The majority of the continent now lay behind them, seven months after they’d set out on their travels. Their voyage had brought them from sandy coastlines to treacherous jungles. From the rugged mountains that now watched them from a distance to the barren plain that separated them from their destination.
Hjalmar did not look forward to reaching the ocean. The voyage had made him weary, edgy and he was a cantankerous person at the best of times anyway. He would not remember the gorgeous landscapes or the strange fauna. He’d remember the hardships, the pain, the isolation.
If there was one thing he would recall fondly however, it would be his horse Predbjorn. His companionship had gotten Hjalmar though the worst patches of the voyage. Each time he had wanted to throw in the towel – and those had been numerous – Predbjorn had spurred him on with a friendly nod of the nose against his back or a well-time neigh. Hjalmar, who’d grown up on a vast farm, was as fond of Predbjorn as he had been of any animal he’d encountered in his lifetime.
Perhaps it was because they had suffered together. Weathered blizzards side by side. Cheated death when eye to eye with a poisonous snake. They had protected one another from peril without hesitation, without reservations. From the start they both knew they would have to be able to rely blindly on each other. They still did.
The refracted sunlight on the ocean waves was now greeting them. As they approached the waterline, the backlit silhouette of the woman with the check came into focus and Hjalmar begrudgingly got off his horse. He was about to commit the worst betrayal of his life.
Hjalmar would never forgive himself.
But the worst thing was that Predbjorn probably would.
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300 stories 
I want to leave a comment but I don’t know what to say because the story’s profound and I left pretty wordless. YeaWell done!
This comment went off before I edited it. Sorry about that!
Yet another great cameo – you shift around in the world of fiction very well. With a mind like that I am guessing you are an insomniac? Keep them coming; great stuff.
Not quite an insomniac, though the amount of sleep I’m getting thanks to this challenge is diminishing rapidly. 😉
You inspire me on almost a daily basis with the kind of grammar in your stories and how you cleverly manage to pass the message in just very few words. You have only served to prove to me that writers don’t always have to be so wordy. Keep up the spirit. Like this particular one alot. 🙂
cantankerous
Wow. This is a really great story. Profound in so few words
Oh no! What’s the check for?!?
My thoughts exactly! 😦
Whether we seek a new angle from which to view your writings, the options are almost as endless as the mind of humanity can make them. For example, I visualize the elderly man, having begun his journey many years before, and the continent being his life itself. Being a “Phillip” myself, that is, a lover of horses, and of horse stories, I visualize the horse being that steadfast friend, partner, or perhaps even a business colleague upon whom he depended to get through the rough stretches. But we must all take note to NOT forget the lovely faunas and beautiful vistas that life brings our way, because in so doing, we may cease to be beautiful vistas in the lives of those who need them so badly.
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