Maddie’s Surprise
D arys pushed the wheelbarrow back into Rider stables to begin work on mucking out another stall.
He would much prefer hunting on such a fine day in the thatch of woods and fields that surrounded his family’s small homestead.
Deer or grouse, or even a moose, it didn’t matter.
It was about being outside with the smell of fir in the air, the crunch of twigs and leaves underfoot, and being alone with his own thoughts.
But it was not to be. Shoveling out soiled straw was now his life, and it was a never-ending chore. All these horses ever did was eat and drink and redistribute their food and water onto their bedding.
He glanced over his shoulder out the stables’ open doorway that led to paddock and pasture.
Autumn sunlight blinded him and he blinked.
He’d not had anymore encounters with the horse ghost, or whatever it was, which was an immense relief.
And yet, he’d sensed a watchfulness around the place, a presence beyond his ken. He shuddered.
He parked the wheelbarrow in front of Gull’s stall. Currently the gelding frolicked in the pasture with his fellows. Darys was about to step into the stall when he noticed a Rider standing in the central aisle. Just standing there and staring into space.
“Rider?” he said. “Something I can help you with?”
When he received no reply, he approached her. It was Rider Sophina Blackmill. She was the daughter of some lord or other, he’d heard, and he hesitated.
“Rider, are you all right?” When she still did not reply, he licked his lips and stepped closer. “Rider?”
She looked right at him, and through him, her eyes wide and unblinking. Without warning she grabbed bunches of his jacket and pulled him close.
“Whaaa—?”
“She will fall through the heavens,” she said.
He started to laugh at such a nonsensical statement, but when he saw how her eyes seemed to see nothing but everything at the same time, he hesitated.
“She will fall and fall and fall.” Her tone lacked its usual aristocratic inflection. In fact, it was totally flat.
“Rider, are you—”
“Death’s knight will fail.”
This was not at all like her. Maybe it was a joke, but it wasn’t a good one.
“Death’s knight must— No, no...His heart.” She shook Darys hard.
“What?” he squeaked.
“She is unprotected, for Death lacks his....”
“Lacks his what?” Darys whispered.
She stood there trancelike until finally she blinked as if awakening from a long sleep. She let go his jacket and wobbled.
He caught her shoulders to keep her from falling. “Rider?”
“What am I . . . ?” Her words and gaze turned crisp. “Unhand me at once.”
Darys did and stepped back. She may be a Rider, but it wasn’t a good idea to get on the wrong side of a noble.
“You were having a spell or something,” he said.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You have no right to grab me in that manner, stableboy.” She turned on her heel and strode away.
“I’m sorry, but I thought you would fall,” he called after her, but she was already gone. Fine. Next time he’d just let her fall.
He shrugged and took up his shovel once again.
Was this one of the oddities among the Riders his uncle had warned him about, or some sort of malady she suffered?
Whichever it was, it had been strange. Very strange.
Death’s knight? He chuckled nervously to himself over the absurdity of it all.
He’d mention it to Uncle Hep later. In the meantime, he’d work to do.
· · ·
Later, he sat on a bench taking a rest break and eating a biscuit his aunt had packed for him.
Ham, the tabby barn cat, curled up beside him.
Ham seemed to spend more time loafing around than hunting mice.
Darys swallowed the last of the biscuit when he noticed Chief Rider Tegan Oldbrine standing in the stable entrance.
She strode inside, peering into stalls, gazing at the rafters, and poking into corners.
It looked like she was about to climb the ladder into the loft.
“Uh, something I can help you with, Chief Rider?” he asked.
“Have you seen Hoff?”
“No, ma’am. No one’s been through here in the last hour or so.”
“Well, if you do see him, could you remind him he’s due at arms training?”
“Aye.”
After she left, he leaned back against the wall. Ham purred loudly beside him. To his astonishment, some bales of hay across the way turned into Hoff in a crouch. There was now no hay, just the lad. Darys rubbed his eyes.
