The Horse's Full Length

The gray horse galloped through the falling snow onto the plain that stretched into the blackness where the Emperor's army had marched hours before. It suddenly stopped, perhaps feeling it had safely escaped danger, or perhaps gathering the will for a malevolent return. Puppet-like and possessing no strength, Mephra merely clung to his new master's reigns. I went out there when it was gone and took what rags I could off my body and to place them on the girl. She was too depleted now to condemn me. But enough we could walk by the light of the ceaseless fires that had taken her birthplace away from her.