(Insert standard disclaimer about how Konami owns Suikoden, etc etc)

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It was a lovely, cloudless day, a slight breeze rippling the tall grasses that gave the prairie region its name. It was perfect riding weather, but now that he was Flame Champion, Hugo could no longer drop everything for a solo gallop across the Amur plains just because he felt like it.

He could, however, do so in the name of training, provided he took others with him. So the young Karayan had requested the company of any members of Fire Bringer who could fight on horseback. Unfortunately, there were rather fewer of these than he'd expected, and besides Fubar, he'd found himself training with a party of four Zexen knights.

I should've been less specific, Hugo thought crossly as he leaned forward, his hands buried to the wrists in the griffon's neck feathers. Then maybe I'd have Futch and Bright, or Franz and Ruby. Banding together against the common threat of Luc was much easier in larger battles, when their common goals were much more evident. But riding, training with the people who had destroyed his home and killed Lulu was more than a little galling.

As the party rounded a hill, Fubar slowed, and a moment later Hugo saw what the griffon had smelled. Two very large boars had been uprooting bushes with their tusks, searching for tubers, but had stopped when the party appeared before them. Normally, plant-eating animals would take flight if their meal was interrupted, but boars were much more aggressive.

"C'mon, Fubar, let's go get them," Hugo said to his mount, who shrieked in agreement and slammed into the first boar's side. The massive animal was knocked back, but easily regained its footing. Fubar leapt from the path of its charge a moment too late, and the boar's tusks scraped his side and his rider's arm.

Three of the knights were occupied with the second boar. The silver-haired Zexen captain (Hugo could never bring himself to use her title of lady) rode past it, swinging her sword; Percival and Borus followed her lead. Their coordinated attack promised swift death by hooves and steel.

Hugo's boar had turned itself around and was preparing for another charge; the fourth Zexen knight ran forward on foot and brained it with his mace, drawing its attention. As the slightly dazed animal turned to its new attacker, Fubar took to the air and dove, his weight and claws finishing the job. The battle was over.

The knights calmed their steeds; Hugo treated the gashes left by the boar's tusks. Then he rounded on the fourth knight. There was something that had been bothering him about the man, but he'd never been quite able to put his finger on it until now.

"Look, Mr. Salome," he began. "You know how I wanted only people who could fight on horseback for this training mission..."

"Indeed. That's why I volunteered."

Hugo shook his head, continuing. "And...I know you've got a horse, and a good one, because you've been able to keep with us at a gallop, and I saw you riding it at Brass Castle that one time, and again in Karaya. I know you can fight on horseback, because my mother says she saw you in battles against the Grasslands..."

The strategist nodded.

"So how come every time I turn around, you never seem to be on a horse?" Hugo finished with exasperation.

To his surprise, Salome gave an embarrassed little cough. "Ah, well, you see... he's camera shy."