“How did Meala come to be stabled here?” I finally got around to asking Blayney once I had finished my ministrations for the honey-badger.

“Serendipity? Terrible luck.” He suggested. “Queen Mab demanded concessions once they had informed her of the dungeon’s closing. Craig was one of those concessions. He was the Seelie Lord tasked with monitoring and reporting back what he observed. He wasn’t supposed to assume control of the area, but he was, in essence, the de facto ruler, no one dared disagree with his ‘suggestions’. Once he arrived, his first action was to arrest your Vassals.

Meala was an afterthought. He assumed ownership of her in the process of assuming control. I think mostly; he forgot she existed. Except perhaps to instruct the stable staff to give her the bare minimum of care.

“Feeding and watering was about the extent of that care, and that done sporadically. I’m not sure if that was done intentionally, or if she was a nuisance he didn’t want to be bothered with,” Blayney explained.

“I tried at least once a month to have all the mounts turned over to the Kelpie. But no matter how I framed the request, he would not hear of it. We never could discover if he was keeping them as some kind of trophy, had been ordered to by Queen Mab, or was just an ass.”

I had finished healing and grooming Meala, but she wasn’t done begging for attention. She continued to butt her head into my chest, her actions almost knocking me to the ground once or twice. My reflexes and high agility saved my dignity when she became especially frisky and demanding.

Fur cleaned, wounds healed, and pests removed, she was comfortable for the first time in a year. But these small niceties did nothing to ease the loneliness that they had subjected her to. Although not a herd or communal species, she was raised in a culture that encouraged companionship. Now that I had returned, she sought reassurance that I would not disappear again.

It would take time to assure her and repair the damage done to her psyche. The journey I was about to set out on would go a long way towards assuaging her skittishness. She solved handily my transportation needs, now I needed to find something for Duchess Wynne, her two people, Aspen, and Pine to ride.

“Amber? Pine?” I said gaining their attention. “Can you ride, that is if I can find you mounts? Or should I commission a vehicle for you to ride in?”

“Neither will be necessary,” Pine informed me. “Like the Kelpie, we have other forms. One for flight, the other a stag.” I knew he hadn’t exactly said they could transform into flying deer’s, but for some reason, I was constructing a mental image of a jolly fat man with a herd of deer, one with a red nose that glowed.

“That just leaves the Duchess and her people that will require transportation. Your thoughts, Duchess?” I asked ignoring the fat man in the red velvet suit for reality.

I wasn’t sure what Knockers normally used; I assumed something mechanical given their love of all things they could tinker. Additionally, I wasn’t sure what would be suitable for someone of her stature. She had probably trained and learned to ride something suitable for Seelie, given the Sidhe injunction for conformity, but I thought it would be inconvenient, painful, and humiliating. I hoped they had a solution.

“We have specially crafted devices that lock on to standard saddles,” the Duchess explained, “they look and act very similar to double saddles that most mounts are comfortable with. They allow us to ride comfortably with any mount and maintain control. They share the front saddle controls with the additional saddle and allow us to set environmental settings.”

“Perhaps, I can make a suggestion then,” Aspen interjected, “if the device is not too restrictive, Pine and I would be willing to wear the harness and could carry the Duchess and her people.”

“It would make for a speedier journey, and there would be less chance of being identified or noticed by any Seelie, Queen Mab may send after you while traveling in a smaller party,” Blayney agreed thoughtfully.

“Can we see your other forms?” Wynne voiced her concerns, but her question respectful.

Aspen chose the ground form while Pine chose the flying form.

I was strangely disappointed that the flying form wasn’t the reindeer I had imagined. Instead, a majestic Crowned-Hawk Eagle took shape. Browns, grays, and yellows in interesting patterns that made the feathers appear more scale-like than feather-like. Making the eagle seem more reptile-like in appearance than a bird of prey.

The deer form, by contrast, was nothing special, a standard animal form. Although the antlers may have been more developed, Aspen boasting twelve points, the body shape and form were standard for deer species. Standing next to the Meala that stood twenty-four hands, Aspen was much smaller, twelve, or fourteen hands at best. It made me wonder if they would have any difficulties keeping up with Meala.

Other than the difference in size, Meala sported six legs, while Aspen had four. I wasn’t sure how this would translate to endurance and speed, but I thought it might actually offset the difference in size. The reason animals had adapted to six limbs on Talahm had to do with the Planet’s gravity. Aspen and Pine seemed indifferent to the added weight up to this point, so it was logical to assume that it would not bother them in their other forms.

An adaption coded into their DNA by Danu when she breathed life into them I thought. It would make no sense to send them here if they could not make use of their alternate forms. Flying especially would be problematic if they could not adapt to gravity.

The Duchess and her people did some testing, strapping their conveyances on Aspen and adjusting fit and function. Although not as large as Meala, they were still impressive enough in size and girth to make the saddle and gear work. It took some adjusting and fine-tuning to get the environmental controls to accept Aspen and Pine as valid.

The equipment the Duchess produced was meant to make use of the middle set of legs for support and purchase. Watching as she and her people tinkered a solution that kept the saddle in place was amusing. The poor Knocker who had the honor of testing found himself in a heap on the ground, a half dozen times after the cinches that held the saddle proved ineffective.

They created a hastily produced tack and girth assembly to solve the issue. Cinching the saddles and assorted bags in the correct position required my help. I was taller and had the leverage to make sure fit and seat were stable. Just as my gear for Meala had enchantments and arrays embedded into the leather, so too did the equipment that Wynne supplied.

It offered the same enhancements, a field that could filter out wind and insects, most helpful for mount and rider alike, communication networking, and protective shielding that minimized scrapes from brambles and branches. The Knockers had adapted their gear to store the kinetic energy the mount released as they traveled. The gems that contained that stored energy could be used during rest periods to power protection arrays.

I thought it ingenious and wondered if there was a way to make something similar for me to wear. Something that would continuously absorb the excess kinetic and magical energy I radiated, storing it until I had a need for it. A battery backup for my magic.

Una was organized enough to think of the common items we would need for our journey. Things like food, water, and feed for Meala. We could hunt, but I didn’t want to take the time. Unless the circumstances demanded, I would be riding non-stop to arrive in Delar as quickly as possible. The only time we would stop would be to allow Aspen, Pine, and Meala to rest. I even planned on sleeping mounted.

The route I had mapped out using satellite imagery and my M-AI took my desire for speed into account, but not at the expense of safety and anonymity. I didn’t want to be recognized before we had left the Seelie claimed lands. It wasn’t that I was worried about capture, I just didn’t want to spend the entire trip battling. The delay would only mean my people were in the clutches of the Seelie Court that much longer.

The sooner I could arrive in Delar, the sooner I could establish my Kingdom and claim my territory.