A Stallion Affair Ch. 02

"Um...Jason?" Daren laughed nervously. "Got a pair of jeans for me to wear riding, mate?"

Jason just grinned evilly, choosing not to answer and instead unclipping his own horse's lead rope from the ring. Daren watched tensely as Jason led his horse, a flighty white-grey mare called Alice, to the centre of the yard, seeming to take his time in adjusting the length of the stirrups and tightening the girth about Alice's underbelly. Daren snorted slightly impatiently, scraping a hoof over the gravel; Jason glanced back with a cheeky wink when he finally gave a reply.

"Deal was that you stayed naked the whole day," he replied nonchalantly, swinging up into the saddle with a smooth, practiced motion and settling himself comfortably on the worn leather. "That includes riding."

"What?" Daren yelped, clamping the top part of his tail firmly down over his rear in a belated attempt at modesty, covering his tail hole while his left paw hovered uncertainly in front of his crotch. "I can't ride naked! You're insane."

"Come on, Daren," Jason tried to persuade him, seeing how the other stallion was faltering and he worried that he had pushed just a little too far this time. "We'll keep to the deserted side trails, I promise, and won't go anywhere near the road. And I'll do something for you later tonight if you'll do this and come back to my place this evening."

Daren looked suspicious but curious - his ears had perked up again and his tail was flicking around his rear subconsciously to keep the flies away.

"Something for me? Whatever I ask for?" He asked with some interest, sure that Jason wouldn't try to trick him, but was genuinely offering a fair exchange. He didn't really mind going around nude, it was merely the thought of anybody else seeing him wearing only his fur that was severely off-putting.

"Anything, dear, no limits," Jason nickered softly with a note of affection in his voice, clicking to his horse to walk forward until he was beside Daren. The chestnut stallion reached out a paw to stroke Daren's muzzle gently, scratching the underneath, just as he liked, and making him murr barely audibly in a subliminal response.

The black stallion sighed at the scratching, ears flicking back and for as he knew that he had been won over for now. He had an insatiable curiosity for new experiences, something which Jason had soon discovered and was either aiding him in exploring or using to his advantage, depending upon how you looked at it. Truth be told, Daren really wanted to feel what horse riding would be like bare of clothes.

"Thanks," Jason murmured softly to his mate, leaning down with some difficulty to hug Daren tightly. "Means a lot to me that you'll do this and I'll keep my promise to you, as you know."

The black stallion snorted lowly, returning the hug before disengaging himself and padding round to mount up. He hopped on to the mounting block carefully, feeling the old wood creaking under his hooves, and then swung his leg carefully over the bay mare's back, being exceptionally careful of his heavy orbs. The feeling was a great deal more peculiar than working naked, as he could feel the cool leather pressed against his most intimate region, rubbing against his balls in a rhythmic motion when he clucked the horse to a slow walk. It was almost an erotic sensation.

Jason shook his head as he watched Daren adjust, the tip of his stallion hood stirring in his sheath at the sight. Taking a deep breath, he struggled to control himself, instead focusing on turning his horse around so that he faced the gate and then moved her on at a lazy walk, making sure that Daren was following.

True to his word, Jason led the way out of the yard but immediately turned to go behind the stable block, taking a rough little track that led up the hill into the thicker cover of the forest. He had a route planned in his mind already - he knew that they could take a short cut through over the hill and follow the river once they came to level ground once more on the other side. It was a ride that he knew Daren loved from their many expansive conversations since they had gotten to know one another more intimately.

Daren held on tightly to the front of the saddle while his mare tackled the difficult terrain with staunch determination, taking care of her rider as much as she could. For the most part, Daren allowed her to pick her own route up, following close behind Jason who swivelled his head back and for repeatedly to check that Daren was following him okay. The black stallion had to suppress a smile and a roll of his eyes at the overprotective nature of his mate. Didn't he at least trust him to look after himself when riding?

