Maise Maze
Mudd
Trinh had heard rumours of a corn maze on a farm about a half day trip away, and she had finished her harvest for the year early and decided to treat herself. Not thinking much about it she saddled up Gourd and set out early that morning hoping to make it by mid day.
Bringing Gourd was a mistake. The quick trip took all day with most of it being on foot reminding the Jibita that they were moving and not eating everything in site.
“Gourd, for the last time lets go. I didn’t bring you out here to try every new patch of grass we pass.” Trinh reminded the fat horse again. She was frustrated, she didn’t pack anything for the night and hoped that she would be able to convince the farmer to let her stay the night on their land and maybe work for a meal or two.
As the sun was setting she let Gourd take a bit to drink from a small stream that they had come across before mounting his back and nudging him forward. Surprisingly he went.
Coming down from a hill Trinh spotted a large field of maise, behind a pumpkin patch. “Look! We almost made it,” She announced to the Jibita and urged him to pick up the pace, “We may be able to make it before it gets too dark.
Kess
For Dog, the trip had been infuriating, Vigilance had been determined to make everything as difficult as possible. He had jumped a fence and eaten some green beans he shouldn’t have, had startled some dune dogs who really hadn’t taken it well and finally had splashed through a puddle almost coating both him and Dog in mud. They had been two days away when they heard about the maze and Dog had thought it would be fun. He had most definitely been wrong.
He swept his hair out of his face as the maze became more and more obvious in the distance. There was a pumpkin patch in his path and then looming behind that sat a huge field of maise. Heading in a similar direction he could see another, surprisingly familiar, very orange horse. Nudging Vigilance in that direction he rode up beside them raising a hand in greeting.
“Hello there! Trinh, wasn’t it?” he said warmly.
Mudd
“Gourd, you fatty!” Trinh exclaimed exasperatedly, “This is not your pumpkin patch, you can’t eat these. You already ate my prize pumpkin you can’t eat these.”
The orange Jibita ignored his riders scoldings he was in heaven, an all you can eat buffet of his favorite crops.
“Look I’ll find something for you to eat if you just go with me Gourd,” Trinh tried to reason with her already stubborn pony,
Gourd begrudgingly took his attention away from his snack when another rider and jibita pair approached. The Jibita instantly recognized the rider as the man who sneaks him midnight snacks, He approached the man nickering at him eyeing his hands for more food.
Trinh got dragged along as her pain in the rear found a new target. She recognized the horse instantly, she loved his markings and had tried to convince his rider, who she forgot his name but knew it was something odd,to let her try and create a mini me of the gorgeous jibita.
“Oh, Hello,” She greeted the man surprised he knew her name but she couldn’t remember his, “I’m so sorry, I recognize you but I can’t remember your name. I don’t meet a lot of people, so you would think I could remember names and faces better but I really can’t.”
Kess
Vigilance, completely ignoring both his rider and the new one nudges Gourd with his nose, his tail flicking against the other horse’s side mischievously.
“Hey Gourd, hey buddy!” Dog says warmly as the horse got closer. “Oh yeah, I’m Doug, or well Dog. Either works, but most people go with Dog” he adds holding out his hand for Gourd to examine.
“I think I crashed at your place while I was travelling maybe a year ago? So really not surprised you don’t remember” he added. As he was talking he felt Vigilance jolt beneath him and start moving faster towards the corn. Clearly he was impatient for the corn maze, or just maybe eating some corn, or putting corn where corn didn’t belong like saddlebags, or seeing how much trouble he could cause in the corn.
“Are you guys headed for the maze too? We would love some company, might help me keep this menace under control if he has another horse around!” Dog admits as Vigilance gives a disgruntled snort at his words.
Mudd
Gourd huffed when he realized the male had no food for him to eat and turned to greet Vigilance.
“Dog,” Trinh repeats, the name sounded familiar and her memory kicked into place the man had stayed on her farm a few nights and helped her harvest a bunch of strawberries. The other horse started to move forward so Trinh quickly mounted Gourd to follow.
“Yeah, I was hoping to do it during the day and go home. But someone decided they had to try everything we passed,” she answered catching up with the other pair. “I hope they will behave, I really wasn’t expecting to spend the night out here.”
Kess
"Still got a bottomless stomach then huh?" Dog said with a grin, speaking half to the horse, half to his rider. Vigilance twitched his ears in greeting back to Gourd, before swinging his head to look eagerly at the maze ahead of them.
"I'm hoping it's going to be more spooky at night. And don't worry. I have some snacks in my pack that might bribe these two boys along if we need too!" he said patting one of the saddlebags. Vigilance looked back at the sound, clearly aware of the sugar cane usually hidden in that pack. But his human didn't seem up for giving him any and he huffed unimpressed by the lack of treat.
Mudd
Gourd huffed and Trinh responded, “Yes, and somehow in the last year he learned how to let himself into my crops. I was not happy to find my largest pumpkin gone with only a trace left on someones face.” She finished her sentence glaring at her Jibita.