Hoff rose and dusted off his knees. “Hey, you got anymore of those biscuits?”
“Uh, no.”
“Aw, too bad.”
“How did you . . . ?” Darys began.
“Don’t tell the Chief you saw me,” Hoff said, and he moved warily down the aisle to the open doors and looked both ways before stealthily stepping outside and out of sight.
“What the hells did I just see?” Darys asked himself. He inspected the spot where the hay bales had turned into Hoff. There was not a stray bit of hay to be seen. He scratched his head. “I really want to go back to the woods.” Back home in the woods, hay bales didn’t turn into lads.
· · ·
He knelt in Gull’s stall to examine damage the gelding had inflicted on the wall.
In his enthusiasm for the evening feed, he’d kicked and splintered the wood.
Presently he watched over Darys’ shoulder as if inspecting what he’d done, too.
For all Darys knew, that was exactly what he was doing.
Ham balanced on the stall door and meowed his opinion.
The damage wasn’t too bad, so he wouldn’t have to do an emergency repair. It could wait until tomorrow.
He heard voices as he stood. One unmistakably belonged to Rider Notman whose voice tended to carry, and who always seemed to be complaining about one thing or another. The other was softer spoken and when he peered around the cat to get a better view, he saw it was Anna Ash.
“I’m telling you,” Megan said, pausing by her horse’s stall, “I am getting sick of it.”
It was not uncommon for the Riders to visit their horses periodically through the day, and Megan rubbed her mare’s nose.
Anna made some noncommittal reply before Megan once again began to prattle on.
“It’s always, Megan, can you reach that for me?
Megan, can you fetch that book on the top shelf?
Megan, can you squash that spider on the ceiling?
First of all, I don’t touch spiders.” She visibly shuddered.
“Second, it’s like they’ve never heard of a ladder. ”
Wait, Darys thought. So she could reach where others needed ladders? How? She was not very tall.
“I mean,” Megan continued, “do they even realize what they’re asking me, what it does to me? I get tired of fainting.”
Fainting?
“I mean, it wouldn’t be so bad if Fergal were there to catch me, but Hoff? He has such bad breath.” She shook her head of perfectly curled hair. She murmured something about Fergal being so cute. “It’s not like they all don’t understand what it’s like to use their abilities.”
It was a strange, mostly one-sided conversation, and something about it was making Anna look distinctly sad. Gull stuck his head over the stall door to join him and Ham in their eavesdropping.
“I am telling you,” Megan continued, “floating is not all it’s cracked up to be when people are constantly demanding I get something for them that’s out of their reach.”
Floating?
“You’ve got to tell them no,” Anna said. “They’re just being lazy.”
“Yeah, but it’s not like anyone asks the lieutenant to light a candle.”
Darys was trying to understand the nonsensical conversation when he realized Anna was gazing right at him. She’d caught him eavesdropping with the horse and cat over the stall door.
Megan was chattering on about floating when Anna cleared her throat and nodded in Darys’ direction. When Megan didn’t take the hint, Anna loudly said, “Hi, Dare.”
Megan went silent, followed Anna’s gaze, and an expression of mortification crossed her face. “Uh...”
He blushed in return at having been caught listening to their conversation.
“You didn’t hear any of that, did you?” Megan asked.
“Well...”
Anna moved to Maddie’s stall to check on her horse, her attention, however, still focused on Darys.
“I mean I was just joking,” Megan said, “about the floating and stuff. It’s all a story. Right, Anna?”
But Anna’s attention had turned to her horse and she stood like a statue staring transfixed at her. Suddenly she cried out and stumbled backward.
“What is it?” Darys asked. He struggled to unbolt Gull’s stall door. “Did she bite you?” Maddie would take a hunk of meat out of anyone who got too close and wasn’t paying attention.
Anna looked at him, her face ghastly pale. She pointed at Maddie. “How?” she asked with a shaky voice. “How did she get her eye back?”