Red Rowan: Book 1: Forester's son

by Helen Gosney

  The Horsemaster swore fluently as all the horses reared and bucked. They weren’t really frightened, he knew, just bored with trotting and cantering in circles and fed up with dreadful riders thumping up and down on their bare backs and pulling at their mouths. They were all ready for some mischief. Recruits fell to the ground with yelps of pain and shock and some choice curses of their own.

  Devil stood straight up on his hind legs, but his young rider stuck to him like a burr, leaning well forward to force the horse down. The big black horse bucked energetically with no success at all, and then aimed a vicious kick at the silly yapping dog that had caused all the fuss. Devil quite liked the stable cats, but he really didn’t like dogs at all. He particularly didn’t like this one that often yapped and barked its way through the stables before Tabby or Ginge clawed its nose for it and saw it off the premises. Somehow, the kick didn’t connect, but it was close enough to ruffle the dog’s scruffy fur and teach it a lesson about never going near horses again. Devil backed the lesson up with a quick snap of his teeth that would have shortened the dog’s ratty tail by half if he’d really been trying.

  “Everyone all right? Nobody hurt?” the Horsemaster called to the lads carefully picking themselves up amongst the melee of loose horses.

  There was a mingled chorus of “Aye, Sir” and “No, Sir”.

  Trav sighed to himself as he caught stray horses. He hoped the only damage done was to the lads’ pride; if that was all, it wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing. He brightened a little.

  “Well, old friend, you asked me what I thought about young Red,” Captain Telli said quietly. They both looked over to where the lad still sat on Devil’s broad back, with five or six riderless horses clustered around him. All the horses were standing calmly, which was more than could be said for any of those the Captain or the Horsemaster held. “I think he’s a damned good horseman, but you already know that. There’s something else, isn’t there?”

  “Aye…there is.” Telli looked his friend in the eye and said carefully, “I’m wondering if perhaps he’s a Horse Master… and I don’t mean the sort that just teaches the new recruits how to ride, like I do.” There, he’d said it. Mind you, he thought this lad would be teaching more than his fair share of recruits, and damned soon if he had anything to do with it.

  Telli was staring at him like he’d just grown another head.

  “You mean what the Siannens call a Horse Whisperer? They’re a… a fantasy, surely!” Telli stared at his friend. He seemed very serious about it.

  “No, not a fantasy… very rare, though. I did actually meet one years ago, he was a dwarf, and it was incredible what he could do with a horse, any horse.” Trav looked across at Devil, still standing placidly amid the chaos of swearing lads milling about trying to find their horses and get themselves remounted. Perhaps the stallion looked a bit surprised to find himself standing and not galloping about riderless like a couple of his stablemates still were, but standing he was. “Look at him. That’s bloody Devil he’s sitting on, not a child’s pony.”

  Telli stared at his newest recruit in amazement. No, surely he couldn’t be…

  “And you think he’s a… a Horse Master? Trav, he can’t be! He’s only a boy. He rides well, but…”

  “I don’t think his age matters; I think it’s born into them. And it’s not just the way he rides. He’d be a bloody good rider no matter what else he is or isn’t. His balance is wonderful and his hands are superb. No, it’s… it’s as if he truly understands horses… ah, maybe I am daft…” Trav shook his head slowly as he watched Rowan slide to the ground, give a couple of lads a leg-up onto their horses and then vault lightly onto Devil’s back again. The boy leaned forward and tickled Devil’s ears and the stallion sighed happily. “Devil hates folk around his ears,” Trav continued softly, “He’s a bugger to get a bridle on usually. Look at him, the great soppy fool of a horse.”

  “Rowan’s Pa did say he was wonderful with their beasts…” Telli said slowly, “But it’s a hell of a leap from that, and having good balance and good hands to being a… a Horse Master of that sort…”

  “Come out to the paddocks with us after the class. See what happens. And then I’d like you to think about having him help me teach the other lads to bloody ride. Starting very soon, if that’s all right with you, Telli. I truly don’t think there’ll be much I can teach him about horses. And maybe he can help young Fess too, the Gods know that I can’t. Truly, time’s running out for that lad… a Guardsman’s no damned use if he can’t ride, no matter how good he is at everything else.”

  “No, he’s not,” Telli said as he watched the curly-haired lad pick himself up yet again.

