The Irish Rose

Chapter 9

When we reached the outskirts of the woods, I had Eira slow down to a walk. I took in the scene before me. Trees, reaching far up towards the heavens, the grass lush and green like an emerald. I had Eira walk further into the woods, admiring the way that the leaves from some of the trees flitted down from above, falling like snow. The rays of sun that peeked through, coming through between the trees, shone down on the leaves, turning the light around them into hues of amber. The scene was spectacular. As I traveled deeper into the woods, I happened upon a stream, flowing smoothly down. I followed the stream, until I began to hear the roaring of a waterfall. As I got closer, I saw a small pool at the bottom of the waterfall, where the water was collecting, before it flowed out into the stream. There at that pool, I found a deer drinking from the pool. It was absolutely stunning.

I nudge Eira to get closer, but as Eira got closer, the deer's head shot up. I had frightened it, and just like a bolt of lightning, the deer was gone. I was sad to see it go, but I was happy that I was able to see such a rare and beautiful sight. I was so blessed to be able to see such a glorious sight. I again nudged Eira to continue on. We weaved in and out of the trees. I nudged Eira into a trot, and then into a canter, continuing to carefully weave between the trees. As Eira and I cantered through the forest that was becoming a giant maze, I saw the tree line, signaling that I was coming to the end of the forest. I asked Eira to continue going, and we broke through to the back edge of the forest. When we were clear of the forest, I saw the wide open grassy plains. I noticed the sound of hounds off in the far distance. I didn't really pay much attention to it, I just continued on my merry way. About ten minutes later, I heard the sound of barking dogs growing closer and closer. Before I could do anything about it, the dogs were upon me, circling Eira. Eira grew very anxious, with the dogs jumping up and bouncing around him. Eira finally grew tired of the dogs, and with a great neigh, shifted all of his weight onto his two hind legs, and reared up. "Easy Eira." I said to the horse, as he continued to rear with me on top. At this point, my heart was racing, and thumping against my rib cage. I was afraid that my heart might just decide to jump right out of my chest.

Despite my best efforts to soothe Eira, Eira was not calming down at all. Finally Eira had had enough. Eira stamped down on the ground, gave a gallant Heigh Ho silver, and bolted with me on top. I felt my stirrups slip out from underneath my feet. I no longer had any support, my legs were dangling by their leathers, and banging up against my leg. I looked behind me, hoping beyond hope, that I might see a friendly stranger that could possibly help a desperate soul out, but all I saw when I looked back, was the hounds that were close on our heels. While I was temporarily distracted by the hounds, I didn't notice the warning signs that told me that Eira was about to do something so drastic. One minute Eira was going full speed forward, the next, he made a ninety degree turn, which threw me way off balance. Because I no longer had my stirrups, I had no way of hunkering my self down, instead I was flung out of the saddle, and flew through the air, making a terrible impact on the ground below.

Everyplace that my body made an impact with the rock solid ground, shots of pain were fired throughout those different parts of my body. I lay there prostrate on the ground, filled with an astronomical amount of pain. Tears began to flow freely down my face, as I lay there unable to move too much without feeling even more pain than what I was currently in. I distinctly heard the sounds of approaching horses and dogs. As the sound loomed closer, I couldn't help it as fear over took my body, causing a fresh rush of adrenaline to kick in. Before I could allow my mind to wander into outlandish predictions of what might happen to me, I felt the presence of someone above me. "By God! Are you quite alright?!" a British male voice asked me. "No." I managed to get the strained response out. The gentleman knelt down beside me in the grass. "Do you mind if I turn you onto your back?" the man asked in a very soothing tone. "Please." with that reply, he signaled something, and a few more men showed up. " James, I need you over near her feet. Charles, I need you to stay near her back. I will be holding her neck. On the count of three, I need us all in one motion to turn her onto her back, but it needs to be gently." The man emphasized the word gently, for which I was extremely thankful for. "One, Two, Three." and just like it was planned, on the third number, I was carefully and gently rolled onto my back. I was finally able to look at the British man that had come to my aid.