When she finally began to accept his offer, Zane smiled to himself knowingly. He knew she must have been through quite a lot if she'd been hiding out already for three days. By the look of her, she'd hardly slept, and how she'd reacted earlier? She probably hadn't had much of a chance to relax. "All right, then, it's settled...and yes, we can do that if you'd like."
Wrapping the rope more firmly around his hand and grasping a big hunk of Riley's mane in the other, Zane readied himself. "Ah, I'm going to have him pick it up...a lot, so just hold on. Hold on tight if you have to, it'd be bad if you fell."
And with that, he tapped at the horse's sides, gripping with his thighs so as not to slip back as he jolted forward. Getting up faster and faster, the stallion eventually smoothed out into much more stable gallop. Zane knew that he knew the way home, so he was careful to let the stallion do as he pleased, cutting through fields to go over hill after hill as they went instead of keeping strictly to the path.
It wasn't long until they reached the top of the final hill, the one Zane recognized. "We're here," he said as he gently pulled at the rope, letting Riley know he should take it easy now. Gradually slowing as they went over, the horse headed down this final slope into the little valley Zane's house occupied. It was a small thing compared to the expansive estate of his family, this building made of a mixture of stone and logs with a barn and a couple of crudely fenced pastures branching off at different sides of the main structure.
Inside, there were a few bedrooms, all but the master usually intended for visiting relatives, a humble kitchen, and a large fireplace in the main room for added comfort on the colder days at this altitude. The barn consisted of a few simple stalls, but it sufficed for Zane to maintain a few horses at a time.
Knowing he could get to the animals later, though, Zane guided their mount to the house first. Finally coming to a stop, the sweaty beast huffed and turned his head to look to his riders, as if urging them to get off.
Sliding down, Zane offered a hand help Gena off. "I'll just go let him loose," he said, gathering the rope up as he stepped away to begin walking off. "Um..you can go ahead and go inside, there should be some things in the kitchen, cheeses and such, and you can go ahead and pick out whichever room you want, too, while you're at it."