As if to prove Daren wrong, a bird darted from a bush in front of his horse's nose; the mare snorted in surprise and stopped dead before half-rearing up in fright, hooves pawing the air about three feet off the ground. One of Daren's hooves became dislodged from the stirrups and he was thrown sideways unexpectedly. Daren clung on, twisting his fingers into her mane and mentally cursing himself for not being more aware of his surroundings. Jason had whipped his head around when he heard the scuffle and he seemed torn between laughing at the black stallion holding on for dear life or rushing to his aid.

The decision was made for him, luckily. When the mare landed on all four hooves again, she merely shook her mane, looking around rather indifferently as if nothing unusual had happened, while Daren straightened himself out and hooked his hoof back into the stirrup, this time making sure his hoof was firmly pushed against the rubber grip of the stirrup. Jason chuckled a bit, relieved that his mate was fine, but certain that this was a story that he could tease Daren about mercilessly for a long time.

"Don't say anything," Daren groaned, seeing a little of the humour in the situation. "Let's just keep going."

Smiling, Jason silently agreed, nudging his horse with his hooves gently to urge her into a forward going walk along the track.

Like he had been promised, the hillside was utterly deserted and Daren was glad to be able to settle back in his saddle, enjoying the peace of the woods. There were plenty more birds flitting through the trees, some of which he recognised but many whose names eluded him. Thankfully, no more flew in the path of his horse to spook the already nervous mare. Lazily closing one eyelid, Daren gazed at the shafts of sunlight slanting through the trees and forming a cool, dappled path for the horses to walk upon.

It was good to be away from the stables occasionally, he mused; sometimes the hustle of activity, which was always consistent throughout the day's course, got to Daren a bit, leaving him desperately craving a respite at the end of a long day.

Soon, the stallions had crested the hill and begun to weave a path down through the trees, leaning well back in their saddles to stay balanced. At the bottom of the hill, Daren could see the gleam of the river curling through the trees with its soft burbling song.

They stopped for a few minutes by the river, allowing their horses some freedom to graze while they listened to the flow of the water and let their gazes sweep over the dancing reflection of light on its surface, which was too bright and dazzling to stare at for very long. A kingfisher dived off a branch overhanging the water, plunging into the river with a spray of crystal water droplets, only to emerge in another deluge of water, which quickly merged with the main body once more. In its beak, the kingfisher held a small fish, swiftly killed and tightly clasped for fear of it slipping free and denying the bird a meal.

Finding the river just as serene, the two continued on along the bank, trotting along the well worn track for some way, while Daren did his best to rise up and down without hurting his ball sack. In the end though, he didn't rise to the trot at all, squeezing with his thighs to stay in the saddle with the smooth motion of his horse. He had never liked sitting to the trot, thinking that it was much more natural to rise with the motion, but he had some skill in it, nevertheless.

He was just beginning to truly take pleasure in riding nude - it was such a liberating sensation - and was considering even looking for the occasion to do so again, when the faint clip-clop of hoof beats on harder ground reached his ears.

Giving the reins a gentle tug, he brought his horse to a halt, where she stretched her head low to crop contentedly at the lush grass. He listened hard, sure that there were hoof beats other than Jason's mount to be heard. A faint bubble of panic rose in his chest.

"Jason...can you hear something?" He asked worriedly, straining his ears to pick up the weak sound. The chestnut stallion glanced at him and then stopped his horse also, listening warily and intently.

Yes...he could hear it. In the distance were the sound of several horses approaching and laughing furs - it was the laughing that had caught Daren's attention originally. They were coming closer, seeming to be following the river much the same as the two stallions had, but were still some distance away. And if they came much closer, they would hear the stallions and come to talk. And then they would see Daren, bare.

This isn't good, Jason thought frantically, twisting his head back and for, searching desperately for some quick solution. He's got to hide somewhere, but where? It'll take too long for him to get back to the stables. Think, Jason, think!

"The boat shed," he said aloud, remembering something lurking in the back of his head. "Get to the boat shed, Daren!"

Daren looked at him blankly, his mind hazy as he thought about the consequences if any of the stranger furs saw him; he hardly even heard Jason's words. All he could think about was what would happen if he was seen. What if he lost his job for this? It had been idiotic to agree to riding nude in the first place! Jason grabbed his shoulder, shaking him hard enough so that he snapped his attention abruptly back to reality.