  He glanced at Rowan sitting happily on Devil’s bare back and shook his head, intrigued. Trav wasn’t one to imagine things or get excited over nothing.

  “All right, Trav. I’ll meet you out there,” he said.

  **********

  “Rowan, lad, I need to talk to you after the class,” Trav smiled at the lad’s worried face, “It’s all right, don’t fret yourself. You’re not in any trouble… it’s just that I can’t talk to you about it here, with everyone listening. We’ll go out to the yards.”

  “Yes, Sir… er… your pardon, aye, Sir.” Rowan said warily. He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong lately, but still…

  He was even more worried when they got out to the yards and he saw the Captain already there, watching the colts playing games and galloping madly. The young horses took one look at them and their stallions and bolted to the farthest end of the paddock. Trav smiled to himself as they dismounted.

  “Can you go and bring those colts back to us, please, Rowan?”

  “Yes, Sir… dammit. Your pardon, Sir. Aye, Sir, I meant to say. Do you want me to ride them or lead them on foot, Sir?”

  “Any way you like, Rowan. No, wait, take Devil…”

  Telli stared at him as Rowan remounted, leaned down and opened the gate and took Devil through. There were perhaps a couple of dozen young horses in the yards. Most of them were ratbags of horses: only partly trained and difficult to ride, difficult to get to lead even, sometimes. And from Devil…? Impossible. Devil refused to cooperate with leading the colts and there was no way to make him cooperate. He’d buck and play up and generally turn the whole exercise into a complete waste of time. And he gave the young horses silly ideas about what was acceptable behaviour.

  Telli had expected Rowan to try and round the young horses up and herd them back, but no. He stopped Devil in the middle of the paddock and whistled softly. The horses pricked their ears and trotted up to him, jostling against each other as they vied for his attention. Surely Devil would kick at them or try to bite them at the very least, Telli thought, but again no. The stallion tossed its head and snorted but it settled quickly as Rowan stroked its neck. Then he simply patted as many of the colts and fillies as he could reach, turned Devil and trotted back to Trav and Telli. Trav laughed at Telli’s astounded face.

  “You see?” he said softly as the horses followed Rowan back to the fence, trotting perfectly happily beside and behind him and then standing to watch him carefully as he went back through the gate.

  Telli’s stallion, Beam, leaned its head forward and snuffled at Rowan’s shoulder when he stood beside them again. Rowan fended the horse off and patted its nose absently. Suddenly he realised what he was doing.

  “Your pardon, Captain,” he said quickly, “I… I shouldn’t have touched him.”

  “That’s all right, lad,” Telli said, “I’m just a bit surprised he’d let you. He can be a bit grumpy sometimes.”

  The stallion could be very grumpy indeed and it particularly didn’t like recruits for some reason. Never had.

  “Horses… um… they like me, Sir,” Rowan said as he fended off Beam’s insistent muzzle.

  “Aye, I can see that…” Telli looked at Trav and raised an eyebrow. Will you ask him, or shall I?

  Trav nodded slightly.

&n
bsp; “Rowan, lad, has anyone ever said to you that you’re a… what do they call it in Sian, now… a Whisperer? A Horse Whisperer?”

  Rowan’s eyes widened warily.

  “Yes, Sir. That’s what they call me at home. Whisperer,” he said very softly.

  **********

  Great bloody Gods, I was right, Trav thought, stunned. He and Telli stared at each other in shock, and then he looked down at Rowan’s anxious face.

  “It’s all right, laddie, don’t look so worried,” he said kindly, “Don’t fret yourself.”

  “No, Sir,” Rowan said, but he still looked very tense.

  “Rowan… here in Wirran we’d call you a Horse Master, and there’s not so many of them around. Not real ones anyway. I’ve only ever met one, years ago… but it’s a wonderful thing,” Trav said.

  “I suppose so, Sir, but…”

  “But…?” Trav wondered how the lad could possibly doubt it.

  “’Tis just something I’ve always been able to do, Sir, as long as I can remember. Pa would send me out to get the workhorses because he knew they’d follow me and not mess about. But I… I don’t know how I do it…” They might as well ask him how it was his hair was red.

  “How old were you when you started to bring the horses in at home like that, lad?”

