章 86: Horseback Ride

Two horses were racing over hills and meadows. Their tandem seemed perfect as the two riders kept the same pace. The man controlled his horse with elegant movements of the reins while his heels pushed from time to time on the animal's ribs.

Hope slowed down the pace when she felt comfortable far enough from the Forest of the Damned. No movements were needed on her part as the horse changed his pace to trotting. The horse walked simultaneously with the right front leg and the left hind leg, respectively with the front left leg and the right hind leg, one of the two diagonal pairs of legs being at one point on the ground.

Drake was observing her horse's beautiful movements and saw that she wasn't doing anything in particular. "It took me years to train horses to execute that two-beat pace, and you do it spontaneously, without any explicit signals coming from you."