Red Rowan: Book 1: Forester's son

by Helen Gosney

  The arrogance was gone now though, replaced by panic. No! No, no, no, no! the Lieutenant thought as he gaped up at the other man. He couldn’t be… A thin ray of sunlight glinted off the silver eagles of rank on the Siannen’s shoulders as the mare bumped him with her nose. Oh, Gods! No! Kendall scrambled to his feet and saluted hastily. The brown mare tossed her head and sidled away as he raised his arm.

  “Sir… I…” he stammered.

  “Quiet for a moment please, Lieutenant.”

  Rowan ran his hands down the quivering mare’s shoulder and soothed her again with his voice and touch. He frowned suddenly.

  “She should have a headstall under her bridle. Would you get me one, please, and a rope too? They’re over there on those pegs…”

  Kendall scrambled hastily in the direction indicated, trying to ignore his sore backside. He hurried back to the Captain and handed him a halter and lead rope.

  “Thank you. But this isn’t a good way to start at your new garrison, Lieutenant Lorrissen. Now, given that I’d expected you to be here three days ago, I’m hoping that you’re not delivering some world-changingly urgent message… No? Then tell me, do you always treat your horses like this?” Rowan frowned again as he eased a bloodied bit from the mare’s mouth. He spoke quietly, but any one with any sense at all would have known by the fire in his eyes that he was furiously angry. He very rarely lost his temper, but when he did he had a short fuse and though he never raised his voice, he left people in no doubt that he was seriously displeased with them. Fortunately his fiery anger was over quickly. But he couldn’t abide cruelty to any beast.

  “I… er… I…”

  “I don’t know how they did things at your last posting, Lieutenant… Den Triss, wasn’t it? I’m surprised they’d… Well, anyway, I don’t allow the use of this type of bit here at Den Siddon. Not ever. They are an abomination. We use a snaffle with all of our horses, as you will too. Double bridle for ceremonials of course, but you shouldn’t really need the curb even then.” He paused for a moment. “And we do not use sharpened spurs or whip our horses like that either. If I ever see or hear of you doing it again, I shall whip you myself in front of the entire garrison, and that is a promise. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Aye, Sir.”

  Rowan ignored the sullen tone. He studied the other man carefully: he was blonde and blue-eyed as most Wirrans are, and probably ten years older than Rowan himself. He seemed to be recovering from his initial shock, and just about ready to start complaining about his treatment and justifying himself. Rowan sighed inwardly.

  “Correct me if I’m wrong, but she’s a troop mare by her brands, not your own mount? Not that it makes any difference… Would you care to tell me exactly what she’s done to deserve this?” He indicated her bloody mouth and flanks and the large welts on her shoulders and rump. “And don’t be afraid to speak plainly. I prefer it. Nothing you can say will offend me, but I must tell you that I’m already very bloody offended by the way you’ve treated this mare. I’m not a shouter like your previous Captain, but don’t make the mistake of thinking that I’m not seriously annoyed with you simply because I don’t raise my voice to you. Nor that I won’t do anything about it. Now, about this mare…”

  I’ll give you plain speaking all right, Kendall thought resentfully. He felt he was being treated very unfairly here. He’d risen to his present rank more by family connections than merit, and had rarely been held to account like this.

  “Aye, Sir, she’s a troop horse and a very bloody difficult one. She shied at nothing out there, nearly threw me off and she’s been doing it all the way here. She needs discipline, Sir. And as for the bit… well, she’s unrideable with any other sort, Sir, completely uncontrollable with just a snaffle. If you’d like to try to ride her yourself, Sir, you’ll see how impossible she is…”

  Rowan raised an eyebrow at the malicious tone of the other’s suggestion that he ‘try to’ ride the mare himself. If he couldn’t do better than this lout, he thought he’d give up riding forever.

  “Difficult, is she? Unrideable? Bloody impossible? What a shame, when she’s such a good-looking beast too.” Rowan looked at the other man thoughtfully. “What’s the mare’s name?”

  “Her name…? I don’t know if she even has a name, Sir, but if she does I don’t know what it is.”

  Why am I not surprised, Rowan wondered. Well, we can soon fix that. He looked at the mare’s fine head and glossy almost-black coat and excellent conformation.