  “Three or four, Sir. But they… they’ve always followed me around, Sir, even when I was only a tiny lad, barely walking.”

  Telli glanced quickly at Trav, wondered if his own face looked as astonished, and asked softly, “You’ve got a sister, Rowan, haven’t you?”

  “Aye, Sir. Rose. She’s my twin.”

  “Your twin?” Telli had a sudden thought, “Can she do this with the horses too?”

  Rowan shook his head.

  “No, Sir. She’s good with them, like a lot of our clan are, but… tisn’t the same,” he struggled to explain it, “If they had a choice between her and me, they’d… well, they’d always come to me, Sir.”

  “Ah. Well, Trav, you weren’t so daft after all, it seems,” Telli turned back to Rowan. He still seemed very concerned about this.

  “Rowan, laddie, what’s the problem? As Trav said, it’s a wonderful thing,” he said.

  “Sir, the… the other lads won’t think so. They won’t understand. They…” Rowan shook his head unhappily, “Sir, you both looked at me just now like I’ve got two heads… they’ll probably tie me to a stake and bloody burn me …”

  “Ah. Well, we can’t have that, can we, Trav?”

  “Bloody Hells, no! Well, we won’t tell them if you’d rather we didn’t, Rowan. Simple. It’s none of their damned business anyway, and what they don’t know won’t hurt them,” Trav smiled at Rowan.

  Rowan smiled back at him, relieved.

  “Thank you, Sir. I truly think it’d be best not to,” he said, “They already think I’m strange enough without that as well.”

  “Don’t worry about them, Rowan,” Telli said, “You’re doing well. We’ve all been pleasantly surprised at how well you’ve done.” Flabbergasted, in most cases.

  “Have you, Sir?”

  “Aye. Now, I know we’ll get a straight answer from you, and that’s just what we want to hear. Trav…?”

  Trav nodded and turned back to Rowan.

  “Rowan, lad, have you learnt anything from the riding classes that you didn’t already know?” he asked quietly.

  Rowan stared from Captain to Horsemaster in consternation, his innate honesty warring with his excellent manners.

  “A… um, a straight answer, you said, Sir?” he said doubtfully. Wirrans weren’t too happy with those, in his experience.

  Both men smiled at him again.

  “Aye, a good straight, honest, forester’s answer,” Trav said, trying not to laugh, “Out with it!”

  “Yes, Sir… er, aye, Sir,” Rowan took a deep breath, “Then no, Sir, with respect. I’ve not learnt anything new, I’m sorry to say… your way of doing things isn’t a lot different to the way we do things at home. Horses are horses, Sir, whether they’re troop horses or working beasts.”

  “Aye, I thought that might be the way of it,” Trav nodded, “Now, another straight answer, please. You’ve seen some of the lads struggling in the classes?”

  “Aye, Sir. Bloody awful, some of them are.”

  Trav’s lips twitched as he tried very hard not to laugh at Rowan’s bluntness. He didn’t dare look at Telli just now.

  “Aye, they are too,” he agreed, “Now, do you think they’re beyond help?”

  “No, Sir,” Rowan said immediately.

  “No?” That was a surprise.

  “No, Sir. They just… with respect, Sir, they… they need more of your time, Sir. There’s too many of them for that, I know, but…” he faltered.

  Gods, this lad truly does say what he thinks, Trav thought. Well, they’d told him to do just that after all. It wasn’t the lad’s fault if his listeners were shocked or unhappy with the result. And it was the truth, after all.

  “Aye, there are too many,” Trav said thoughtfully, “But Captain Telli and I think we might have come up with an answer to the problem. Now, Rowan lad, I have to tell you that after today you won’t be attending the riding classes as you do now…”

  Rowan stared at him in shock.

  “No, Sir? But… but why…?” he managed. You said you wanted a straight answer, he thought, and that’s what I bloody gave you. A damned lot of good it’s done me. He tried hard to hide his disappointment.

  “Don’t fret, laddie, don’t fret. You’ll still be with the horses. Captain Telli and I think you’ll be better helping me to teach the other lads to ride.”

  Rowan stared at him again.

  “Me, Sir?”

  Trav nodded.

