Declaration of War

Simon shook his head as he cursed himself for forgetting to release Striker from his alerted state. When he mounted Maddox, he had released the horse with his presence and had forgotten to do the same for the other stallion. Slipping off Maddox, he walked over to Striker and held eye contact with the horse before saying, "Wheel." Seeing the horse return to normal, he gestured his hand towards him before speaking to Katya, "Sorry about that. He is safe to ride now."

Moving back over to Maddox and getting in the saddle once more, he looked down at the bruise on his forearm. Seeing that it was a deep purple, he pulled a strip of cloth from his saddlebags and tied it around it to hide the wound. Waiting for Katya to mount Striker, he walked Maddox towards the road and leaned forward on the pummel of the saddle before replying to her earlier inquiry, "It's the nature of the beast. These lands are held neutral between our kingdom and Dalen, and so neither kingdom can exercise the necessary rule over the land to eliminate tje bandit threat."

Sitting up, he looked over at her and shook his head before offering up a lazy shrug, "Any move with a considerable force of arms would be seen as an initiation of war with Dalen."