  “Then we’ll call her ‘Priya’, I think, Lieutenant.” He considered it again and nodded. “Aye, Priya… it suits her.”

  “Preeyar, Sir? What does it mean?” Kendall asked, intrigued despite himself.

  Rowan smiled to himself.

  “Priya … ‘tis a Siannen word that means ‘pretty one’.”

  “But now, Corporal Lorrissen…” he broke off as Kendall started to protest about the unfairness of it all.

  “ ‘Corporal’! But… but you can’t do that, Sir! It was only a damned horse! You can’t do it to me! My uncle will…” he bleated.

  Rowan shook his head.

  “No, Corporal, I believe you’ll find that I can do exactly that if I feel it’s an appropriate punishment for what you’ve done here today. Just be thankful that it’s ‘Corporal’ now, and not ‘Trooper’… And I doubt the Commandant will be happy with you either. He’s fond of horses and doesn’t like them to be abused.” Rowan had always felt it was one of the few things in the Commandant’s favour. He sighed to himself again and continued, “In any case I truly don’t give a damn about your family connections, or anyone else’s, and they certainly won’t stop me from doing my job. Now, Corporal, as I was about to say… I will not tolerate anyone treating a ‘damned horse’ like that. Not you, not anyone, and not ever. And nor will I tolerate anyone threatening a stableman or anybody else with a whip as you did. I trust this is now very clear to you. You’re damned lucky that I believe you didn’t know it was your C.O. that you were trying to assault, because for some reason the Guard takes a very, very dim view of that,” he watched the angry colour drain from Kendall’s face as the other man fully realised the enormity of what he’d almost done. What he would certainly have done if the Captain hadn’t somehow stopped him.

  Rowan frowned at him again.

  “Oh, yes, before I forget. You won’t be riding this mare again, but you will attend the riding classes with the recruits until I’m satisfied that you can manage to control a horse without tearing its mouth like that. I’d advise you to be very careful and learn well, Corporal. And after that, if you should decide to apply for a transfer I won’t stand in your way. But you will be riding properly before that happens. Consider it an incentive to work hard at it. Now wait here for a few minutes, please, while I settle Priya into a box and then I’ll take you to Lieutenant Aaronson, my 2i/c.”

  He turned and walked back into the stables, the brown mare following at his heels as docilely as any dog. The garrison’s new Corporal merely stared after him, stunned, as he tried to work out exactly what had just happened.

  **********

  A short time later Rowan reappeared, motioned to Kendall to follow, and headed off to find Fess.

  “A good morning to you, Iain,” he said to a young trooper as he acknowledged his salute, “Could you find Lieutenant Fess for me please, and ask him to come to my office now?”

  “Aye, Captain. I saw him just a couple of minutes ago, Sir.”

  “Oh, and you’ll tell him he’s not in trouble again, won’t you? I don’t want him to be fretting.” The Captain and Trooper Iain exchanged a quick grin and the lad hurried off.

  Rowan and Kendall had only a short time to wait before Fess knocked at the door of the office and strode in.

  “Fess, this is our new corporal, Kendall Lorrissen, just arrived today from Den Triss. I met up with him in the stables and thought I’d introduce him to you myself,” Rowan said without preamble, “Corporal Lorrissen, this is my 2i
/c, Lieutenant Fess Aaronson.”

  Fess stared at Rowan in surprise, then at the lieutenant’s insignia on Kendall’s uniform and back at Rowan again.

  “Er… ‘Corporal’, Sir? I thought we were expecting a… um… a Lieutenant, Sir?” he said carefully.

  Rowan nodded, his face unreadable.

  “Aye, Fess. We were, but it’s turned out he’s a corporal. Would you get him fixed up please?”

  “Aye, Sir.” Fess saluted smartly as Rowan left him to it.

  Kendall and Fess stared at each other for a few moments after Rowan had left. Kendall was looking quite shocked, Fess thought. Perhaps he simply hadn’t believed what was happening to him before.

  “What happened, Kendall?” Fess asked with interest, “Did you make the basic mistake of mistreating a horse somewhere near the Captain or did you make the even more basic one of underestimating him simply because he’s young and quietly spoken and Siannen?”

  Kendall had the grace to redden and hang his head.

  “Both, Sir,” he said ruefully.

