Choosing horses was not at all easy. When we came out of the weapon yard I saw a stable that was huge. The stable was enough to hold a thousand horses but it was empty except for a thirty to forty horses.
“How do I choose a horse?” I asked.
“Of course by controlling them” she said.
“What do you mean by controlling them? Gods please save me” I prayed silently and followed. When I came near the entrance to the stables I saw a ground nearby. I guessed that, that was the ground which was going to kill me. By this I mean, that was the horse controlling ground. The ground was a circular ground and it was fenced with sharp ended logs but just upto my knee length. Then she said
“That is control-the-horse ground and the horses in this stable were already used by the soldiers who were killed in the war. Here not only we choose the horses but also they choose us. Let’s see which one chooses you.” Then we went into the stables. I counted uncountable number of stables but only a few were occupied. Here I saw pure white, half white, black, brown, white with brown, white with black and many more colored horses inside. Next I saw the place. The ceiling was way too high that atleast 20 boys like me should stand atop each other to touch the ceiling. Then the whole place was made of wood and every stable floor was spread with hay and a bundle of hay lay in a heap in a corner. Each stable was about 50 square feet in length and 50 square feet in breadth (I leave the choice to you to see whether it was a big size room or small size room because I’m not very good at measurements). Each stable had a wooden door that covered upto the limbs of the horse so that the horses’ necks were outside the stables. Eva climbed a horse which I guessed was hers and let out another horse and took it to the ground. I followed her outside to the ground.
Now I was standing in the middle of the ground. The horse she brought was black as a blackboard. It had a black haired filled mane. The hair was falling to its legs (I wondered how could this horse run fast). She brought the horse and made it stand just opposite to me. She controlled it very well. She did all the things by sitting on her horse. Hers was a pure black steed. It looked strong and majestic. It had strong legs. So I guessed that it could run fast. Half of me said you are going to die painfully.
“Slowly raise your hands in front of it. Then it should bow to you and you should touch its head. Then half of the step will be over. Then slowly climb on its back and if it allows you to ride on it, it is yours. But if it pushes you down and stomps you, you’ll be dead” she said and I gulped.
“Just joking. If it pushes you down try to move away from it so that I can come in and control it. And one more thing some horses can be tricky. They allow you to touch their head and allow you to sit on their back. Then they start jumping here and there to push you down and stomp” she said and went out of the fence.
“That information really cheers me up” I shouted but she didn’t listen. Then I stared at the horse as friendly as I could. I raised my right hand and approached the horse step by step. It backed away when I took the first step. “Easy boy, easy” I said to it because that is the phrase that someone, who tries to calm down their horse, says to it (Actually I saw it in a film). It seemed to work. The horse bent its wonderful neck. I kept my hand on his head and patted it just like I used to pat Bruno when I was in my century. This thought made me to lose my concentration. I came to my consciousness when Eva shouted from outside
“First step over. Climb aboard. See, if he allows you to ride on him” I went to the side of him. He didn’t move. “Hey boy, I’m gonna climb you if you just let me” I said and placed my hands on his back. It was warm. I could feel his heartbeat. He whined like saying climb and I will stomp you. I guessed the whine would not be true and climbed him. Then almost everything went wrong. The sky was moving up and down. At one stage the land was at the place of the sky and the sky was at the place of the land. Then with great difficulty I cleared my eyes and saw. The horse was jumping here and there. I grabbed his mane for grip. His jumping became harder and harder. Every organ and every bone in my body dislocated. It ran around the fence with such speed that I could not catch up. Then I was flying in the air. First I thought that the horse was a Pegasus, a flying horse. Then I realized that the horse threw me away. Then I hit the ground with a thud. The horse jumped over the fence and ran for a while and stopped. Fortunately I escaped without a bone break. Eva laughed.
“Is this funny?”
“Okay. Sorry. Let’s go to the next horse.”
“But this time I will choose the horse. You are trying to kill me.”
“Okay, try” then we went into the stables. At once I spotted a horse. It was dirty white with a grey mane. I chose it and Eva brought it to the ground. This horse was very adamant. Whenever I went to touch its head it kept on backing away. Finally it lost patience. It raised both its front legs. I backed away on seeing this. I tried to follow Eva’s instruction to fall away from the horse. But a small stone failed me. Unknowingly I kicked on it and fell down. The horse again raised its legs and planted one of its hooves on my chest. Pain flowed through my body. My eyes went dark. I saw Eva rushing to get the horse. I put all my effort to stay conscious. Then Eva took the horse back to the stables and helped me to stand.
“Are you okay?” she asked. I wanted to scream that I got a hooves print on my chest and you are asking me are you okay. But gently I said
“Nothing is broken inside. Just a slight pain in my leg”
“We shall go to the infirmary. They can heal your leg in seconds.”
“No problem. I think it’s just a sprain. I can manage. Let’s try the next horse” I don’t know why I said this because all the time I was thinking of how to escape from this place. Now I got a chance but I turned it down. The next horse I chose was brown with a black mane. This was really a fool. It thought my hand was a carrot. When I tried to put my hand on its head it bent down and sniffed my hand. Then I tried to put my hand on its head but before that KRUNCH. My hand was inside the horse’s mouth. Pain surged through my hands and into my head. The horse’s teeth were so sharp like its teeth were removed and were replaced with injections filled with pain syrup. Eva came in and opened its mouth. It obeyed her. When I took my hand out it was throbbing. I could feel my heartbeat in my hands.
