Garinor realized that his would-be protector would find himself at a severe disadvantage if he took the man’s horse, so he declined the offer.
“Thanks, but I can’t take your horse from you.”
“Smart kid,” said the man on the right, smirking evilly. “Too bad it isn’t going to help you.”
Garinor nodded and lowered his head for a moment and then took rash action. He sprinted for the man on the right and bit into his calf. The man howled and dropped his weapon. The man on the left took advantage of Garinor’s attack and jabbed his other companion in the arm with his sword, effectively disarming him as well.
Garinor tossed one sword far away from them but held the other one up at the man he had bitten. “Get off the horse,” he commanded. Seeing the threat in Garinor’s eyes, he complied sullenly.
Garinor’s protector took over from there, making the unseated man double up on the other horse while he covered them with this sword. He took the horse’s reins and crooned softly as the beast whinnied in protest at the added weight.
Not trusting luck for long, Garinor clambered onto the third horse, saluted his helper, and then sprinted off for the east, deciding that if those three had come from the north, then he might inadvertently stumble across their camp and the mysterious leader they had mentioned.
He was unskilled on horseback and it was all he could do not to fall off as the horse thundered across the land. While he understood that the horse wasn’t going all that fast, it certainly felt too fast for his taste. He glanced over his shoulder a few times but the others weren’t following him. He guessed they probably ended up arguing a bit more, promising not to tell anyone that a boy had outsmarted them. Garinor only wondered how they would account for the missing horse.
The sun drifted lower in the sky and as it sank down he called the horse to stop. There was a stream nearby and the horse gulped from it. Garinor noshed on the food Elder Dorin had given him, stirring some herbs into the water skin, then settled down for the night.