The Palace Beast
Chapter 85 - Walk the Path

The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky. Bonnie leads the way out of the log cabin as they both made their way to the horse. The man's dead body was still lying beside his horse.

"We need to get rid of that corpse," John said as he glanced at Bonnie. He doesn't want to be seeing the man that died in his hands. He feels guilty about what had happened.

"We shouldn't be worried about that. We only have a horse here, how do we ride?"

"We can share... There's no harm in that."

Bonnie grinned as she hid her face. That's what she wanted. Apart from saving John when he was unconscious, she wondered if she would have another chance to let her body so close to John's.

After getting rid of the corpse, she made her way back to the horse where John has been waiting. "It will be a long ride. We should get going."

"How about we stop for food? I am famishing."

"We will make a stop at the closest village off the hills, I swear."

"Very well then," John said as he mounted on the horse.

"Won't you help me up?"

"Where are my manners? Please forgive me." John quickly stretched his hand and pulled Bonnie up.

Bonnie was seated in front of him whilst he was seated behind her. Although he has not ridden a horse before, his instinct tells him he can do it. After all, he's not alone on this. If anything could go wrong, Bonnie should take control at once. That was his confidence.

He gently grabbed the horse's rein but wasn't sure of what next to do. He thought for a while and then said to the horse, "You can move now."

The horse however didn't bother to move an inch. John then leans forward and brought his mouth to Bonnie's ear, "How do I get the horse to move?"

"Seems like this is your first time getting on a horseback before?"

Bonnie turned around with her eyes fixed on John who was still curious to get the horse to move. It's now clear to her that John is certainly not from around here and doesn't know how things work around here. Even a young child can ride a horse, why not him? "Who in the faraway land doesn't know how to get a horse to move? She gently mounts down the horse as she gently asked John to come down too.

"Are we not supposed to be going somewhere?"

John was still seated comfortably at the horseback as he gave a wide-eyed surprise gaze at Bonnie. Perhaps she has changed her mind and we are not going anywhere anymore. John couldn't make sense as to why Bonnie asked him to come down. Seeing Bonnie was not answering him, he slowly mounts down from the horse.

"You are in my world and I will show you how things are done around here starting with how to ride a horse."

Bonnie was still standing beside the horse. She winked at John and then mounted the horse. For a second John thought she was leaving without him. He wasn't too sure of Bonnie's thought right now but her on the horseback can only mean one thing.

"What are you doing?" asked John.

"I told you I need to show you how things are done. You have to learn how to ride a horse before we can venture out."

She gets the horse's attention by pulling on the rein and then continued, "Before any physical cues are given, use the reins to put light tension on the horse's mouth. This light pulling will get the horse to pay attention to your cues. Then, once you have the horse's attention, release your tension on the reins in order to reinforce other cues for forward movement."

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Not quite long she grips the horse with her legs to cue it to go forward.

"How did you do that?" asked John as he stared in awe.

"You have to pay close attention to my every move. While riding a horse, squeezing it with your legs is the signal that it should move forward. A well-trained horse will respond to this movement immediately. When you squeeze the horse with your legs, make sure you keep your legs straight and squeeze with your calves. If you want to ride in another style, you can also lift the reins up and forward towards the horse's head while you do this. This hug with the legs should be quick and positive, not painful."

"Is that all I have to do to get the horse to move? That's quite easy!"

"That's certainly not all," she said as she pushes her hips forward in the saddle and continued, "You may need to give the horse some mental inertia by rocking forward in the saddle as you give it other cues to move forward. Moving forward in your seat just helps persuade the horse that it should start moving. Make sure this motion is done with your hips by pushing them down and forward. Don't use your upper body, as the horse can't feel those movements as clearly." After she has shown John how to ride a horse, she instructed John to do all that she has taught him. John was a fast learner as he was able to do the exact thing Bonnie has taught him.

As they were about to ride off, Bonnie returned to her first position whereas John sat behind her.

They both ride into the forest. After half an hour, they were getting close to the village known as Zaxson. The exact village Bonnie has described to him that he could replace food. John throws a fresh volume of questions at her. "I thought vampires don't walk under the day? Why is it that you are able to stand the sun? What's your secret or are you a witch as well?"

"I can see you must have heard of vampires where you came from, yes?"

"Not that they do exist in my world but tales of them is famous," John replied with certainty. He has not seen a vampire in but he has definitely have head tales about them. But he can't tell why Bonnie was able to walk during the day. "They are vampires known as the first vampires; some refer to them as 'Original Vampires.' 'Original Vampires' and non-Original vampires cannot walk in daylight without being burned by the Sun as a consequence of their vampirism. Vampires who possess daylight amulets are generally referred to as 'Day-Walkers.' The amulets are specific and cannot be transferred between vampires and they are made of lapis lazuli."

"So you have the amulet on you?" asked John.

"Yes I do but in form of a ring," she replied displaying a ring in her index finger made of lapis lazuli.

It's now certain to John that sunlight as a weakness to vampires is not actually from folklore, as many types of vampires survive just fine in the sunlight, and traditional folklore rarely mentions sunlight at all.

"We are already getting closer to the village; do you have any further questions before we get there?"

"You made mention of lapis azuli. What does that mean?"

"It's not lapis adult but lapis lazuli. A lapis lazuli is a mystical stone enchanted by witches, to allow vampires to walk freely in the sunlight. Throughout the years, female vampires often wear amulets, rings, or bracelets that possess lapis lazuli stones, as opposed to male vampires, who often only wear rings. I myself have chosen ring instead of amulet"

They were already a few paces away from the entrance gate of the village when John caught a glimpse of a creature standing at the entrance of the gate. He couldn't make sense of what type of creature it was as the creature have bow-legged, sallow, and swarthy with prominent yellow fangs, clawlike hands, and course bristle-like hair. The creature is therefore like bestial humans with various ape or pig-like features.

"What type of creature is that?" John asked shivering in fear.

"They are Orcs and they eat humans."