It was empty. In fact it was barred. Its door would not open. If Seqiro entered, he would be trapped.
She returned to report. “Maybe I can get that door open before you go through.”
The anchor is just outside the stall. I caught on to it with my head. I will need to enter the stall, then turn and go out beside the anchor. I was trapped before because of the closed gate. So that gate will have to be opened first.
Fortunately there were no horses near. This entire wing seemed to be empty. She could work on the gate without arousing any creatures.
“I do not trust this,” Darius said. “Is that wing normally empty?”
“No. It is a confinement section, with difficult horses placed there. That was why I was there. There are usually several scattered through it.”
“That suggests that they have something devious in mind,” Darius said. “They may be waiting for you to reappear, so as to trap you.” This seems likely.
“We shall need to interfere with that trap. Let me go through, to see whether my conjure magic works. If it does, we can escape readily enough.”
Darius went through, while Nona awaited nervously and Colene continued to groan sporadically. Nona knew that they could not afford to delay long; the mind predator seemed to be making faster progress against Colene this time, as if it had started where it left off before.
Darius returned. “My magic does not work,” he reported grimly.
“Maybe mine does,” Nona said. “Let me check.” She went through again, and tried to levitate. She could not. She tried to make fire, but could not. She tried everything, and nothing worked. Not even illusion. She felt naked.
She returned to deliver the bad news: she had no special powers in the Horse Mode.
“Then we must do it without magic,” Darius decided. “I will explore the region, to find any other horse there, and determine the nature of the trap. I think I can resist a single horse long enough to get back to the anchor.”
You can. You have done well, and the others will not be expecting resistance.
Nona hated to offer objections, but had to. “If Darius discovers the trap, and we avoid, it, will they follow where we go, and catch us anyway?”
“There is a wild region nearby, where horses seldom go. If I went there and shut down my mind, they would have difficulty locating me.”
“So we could go there and hide, until the mind predator lost interest again,” Nona said, satisfied. “Then we could return to the Virtual Mode and move quickly to your home Mode, Darius.”
“That seems feasible,” Darius agreed. He went through again, for a longer exploration.
This time he returned with a more complete report. “The entire wing is enclosed and locked,” he said. “Each stall, and a stout fence around the whole. So if you thought you were free because you got out of the stall, you would be deceived. There is a mare in the farthest stall, but she seems listless; she did not react to my presence at all, and there was no mind attack. I think they have made this a solid prison, but I can use a tool to pry open the gates. They may think you will return alone, so have no such resource.”
This seems likely. The mare—no reaction to you at all?
“None. She seems mindless.”
I fear she is. Now I appreciate the nature of the trap. They know I could not allow a mind-blasted mare to suffer.
“Mind-blasted?” Nona asked, not liking this.
When a horse goes truly wrong, it may be mentally destroyed. This can be done if two or more horses focus on it, breaking down its defense and destroying its mind. It can also happen when stallions fight. Such a creature is better off dead.
“That’s horrible!” Nona agreed. “But why is her presence a trap? If you can’t do anything about it?”
I would kill her, to end her suffering. Then the others would feel the death, and know that I had returned.
“Kill her! Is there no alternative?”
Sometimes a mind can be rebuilt. But there has to be a very specific template. Then the new mind honors that template, and the horse is in effect a new creature. The old mind can not be recovered, I could try that, but I have no template.
Nona remembered something. “Maresy!” she exclaimed. “Doesn’t Colene have an imaginary horse named that?”
She does. But such a horse never existed, so could not be remade,
“But it might be made new! Colene could give you all the particulars of her perfect horse!”
Darius shook his head. “Colene is under siege herself.”
“But she won’t be, the moment we pass through that anchor. I know she could do this, and would be glad to. We can save that mare, so she won’t have to be killed, and there will be no alarm.”
Darius considered. “This makes sense to me.”
It may be possible.
“Then let’s try it! Darius, you open that gate, then we’ll go through and tend to that mare, and then we’ll go out to the wild region to hide. With luck, the other horses will never know, until we are gone.”
They will realize when minions come to feed the mare, and she is gone.
“And then it will be difficult to return to the anchor,” Darius said. “But we face extreme alternatives, and this seems best. Colene is imaginative, and may be able to find a way back, when we are ready.”
“Should we leave our supplies here?” Nona asked. “Just in case there is trouble?”
“There could be trouble here.” Darius said. “A person of this Mode could pass by and steal our things.”
Nona appreciated the point. They would be safer keeping their supplies with them.
Then she thought of another problem. “The other horses will know Seqiro’s back the moment he uses his telepathy, even if no one actually sees us. So he should go mute, mentally.”
But I must use my power to help the mare.
“If you get identified, you will not have time to help the mare,” she said firmly. “You will have to wait until you are hidden in the wild country to tend to her. One of us can lead the mare there, silently.”
You could not do so. There must be a mental command.
“I could not. Darius could not. But Colene could. She has some telepathy, probably too little to alert the horses, but enough to reach the mare for simple commands.”
He nodded. You do remind me of her at times. You are thinking of the things she would think of.
“Thank you,” Nona said, trying not to blush at the compliment.
So Darius went through again, to fix the gate, and then the others, and they were through the anchor at last. Nona was relieved to see Colene relax, and then stir; her mind had not yet succumbed.
But she could not allow anyone to relax. There were essential things to be done. “Colene,” she said. “You must help us. We are in the Horse Mode—” She broke off, realizing that with Seqiro mentally mute, her words were not being translated. This was a complication she had overlooked.
The girl looked at her blankly, then at Seqiro. She said something indecipherable.
“Colene!” Nona said. “Use your own telepathy!” She pointed to her own head. “Think at me!”
“What’s wrong?” Colene asked, projecting her thought.
Nona focused her thoughts as well as she could, summarizing the situation. Horse Mode. Unfriendly horses. Mental silence. Need to hide. Mind-blasted mare.
In a moment Colene understood. “Thanks, Nona. I’ll take it from here. You stay with the boys.”
CHAPTER 15—HORSE