by John W Fort
CHAPTER 8
Raef woke the next sunrise in a sweat, all tangled up in his blankets. He dressed and came to the table to eat bread and cheese. He could hear his father outside talking to others. His mother was helping his sister Irah clean and line a basket before heading to the Intercessor kitchen for alms to give to the poor. Raef ducked out of the house silently to go to find Domik.
Raef looked back over his shoulder as he left the house to make sure his mother did not see him leave and nearly ran into a massive black horse that stood in the road. Raef jumped back in panic. The gleaming horse twitched its muscular leg and Raef flinched. He slowly backed away from the animal. Folor came up from behind him and threw a saddle on the horse. Two other men on horseback, one who was Raef’s instructor at the Training Lodge, were waiting in the road.
“Where’d this horse come from?” asked Raef, backing even further away from the beast.
“I borrowed it from the Warrior stable,” replied Folor, “The horses in the Intercessor stable are too slow. Now, I am off to Pine Creek. I won’t be back for a few suns. Mind your mother while I’m gone.”
“Yes, father,” said Raef.
Folor snapped the reins, and the great horse whinnied before leaping ahead. Raef jumped at the sound of the horse and found himself clinging to his own arms as it thundered down the road with his father on its back. The other two horsemen were right behind. Raef watched them disappear down the road in a trail of dust.
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Erif stood on the beach and looked at the dark figure in the distance. He had thought his eyes were playing tricks on him at first, but he had moved a little closer and saw that they were not. A good distance down the beach stood a horse. Erif had been on this forsaken island for nearly two seasons and had never seen a horse, or any animal close to the size of a horse, for that matter. All the other animals on the island were either food or enemies to ward off. This one was different. If he could manage to tame it, this could become his new transportation. Then Zul could order him all over the island, and he wouldn’t care.
Erif quickly ran back to camp and gathered all the rope he had laying around. It wasn’t impressive to look at, just stuff he’d fashioned from plant fibers and vines over the cycles, but it was strong. He ran back to the beach and was relieved to see the horse was still there.
Slowly, and as casually as he could, he walked towards the figure down the beach. When he halved the distance between them, the horse moved farther down the beach.
“It’s a stallion,” Erif whispered to himself, “and an impressive one at that.”
Erif continued walking, trying not to speed up, though he was anxious to get the stallion before it ran off. Once again, he halved the distance between them, and once again the animal walked farther down the beach.
Erif began to smile. He knew this beach well. If the stallion kept calm and kept moving down the beach, it would eventually trap itself. The land to Erif’s right was already rising and further down it became a nearly sheer rock cliff three times his own height. At the end of the beach the rock cliff curved out to sea, blocking the way entirely. That only left two ways the horse could escape: the ocean on one side or around Erif on the narrow beach. This would be the closest he could come to cornering the stallion. Not that Erif had ever caught, much less tamed a wild horse, but it was that or remain limited to distances he could walk in a sun’s journey.
Erif was pleased to see that the animal never tried to go inland, but kept walking down the beach. Soon it was too late, as the rock wall was higher than the horse would be able to jump. Erif slowed, to let the stallion calm a bit. This was hard for Erif. He was not a particularly patient man. After what seemed like an eternity, Erif arrived at the end of the beach to find the large dark stallion waiting near the rock wall.
“Well, fellow,” said Erif, “you’ve kind of trapped yourself, haven’t you.”
The stallion snorted quietly.
“That’s it, just keep calm. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Erif sat and began tying the ropes end to end. He continued to talk calmly to the big horse.
“What I would like to propose is a partnership of sorts. You help carry me around from time to time, and I will gather food for you. What do you say? There’s not much grass on this rock, but I know where it is. I’ll even share some of my grain with you.”
The horse snorted again, a little louder this time.
“Now, now, don’t get all upset. I’m not going to give up, you know. If I don’t catch you before sunset, it will be another sun soon. Might as well get it over with now.”
The stallion dipped his head twice. Erif finished the rope, making a lasso at one end, but remained seated and talked until the sun began to go down. The horse seemed to calm a little in the process. Finally, Erif stood. The horse snorted. Erif slowly walked towards the horse, talking calmly as he went.
As he neared the animal, however, he became a little unsure this was such a wise idea. This was a large horse, and a stallion at that. This horse could likely drag him to the other side of the island and back without breaking a sweat. Erif felt his heart pounding wildly. He knew he would have to act very fast, then hang on for all he was worth.