  “Aye, why not?” he said quietly, “You ride as well as anyone I’ve ever seen and you know as much about horses as I do.” And the horses are much calmer and better behaved when you’re around too, he thought, and that must make it easier for those lads that’re struggling.

  “But… but, Sir, I… they…”

  Trav raised an eyebrow at him.

  Rowan pulled himself together and saluted quickly.

  “Aye, Sir. By your command, Sir,” he said, but he sounded dubious about it.

  “Is there a problem, Rowan?” Telli asked him.

  “Aye, Captain, there is. The lads, they… they won’t listen to me, Sir.”

  Telli smiled at him.

  “They will if they know what’s good for them,” he said gently.

  **********

  4. “I don’t know why they keep him.”

  It happened that the curly-haired lad, Fess, drew the short straw for Devil the very next day. He looked at the big black stallion apprehensively. How the hell did I end up with him, he thought, horrified. I can’t stay on the other horses most of the time, let alone this one… The recruits were to meet Horsemaster Trav in the Parade Ground today, or he’d surely have given Devil to somebody else. The horse pushed the lad aside with its nose and snuffled at something behind him.

  “I’ll take him if you like. You can have the mare, she’s fairly quiet,” a soft voice said.

  Fess spun around.

  “You!” he said in amazement.

  “Yes, me. Who else around here speaks properly?” Rowan said, trying not to laugh at the other lad’s surprise. Did none of these Wirrans have decent hearing? It wasn’t as if he’d tried to creep up on him. He stroked the stallion’s nose absently.

  “Properly!” Fess fumed for a moment. A soft lilting Siannen accent most certainly wasn’t ‘proper’, though he had to admit the newcomer’s Wirran was excellent otherwise. “And why would you want to ride bloody Devil?”

  Rowan shrugged.

  “I don’t, particularly, although he is a fine horse. But at least I can ride him, whereas you’ll only last… well, with all respect, not very long, I’m sorry to say. ‘Tis up to you. You can have the mare if you like,” he smiled suddenly, “At least she w
on’t throw you off as far or as hard as Devil will.”

  Bloody Hells, this lad is blunt, Fess thought, stunned. He wasn’t the first Wirran to think that and he certainly wouldn’t be the last.

  “No, I suppose not,” he managed, “But why would you care?”

  “Well, again, I don’t particularly,” Rowan shrugged again, “But I don’t enjoy seeing you fall off on your backside all the time either, and ‘tisn’t necessary. At least let me help you harness him, or you’ll be here all bloody day.”

  Fess looked around hurriedly. All the other recruits had gone: there was only him and Rowan left. A bay mare was saddled and standing quietly and Devil was… well, Devil was standing quietly too as the new lad stroked the stallion’s face and tickled its ears, but Fess knew that the wretched creature wouldn’t be for long. Horsemaster Trav did allow extra time to saddle Devil, but he should be almost done by now.

  “No thanks, I’m all right,” he said.

  “Have it your way then.” Rowan turned and called softly to the mare and she pricked her ears and came to him. He wasn’t about to tell the other lad what had been decided out at the horseyards. No, that was the Horsemaster’s job, not his. Fess stared at him for a moment and then turned his attention back to Devil.

  “Open your mouth, you bugger,” he muttered savagely as he tried to put the bridle on. Devil tossed his head and stamped a hoof dangerously close to Fess’s toes. “Dammit! Put your bloody head down, damn you! I can’t reach… oh, Gods! Great bloody Gods!” Devil snapped his teeth together not far from Fess’s ear.

  “Hush. Let me help you…” Rowan said calmly, “Come here, Devil, and bloody behave yourself.”

  “I… I thought you’d gone,” Fess said shakily. That had been too damned close to his precious ear.

  “Did you? No, I was tightening the mare’s girth,” Rowan tickled Devil’s ears again as the stallion rubbed its head against his chest. “Can you swallow your cursed Wirran pride enough to let me help you now? Just give me the damned bridle.”

  “That bloody horse nearly bit me!”

  “Mmm… I saw him…” Rowan thought Devil hadn’t been trying very hard. He casually opened the stallion’s mouth, peered inside for a moment, saw nothing amiss and slipped the bridle on. “There you go, Devil. Good lad.” He turned to Fess. “Are you going to spend all bloody day in here gawking at me, or are you going to throw that saddle on the horse so we can go to the Parade Ground?”