  Fess nodded wisely, wishing he’d somehow been in the stables at the time. Of course he knew that Rowan would have tossed him out if he had been, but still…

  “Well, you’re not the first to do either of those and you probably won’t be the last. Both together isn’t a good start though. Luckily for you Rowan doesn’t hold a grudge. You see, the thing is that Rowan’s the Captain of Den Siddon simply because he’s the best man for the job, and it’s in spite of his age and his forester’s braid and his pretty accent, not because of them. The Commandant doesn’t even like him, Gods only know why not, but still he chose him. He has the admiration and total respect of every trooper in this garrison and it’s well deserved too.” Fess looked at the other man again. Something else was bothering him, he thought.

  “It’s not the end of the world, Kendall. Rowan’s a very fair man and as I said, he doesn’t hold grudges. What else is bothering you? Do you think perhaps you were treated unfairly? Well…? Spit it out man!”

  Kendall looked at him in shock.

  “Are you all so… forthright… in this garrison?” he asked warily.

  Fess grinned at him.

  “Aye, mostly. Rowan certainly is. Well, truly he has beautiful manners like most Siannens and he’s never rude just for the sake of it, but he can also be bloody blunt too.” Again, like most Siannens, Fess thought happily. “It’s sort of filtered down to the rest of us. Mind you, you must be very proper around the Commandant.”

  “Aye, I will.” Kendall thought about what Fess had asked him. “I deserved to be broken back to Corporal, I realise that now. I’m damned lucky to still be in the Guard at all… I… I tried to hit the Captain with a whip, in the stables…” he broke off at Fess’s horrified expletive. “I didn’t know it was him, truly I didn’t… it was dark in the stables, and… I nearly died when I finally saw his silver eagles and the insignia, but… well, it was wrong, no matter who I thought it was. I could have hurt him badly. A lot of men would have just…”

  “…Just kicked your backside out the Gate and been done with it. Aye. Rowan would have done that too, if he’d been certain you knew it was him; but he obviously felt he couldn’t be sure, so here you still are. I told you he’s a very fair man,” Fess frowned. “Certainly fairer than me or anyone else in the garrison. You’re lucky he stopped you, because believe me, we wouldn’t just be sitting here talking politely about it if you’d injured our Captain.”

  Kendall hung his head.

  “No, Sir. I realise that and you’d be right, too… The Captain is very fair, much more so than I deserved, and I’m grateful to him for it. But… well, he says I must attend riding classes with the bloody recruits until he’s happy with my riding…” Kendall finished unhappily.

  Fess laughed until he was almost crying.

  “Oh, dear. You really did upset him, didn’t you! I’m sorry, Kendall,” he said when he’d controlled himself a bit. “I shouldn’t have laughed at you like that, but…” he eventually managed to stop laughing again. He wiped his eyes, wondering if he could possibly get the whole story out of Rowan somehow. “Rowan’s almost unoffendable, truly. You just…er, chose the wrong thing to do near him. I told you, it’s a very basic mistake to mistreat a horse anywhere near him, and it’s one of the worst ones you could possibly make. It’s guaranteed to upset him. And he’ll personally make sure you don’t do it again, believe me. But you’ll be surprised in a couple of weeks, when you realise what a truly woeful rider you are right now. And you must be or he wouldn’t have done it.”

  He looked at Kendall thoughtfully.

  “Look, Kendall,” he said slowly, “I shouldn’t tell you this I suppose, and Rowan probably wouldn’t be too happy with me if he knew, but… he and I were recruits together at Den Sorl. No secret about that of course. Rowan could ride anything; he was a bloody amazing rider even then… Anyway, I was… well, I was truly bloody dreadful at riding. Worse than that even. I wasn’t bad at all the other stuff, but riding…” he shrugged. “Our poor Horsemaster persevered with me for a long time, he truly did try his best to teach me, but somehow I just couldn’t get the hang of it… I can’t tell you how many times I fell off onto my poor backside! I think they were trying to find a kind way to tell me to go home and never come back when Rowan joined up. He was a lot younger than the rest of us and he joined up four or five weeks after us and… well, we gave him a hard time for a bit, poor lad. Truly, I’m not proud of it. Mind you, he … well, he could certainly look after himself, and we soon learnt some manners. Anyway, he helped me up after I’d fallen off one of the troop horses again and he offered to help me to learn how to ride. And he did,” Fess shrugged again. “He didn’t make me feel stupid, or, or useless… but he did put me straight on what I was doing wrong. He just told me in that direct Siannen way of his and showed me how to do it right. I couldn’t believe how quickly I caught on to what he was saying… and I ended up riding better than nearly everyone in the damned garrison other than the Horsemaster and Rowan himself. The point is, Kendall, if he thinks he can help you, he will. He’ll tell you it’s for your horse’s sake and he’s probably right too, but truly, he can teach you a hell of a lot. Don’t worry that you’re with the recruits. He must have just thought you needed to be taken down a peg or two as well…”

