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‘Get in!’ Luciana hopped into the chariot. Nicomedes had hardly followed before she slapped the traces over the ponies’ backs, throwing them into a gallop.
The force of their start threw him back and he nearly fell right out again. He gripped both sides of the chariot, desperate to regain his balance. The ends of Luciana’s hair licked at his face as she bent forward, leaning into the force of the ponies’ trajectory.
He waited a few beats, feeling the shudder and rumble of the wheels beneath him, before chancing a lurch up to the front of the cart. Luciana edged over to make room as Nicomedes transferred his death grip to the front rim. They neared the end of the field at a speed far too fast for the teen’s liking.
‘What are you doing?! We’re going to wreck!’ He cried.
Her hands moved ever so slightly. The ponies swept into an elegant arc, swiftly turning away from the fence and straightening without checking stride.
His eyes widened. He continued to watch her hands, which seemed to be quivering extensions of the horses’ lines. ‘How did you do that?’
‘You are your horse. Especially when you’re behind it.’ She glanced at his whitened face and laughed. 'Try it!’
She held the traces to him. He reluctantly let her shove them into his fists. He immediately assumed the power of the galloping pair and lifted his hands. Every nerve within his body told him to haul them to a stop.
‘Don’t fight them! Go with them!’ Luciana placed her fingers over his. ‘Feel their energy. Feel their drive. You are a part of them!’
He focussed, trying to ignore the looming corner ahead. He felt his heart race, beating frantically in time with the pounding of the ponies’ hooves. He eased the nervous tension in his grip and felt the living mouths on the other end of the lines. The reins slipped and slid minute fractions through his fingers; he felt their confusion. ‘They want me to steer!’
Luciana pressed some of his fingers and loosened a few of the others. To his wonderment, the ponies swerved almost as cleanly as they’d done for her.
‘Now straighten!’ She pressed and rearranged his fingers. ‘Driving is like riding. You mustn’t lose contact, or you sever communication with your horses.’ She let go and watched Nicomedes’s hands.
He felt the grey pony falter to a canter. The brown followed suit, his rocking gait jilting the cart as he fell out of rhythm with his partner’s cadence.
‘They sense your uncertainty. You must guide them!’
Nicomedes bit down on the inside of his lip until he tasted blood. ‘Yah!’ He flicked the reins decisively over the ponies’ backs and they broke into a smooth gallop.
‘Now you’re getting the hang of it!’ She watched him guide the chariot around another corner and smiled as they straightened. ‘Now, watch this!’
‘Luciana!’ Nicomedes’s eyes widened as she vaulted over the front of the chariot. She placed one foot and then the other on the wooden yoke suspended between the ponies.
‘Watch where you’re going, Nicomedes! Remember, you are your horses!’ She slowly turned around and rocked with the motion of the chariot for a few strides. Then she raised her arms out at either side and stepped confidently down to the end of the yoke.
His fingers worked the turn out of fright, his eyes never straying from Luciana perched between the galloping ponies. ‘What are you doing?!’
She grabbed the yoke and placed one foot on the back of the grey and the other on the back of the brown. She moved with them at a low crouch for still more strides before straightening into a triumphant, fearsome stand. She punched the air. ‘Divine Epona! You ride with me!’
To his relief, she lowered back to a crouch. Holding the yoke, she flipped herself around to face Nicomedes. He kept glancing at her, dumbfounded, as she stepped onto the juddering wooden beam and made her way effortlessly back to the chariot.
‘Are you trying to kill yourself?!’ He pulled the tired ponies down to a walk, face red with furious disbelief.
‘Only the ablest warriors can master all parts of their weapon.’ She patted Nicomedes on the back. ‘You Romans and Greeks just stick to your driver’s seat.’
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