Chapter 8 - Melt

  The red white and gold horse let out a snuffling breath at Cal and nodded it’s head, almost as if to say ‘what are you waiting for, come on over’. Cal wasn’t sure how he interpreted so much from a simple nod, but that’s how he took it.

  With no further hesitation, Cal ignored the Warhorse section and immediately made a beeline for that animal. He passed other exotic mounts along the way, war dogs like Balt had said, but also large birds with short wings and sharp beaks, a few lizard-like animals that stood on two legs and and even a large panther-like mount that was sleeping in the back of it’s stall.

  Cal barely took his eyes off the red, white and gold horse the entire walk across the stable, and it never took it’s eyes off him. It occasionally made head motions that Cal interpreted as excitement or happiness, but it never looked away.

  As he walked, he wondered why it was in the exotic section. Surely anything special about a horse would just place it in the specialist section, not exotic. He stepped up to it and it snorted, nodding it’s head upwards at Cal as if telling him to come closer. Cal reached a hand out tentatively and - when it didn’t snap at him - rested it on the side of the big animal’s head, stroking it. It’s fur was soft and looked even redder up close, almost like wine, but softer. Over the stall door Cal could see that the horses lower legs were white, except for around the hoof where the hair was as gold as it’s mane. Above the knees on the outside of it’s body it was red, all the way up its back and over to the other side, but on the inside of it’s legs and on it’s under side it was white. It flicked it’s tail and Cal saw that it’s tail was also golden.

  The horse, strong and well defined, reached out and rested it’s head on Cal’s shoulder, then the side of his head. He reached around and rubbed it’s head and neck. He stepped back and took the horses head in one of his hands, stroking it with the other. His hand ran over it’s neck and it’s mane, then came down to it’s forehead where he found a small deformity, a bump covered by a small sprout of white and gold fur. He scratched it briefly, earning a pleased exhale from the horse, and looked down at the notes on the stall door.

  They said that the horse had been caught in the north of Westridge, close to the Creeping Forest. Cal frowned at that for a moment. The Creeping Forest was a strange area. He didn’t know much about it, he’d been inside only once. It surrounded the Silver Starling Alliance and it was said that the Creeping Forest protected the nation from outsiders. Strange things lived inside, including a race of animals- people, known as the Awakened. Forest animals with the minds of people.

  The notes said that the horse was a mare, and that she had shown remarkable intelligence, leading Cal to wonder for a moment if the animal was in fact an Awakened. He decided that if it was, then it was a very good actor. Awakened, in Cal’s experience did not shut up.

  The last piece of information in the notes was that she was likely five or six years old, but that might be off depending on her parentage. Her intelligence implied that she was half 'Westcoast Red’ - which Cal took to be a horse breed - and half fey, but that they would likely never know for sure.

  He looked back up at the girl. “You sound special.” He said and she snorted again, leaning forward and resting her head on his shoulder in an equine hug.

  “Well I’ll be.” A voice behind Cal said. He looked over to find a ranch hand with one hand on his hip and the other wiping his brow. “Not seen any of our animals take to anyone that quick.” He said. “Don’t get me wrong, our horses are as good as they come, but you always need to create a bond. This looks like one’s already there. I’m Hossil by the way.”

  Cal smiled. He knew it was a sales tactic, but he couldn’t help but appreciate it. “Cal.”

  “Nice to meet you Cal. You know, I’d have been hesitant to sell her to you if I hadn’t seen that.” He went on. “We got her about a month ago but haven’t been able to break her until last week when she suddenly started doing as told. Honestly not sure she’s broken now, or if she just figured out what we wanted her to do and it was easier to do it than keep fighting.”

  Cal chuckled. “She’s that smart?” he asked. The horse whinnied, nodding her head and Cal laughed as he was nearly knocked onto his knees.

  “Smartest damn horse we ever had,” He explained, leaning against the side of the stall and crossing his arms. “Mischievous as well. Gets it from her Fey side I reckon.”

  “Can she do anything special?” Cal wondered aloud, still stroking and scratching wherever he could reach.

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  “Nope, she’s more or less just a horse as far as we can tell. The only reason she’s in the exotic section is because we think she’s half Fey. Doesn’t mean much though.”

  Cal nodded, scratching down her forehead and finding the bump again. “Oh, I noticed a bump on her forehead,” he said as his hand rubbed around the edges. “Is she…”

  Hossil shook his head. “Couple weeks back, when we couldn’t control her, she got real angry and started head-butting every which thing. Ended up bleeding out the forehead. I think she broke something and it set a little weird but she’s fine.”

  “How much is she?” Cal asked, fully expecting the price to be well outside his price range.

  “Well, she’s a very attractive horse, but wont win no prizes with that bump on her head.” Hossil sighed. “Call it five queens and promise not to tell anyone you got her here if she stops listening to you.”

