Kingdom of Spades

Ch-4 He is No King

       

Alfred sat upon Sakia's back in a relaxed state. Alfred turned Sakia down a dirt path. It was just large enough for a one horse cart to be able to stay on it. Alfred rode as quietly as possible up to the house. The small stone house was in complete darkness; which didn't surprise Alfred seeing as it was the middle of the night. It had taken him a day and a half to reach his old home. Alfred quietly dismounted before leading Sakia over to the stall that the one of the Clydesdales 'Rookie' was usually put in. He'd noticed Rookie and his sister and mother still out in the pasture however. Alfred unsaddled Sakia before leaving her to rest. He'll have to put her out in the pasture to let her have some room and company in the morning. Alfred walks up to the front door and pulls out a key to unlock the door. He walks in and picks up the familiar matches; he lights a candle. He uses the candle to quietly make his way to his room.

"Wow..." Alfred mutters under his breath as he opens his bedroom door. The entire room looked identical to when he had left. He looked at Matthew's bed and saw that some of the stuff Matthew had left behind was in a Hessian bag, some old clothes spilling out slightly. Alfred sighs and removes his coat and along with his gloves and waistcoat. He slides his shoes and socks off and flops onto his bed. The young alpha relaxes into the bed; it wasn't a comfortable mattress or pillow but it was better than a saddle and solid, rocky ground.

Alfred awoke as the sun rose. Alfred stretched and stood up. He ditches his Royal clothes and folds them as best as he can before walking over to his small dresser. He pulls on some pants and a stained cream shirt. He puts on an old pair of shoes before walking into the kitchen. He sees his mother cutting up bread as his father waited at the table.

"Good morning." Alfred beams. His mother drops the knife and his father chokes on his water. His mother quickly gets over the shock and hugs her son.

"Oh Alfred you're back. They spared you room death after faking that tattoo, I know you just wanted to help us but you caused your father embarrassment." His mother says and Alfred sighs, he can't tell his gossiping mother or bragging father about the tattoo.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Alfred apologises.

"Well get some bread into you and then you can start in the farthest field." His father commands. Alfred goes to say a snarky remark before remembering that he couldn't act all high and mighty here. In reality he was no King and was still a peasant farmer's son.

"Yes father." Alfred says. He eats a bit of bread and chugs his cup of water before walking out the door. He walks over to the small barn they owned and walked in going over to the stall Sakia was in. The mare, well filly, was snoozing slightly. She quickly lifted her head when she hears Alfred's footsteps.

"Hey Sakia, let's get you into that pasture I promised you." Alfred chuckles when the filly whinnies. She stamps the ground slightly before waiting patiently for Alfred to let her out. Alfred grabs a spare halter and goes over to Sakia. He enters the stall and slips the halter on before adjusting the straps to make sure it sat correctly. He attaches a lead rope to the halter and leads her out of the stall and into the pasture. He removes the lead rope and smiles as he watches her slowly walk up to Bluebell; the old female Clydesdale they owned. Bluebell and Sakia sniffed each other before Sakia moved on to sniffing Soran and Rookie. The twin Clydesdales seemed overly pleased to have a new playmate.

"Bluebell! C'mere girl!" Alfred calls out. Bluebell slowly makes her way over. Alfred opens the gate and lets her walk out before closing the gate. The elder follows behind Alfred as they reach a cart. He hitches Bluebell up to the cart and he makes the long walk to the farthest field. Bluebell loyally follows behind him; she'd been doing this for nearly all 13 years of her life. She'd followed behind Alfred and Matthew when she was a foal and they were just 6. They learnt to ride on her and they learnt how to drive a cart using her. Alfred had spent most of his life with the mare, just as Bluebell had spent all her life with Alfred. When Matthew had stopped coming to the field the old mare had gotten quite upset, Alfred couldn't imagine how depressed she must have been when he had disappeared as well. Bluebell stopped and Alfred walked around to grab the scythe from the cart. He walked into the corner of the field and started swiping away as he cut through the wheat.

Alfred wiped the sweat from his brow and sighed. It must've been the middle of the day and he was half way through his third field. He'd switched horses from Bluebell to Rookie, however Bluebell had tagged along to get the much needed company from her owner. Alfred lifted up another heap of wheat and walked back to the cart where he dumped it. This routine continued until the sun had started setting. He lead Soran back to the barn where he dumped the wheat and left it for his father to deal with. Alfred released Soran from her harness before leading her over to the post. He tied her up and groomed her down before putting her out in the pasture. He leant on the fence as he watched Sakia play with the larger and heavier 6 year olds. Sakia was only 4, but due to their breed differences Sakia was slimmer and shorter in comparison to the twins. The four horses made their way over to Alfred, who jumped the fence, and stopped in front of him. Alfred slowly gave each one another look over and laughed when he saw some grass seeds stuck in the little amount of feather Sakia had on her feet.

"Well I have to go you guys. I'll be back tomorrow." He says before yawning and jumping the fence again. He walks inside and goes sits down waiting for his mother to serve him breakfast.