“I was hoping for something not as spooky! I am not a fan of going out at night, Shadowcats are not something I want to mess with.” Trinh said looking around, “But maybe two of us will keep them off.”
She noticed that once Vigilance had turned from the food he was ready to continue on into the maise. “Hopefully snacks aren’t needed. Gourd has had enough for probably him and Vigilance combine! Come on Gourd let's not make Vigilance wait any longer.” then nudged Gourd forward who didn’t put up a fight.
Kess
At her comment about Shadowcats Dog looks uneasy and gestures to the bow hung on the side of the saddle.
“I hope not to need it, but I always have my bow handy. When you wander you need to keep an eye peeled for food” he says with a smile. Vigilance, bored by all the talking is marching his way into the maze. Humans were so slow.
“Clearly, someone is impatient” Dog says laughing softly, getting a frustrated ear flick in response. The maze loomed up over his head, even mounted on Vigilance’s back and he felt a shiver run down his spine.
“It’s taller than it looked from a distance” he admits looking around eagerly.
Mudd
Trinh nodded as Dog gestured at his bow, glad that he had a plan for if anything happened.
“Yeah, corn can get really tall.” She said, “I personally don’t like growing corn because of that, and it gives a good hiding spot for nasty things.”
They had ventured far enough into the maze to have already taken 2 forced turns, a left and a right. At the end of this strip was a 4 way stop, but half way there was right off shoot that had another forced left turn. Without giving his rider a moment Gourd instantly turned to into the off shoot picking up his pace. He snorted at Vigilance a playful, ‘keep up!’
“Gourd!” Trinh fussed trying to turn her Jibita around.
Kess
Vigilance let out an amused snort and sped himself up to get level with Gourd, he made sure he was level with the other horse, not pushing ahead like he was trying to take control. After all, Gourd was a friend, not competition!
“These two are eager, clearly they are expecting a nice corny prize at the end” Dog said laughing as the two kept moving.
“I’m curious, who looks after the rest of your herd while your away from home like this?” he asks as Vigilance steers them down another side path, the horse acting like he knew where he was going.
Mudd
Gourd trotted along side of Lance happily swishing his tail.
"Very eager," Trinh said wondering why gourd was so eager, he wasn't this motivated without something being the cause.
"I usually ask my aunt to come take care of my herd, but I didn't think I'd be out this long," she ended the sentence with a groan, "Everyone else should be ok, they are still in the pasture so they won't be starving."
As quickly as Gourd had started down this path he stopped finding some corn that had fallen and began to snack on his prize at the new dead end they had hit.
Kess
“I know the feeling, I had to leave my others with a good friend, he’s keeping an eye on them, luckily he doesn’t mind, they can spend the evening with his herd” Dog admitted and then let out a soft laugh at the sight of what lay down the end of the path. Vigilance let out a happy snort and trotted down next to Gourd, tucking into some of the corn, tail lashing happily.
“Well, this should have come as more of a surprise. But not even a little shocked, you greedy beastie’s” Dog says with a laugh letting Vigilance munch for a bit.
“C’mon you two, we need to finish this maze before the ghosts come out!”.
Mudd
Gourd swishes his tail telling off the male human, nothing will take him away from his second dinner.
Trinh rolled her eyes at her chubby pony, “Come on you, I’ll find you some pumpkins later ok buddy?”
His ears perked up at the sound of his favorite food and gourd slowly turned from the corn to begin following his rider’s lead again.
“I thought you said they would keep each other in check,” Trinh teased Dog.
Kess
“I hoped, but apparently I was wrong” Dog says laughing as the two horses finally moved on. Vigilance seemed perturbed, pumpkins weren’t his favourite, he was happy enjoying the corn. Dog sighed and slid from the saddle, grabbing a few heads of corn and chucking them in his bag.
“I will find someone to pay for these you greedy beastie!” Dog said as Vigilance let out a snort of amusement.
“Let's find a new path huh?” he says as Vigilance turns down a few new routes. His hooves making a soft sound along the ground.
“How big is this place?” Dog says curiously, mostly to himself.
Mudd
Trinh shrugged, “I really don’t know how big this place is, but it couldn’t be too big. It would take a long time to clear the paths out as nicely as this has been done.”
Gourd carried on listening to his rider, only occasionally stopping to take a nibble at something.
Kess
Dog nods thoughtfully before pushing himself to his feet, standing on the saddle for a few seconds and peeking over the corn.
"If we're looking for the center I think we went too far left!" he said with a frown. Hearing this Vigilance takes the next right, and picks up speed slightly. He hears Trinh and Gourd following closely and lets out a whoop of success as the center of the maze appears at the end of the corridor they are travelling.
“Well, that was surprisingly cool, less spooky than I expected though. We should do this again sometime!” he says flashing Trinh a warm smile. He digs through his pack and hands a corn to each horse, after checking with Trinh of course. The two riders part ways with hopes of meeting up for future events!