The Making of…
Chapter 38
Just When Things Were Going Well…
After my night out with Viggo, things changed between us, but only very slightly. To others it would seem like nothing, but I could feel it. We were closer than ever, but I wasn’t sure what to make of it. Did it mean that he had feelings for me? I found myself asking this question often, but I could never come to a solid answer, so instead I decided to concentrate on filming.
We were on location in Poolburn in Alexandra, which were serving as the plains of Rohan. We were filming the scenes involving the Rider’s of Rohan, so we were properly working with Karl for the first time (despite his protests, we still claimed that he’d been useless in Helm’s Deep, and was just trying to steal Gandalf’s glory)! There were also loads of extras with their own horses around, who were playing the other riders. The hilarious thing was, the riders were supposed to be big, burly, bearded men, and the extras were almost all female! It was pretty surreal seeing women having beards applied in the early morning!
I was spending a lot of my free time up at the stables where the horses were kept, as we’d be bringing them on set soon. Some of the extras also kept their horses here, so I was friendly with a few of them. However, there was one girl who seemed to utterly despise me, but I hadn’t a clue why. We’d spoken once or twice, and she didn’t seem to have a problem with me, but then things started going downhill…
She was a typical girl with a mean-streak. Platinum blonde, manicured nails, tall, perfect body and clad head to toe in varying shades of pink always with a plunging neckline to show off her best ‘qualities’ – every man’s dream pin-up girl. Her name was Courtney, and she’d decided to make my life a misery.
At first, it began with only small things – brushes from Indy’s grooming kit going missing and turning up in the manure heap, his saddle being moved around the tack room, and once it had been smeared with mud after I had stayed late the previous evening to clean it. I hadn’t suspected her in the beginning, but after a while she was hardly making an effort to hide the fact that she’d been doing these things. What had I done to annoy her?
One day, Viggo and I arrived at the yard, and I immediately went to Indy’s stable to see him. I chatted cheerfully to Viggo on the way, but stopped dead when I saw the open stable door. I approached it slowly and looked in. No horse. I ran up and down the row of stables to see if he’d been moved. I couldn’t see Indy anywhere.
“Kira? What’s wrong?” Viggo asked, leaning over Uraeus’s stable door.
“Indy’s gone!” I gasped in panic.
“Gone?”
“He’s not in his stable but I left him there last night and the door was open and I can’t find him anywhere!” I cried in one breath, my heart beating frantically against my ribcage.
“You mean he got out?” Viggo asked, bolting the stable door and walking towards me as I shook my head.
“I check his door every night, he couldn’t have.” I whispered fearfully.
“Don’t worry Ki, we’ll find him.” Viggo promised, taking my arm and leading me out into the yard, where he started asking people if they’d seen Indy. I bit my nails anxiously – which was something I never did. Indy wasn’t my horse, I couldn’t lose him… What if he’d escaped and had run away? Or worse, what if he’d run out onto a road? I couldn’t bear thinking about it as tears welled up in my eyes. “Kira?” I heard Viggo approach me, and he must have seen how upset I was, as I suddenly found myself wrapped in his arms as he held me comfortingly. Over his shoulder, I could see Courtney pushing a wheelbarrow full of hay. She glared at me distastefully, as if something about me disgusted her. “Come on Ki, let’s go check the fields.” He murmured, releasing me and taking my hand as he led me towards the gate.
