135 - Ilesias Aan Don't Do This!

“AAAAAAIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEE!!! NOT FUN, ILI… NOT…” He leaned out and grabbed Tirchaer’s belt and pulled her half onto his lap as she lost her grip on the top rail of the houdah as Fluffy spun to tag Nasty on the haunches with her trunk.

The mahu was laughing, Ili was laughing, Tirchaer grabbed onto Ili’s collar hard with both hands and half buried her face in his chest, even though she was taller than he was.  “This is supposed to be fun?” She gasped and hid both eyes as they spun the other direction, fur flapping up and Fluffy trumpeting at Killer and Viper and Venom and half a dozen other Mahid horses who were rearing and running and circling, whinnying as they tried to grab mammoka hair and ‘tag’ Fluffy, who was tapping them, pinching them with her trunk fingers.

“It’s TAG!” Ilesias shouted.  “It took me moons to get the horses to come close enough to Fluffy to get introduced!  They like playing tag!”

“I.. I didn’t think horses liked mammoka at all!” Nasty managed to pull Fluffy’s tail and his whinny was full of snicker.

“Like I said.” Ili leaned to the mahu.  “Let’s go for a quick ride around the plaza!” He turned back to Tirchaer who hadn’t let him go. “It took moons of ‘introducing’!”

The mahu shrugged and turned Fluffy toward the park gate that led out to the plaza, trumpeting and teasing the horses all around her.

“Ili!” That was Nuni, on her horse, below.  “We aren’t supposed to go out there, especially not unescorted!”

“Tough!” Ili snapped down at her as Fluffy stepped faster and her horse fell behind. Didi whooped and stood in his stirrups, waving his hat at the gate guards who were realizing that this juggernaut of animals, centred on Mil Torii Itzan’s mammoka, weren’t intending on stopping.  They spun the control wheels and the big gates scraped open slowly enough that the houdah clipped one of the gates, making Tirchaer gasp all over again.

“Spark of the Sun’s Ray! I mean Coronet Regal! I mean Ilesias Aan! You stop!  Don’t do this!” The bellow came from the centurion Frenaria galloping down the stable ramp followed by a mixed group of guard and faib team on their own mounts.  She had amazing lungs to be heard that far away.

They made the bottom of the ramp and their horses caught a whiff of Fluffy and balked or refused or just ran the opposite way.

“They won’t catch up right away. If they manage it at all.” Ili grinned.  “Didi! Go! Go! Clear a route through the crowd! There’s our escort, Nuni,” he shouted back at her.  “Go, Fluffy! Go!  Let’s go through the mist fountain! Go! Bet you can’t catch us!”