Enchantment of the Bow

Chapter Fifty-One

Sam's POV

I make my way out of the castle and to the stables, my body acting on the call of Daziras as my mind tosses over itself repeatedly like the waves of an ocean against the shoreline. By the time I realize where I'm going, I am standing outside of the grand stable, and I pause in my steps for a moment. Only by the time that I stop do I realize that at some point, I had begun to run.

The stable is as wide as two normal sized ones put together, and twice as long. The architecture is impeccable and quite beautiful, with the marble siding and dark, richly colored wooden supports. The double wide doors at the head of the building are wide open in the cool morning, and bits of the interior can be seen from my position on the outside. I see several stalls that appear to be more like dungeon cells with the steel bars that line the four walls. Looking closer, I glimpse the engravings of animal heads shaped like those of a horse and what I know to be the curves of never ending waves marking every rafter and beam.

Up close I know that that the open jaws of the carved mahogany come equipped with two rows of sharply pointed teeth, and that the ears of the horse-like creatures come together to make a curved point. These trade marks of the Vann-Hest's physical attributes are very much like the colors of snakes. Every child is raised with the knowledge the the colors adorned upon certain serpents labels them as poisonous, like natures warning sign to stay away. Similarly to the snakes of the land, water beasts come with their own signature labels. Black eyes, curved ears and sharply lined jaws of a Vann-Hest are things that every fisherman prays they will never see when in open waters.

I turn my gaze to the fenced in quarters when a Vann-Hest's guttural screech reaches my ears, making me cringe slightly. I recognize the outline of a familiar creature in one of the pens, nothing but a shadow in the middle of a cloudless day. Turning my head for a better view, I clearly see Lasreal giving the person on his back the ride of their life. Interested, I cross the yard and make my way for the fence, careful to avoid stable hands that lead Vann-Hest to and from the stable.

Seeing the black beast acting like this, I cannot imagine the stallion ever behaving as well as he does when the figure mounted in his saddle is Lyra. The boy perched atop him is really quite young, and holds his seat with defiance as the Vann-Hest kicks his back legs towards the sky. Now that I am closer I see that the rider isn't trying to steer Lasreal in any particular direction, but rather that he is trying desperately to hold on with everything he has.

The stallion lets lose a sequence of bucks so hard that it makes my own body ache, and I take a step back from the fence as he starts at a dead run in my direction. The rider pulls the squealing animal up short, just as jaws snap too close to my face for comfort. The air I breath is rank with salt and dead fish, so I take another step back for good measure.

"I've never seen him so savage." I comment, keeping one eye on Lasreal as I address the rider.

The boy sighs and dismounts from the stallion's tall back, keeping a hand on the reins the whole while. "I'm dreadfully sorry about that, I'm not his Rider. The Princess wished me to exercise him, since she is unable to do so herself, momentarily."

"Really? It looks more like he was the one exercising you," I respond, observing the iron laced tack adorning the black beast's back, noticing the way his haunches quiver at their touch. "Perhaps he is so upset with you because you've got all of that on him. I may be a bit upset if I were being burned, as well."

Iron is commonly used to anchor the Vann-Hest to the ground and to help control them, but it burns their flesh on contact. It doesn't really harm them severely, just enough to annoy them and distract them from fighting their rider. I use an iron bit on Daziras, only because of his temper and my poor bond with him. I know for a fact that Lyra does not use any of these fairy metals on Lasreal, and I cannot imagine her being pleased at the amount of iron being used on her beast.