Chapter 9

Ruben had told me of himself as we journeyed in his very private cab to wherever he was taking me as his prisoner, and I was astonished he was so old. But he did not look much over middle-age, though knew of spells and ways he said to preserve life, or rather extend it. He was after all a Mage. As he said too, stepping through space and time has some benefits.

Now he asked about me. While he had heard tales, no doubt embroidered and exaggerated, of my exploits with my fellow humanhorse Cerys and the well-endowed Egri male Corth under the whip of Akrith, and perhaps too my service as her warhorse, he was eager to know more about me.

I told him what had happened to me since my being taken and thrown on to the planet Sevir and he listened intently to all my exploits. He told me to leave no detail out even of my being a reluctant humanhorse on a farm at first, and was curious about how I had adapted so well to earn promotion being appointed to a war mount having learned the language so well. As he said, there are many humanhorses whose knowledge of Egri is limited to a handful of necessary words such as ‘water,’ ‘whip’ and ‘work.’ I told him that it was hard at first but I was fortunate to have a fellow humanhorse on the farm—a woman called Davina—who was permitted to teach me as much as she knew.

“Other than that, sir, I felt I could pick up the language easily once I knew the basics,” I explained. “All language has logic, and as an actress before I was taught to listen and learn.”

“I see. And where is this Davina horse now?” the Mage asked.

I shook my head. “I have no idea, sir. I heard the farm after I left to serve Akrith was raided by Wilds. I believe the humanhorses were slaughtered.” I choked a little as I loved Davina, though not in the way I had made limited love to Cerys or how I had made love to other women in the past. The older woman had been more of a protective mother to me and I was devastated she would have died at the hands of bandits. When I said so, Ruben smiled.

“You know nothing of the Wilds, do you, child?” The man asked.

“Only they are bandits, sir,” I replied.

“No, Isabella of London, they are more than that. You told me you had experience of bandits with the swordless warrior, and beat them off. Their kind are weak Sevir males and easily dealt with. Your owner would have shown them no mercy, even without a long blade. No, the Wilds are like you and I.”

I blinked in disbelief. “What?” I gasped. “Horses?”

“No, they are free humans. We Mages first brought them to Sevir thinking they would serve as soldiers and servants. Both male and female, but the Egri and the Tankic alike rejected them. The Sevir do not care for strong males unless they have what we Mages have and can boast some magic powers. Those humans escaped into the wilds—hence their name—and now survive in the hills, forests and mountains. They are a blight on the Egri in particular, and may be the same for the Tankic for all I know. I do not move in Root realms as I am their sworn enemy. But unless you have seen them close up they likely would be unknown to you. The name Wilds is as much as you are permitted to know, for the Egri understandably fear more of humans taking control.”

“But the Egri are warriors,” I began, getting over the shock of what I heard.

Again, Ruben smiled. “The Egri females may be a deadly warrior race but they rely on us Mages for power, carrying only rudimentary weapons such as swords and bows. Good though they are with them, they secretly fear humans. That is why females such as yourself are kept chained so much. Your freedom would destroy them. There is more: they are aware too that the Wilds are capable of harnessing a technology that they cannot comprehend, or more likely are too lazy to achieve. It may surprise you but the Wilds have, according to some stories, acquired flamepowder—what we would call gunpowder—and have forged crude muskets. Any raid the Wilds undertake is not to kill humanhorses, but to take them for breeding in their secret camps. Your Davina may well be alive, though if old and incapable of bearing children or maybe reluctant to help the Wilds cause she would continue as a worker. For them. Even the Wilds need horses.”

I stared in disbelief at the man, though I had no cause to doubt him. I felt a surge of hope that humans were here on Sevir, and free. I also felt hope that Davina was indeed alive, though I hated the idea of her being used as she had been on the farm. I said as much.

Ruben studied me carefully. “You are chained and will remain so, Isabella, for your fate is as you are at present. Now you know there could be freedom I must restrict you still. More so, in fact. Knowledge of freedom brings so much trouble.”

“And would I be one of your humanhorses?” I demanded. “Destined to haul your luxury carriage?”

“I have not decided,” said Ruben slowly. He stroked his chin as he contemplated me, naked and in chains sat before him. “Trust has to be earned on any planet. I am human and no different to people you have known, whatever age you are from. I do not know how the Wilds would see me: I have no wish to get a musket ball between my shoulder blades. The Wilds I believe would see my kind as the source of their distress, and I could not blame them. They do not have magic in them as we Mages do; their magic is in making things and harnessing natural materials. In the way it was for me on Earth, they mistrust us with our other, more ethereal skills. Their heritage is that we of Root and Branch should be eliminated by fire.”

“I see,” I said. “But I am your prisoner, I cannot threaten you.”

“Not true. Every human carries the threat of danger to other humans. It is the way of our kind, whether they carry a musket or have magic in their hands. I must be careful, as I am sure you will appreciate.”

“I would love to see Davina, if she still lives. You have given me hope.”

“Ah, hope ... that most dangerous of humankind beliefs. I am sure you would love to embrace this human you so admired but I would not venture into Wilds lands. Even my fireballs cannot defend against a flying lead ball. But we have some way to go to my home. I would ask you to tell me of your life on Earth, and how it felt to be taken from there to here.”

“I was an actress, auditioning for arts on stage and, well, in our other entertainments.”

“The movies of which you spoke, I presume. I think I understand that they were projections, but only because there are Mages among my kind who can cause projected images too. But tell me of your taking.”

No one had ever asked this of me before, and I became unexpectedly overcome with emotion. I struggled to push the distress aside and spoke as clearly as I could, though Ruben was patient.

I took a deep breath and began. “Sir, there was woman by the name of Natalie. She was my lover in London, the last one I had and perhaps the best of them.

“I can recall her still, the way she would toss her long black hair in exultation when she had finished fucking me. She would stretch her long limbs above me and purr. It was ironic what she would say then. ‘If I could,’ she would tell me, ‘I would make you a horse. I would ride you like the wind,’ she’d say.”

Ruben chuckled at this point: it is fair to say once you are a humanhorse on Sevir you do not hear the joy of human laughter often. “Go on, child,” he ordered.