"Daren! Get going - you remember the old boat shed further along the river? Get there now. Quickly! I'll stall them."

He didn't need to tell Daren twice, once he cleared his head again; the stallion shortened his reins and gave his mount a sharp kick in the ribs, which sent her forward at a rough canter, soon lengthening her stride to a ground covering gallop. The wind whipped his mane off his neck as they increased their pace, racing to reach the boat shed before any fur caught up with them and saw more than they had expected to while out on a leisurely hack. He only hoped the other furs would not hear or think too much of the steady thrum of his horse's hooves galloping speedily in the opposite direction to them.

He remembered the old boat house well. It was nothing more than a small wooden shack of crumbling boards and a narrow jetty leading out on to the river, where rowing boats and other petite craft may have been moored many years ago. Around the shack, was an abundance of long grass, which came up to Daren's waist easily, and dense reeds at the water's edge, which shivered with every breath of wind. On the rare occasion that he and another worker on the yard had nothing to do of an afternoon, they had taken a couple of horses in need of exercise down to there, often carrying sandwiches with them to take advantage of an extended lunch break. Loving the area, Daren had taken to walking down to the boat shed of an evening, sometimes with his wife and sometimes alone, as he could leave his car in a small lay by next to the main road. Once, when he had been alone there, Daren had even managed to launch a small row boat from there, though the dilapidated wood of the boat had forced him to return to shore before he accidentally put a hoof through the bottom.

But he had no time to think of the good times spent at the boat house - he was too busy focusing on getting there as quickly as possible. Daren ducked to avoid a broken branch, swerving around a tree and then rising forward from the saddle as his mare propelled herself gracefully over a fallen log, the wood rotting away in places. The recent storms had done nothing to assist his headlong gallop to a hiding place, as many trees and branches lay in obstructive positions, forcing him to put his rusty jumping skills to good use.

There it was! The broken but welcoming shape of the boat house was just about visible through the trees. Seeing his goal so close in front of him, he urged his horse on with gentle nudges to her sides and she pressed on for him, despite her breath beginning to sound heavier and more laboured.

"Easy girl," he murmured reassuringly. "We're almost there."

He slowed her and flung himself off while she was still trotting, grabbing hold of her reins at the bit and wrenching open the shack's door in the same instant. Only when he was inside did he breathe a held in sigh of relief, letting his eyes adjust to the gloom. The mare, called Kira, lowered her head almost to the level of the dry earth that made up the floor of the shed and snorted hard several times. Daren patted her sweaty neck, thanking her for getting him to this concealed location so quickly and promised her plenty of treats when they returned to the stable yard.

He tied the mare to a convenient ring in the wall that must have been used to secure the boats to when the boat shed had still been used, perhaps to prevent them from drifting away when the river would flood. This and many other barely connected thoughts flicked obscurely through his mind, hardly audible even to himself with the harsh, ragged breaths scraping at his chest. Daren leaned heavily on the wall for some much needed support, his eyes adjusting gradually to the dimmer light in the shed. Light filtered in through the small entrance over the river where the jetty was located, giving Daren some light to see by.

Calming down, the stallion sank down against the wall, sitting with his back pressed to the rough boards. His heart still hammered in his chest like a freight train - he couldn't believe how close they had come to exposure. And not just the literal exposure of his body, but a public declaration of the relationship the two stallions now shared. They weren't ready for everyone and anyone to know and there had been some female furs in the group he had heard. He could just imagine the gossip they could have had flying about in little more than hours. Daren chuckled, wondering if any femfurs in the group may have appreciated the unintentional show he would have given them, if they had been so unfortunate as to catch him unawares.

He wondered how things were progressing back upriver with Jason.

*

Cantering into the river, the trio of furs laughed as the water splashed up around their horses' hooves. They all rode elegant looking Arabian horses, which seemed to snort disdainfully at Jason and his mare. Two of the furs appeared to be brother and sister, as they were both near identical silver-grey tabby felines that made a show of pretending to push each other off their respective mounts and into the river. The last one, a white wolfess, was startlingly quiet in stark contrast to the felines while they approached Jason. On the contrary, her muzzle displayed a decidedly hostile expression.

