legendarynovel

Chapter 2

Sorry loves but this is gonna be on hold for gladenovel/train-novel
Chapter 2 LOW

"They're like the quarter horses in Spring." Clark Lily is next to me again.

I'd unchained the bay doors and opened them up to the outside world a little bit ago. The fences had already been opened or closed in order to guide the herd to the pastures and the stable boys and grooms had opened the stall door of every horse and cleared the way to let them charge through. It was all quite a spectacle.

I must have shown confusion in my eyes because Lily explains for me: "In the American West, we keep the horses inside all winter. In spring we let them out. These horses remind me of the horses back home."

"Ah." I nod.

The breeze is vicious, bordering on a wind, as it nips at the little skin I have exposed. It tosses horse's manes and forelocks high in the air and tangles their tails. Birds wheel around in circles to keep their tail feathers aligned. Even though the breeze now is strong and sharp, it is far from the winds yesterday.

A scream a distance away sounds. It is close enough to be in Gansey's pastures, but far enough away that the horses haven't reached the spot yet. It is strangely similar to the night's screams, but clearer and purer without the wind trying to tear it to pieces.

The gryphons are still here.

In the wives' tale, they came with the winds. That is why the people and horses of the Isle of Man stayed inside-not because of the brutal gusts. Once the winds were finished, the gryphons would fly away back to wherever they came from.

They never stayed past the winds.

Even if the screams don't belong to the gryphon, they still turn me cold. Cold enough to worry for the horses, cold enough to go and find it.

"Mr. Lily, I am afraid I am going to have to leave you here. I've got to run a quick errand, I do believe. Take over your American West horses for me." I give him a quick, halfhearted smile and holler over to a stable hand to shut the gate out to the pastures. He gives me a weird look, but complies.

From the 20 horses now gathering at the gate nipping and kicking and rearing with the excitement of feeling the cushy grass under their feet, I pick a pretty blue roan. A white stripe runs down his face, and a flaxen mane is stuck to his neck with sweat. It's not his looks that I pick him for, but his flashy spirit. He will be eager to run, and that is what I want.

I signal to the stable hand holding the gate to tie him up and let the gate go, which he does with that confused look still on his face. I let him be and go back into the barn to retrieve the roan's saddle and reins. He's not a racer but a trotter so he doesn't have a saddle to his name, so I set about trying to find one. The only one that looks like it might fit on a trotter's back is nice-too nice for what I'm going to use it for. But it is old and dusty and the latigo leather is cracking, so I decide that it will suffice for the day, and then I can fix it up later.

I leave the cover of the barn and enter the windy outside, tack in hand. Where the reins loop around the saddle, they flop in the breeze. The wind almost blows them off, but I manage to reach the pole where the roan is tied up. He is jittery and anxious to be out on his own devices, and I feel cruel for keeping him in and making him carry me on his back. I throw the tack over his back and go to his face to stroke his forehead before I put everything on, hoping to calm him a little, or at least get him to stay still enough. I'm thankful that he was in all of yesterday because it would be heck trying to groom him in this state.

I remove the reins from where they sit on the saddle and tie the ends of them to the base of his halter. A bridle would just make him throw his head up and around, and I can't have that now with him as anxious to go as he is. When I tighten the girth, the roan inflates his stomach out so it will be loose and not tight how it should be. I trick him by untying him from the pole and mounting him, then quickly getting off to re-tighten it. It's already as it should be before he can puff himself back up again and a slight smile shows on my face at this.