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Ever since he was a young child, playing with the sheep in the fields outside of Flamechurch, Temenos had had one consistent, chilling fear: horses.
These stupid creatures were the bane of his existence. They looked weird! And their eyes led straight to the depths of Hell… they were probably the favorite creatures of Vide the Wicked himself.
For most of his life as a cleric, he’d always chosen to walk places instead of riding horses. It didn’t matter how long a trek was, walking would always be better. But after he started his journey with the strange people he came across in cities (or in Osvald’s case, a snowdrift), it’d been harder and harder to avoid this. One day, the other members of the party finally snapped.
“Temenos, I’m only going to say this once,” Thronè said, with her hand on her forehead like an exhausted mother, “You’re my best friend, but WHAT is with your horse thing?!”
Temenos put on an innocent expression. “Why, Thronè, I haven’t a clue what you mean. Is it wrong to want to enjoy a bit of exercise?”
“Auntie Thronè means that you make us all ride real slow! Because… you like walking!” Ochette shouted helpfully, rubbing her horse’s despicable snout.
“Yes, what she said.”
Temenos shot Ochette a glare, but she was blissfully unaware. “I just don’t care for the creatures.”
“Trust me, Temenos, if you didn’t care, this would be a lot easier.” Thronè said, putting her hands on her hips.
“Very well,” Temenos said, gritting his teeth, “I’ll… ride… the horse.”
He approached the horse that was meant to be his slowly. It looked at him with those beady eyes, but he stood firm. It looked like it was getting larger… What if it was a monster in disguise? It was possible.
Temenos was about to mount, feeling a little dizzy. His heart rate was at an all-time high, and even if he managed to sit on the thing, he wasn’t sure how long he could stay on before passing out. Then, the horse nickered.
Temenos screamed. Flailing around in terror, he cast a light spell to blind his opponent and ran away.
Knowing that it was probably better, no one asked about it, and Temenos continued traveling the way Aelfric intended, on foot.