‘Okay, you’re right.’ Ari stepped in conciliatorily between the werewolf and the half-dwarf. ‘At the end of the day, we all learnt to ride. We managed it, some better than others. There’s no point dwelling on it.’
‘I didn't start it,’ Kei snapped. ‘But you can't complain about the wolvens.’ It was clear he was holding back from pointing the finger at Vincent.
‘It was easier with them, actually.’ It seemed they must have gone through this several times before, because Vi quickly gave in and agreed with the shapeshifter. ‘We’d already had a bit of practice and we were older.’
‘Right.’ The lycanthrope snorted with satisfaction.
‘So you can ride,’ Draco stated, leaning against Fen, who was lying behind him. ‘I haven’t seen you do that before.’
‘We're infantry here,’ Ari pointed out rightly. ‘We do ride occasionally if we're on duty at the courier office, though cavalrymen are usually sent out more often. After all, besses are faster.’
‘Maybe we'll get the chance to go out in the saddle more often,’ Kei remarked keenly. ‘Now that you have your bess, carriage trips are likely to be less frequent.’
Draco hadn’t thought of that before, but it certainly seemed likely. Since he could travel by bess, it would be a shame not to take advantage of it. Of course, that was assuming he finally mastered the art to even a decent degree. Fenrir’s stubbornness also had to be taken into account. The dragon couldn’t quite picture a situation where he’d go off somewhere in a carriage whilst the bess waited patiently for him in his stall.
‘I think you’re right,’ he merely muttered.
‘Whatever will be, will be,’ Ari cut in. ‘First, stay in the saddle without clinging on for dear life. Then see how it feels to ride properly, not just round and round a flat patch. Then we can talk about going anywhere riding.’
‘Yeah, don’t even suggest it before then, or Oscar’ll give you an earful,’ Forth chimed in. His argument was the one that really struck a chord with the reptile.
‘Actually, we’ve come on
