Luck in the gallop 2

Ylre was sitting in a nice restaurant with Rue, eating a mixture of potatoes, meat and vegetables. He wasn't as talkative as he usually was, and though he tried to act normal, Rue noticed his behavior.

"Are you nervous?" he moved his apple pie to Ylre.

"No," Ylre said.

"It's normal to be nervous before a competition, if you want, we can borrow horses and try to ride, would you like to have a race?" Rue asked cheerfully.

Ylre blinked, "Race? Me? With you," he knew the result.

"I haven't galloped for a long time, and if it helps you feel confident, it won't hurt, right?" he tried.

"I don't know if confidence is a good word," laughed Ylre, "I haven't rode a horse in a long time."

"How long?" Rue wondered, biting into the pie.

"I don't know, but I feel like it's been two hundred years, or so," he wasn't joking.

However, since the sentence was true for Rue as well, he laughed with pleasure, "See, neither do I."

Ylre knew that while it was true that neither of them had ridden for two hundred years, they did not agree on anything else on this matter. Because Rue could do wonders, no matter how long he wouldn't sit on a horse.

Anyway, Ylre was unable to convince Rue not to pursue the idea, so they actually went to the region of Alycante after lunch, where they discovered that horses could be bought. Being really persuasive, Rue negotiated a loan, and soon they were leading two fine horses out of Alycante.

"I don't know if it's a good idea for us to compete together," Ylre explained, tightly holding the reins of the horse he was leading beside him.

"You don't want to?" Rue asked, pausing incomprehensibly.

They were quite far from the city, a little below the meadow from which they once came down, and the road in front of them gave quite a free course through which it would be good to gallop. However, not understanding if Ylre really wanted, Rue waited.

Ylre stared into his golden eyes for a moment and blinked a few times as he felt the urge to get on a horse with Rue and run away with him somewhere where no one could find them. Without his nervousness of what riding would bring.

"Ylre," Rue tried, "do you hate horses?" he didn't know.

Ylre hesitated, "No, I don't."

"Or are you afraid of them?" Rue didn't know why, but he felt strangely nostalgic.

Ylre hesitated, "I'm not afraid," he said.

Rue smiled lightly and stated, "Even you are, that's fine, Ylre. Everyone is afraid of something."

With his words, Ylre was filled with a familiar warm feeling along with a strange pain which made him state sharply, "I'm not afraid," he promised, "I used to be afraid, but I had someone who took a lot of time to teach me and really helped me with it. I got rid of it. I'm not afraid of horses. I just don't know if I can..." he started but stopped.

"You don't know what?" Rue didn't understand.

Ylre was silent.

"Ylre, you can tell me everything," he said.

"I just don't want you to be disappointed," Ylre admitted.

"I won't be," stated Rue, "so tell me, what don't you know? There's nothing I can't teach you, Ylre. Even in a day," he stated.

Ylre laughed lightly as he still hesitated but couldn't resist Rue and admitted, "Actually, I don't know...I don't know how to ride well."

Nobody said anything for a while, until Rue casually added, "Is that why you're nervous?"

Ylre nodded, "I promised to win the prizes, but I don't know what riding means in the game and I'm not good with horses. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, Ylre, everything's fine, I appreciate that you're participating in something dangerous like this for someone you just met. I'll be grateful if you win, I'll be grateful if you just try, but if it's stressful for you, you don't have to do it at all, and I'll be grateful anyway that you had the intention to. It's enough. "

"It's not," Ylre stated, "and we know each other well enough," he said, "I'll do anything to win it for you, I promise."

Ylre's words sounded really convincing and Rue smiled lightly as he enjoyed each and every one of them, "Thank you," he said, "Since you want to join the game and since we're out, what would you say about the race?"

"Race?" Ylre still hesitated, "You weren't kidding? I really haven't been on the horse in a long time, and even then I wasn't good at it."

"I wasn't kidding," Rue said, dismounting on his horse and smiled, "so it's up to you now, Ylre."

Ylre watched Rue for a moment before he obeyed his wish as he would an order and mounted an unknown horse. He tried to suppress all the nervousness that the horse caused in him and gripped the reins tightly in his hands. He could feel how high he was, he could feel the horse moving with its breathing and waiting for the signal to start.

"You're all stiff, Ylre," Rue rode up to him on his horse, "try to relax and breathe."

Ylre snorted lightly and declared, "I'm trying but riding just isn't my thing."

"I don't think so, Ylre, you have the best handling of a horse I've ever seen," he stated, "you control him well, you can sense everything he does and feel what he wants. I see you underestimate yourself, Ylre."

Ylre laughed lightly, "Once I fall, knowing the horse's feelings won't help me much."