“Now we must go to the infirmary” she said. I saw total concern in her eyes.
“Hey, it’s nothing. Let’s go to the next horse.” I said.
“Okay. Take some rest. I’ll go get some bandages and come. Wait right here” she said and took her horse and went in the path that we had used to come here. I simply lied down on the ground. Then I closed my eyes and began to think about my future. I thought about my mom and dad. I thought about Nielson. So many things have happened in my life so fast. I was just a runt in my class. Now I am a commander in an arm. If I said this to Crimpson, he would say ‘See guys, our runt has come up with a new story.’
Then I opened my eyes and saw Eva coming back in a distance. So I sat up on the ground. She had bought some bandages, some tablets which I guessed were pain killers. Then I ate them and she bandaged my hand. I felt much better now. The throbbing had stopped. And the pain in my sprained leg was a little less. I stood up and we went to the stables. Now I saw the most beautiful horse of the stables. It was white and had brown patches here and there and a pure white mane. I chose it. In the ground I stood with my left hand stretched because my right hand was bandaged. Amazingly that horse didn’t back away. It came to me and automatically placed its head under my palm. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I went to the side of the horse and placed my hands on its back and I climbed. It didn’t move a step. It stood as it was. I have seen horse riders. They used to kick the side of the horse to make it run. I did the same. The horse moved forward a little slowly. I kicked harder. The speed increased. I kicked more hard. The horse jumped off the fence and ran at full speed. It was like riding a Royal Enfield in 100 km/hr in the highway. The air flowed on my face. It was really cool. I caught his mane for grip. Then I have seen the horse riders pull the strap of the horse towards the direction in which they like to move. So I tried it with my bare hands. I put both my hands to each side of its mane. I pressed my left hand and the horse moved towards the right. Then I pressed my right hand he moved towards the left. I turned and saw back. I saw Eva following closely.
“It’s wonderful” I shouted over the wind.
“Yeah, I know. You are doing good. Can you just stop him?” she asked. So I pressed both my hands simultaneously. The horse slowed down. Finally it came to a halt. I got down. Then Eva also got down. She stared at me with open mouth and widened eyes.
“What? Why are you staring at me?” I asked.
“Y-y-you just rode a horse. Easily” she stammered.
“Yeah, I rode a horse and it was easy. But actually I didn’t choose him, did I?” she shook her head sideways “The horse chose me. So it was easy. I’ll keep him. I’ll call him Maximus because he has maximum speed, maximum strength and maximum control and everything at maximum” Now Eva closed her mouth with great effort and said
“Now, you have your weapons, a horse and your armor will be ready soon. So now let’s go have some food and start our training” A question kept on disturbing me. So I asked
“Wait. Why did Maximus obey me or chose me so easily?”
“It is because he was used by Carlo. So, I think, he sensed some of the qualities in you. So he chose you” she said with a tone that she used when she was talking to the king from the terrace of the twenty first century. I became angry.
“You knew that Carlo’s horse would be here and he would choose me?” I asked.
“Yes” she said with a low voice.
“THEN WHY DIDN’T YOU ASK ME TO RIDE HIM AT THE BEGINNING?” I shouted. Then I regained my calmness and said “I would not have got this bandaged hand and a leg sprain. Why did you do like this?”
“uh…I..um tested you. I wanted to see that if you can stand any kind of wounds and if you can choose your own horse” she said. By her stare I understood that she was feeling sorry.
“Okay. Leave it. Let’s go do some training” I said.
“But before that you should have some food and rest for a while. Then we train at night” she said. When I heard the word food my stomach began jumping up and down. I realized how hungry I was. I saw the sun. It was a little west to the top. I guessed the time to be 2.00 pm.
“Okay. I’m hungry” I said. Then we boarded our horses and rode them back to the stables and we went to a tent which was nearby the king’s tent. Inside the tent a buffet was arranged. Every plate, spoon, tumblers were made of gold or silver and they were old fashioned. There were roasted beef, pork, chicken and some fruits. I took as much food I needed and sat down in one side of the tent. Eva sat next to me. I wolfed down the food.
“Don’t you have some burgers, pizzas and cokes?” I asked with a mouth full of food.
“What are you talking about? I don’t know what are those”
“Okay. Leave it. When we win this war alive I’ll get you some.” Then I again wolfed down the food. The food was really good. After we finished eating Eva took me to her tent.
“This is where I and Carlo used to stay” she said with regret. “Okay. You take some rest. I’ll be back in a while. Don’t wander here and there. Most of the soldiers don’t know who you are. They may kill you on sight” she said and went out. Then I slept. When I woke up I saw Eva coming in.
“Time to train. Have you taken enough rest? The training will be hard.”
“Hard! I’ve been through many things than hard” I boasted.
“Let’s see. Come on.”
“You are a good master.” I complimented.
“uh-huh” she said and went out. It was dark outside. I took my weapons and followed.
