering the horses Donae comes back with two rabbits and a doe. Although the doe is still alive and he's leading it with a rope. I ask, "Um, not to sound stupid or anything, but how did you get a wild doe to let you tie her up and lead her here?"

He smiles and winks at me, "I'll tell you some other time, for now, let's see how our lovely mounts would like these fresh rabbits." He tosses one of the, I assumed was dead, rabbits at me and I catch it realizing that it was also alive.

Grabbing it's hind legs quickly and securing it in my grasp I look at Donae like he's insane. "I thought hunting meant killing before bringing them back," I say glaring at him.

"They like them fresh and, honestly, I do too," he says walking near his mount and tossing the rabbit to her. She catches it by the hind legs and lays down with it to eat. Then realizing it was still alive and seeing it try to run she catches it and bites into its neck, killing it.

'Do I get one too?' Shadowmere says shifting from foot to foot behind me.

'Here,' I think to him tossing him the rabbit I was holding similar to how Donae tossed his. Shadow repeats the same thing Smokey had and they both eat their rabbits pleased.

"Told you," Donae says smiling. "There's a stream about two meters in that direction," he points to the woods, "you can go get fresh water and fill that bucket I have over there. I'm sure you don't want to watch me butcher this doe."

I nod and grab the bucket along with our bottle-like, goatskin containers. "I'll be back," I say walking in the direction he pointed.

'Obviously you will,' I hear Shadowmere say into my mind as I walk away.

~~~♢~~~

I return to the overhang with full containers and a full, heavy bucket. I put the bucket down where I first picked it up at and put the containers into our saddle bags, that I had put near the fire with our saddles, and keep two out for us to drink from now. 'Luckily he grabbed more than just two containers for water,' I think while taking a big gulp from my container. Donae had already butchered and started cooking the doe, after preserving some of the meat for later on in case we can't find anymore food or to trade and sell.

"Don't fall asleep yet," I hear Donae say, opening my eyes I realize that I had started to drift off.

"Oh, sorry," I mumble sitting up and looking at him. His black hair gleams in the firelight and perfectly frames his face. I catch his eyes for a moment and realize how much they remind me of the silver of the moon on a clear night.

"Don't be sorry, I just figured you'd want some food before you passed out," he says walking around the fire and handing me a makeshift plate that has cooked meat on it.

I smile and accept the plate, "Thank you." I eat the food and barely remember putting down the plate before falling asleep.