The Lady made a dainty leap, despite her flowing gon, which was no riding habit. The moment she landed, Neysa took off. From a standing start to a full gallop in one bound, her four hooves flinging up circular divots--but the Lady hung on.
Neysa stopped, her feet churning up turf in parallel scrape-lines. The Lady stayed put. Neysa took off--sidewise. And backward. The Lady's skirt flared, but the Lady held on.
"She does know how to ride," Hulk remarked, impressed. "If I didn't know better, I'd swear that was you, Stile, in a dress. I've watched you win bronco-busting in the Game."
Stile was glumly silent. The Lady Blue could indeed ride, better than he had expected--but he knew he knew she could not stay on the unicorn. When she fell, Neysa would kill her, if the fall itself did not. It was legitimate; it was expected. And what would he want with Neysa then?
The unicorn performed a backflip, then a four-spoked cartwheel, then a series of one-beat hops, followed by a bounce on her back. The Lady stayed on until the last moment, then jumped clear--and back on when Neysa scrambled to her feet.
Hulk was gaping. "What sort of animal is that? Those tricks are impossible!'
There was a chord-snort next to Stile. He glanced--and discovered the Herd Stallion beside him, front hooves comfortably crossed on the wall, eyes intent on the competition. "Not bad moves," Clip translated from the far side.
Neysa whirled and leaped, spinning in the air. The Lady's slippers flew off and her gown flung out so violently it rent; a fragment of the blue gauze drifted to the ground. But her hands were locked in the unicorn's mane, and she was not dislodged.
Neysa did a sudden barrel-roll on the ground. Again the Lady jumped free--but a tattered hem of her garment was caught under the weight of the unicorn, trapping her. As the roll continued, the Lady was squeezed tightening cloth. She ripped her own gown asunder and danced free, abruptly ****.
"That is some figure of a woman!" Hulk breathed.
Split Infinity by Anthony, Piers Kindle Edition
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"Red be dead!" he sang.
There was a kind of soundless implosion and explosion centering on the woman. Her clothing burst into smoke. But in a moment she stood naked--and alive. "Fool!" she spat. "Knowest thou not that no Adept can be destroyed readily by magic alone? Only the unguarded and vulnerable succumb."
Blue Adept by Anthony, Piers Google Books