  Cal raised his brows in surprise. Five Queens was a lot less than he’d expected. It was a lot more than what Varian used to pay for horses, but for Westridge, and for what sounded like an exotic mount… it wasn’t bad at all. It was practically a steal.

  Nodding, he patted the horses neck and stepped away from her. “Done,” he said, and offered the older man his hand.

  Hossil grinned and clasped his hand tightly. They shook and he motioned back to the horse. “What’re you going to call her?”

  Cal eyed the reddish brown, white and gold horse for a long moment, considering all the possibilities before stating confidently, “Melt.”

  ~|~

  “What kind of name is Melt?” Maliana asked.

  They were sat at a table and bench set out at the front of the first stables, eight queens and fifty Princes lighter, waiting for the ranch hands to prepare the horses and bring them around. Meliana’s horse had cost a little over half as much as Cal’s, but he didn’t care, there was something about Melt that made him think that she was special.

  “I… I panicked all right.” He sighed, resting his cheek on his fist as he leaned against the table. “She’s part white as snow and part red as fire and I thought ‘what happens when you put them together?’ and… well it Melts.”

  Meliana snorted. “You know I can’t decided if that’s clever or really dumb.” She said, shaking her head. “She’s also got a gold mane, you said? Why not incorporate that?”

  “I don’t know, but she whinnied when I said it so I think she likes it which is something.” Cal argued.

  “You know she’s just a horse, right? Bad enough you paid double what I paid - and I paid something like triple what normal people pay - but you gave her that name?” Meliana chided.

  “I think you mean I paid double what I paid for your horse. Your money’s still in your backpack, I paid for all this.”

  “True.” She smiled “Guess I can’t complain too much. By the way where did you get that money?”

  Without skipping a beat -and ignoring Meliana completely - Cal said, “Oh hey, looks like they’re on their way over. I can see them now.” Ignoring everything she’d said.

  Meliana’s horse arrived first. It was a black one with white patches on it’s chest and sides. Meliana had named it Root - though only after they insisted that she name it - which Cal thought was wholly uninspired, but not dumb like the name he’d given Melt. The horse was saddled and bridled. It’s packs had been filled with feed and the equipment that they’d need to take care of it for a few weeks. Meliana took the reigns as Balt offered them to her. “She’ll be good until the evening. Make sure you take care of her personally to build a bond for the first few days at least. You know how to look after horses?”

  She nodded. “I do, but he’s done it more than me. He can show me anything I miss.”

  As they spoke Melt was led up behind them. When the farm hand got the horse about ten meters away she started to pull back, unsure and, maybe afraid? Cal frowned and jogged over.

  When he reached them Melt seemed to calm a little, but she still seemed on edge.

  “Not sure what happened.” Hossil said, scratching his head. “She was fine a minute ago, excited to go even but as we got closer she freaked out.”

  Cal frowned and took the reigns from Hossil. “That is odd.” He agreed. He reached up and started stroking her neck. She was almost shivering. “What is it, Girl?” He asked. “Scared of the other horse? Of Mister Balt? Of Liana?” After Cal said Liana Melt snorted, almost in the affirmative.

  Cal frowned and looked back at his friend, who was watching him and Melt with Balt, a quizzical expression on her features. “It’s okay. She’s a friend. She might seem scary but she’s nice.” Melt didn’t respond, she just stood there, unsure. “I promise that she’s not going to hurt you.” He said.

  Melt’s head pressed to the side of Cal’s again, a moment of reassurance? But then they were moving.

  Cal led her down to Meliana and soon they were ready to go. Cal and Meliana said their good byes and offered their thanks to the ranch hand and the owner’s son, then they were on their way.

  They walked the two horses to begin with, not wanting to ride until they were away from the other animals. As they did so Meliana asked, “You all good? What was that little tiff?”

  He nodded. “We’re good.” He said, patting the horses neck affectionately. “Apparently you’re scary, but it’s fine.”

  Meliana laughed. “I’m scary?”

  “Well you do have skulls decorating your… well your everything.” He reminded her, motioning to the amulet on her chest, then all the buttons, the scabbard and, well then he just motioned to all of her. She let out a laugh as they reached the edge of the property and mounted up.

  Root seemed a valiant steed, moving to Meliana’s needs, but as Cal climbed onto Melt she felt somehow more than that. He didn’t know how to describe it, but his mind was unable to linger on the thought for long. As soon as they were moving… his mind went totally blank.

  It had been a long time since Cal had ridden, and the feeling of getting up on a horse, his own horse - and one as beautiful and special as Melt - was wonderful. He savoured it, the rushing breeze, the extra visibility. That feeling kept him going for the first few days of travel. Riding fast to get to know the mount, looking after her at night, it filled him with so much joy. So much happiness…

  In those few days, for the longest time in months, he didn’t think about his last adventuring party once.

  At least not during the day.