"If you fall, you get back up," Rue laughed and stepped forward on his horse.

"I'm not sure about that," Ylre hesitated.

Rue thought for a moment before trying a different approach, "Then, how about we try a different kind of game, Ylre? Not a race."

"What kind of game?" he didn't understand.

"Just a tag, what do you think?" he tried happily.

Ylre blinked, "With horses?" he asked.

"Yes. We will gallop, we won't race. The one in the back will just try to catch up with the horse in front, easy, right?" he explained.

Ylre had known the game all his life, but that didn't change the fact that he didn't like it.

"I'm not good at it at all," he clarified.

"I used to play it with someone close to me and it was very motivating for him. It improves all riding skills. Even better in combination with hide and seek, but it's enough for now," he clarified, "suitable as practice before playing in a tournament, right?"

"Yes, but-" he didn't know if he wanted to.

"Or do you want classic lessons, Ylre?" Rue smiled.

"No," Ylre didn't want to sound like a real fool, "but I don't want you to disappear," Ylre knew how complicated it could be to keep up with Rue.

Rue blinked in confusion for a moment before laughing lightly, "Oh, I see," he clarified, "In that case, Ylre, try your best or I really will disappear," he laughed and spurred the horse into a trot.

Ylre knew he was only teasing him and didn't mean what he said, but still, after watching him for a while, he managed to spur his horse into a gallop. It wasn't a fast gallop, but it was enough to keep him close behind Rue and still see him.

"You see, you're riding and nothing happened, right?" Rue laughed as he sped up his gallop.

"Rue, I really don't know if I'm going to be able to-" he held the reins in his hands and tried to focus on not falling, on the horse below him to keep pace with a horse that had a rider on it that he would never outrun.

"Keep up?" Rue didn't want to spoil anything but laughed softly, "Ylre, but that's exactly what I want so swing the reins and gallop. Don't be a mile behind, go after me until I stop," he stated and spurred the horse again.

Ylre bit his lip softly and bent slightly, slapping the reins to make the horse move faster and taking a few deep breaths as he suppressed the urge to close his eyes and grip the horse tighter. But he knew he couldn't, because he knew that it would only scare the horse, that it would slow him down, that he would accomplish nothing. He knew that if he actually did that, he would fall and lose sight of Rue. And if he lost sight of him, he might not find him again.

Even though he knew it was stupid, even though he knew he wouldn't run away, something inside him wouldn't allow him to risk even the slightest chance of that happening. And so as always, he did his best to fulfill his words.

So he galloped on after Rue. He concentrated as best he could, always listening to Rue's reminders and whenever luck overtook him, he tried to smile lightly so it wouldn't sound like he was at the edge of his strength, even though riding was really something he wasn't good at.

Two horses galloped through the forest, several passers-by in surprise at the speed developed by the animals only jumped sharply to the side, although they wouldn't have been hit.

The two horses galloped through the meadow, the flowers swirling in the air all around them under their pace, causing Rue to laugh happily. They galloped through the untouched grass without a single living soul behind them, one happy, the other tense, but still together.

"Ylre, where are you looking?" Rue wanted to know.

"At you!" he shouted, as he had no idea what else he wanted to know.

"Then don't look. There are more beautiful things outside, watch your surroundings and relax. If you are nervous, the horse is nervous. Look how beautiful it is here!" laughed Rue, running his horse into a shallow river, the surface of which was immediately stirred up by the horse's hooves, forcing him to smile even wider as he felt a shower of cold drops on his face.

Ylre ran into the water after him. His skin, hot from the strong sun, cooled by the rush of cold from the water and wind that Rue was leaving in his wake. He galloped on after him, listening to his words and trying to obey them, but he didn't really do anything new because of the tension.

However, at one point Rue slowed down, Ylre unexpectedly ran beside him and turned around in shock, which was a mistake as he lost track of where he was going and almost fell. He wanted to slow down, but Rue already sped up and took his place next to him. He laughed loudly and gave Ylre a beautiful smile full of freedom and happiness that forced Ylre to finally release the tight grip on the reins he was holding so convulsively.

"Ylre, smile. You're doing great, your riding skills are great," Rue laughed in delight, prompting Ylre to lift the corners gently in a soft smile.

Not because of the words of praise, not because he actually kept up with Rue at least for a moment, but because of how rare Rue's happy expression was to him. How much happiness filled him at the sight of his smile.

A warm feeling filled his insides and forced Ylre into a relaxation he hadn't felt in a long time. For just a moment he forgot where he was sitting, forgot that he was galloping and that they weren't actually free yet. He forgot who was after them, he forgot what was waiting for him.

For a small moment, when he saw in Rue's eyes what he had been missing for so long, he finally felt free.