A Gift Unto Herself
“S he’s adapted very well,” said Horse Master Riggs, “and quickly.”
Anna was pleased and patted Maddie’s neck.
They stood in the center aisle of Rider stables where the mare was hooked up to the crossties waiting to be untacked.
She pinned her ears back at Anna’s touch, but it was more out of habit, Anna believed, than threat.
Since the advent of her new eye, incidents of kicking and biting had decreased.
However, everyone remained sensibly wary around her.
Anna loosened the girth and removed the saddle, and set it over the door to Maddie’s stall.
Horse Master Riggs had put them through their paces to find out how Maddie’s restored vision on her formerly blind side affected her when being ridden.
Anna and the horse master had agreed there was much improvement in Maddie’s temperament and confidence.
“She’s filled out nicely, too,” Horse Master Riggs said. “She’s a real beauty.”
Anna had to agree. Maddie had been quite the sorry nag when she was rescued from the knacker, but now she appeared a finely bred saddle horse fit for a lord or lady.
“Good work today, both of you,” Horse Master Riggs said, and she bade them farewell.
Anna brushed Maddie down, feeling very pleased with the horse master’s approval, and returned Maddie to her stall.
“I got something for you,” Anna said, and removed a wrinkled apple from her pocket that a friend of hers in the kitchens had retrieved from winter stores for her. It was bruised and mealy, but Maddie liked it and nickered for more when she finished.
“That’s all for today,” Anna told her. “You were a good girl.”
There’d been no new incidents among the Green Rider horses akin to Maddie growing a new eye, but Anna knew Hep and the grooms, and the Riders themselves, remained vigilant.
Down the aisle, poor Condor churned in a circle in his stall. She went over to take a look. When she stopped at his stall, he halted and gazed at her for a moment, then turned to stand with his head in the corner.
Darys ambled over and leaned against the door beside her. “He’s been doing that off and on all day.”
“Poor Condor,” she murmured.
The gelding wasn’t the only one who missed his Rider.
Night of Aeryc had come and gone and winter was in full swing, and there was still no sign of Karigan.
She’d been missing for over a month. Her friends were giving up hope, and others had already decided she wasn’t coming back.
Captain Connly was clearly of the mind the Riders needed to move on.
They had enough regular duties to keep them busy without maintaining a vigil in the ballroom.
She’d overheard him and Lieutenant Mara arguing about it.
They compromised, allowing Riders to keep watch when they were off duty if they wished, but the formal watches were curtailed.
King Zachary had not countermanded his order.
For Anna’s part, the absence of someone she looked up to was hard, especially on top of Colonel Mapstone’s abduction by the Varosians.
“Any sign of that colt?” Anna asked.
“Nope,” Darys replied. “Nor my cap. It was my favorite.”
“Maybe it’ll turn up,” Anna said.
“Like Rider G’ladheon?”
“You are equating your cap with Karigan?” she snapped.
“Nah, not what I meant. It’s just strange when people and things disappear like that. I tell you one thing, if that colt shows up again, I’m gonna give him a piece of my mind. My da gave me that cap special.”
“Sorry,” Anna said. “I shouldn’t have bitten your head off.”
“I understand. Everyone’s been on edge lately.”
· · ·
The wind blew bitter around Anna as she walked toward the castle from stables. The snow was not deep, but Tegan predicted more to come.
She shoved her hands into her pockets and bent her head against the wind, and reflected that though her captain had given up on Karigan, she wasn’t ready to.
The king certainly was not, either. If there weren’t so many rumors swirling about Lady Winterlight being betrothed, other rumors would be circulating about her and the king.
No one seemed to know to whom Lady Winterlight was betrothed, though Lord Penburn’s name came up often enough.
True or not, the news of betrothal was actually a good cover that shielded Karigan and King Zachary from salacious gossip.
Anna did not know the truth of the matter, but one thing was certain: King Zachary loved Karigan and that was why he did not give up on her.
Once she was back in the castle, Anna fetched soup and tea from the kitchens for Brandall, Gil, and Tegan. They were all miserable with head colds. Fevers and colds would plague the castle all winter as they always did, and Anna helped her ill fellow Riders when she could.
That done, she decided to go to the ballroom. She had no further duties for the day. She checked in with Lieutenant Mara first to make sure no unexpected message errands were required, and then was on her way.
In the ballroom she found, as usual, three Eletians keeping watch. On previous vigils she had enjoyed speaking with them and listening to their songs. They tried to teach her some, but she couldn’t seem to wrap her tongue around the Eltish words.
Today, Telagioth, Lhean, and Enver were present.
Enver sat on the floor, legs crossed and eyes closed.
He seemed to be in some sort of meditative state.
She had not seen him here often. Telagioth spoke quietly with Fastion.
King Zachary commanded the Weapons to retain watch even if he saw the necessity to release the Riders to their usual duties.
To her surprise, Captain Connly was there seated at a table across from Lhean beside the great hearth, which crackled with low flames and warm glowing embers. Apparently he was teaching Lhean a card game. He shuffled his deck and looked up.