The stallion pulled its ears back, not a good sign, Erif knew, but he kept approaching. Erif watched the animal’s legs, so he would know when it tensed to spring away. He wasn’t quite as close as he hoped when he saw its muscles tense. Erif slung the lasso at the stallion’s head. He didn’t know if it was luck, all the practice he’d done last season with a rope, or Zul’s help, but he roped the stallion on the first try. That was the easy part.
The stallion bolted around him and shot down the beach. Erif was jerked off his feet and flew through the air several paces before landing in the sand. Fortunately, he had a shirt on. Luckily, this was loose sand, not packed earth or stone. It still hurt like everything. The dark horse dragged Erif through the sand so fast it sprayed out at his sides as he slid down the beach. Erif had to close his eyes to keep the sand out. He wanted to see if there were any rocks coming, but he couldn’t do anything about it if there were. Every muscle in his body tensed as he rode the sand behind the wild horse. His heart raced. He did not let go, however. He was committed. He begged Zul to help and the stallion began to slow. Was that a coincidence, he wondered? He still wasn’t always sure about Zul.
The horse slowed to a slow trot and Erif was able to get up and jog behind it, rope still in hand. He felt as if he’d been slugged in the chest.
“See, ol’ fellow,” Erif panted, “this is not so bad. We’re just taking a little exercise down the beach. Lovely sunset for it, wouldn’t you say?”
The stallion’s eyes were open wide as it watched Erif running behind.
“Come now, horse, I’m not so scary. You’re the big one, after all.”
The horse slowed to a walk. Erif slowed and stayed as far back as the rope allowed.
“I’ll bet you’re hungry. I just happen to have some grain back at the camp. It was this weeks supply, but I’d be willing to give it all to you if you come back with me.”
The stallion snorted.
“I’ll bet you’ve never had a bucket of pure grain. Ah, yes, that’s the luxury domestic horses get. There is an upside, you see.”
Erif followed the stallion in circles on the beach until it was nearly dark. Somehow, he managed to coax it back to his camp where he tied it securely to a tree. It wouldn’t let him feed it from his hand, but when he left a bucket of grain, it did finally come to eat when Erif was not so near.
“Well, it’s going to be interesting to see if I can tame you enough to ride but we won’t try that for a few suns yet.”
Erif cleaned and bandaged his raw chest then tried to sleep. It was difficult, because of the excitement of catching a horse. But when he did sleep, he slept well.
The next sunrise, Erif awoke to the smell of a fire. He jumped up, expecting to find trouble, but instead found Zul seated on a log tending his camp
fire.
“What are you doing here, Zul?”
“Making first meal. What else would I be doing this early in the sun’s journey?”
“First meal?” said Erif, wiping the sleep from his eyes, “but spirits don’t eat!”
“It’s not for me, it’s for you.”
Erif cocked his head and folded his arms, “Since when do spirits make first meal for men?”
“Well, I don’t think I’ve actually ever done that before,” said the old spirit, putting a pan of something onto the fire, “but isn’t life about new experiences? You know, adventure.”
Erif stood and stretched, “I didn’t know spirits sought adventure.”
“Speaking of adventure, I see you had quite a bit of excitement sunset past,” said Zul, ignoring his comment and jerking a thumb towards the stallion standing near by.
Erif smiled, “You should have seen it! I was afraid it would drag me up into the hills!”
“I did see it, Erif, or did you forget…”
“…that you see everything, yes, I know,” said Erif.
“That was very brave of you,” said Zul, “A bit reckless, but brave.”
Erif sat on a log across the fire from Zul. Zul handed him a pan of fried fish.
“Now, hurry and eat, I have someplace to go.”
“But I haven’t broken the horse in to ride yet! We’re not going half way across the island again, are we?”
Zul smiled, “I won’t make you go far this sunrise.”
Erif ate, gave another bucket of grain to the stallion, and followed the old spirit. Zul lead him down the beach to a lose circle of rocks in the sand. Erif did not recall seeing the rocks here before. As he approached, he saw that the rocks circled a sunken area in the sand that was filled with water.
“It’s time to see some more,” said Zul.
Erif grew somber as the old spirit waved his staff over the water. Ripples formed from the center and the water grew cloudy. When the ripples receded, Erif saw an image of a youngling in bed, being woken by his mother. It was Raef.
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