The Final Bounty Hunter

Ridin Vidarr

"Don't let Whiskey out in the pasture today, we need to do some runs with him" Grandpa said as he grabs his usual cup of hot black coffee and sits at the old table that he made for grandma many years ago. I know grandpas secret, but I'm the only one. Not even grandma knew about the whole thing until she died last summer in the accident. Whiskey is his horse, I was told that we would be getting me a horse today. I hope its a good one is all I can say. I sit down at the table with my usual cup of Chamomile tea and wait until it was time for me to let out the ole boys. Whiskey is a beautiful thoroughbred, Ghost is a white quarter horse, and we got Ole Red as a retired police horse.

" When do you want me to let the others out?" I asked him as I got up from the chair and put my mug in the kitchen sink. He just shook his head and stood up waiting for me to hurry up, so I did, and we went to the barn letting out the two oldest boys out into the pasture for their daily therapy. I got Whiskey all saddled up and ready for the runs while Pops got his favorite set of reins and put them on Whiskey, I got the saddle bags and put them on the back with the rifle sheath and put it on there as well.

"You'll stay here and tend to the barn, please." He said with the sweetest of smiles. I nodded my head, gave him a hug, and started cleaning the barn and making sure that each horses stable had clean hay and water buckets. These ole men knew not to spill the buckets or they'll have to sleep standing up, which they hated given their old age, and while doing so I gave them each special treats for their bedtime routines. They love to run in at the sound their name ringing through the rafters each night.

I leave the barn and think about doing a little therapy when a truck and trailer pulls up honking their horn at me. I think to myself new arrival? I shrug the thought off and walk over to the truck that has parked next to mine which worries me after the break-in last week. A woman gets out of the truck with a smile as I approach her truck.

"Hello, my name is Emily Maine and I heard from a friend that your family does horse therapy?" She stated as she walks to the back of the trailer to open it.

"Yes ma'am, we do horse therapy but we only have one stall left for therapy horses. We will be building a new barn soon." I replied as she opened the trailer door to reveal a beautiful grey mare with white mane and tail. She seems to be limping and hopes to save her, I give a smile of reassurance and nod my head as I take the reins and we both walked the mare to the barn. I put the mare in the stall shut the door so she couldn't free rein while we did paperwork.

"What's her name?" I asked her as we sat at the little table in the barn.

"Her name is Pepper" She replied as she sat down in the old chair across from me while we did all the paperwork. We finished up and had the payment method done, then she got back in her truck and left. Lunch time comes around when I hear hooves coming up the drive, so I grab my hat and put it on then walk back out to the drive to see Pops and Whiskey with a with new arrival for us. A tall Black Friesian fully grown at 18.5 hands high with a beautiful glossy black mane and tail. I put him in the last stall that was available and then grabbed the name plate and sat at the table again.

"What's his name?" I asked Pops as he smiled and took my hat off my head to ruffle my hair. We laughed and he sat down wiping the sweat off his brow, his water canteen in hand taking a swig then putting the cap back on.

"Whatever you wanna name him honey, just nothin out of the way" He laughed as gave me a hug and goes in the house to makes himself lunch while I thought of a name for my new horse. I looked over at the black beauty and thought long and hard until I thought of a name for him.

"How about Brady?" I said as I looked over to the horse for approval. He shook his head no and gave a little sigh. I kept thinking and then I thought of a game.

"How about I say off some names and when you find the one you like you shake your head yes? How does that sound?" I asked him while standing up so I could pace back and forth to think. He nodded his head and waited. Why am I talking as if he actually understands me? Well he did so lets just find him a name.

"Gabriel?"

He gave a hard no on that one.

"Charlie?"

Again another hard pass.

"How about Ivar?" I asked him hoping he will pick a name soon. He again shook his head no. I sat at the table after hours of giving names off, I placed my head in my hands and sighed, next thing I knew I heard hooves walking towards me and grab the chalk. I looked up to see the new arrival writing his own name on the chalkboard name tag for the stall. When he was finished he nodded his head and gave a loud neigh of approval while counting. I hung it on the stall door then put him back in the stall for now until I talk with Pops about the horse. I smile and give the horse a pat and a kiss on the nose then head into the house to see the ole man, and make dinner.

"Figure a name yet for him?" Pops asked as I walked into the ole ranch house and took my boots off at the door. I place my boots next to his and walked over tp the table to sit down for lunch, taking my hat off and placed it on the back of the chair.

"Vidarr, a name he chose himself" I said as Pops put a cup of tea in front of me as he walked into the living room and grabbed one of the old books from Norway, where we are from. Yes we are Nordic, but that's a story for another time.

"Look in the book for the meaning of the name" He said while dropping it in front of me, thus leaving me to look through the thousands of pages for it. I started with the names that start with V and went on, only finding it 30 minutes later.

"It means ' Forest Warrior', does that mean he's from..?" I asked not giving away the place. A place no one has seen for centuries. Pops nods his head and sighs as he walks into his bedroom. After a few minutes he came back with a dusty bronze box and sat it on the table. I knew not what this meant, but a duty was about to be fulfilled.

"What's going on Pops?" I asked while he grabbed our lunches consisting of a ham and cheese sandwich, grapes, a few carrots, and beef jerky for a snack till dinner. As we ate he told me of the horsemen of the Apocalypse, Death, War, Famine, and Plague. My grandfather, Pops, is the Horseman of Death, we haven't seen the others in awhile. We finish our lunch and the conversation at hand, then went back to work with the therapy horses. My main target today will be Ole Red, a retired police horse that was shot thirteen times after a long chase. His file number for his stay is #832. Their case numbers are important since they will be needed as part of their adoption papers. I grab the reins and a saddle for Vidarr and walk over to his stall.

"Will you let me ride you to the pasture so I can work with Red?" I asked him as I sat the saddle down on the rack behind me. I turn around to see his stall door open and him walking towards me. He bent his head down and gave me a cute little kiss on the cheek then turned to the side so I could put the saddle on him. I did put the saddle blanket on him first to see his reaction, then turned around and grabbed the heavy saddle. When I was about to put the saddle on him I noticed something, a strange mark on under his mane, I shrugged it off and tied the saddle on and put the reins on him, then I walked him out of the barn. I looked him over in the sunlight, found nothing wrong with him, then hopped on his back and rode off into the pasture to find Red, an hour later this horse was found in the stream playing with one of the others, I hopped off and walked over to Red.