“Ah, Anna, have you come to sit for a while?”
“Yessir,” she replied, still surprised to see him.
“Very well.” He stood and told Lhean, “We will have to take this up another time.”
Lhean bowed his head.
On his way out, the captain paused by Anna and said, “It is good of you to come. I’d stay, but now that you’re here, we’ve a Rider presence and I’ve other work to attend to.”
She watched him stride toward the stairs, then took his place at the table. Lhean attempted to shuffle the cards the captain had left him. In fact, his fingers were nimble and he mastered it almost immediately.
“How are you today, Rider Anna Ash?” he asked.
“Very well, sir.” She told him about her riding lesson and how Maddie was doing. On previous watches she had given him the story of the mare’s background.
“It is a gift you have given her,” Lhean said. “A second life, one filled with kindness and purpose.”
“I think the good natures of the other horses are rubbing off on her.”
“Ah, but it was humans who abused her, yes?”
Anna nodded.
“You are showing her another way and she feels safe with you. Well cared for. The hearts of horses are great, and I do not doubt she will give as much or more as your willing companion and partner. Now, will you teach me this card game the captain calls Knights?”
She was dealing a second hand when King Zachary entered the ballroom. She jumped to her feet and bowed as he swept by.
“Rider,” he murmured.
The Eletians, except for Enver who remained in his trance, also bowed. The king took his customary seat facing the boarded window under which Karigan had last been seen.
Fastion and Telagioth moved to speak with him. With the king’s presence, the atmosphere became less relaxed, at least for Anna. After all, he was the king, the most important person in all the realm. Also, his demeanor was always so serious it seemed wrong to laugh or sing or speak loudly.
Few were allowed to enter the ballroom, only the watchers. The purpose of the king’s time here was kept quiet. In this, the Eletians made a convenient excuse, that he was in secret meetings with Sacoridia’s allies.
He was unable to come as often as he wished, she knew, because he had a kingdom to run. To her surprise, sometimes the queen accompanied him and sat quietly by his side as he brooded. Anna did not understand the dynamic between the king, queen, and Karigan.
She sank back into her chair and gazed at Lhean as he shuffled the cards.
If she’d heard right, he’d been with Karigan on the mission into Blackveil and had gotten drawn into the future with her.
She had really wanted to ask him about it but felt that it was not her place to ask such questions of important dignitaries.
He glanced up at her. “Your eyes are full of questions, Rider Anna Ash.”
“It’s just Anna,” she replied. “And yes, I have many questions, but it would be discourteous of me to ask them.”
“Ah, but now I am intrigued. If you do not ask the questions, how do you learn?”
Anna didn’t know how to answer that. “I’m a common messenger and the likes of me shouldn’t ask such questions.”
“Now I am even more intrigued. And you think yourself a common messenger? I find the Green Riders most uncommon after having spent time among them. Tell me, what do you wish to know?”
With his permission granted, she replied, “Is it true you were on the Blackveil expedition and ended up in the future time with Karigan? What was it like?” These were questions she had dared not ask even Karigan.
“And why do some people have magic and not others? I’d also like to know more of what Eletia is like. Those are just for starters.”
He looked up and smiled. “Yes, it is true. I was a member of the Blackveil expedition and was sent into the future with our Dama. Of the future I can say little for our presence there has not yet happened, and may not, depending on the course of events in the present. One cannot remember what has not happened. It is the same for our Dama. I have a sense that if this future comes to pass, it will be a very bad thing, not good for an Eletian.”
“It must be very confusing,” she said, “to have experienced something that hasn’t happened yet.”
“Eletians are not as linear-minded as humans,” he replied, “so I am unbothered by the paradox. As for Kanmorhan Vane, which you call Blackveil Forest, there are some things I wish I could not remember.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked.” She’d gone and done it, and blundered into asking a question she had no right to.
“No need to be sorry. Perhaps some day that story will be spoken of in the brightest of days once Mornhavon the Black is fully defeated, but for now, they are not best spoken of. As for your question about why some people have magic and others not? I am not acquainted enough with the human world to have the appropriate answers, except to ask, why does one person have brown hair, and another black? Why might one be gifted with the ability to create art, and another to build great walls?”
“You don’t think it is because the person with magic is more special?” asked Anna, who had been an ash girl, an ordinary castle servant, before Colonel Mapstone allowed her to become a Green Rider despite her lack of magical ability.
He tilted his head as if reading more into her question.
“To possess magic is a gift,” he replied, “as is music, art, poetry. It is an innate attribute born into a person. Magic is part of nature like the air we breathe, the color of our eyes. And sometimes, a person herself is the gift. A gift unto others, much like yourself, Anna Ash.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“You are special. You may have no magic, but you are a gift to all who know you.”
Before she could question him further, Enver leaped to his feet, a wild look in his eyes, and cried out. She twisted around in her chair and saw the king also jump to his feet.
Everyone stared at the spot beneath the window, but she could see nothing.
“What’s happening?” she asked Lhean.
His gaze was intense as he looked past her. “I believe our Dama is returning.”