Battle Horse

Chapter Four

  That evening, Ena stared at the wall, pretending to be asleep while she could hear the other first years whispering about her. After a while they got bored, and played different games, which  included cards, or dice, and some were dares. She could hear a few dares were about her, but they never went through with them. She was almost truly asleep when the door opened and Sir Ulf stepped in. They all bounced to their feet at attention.

"Ena, please come with me." He said. "Boys, lights out." The boys scurried to blow out the lamps and climb in bed. Ena stood and slipped on her boots, following Ulf out of the dormitory.

"I apologize for putting you in with the boy's. I have had several second years working all day on this." He led her down the corridor and opened a small door that she hadn't noticed before. It was a closet they kept brooms and mops in. But now it had a simple bed, cupboard, and a small table. "This is yours. For however long you're with us. It has a lock so the boy's can't bother you." She smiled.

"Thank you, Sir." She said. He handed her a key.

"I have a key as well, though I promise not to use it." She thanked him once more and ran back to the dormitory to collect her belongings.

***

Ena was awoken by a sudden knocking on the door. She jumped to her feet and ran to answer it, pulling the door open to find Malvin. He smirked at her and his eyes travelled to her hair, which she knew was a mess.

"Get dressed. Breakfast is in ten minutes." He said. He handed her a stack of clothes. "I suggest wearing these." She nodded and shut the door so she could get changed. She set the clothes down on her bed and held up what was on top, which was a pair of brown leggings. From someone who had worn dresses her whole life, it was quite peculiar. But she managed to dress in the leggings, the woolen shirt, leather vest, and knee high boots. She tied her hair up with a thin strip of leather in a simple tie. Once she was ready to go, she left her room, locking the door behind her so no boys could hide in there or set pranks.

"Good, let's go!" Malvin suddenly appeared behind her, causing her breath to hitch.

"You scared me!" She hissed. He chuckled and led the way to the mess hall, where rowdy boys ate, occasionally throwing food at one another. It was a bland breakfast of porridge. She was lucky enough to steal some treacle from Malvins plate, much to his dislike.

"All right. First years, go with your forth years and they'll teach you the morning chores of feeding and watering your horses." Ulf announced once the eating period was finished. Malvin stood, pulling Ena with him as she shoveled the last bit of her porridge in her mouth.

"Listen closely, Ena, because this is the only time I'm permitted to help you." Malvin told her as they headed towards the stables. She nodded and had to walk faster to keep up with his long strides. When they reached the stables, he made sure Ena knew where each of the horses were before explaining the amount of hay each got. She put the hay in their feeders and made sure their water buckets were filled, before running back to Malvin.

"Good job. Now off to class."

***

Sir Xavier was Ena's teacher, and he placed her in the front of the classroom. Whispers still continued around her that day, and she was getting sick of it. Have they never seen a girl before?!?

"Alright students! First things first! Who here knows what a horse is?" A ripple of laughter ran throughout the class. He smiled and and walked in between the desks, examining each student. "You lot are here for two reasons. One, you chose to be here. Or two, you didn't make battle school." The room was silent, so Ena assumed the latter one was more common amongst her fellow class mates. "But I know we are all extremely interested in one student among us. Ena, Will you please tell us a bit about yourself?" She bit her lip, trying to gather her thoughts.

"Okay, um... I lived in Wensley till I was four, then my parents died and I moved into the castle ward. I've always been interested in horses since my father trained here and I want to be just like him." She said, trying to make her life sound simple. Sir Xavier nodded.

"Thank you Ena. Now the first thing we will learn about today is the basic feed and nutrition of a battle horse..." He continued to tell them the proportions each horse got and why. Ena listened intently, though she noticed most of her class mates had dozed off. She smirked to herself. When the final examination came, she had the feeling the others wouldn't do so well.

***

  Three days later, Sir Ulf came into the mess hall during breakfast. Ena had gotten into the habit of sitting next to Malvin and his forth year friends, because they didn't look at her like she was diseased. That and she stole bites of food off of Malvins plate.

"Look alive students. First years, head out to the stables and make sure your stalls are clean. Battle school students will be arriving in a moment to be assigned their horse. They won't be taking them until they are assigned a duty, but they are to get used to their horse." Ena stood and said goodbye to Malvin and her newfound friends before heading off to the stables.

   "Good morning Kicker." She smiled as she passed by his stall. He nickered in response and she pulled out the manure fork and bucket. She some how managed to clean all seven horses paddocks in less then half an hour. She finished up just as the battle school students arrived. Sir Rodney spoke quickly with Ulf, and then they delegated out the different battle school students to their horses. Malvin, Jaryn, and Kerry came over to Ena, accompanied by the one and only Horace.

"What are you doing here? And why are you dressed like that?" Horace spat as he caught sight of her.

"Nice to see battle school has made your ego so much bigger." She mumbled. "I'm apprenticed here, Horace. And you can't exactly care for horses in a dress."

"I thought you were appreciated to Lady Pauline?" He asked.

"No, she's an alternative. If I happen to drop out of Horse school, she has promised me a spot in the diplomacy." She explained.

"So I take it you two know each other?" Jaryn asked.

"He was a ward mate of mine." Ena replied. Horace gave her a glare, probably for telling them he was a child of the castle ward.

"Well all right. This here is your horse, Horace. His name is Kicker. You'll have riding sessions with me to get you used to him." Malvin explained. Horace nodded, petting Kickers nose softly.

"When do we start?" He asked.

"Right now."

***

Sorry this kind of sucks. I've been having brain farts a lot lately. Please comment and vote!

~Avis