Royal Destiny

Chapter One

From underneath the shade of the tree at the top of the hill, Diona Olson could hear the loud cries of Apollo. Diona closed her eyes and sighed before standing up. She left the cool shade of the tree, walked down the hill, and to the paddock where Apollo stayed in. She could see the chestnut quarter horse running alongside the front fence. Diona quickly glanced over the rest of the paddock and saw nothing obvious that could set off the otherwise quiet horse. She walked up to the paddock but didn't go in for fear of being trampled.

Once Apollo saw her, he slowed down and stopped in front of her. Diona put her hand out and began scratching underneath his chin. After she was sure that she wasn't going to get trampled, Diona walked into the paddock to see if there was anything she missed that could set off her horse. Once she got to the back of the paddock, she noticed a garden snake laying in the shade. Diona grabbed a fallen twig from one of the trees outside the paddock that had fallen in and picked up the snake. Behind her, Diona could hear Apollo beginning to cry out again at the sight of the snake. Diona went over the rear fence carefully as to not drop the snake and put down the stick after walking about twenty feet from the paddock.

When she returned to the paddock, she saw Apollo still running around the paddock and screaming as loud as he could. Diona sighed, trying to reign in her frustration at the horse, and walked up to the fence. After a couple minutes, Apollo calmed down and walked to the water trough at the right side of the paddock and went on as if nothing happened. Diona rolled her eyes and walked through the paddock to the other side. Standing by the gate, she could see her mother, Sara Olson.

After locking the gate behind her, Sara asked Diona, "What set him off?"

"There was a garden snake," Diona replied. "I got rid of it."

"Good. Now if you don't mind, I need you to go to the barn and clean the tack."

Diona groaned and reluctantly walked passed her horse's paddock and the other paddocks neighboring his own to the large brown barn. When she walked in, she saw most of the horses sticking their heads out of their stalls.

"Hello children," she said as she walked, despite the fact that most of them being older than her.

"Who you calling children?" came a voice from the tack room.

Slightly confused, Diona walked in to the tack room to see who replied to her greeting. Standing by the green tack room door was her older step-brother, Dean. His short, blonde hair was matted to his head with a few strands standing up.

"Please tell me Mom sent you to help me with tack," Diona said as she walked in to the room.

"Okay," said Dean. "Mom sent me to help you with tack."

Diona shot Dean a quick glare before grabbing the nearest bridle and putting it on one of the cleaning hooks.

"So what are you doing in the barn?" asked Diona as she grabbed the leather soap.

"I was looking for you actually," Dean replied. "I was wondering if you want to go trail riding later."