I walked beside my sister, our hooves striking the floor in unison. “How have you been?” I asked. She gave me an annoyed look. “Fine, other than the fact that Madoc has been searching the ends of the Earth to find me.” She laughed. I chuckled a little, that was true. I forgot about that, about all of it actually. When she ran away, the kingdom didn’t seem too different. She was never a politically active part of the family, and I don’t blame her. She always went out, most of everyone had no idea she was an heir to the throne. “You know, me and Bootsie miss you.” I said, nudging her shoulder a bit. She seemed to roll her eyes. “And I miss my freedom.” She returned. I nodded, and looked behind us. Lucky, a green Courser with what seemed to be clovers patterning his fur, walked beside Victor, a mostly white and cream Courser. Auryn didn’t tell me much about them, but I assume once they are fast asleep we’ll stay awake by the fire and talk. Like old times.
Auryn nodded to the corridor we were walking through, it was long with stone walls. On both sides seemed to be jail cells, with doors only chest high. “What’s this?” Victor asked, motioning to a small room. Auryn walked inside, sniffing the room. It seemed stale, and quite ugly. A few dead rats littered the floor. Belle barked, her pitch high and hurting my ears. “Knock it off.” I whispered. Belle huffed, but returned back to her place slightly behind me. There were a few other pets with us, Auryn’s Ace, who we had both grown up with. Lucky’s Bailey, a beautiful chocolate hound, and Victor’s Dobby, a skeletal servant who’s entire life mission was to serve Victor. To be fair, Victor treated Dobby better than I’ve seen others treat their skeletal servants, but still.
We continued wandering the hall. It was odd to see the skeleton remains of what seemed like Courser’s in these jail cells. Surely, a Courser would be able to jump out, right? As we walked further, the group was completely silent except for the sound of our hooves hitting the stone floor. We entered a large room. The floor was entirely covered in dust, and it seemed like bleachers on either side of us. Directly in front of us a big screen seemed to have fallen from somewhere. Auryn was drawn to something else entirely, an almost translucent ghost. Easy to miss. It seemed to be in the shape of a Courser, but different. “Cousin. Equus Caballus.” Auryn called, walking over to the being, her voice almost regional. How she would be fit for a queen.
The horse, as my sister called it, seemed to wander away from her, only mumbling something I couldn’t catch. As we all got closer, it began chanting. “Galatea. Galatea. Galatea.” I’ve heard and seen that word somewhere. “Auryn, do you know what it means?” I asked. “No. Do you?” She sighed, her mind probably going through the thousands if not millions of possibilities. She was always better at math, science, and just mostly everything academic. “No. But I’ve seen it somewhere before. Somewhere, hrm. I think, in the dungeons. Spelled G, A, L, A, T, E, A. Somewhere, maybe  on a stone, or on a wall?” I responded. My memory, when it came to the dungeons, was better. That was why we made a good team, until that day. I pushed those sour memories to the back of my mind. This wasn’t then. It couldn’t be. It wouldn’t be.
The ghost drifted away. “I’m going back to the jail.” I announced. “I’m coming with.” Auryn said almost protectively. Me, her, Ace, and Belle all walked side by side. Once we reached the jail again, I noticed something new. Inside the jail cells were skeletons. I looked towards Auryn for help, but she only shook her head.
“Are those, sorry, were those Coursers?” I whispered, my voice trembling. “I’m not sure.” Auryn sighed, wrapping her lion’s tail around my back legs. “I don’t want to do this anymore.” I said, tears forming in my eyes. “Alright. Let’s get out of here.” Auryn said, turning back to find Lucky and Victor.