  Kendall stared at Fess as he digested that. Truly, they were a very plain-spoken lot at this garrison. There seemed to be no problems with discipline though and all of the troopers he’d seen so far had certainly been respectful of their young Captain. And there was a feeling of… of camaraderie that wasn’t there in all garrisons.

  “Aye, well, he’s probably right about that too,” he admitted reluctantly, “I suppose I can be a bit of a… a bit of an arrogant bastard…”

  Fess grinned at him. Maybe there might be some hope for this silly bugger after all.

  “Ah. Well, that’s basic mistake number three over and done with right there, my friend. Now, let’s get you organised…”

  There was a knock at the door. Fess answered it to find a very nervous young recruit who saluted and said, “Captain’s apologies for the interruption, Sir, but… but he asked me to… er… ask you to… er…”

  Fess rolled his eyes.

  “Out with it, lad. I won’t bloody bite you.”

  “Aye, Sir… er, no, Sir. He… he said would you send the Corporal back to the stables when you’ve finished, Sir, please Sir,” the recruit finished with a rush, his face and ears red.

  Fess took pity on the poor lad.

  “Aye, lad. I’ll do that. Thank you.”

  The recruit scampered hastily out of the room.

  “And before you ask me, Kendall, I’ve got no bloody idea why either.”

  **********

  15. “… every garrison should have an Egbert.”

  Outfitted in his Corporal’s shirt with the double-headed eagle of Den Siddon on the breast instead of the familiar carp of Den Triss, Ke
ndall found his way back to the stables. He found Rowan sitting in the sun, sleeves rolled up again, cleaning harness. He came quickly and gracefully to his feet as Kendall came into the stable yard.

  “Gods, those bloody cobbles are hard on the backside, you’d think I’d know better,” he said ruefully. He looked at the other man carefully.

  “Tell me, Kendall, why did you join the Guard when you’re so frightened of horses?” Rowan asked quietly.

  “I’m not frightened of bloody horses!” Kendall blustered.

  Rowan raised an eyebrow at him.

  “No?”

  “No, Sir! I’m not! I’m not frightened of…” He looked up at Rowan. There was no malice or mockery in his face, merely deep concern. Kendall sighed and looked down at his own hands twisting nervously together. He stopped hastily.

  “Aye, Sir,” he said reluctantly, his face ashamed, “I am bloody scared of horses, have been ever since I took a bad fall when I was six… they told me to get back on, and…” he shook his head.

  “Was it by any chance your uncle’s troop horse that you fell off?”

  “Aye… a damned great big black thing it was… I got up and it kicked me… it kicked me and broke my leg…”

  “Well, you could hardly get back on it if you’d broken your leg, could you?” Rowan said reasonably, “So why did you join the Guard then?”

  “Because my cursed uncle’s the cursed Commandant,” Kendall said, his voice very bitter, “And the old fool hasn’t got any sons to continue the glorious family tradition.”

  Rowan nodded slowly. Yes, it made sense in a strange kind of a way. Silently he blessed his own father for his sheer common sense.

  “How… how did you know, Sir?”

  Rowan shrugged. There really wasn’t an easy answer.

  “Well, truly, I’m not sure. I was just too damned angry with you before to realise it. I should have, but I didn’t and I’m sorry for it. Mind you, ‘tis no excuse for mistreating the poor creatures and it doesn’t change any of that…” he considered it a bit more. “I can see it in your eyes, I suppose. In the way you hold yourself. And I saw the way the horses in the stables reacted to you… they were nervous because you were nervous. You can’t bluff horses, well, any beast really, they can always tell if you’re frightened of them or don’t like them.”