Battle Horse

Chapter Twenty Three

   "It's been three days, Ulf." Rodney said as Ulf paced his study.

"I don't care. I want her found!" He snapped. Rodney let out a sigh and placed a hand on Ulf's shoulder.

"Maybe she doesn't want to be found? Maybe she needs some time to herself?" He said.

"That doesn't make up for the fact that she stole Redmont property. The horse must be found." Ulf said. Rodney rolled his eyes.

"You were going to kill the thing anyway!" He said in an exasperated tone.

"She stole him from the school. It doesn't matter if I was going to kill him or not, stealing is against the law." He said. "She could be hanged for this."

"Is that what you want?" Rodney asked. "Ulf, she's just a girl...."

"I don't want to see her hanged. That's why we must find her, before anyone catches wind of this. Please Rodney, I'm begging you to keep the search party looking. I would never be able to forgive myself if she was hurt." Rodney nodded.

"Of course, Ulf." He said quietly. He than left Ulf alone in his study.

***

"First, you can start by mucking out the stalls." Bob said grinning. They had just finished their breakfast of simple porridge and were outside preparing for the day. She had been there for three days now and all Bob would let her do was clean the stalls.

"When can I get on with training?" She groaned impatiently. Bob held up his index finger to silence her, shaking his head.

"Patiences girl! Horses cannot be rushed!" He scolded.

"But they are alright rushing me to clean their stalls! Ranger horses create more manure each night than all of the battle horses combined!" She said exasperating. Bob rolled his eyes.

"You came for me to for help. I am now technically your master. Do you, or do you not want to go back to horse school?" He questioned. Her shoulders slumped in defeat and she grabbed the manure fork from Bob, none to gently either. As she made her way towards the stalls, she could hear Bob laughing at her defeat. She ignored him and climbed over the small fence into the first pasture. It housed two little shaggy horses, one was a bay, and the other was a grey. They were out grazing in the field, but they decided that it was best to leave the aftermath in the shelter, where Ena was forced to clean it up.

   As Ena raked it up, Bob whistled and the two shaggy horses ran to the fence. He gave them each an apple and opened the gate for the grey one. No halter was required, the little horse followed him willing. They disappeared behind a hut, and only Bob returned. The bay seemed to question Bob where his herd mate had gone, but Bob replied by replacing the grey horse with a new one, this time it was a silver roan.

"What did you do with him?" Ena questioned Bob about the grey horse.

"Well if Dancer if going to go as crazy as Ulf predicts, I want him to go wild with Alroy. Alroy is the oldest stallion here. If Dancer does go wild, Alroy will whip him back into shape." Bob explained. Ena nodded in understanding, it made sense to her.

   Ena quickly finished up in the paddock and moved onto the next, and the next, and the next. Soon she was upon Dancers. It was a smaller paddock than the rest because they needed to confine him so he would be easy to care for. Alroy now accompanied him.

"Good morning boys." She said. Alroy approached her, nuzzling her with his nose.

"No I have no apples! Bob says you'll get fat!" Alroy let out a low knicker, almost as in disgust. Ena rolled her eyes at the small horse and her gaze flicked to Dancer, who was eyeing the two of them curiously.

"Hello Dancer." She said softly. She held out her hand to him and slowly approached him. Dancer let out a snort and quickly backed away from her, as fast as his injured leg would allow him. It had been this way for three days now. He acted as though no human had even touched him before. It was a huge ordeal the first time Bob tried to change Dancers bandage. It saddened Ena to see him so afraid of humans. Especially when they were only trying to help.

    Bob came around the corner, grinning from ear to ear.

"Are you quite finished yet? I need your help." He said. Ena quickly finished and climbed over the fence in a hurry.

"What is it you need?" She asked excitedly. Bob gave her a happy smile.

"I need you to test a horse for me. He's only a year old, but I've been teaching him the commands and I need you to make sure he knows them all." Bob said. Ena nodded.

"Alright." She said. Bob led her over to the yearlings pen. There was only three horses inside, two mares and a stallion.

"Dover, here boy." Bob called. The stallion trotted over, happily munching on the apple Bob had given to him as a reward for coming. "Alright, go get on him, Ena." Bob said. Ena shook her head.

"You aren't fooling me old man. I've seen what Ranger horses do." She said folding her arms.

"Don't worry about that. Dover hasn't been taught that yet. I just need you to see if he'll respond to the simple commands of left and right." He said. She reluctantly agreed and climbed over the fence. Dover approached her, so she didn't have to catch him. She than swung herself onto his bare back. Just before she went to hold on, she felt Dover's muscles beneath her bunch up and she felt weightless as he sprung off the ground, sending her flying. Than the pain started when she made impact with the ground. Dover came over to her and peered at her curiously. His eyes seemed to be saying, well why did you do that? She sat up angrily and glared at Bob.

"You lied to me!" She scoffed. He was laughing so hard he had to lean against the fence to keep him up right.

"You...you're face!" He managed to gasp out in between laughs. She rolled her eyes and stood, brushing dirt off from her trousers.

"It's not funny!" She exclaimed. He smiled.

"Yes it was."

"Well now we know he'll throw anyone who's not a ranger. Can I go now?" She asked.

"No, Ena. Ranger horses can only be ridden by those who know their password. Each horse is given a phrase that their master must whisper in their ear before they can ever ride them. Once you've whispered it to the horse, he'll remember you and you won't have to repeat it." He explained. Ena turned back to Dover, who seemed to be nodding.

"Does Dover have his phrase yet?" She asked. Bob nodded.

"His phrase is 'le do chead'. It's Hibernian for, 'with your permission.'" He said. Ena looked doubtful, but she leaned over and whispered the phrase in his ear. He shook his mane, as if accepting her code. "Try again." Bob said. Ena hesitantly mounted Dover this time. He stood still for about three seconds before suddenly springing up again, throwing her at Bob's feet. Ena glared him at Bob.

"Well...I think Dover needs a bit of work."  He chuckled.

***

It's been like a whole day since I last updated! Sorry, I've been having a Merlin marathon with my parents. And Arthur is just too adorable to ignore. Please comment and vote!

~Avis