Jason swallowed anxiously, trying to brush the beads of sweat surreptitiously from his forehead, telling himself that he shouldn't look so guilty. He was only out for a ride to exercise a horse as far as they knew. He only had to make sure that they went nowhere near Daren.

"Hi!" The female tabby greeted him cheerfully, waving her paw happily to him. "Didn't think we'd cross paths with anyone out this way!"

"Neither did I," Jason muttered under his breath, plastering a bright smile on his muzzle when the tabby gave him a curious look, wondering what he had said. "I'm from Greenways Stud Farm," he explained a bit. "Just out to exercise one of the mares."

"Oh, I see," the female tabby smiled warmly, practically bouncing in her saddle with energy and her sheer life force. Jason suspected that she was a very tiring fur to be around, though a lot of fun and certainly someone who would make you smile when you were having a bad day.

"I'm Tina," she introduced herself, then glaring at her companions. "Introduce yourselves, come on, don't be so rude, guys, honestly."

The male tabby laughed quietly, sidling his mount alongside his hers to tickle her side teasingly; she squealed and batted his paws away in mock horror. He only laughed harder before giving his own name to Jason.

"I'm Michael, but please, call me Mike. I'm sorry for my sister, we do tell her she needs to lay off the caffeine," he teased, giving his sister a poke using his tail.

Ah, so they are brother and sister, Jason thought, smiling more genuinely at the felines' antics. The cats expectantly turned to the wolfess, who had been studiously ignoring them during their short exchange. Sensing their eyes upon her, she sighed world-wearily and patted her hair with a meticulous, bored air.

"Leah," she replied shortly and in a tone that could freeze a fur solid, maybe not metaphorically. Tina sighed and rolled her eyes at the wolfess' cold reply, giving Jason an apologetic glance.

"Sorry... Wait...and you are?" She went to apologise for the aloof wolfess and then become conscious that she did not know Jason's name.

"Jason," he answered along with what he hoped was a friendly nod to each of them. He contained a shiver of apprehension at the icy stare the wolfess continued to drill into him.

Jeez, what's her problem? He reflected, deciding not to draw attention to her mildly offensive actions. He didn't want to begin an argument over a fleeting, chance meeting - he just had to keep them off Daren's trail.

"I was just going a little way down the river before heading back, it's getting on a bit now," he glanced up at the midday sun to emphasise his point, attempting to make casual conversation. "It's a nice place to ride beside the river."

"That's great, maybe we'll join you!" Tina exclaimed, waving her tail around happily.

"No!" Jason said quickly - too quickly. Tina's ears drooped sadly and Jason felt a prickle of guilt.

"I mean, I have to be getting back soon," belatedly he tried to explain himself. "The boss has been away and we - I need to be making sure all is right on the yard. Besides, the path ahead is blocked. Some trees fell down in the storm a couple of days ago and we're waiting on some guys to come down and help us move them."

Tina's expression cleared; Jason's explanation had been satisfactory to her, although she looked sorry that they couldn't continue down the river trail. Jason didn't really blame her and couldn't help feeling minimally guilty for being misleading. He would have to try to contact her another day and tell her that the path had been "cleared", so to speak.

"If you go along that willow lined path though," Jason went on thoughtfully after a short span of silence, speculating whether or not he was going too far with his effors to divert them. "It leads down to a wildflower meadow, it's very pretty this time of year."

"Really?" Tina asked, her eyes lighting up. She nudged her brother in the ribs and swung her horse around. "Let's head that way!"

"Sounds nice, sis," Mike replied with a bemused smile, inclining his muzzle towards Jason in silent thanks for suggesting another destination that his exuberant sister approved of. "Was nice meeting you," he added, nudging his horse to walk on behind his sister, who had already clucked her horse to trot, eager to see this meadow Jason had spoken about briefly.

"You too," Jason said sociably, waving a friendly paw in the direction Tina had taken so rapidly. But he was sure that their paths would cross again.