The Icy Prince

Chapter 6: The fateful accident

I followed Marcus into the stables and picked my favourite horse, Buttercup. Cassio chose Wind, a handsome black stallion who can run as fast as the wind while Marcus chose his faithful horse, Ginger. I groomed Buttercup's mare gently as I murmured sweet compliments into her ear. After grooming her, I put on my riding boots and helmet and place the saddle on her head. Holding onto the reins as I heaved my body up, I settled into Buttercup's saddle and prodded her to move. Buttercup trotted forwards as the other horses followed behind.

"Ready for a race?" Marcus called out to us once we reached the field beside the stables.

His response was the neighings from our horses which was probably act of cosentment. Alligning our horses together, Cassio, Marcus and I slammed down our reins and our horses broke out into a full gallop. The wind whooshed pass my face as I squinted at the finishing line which was the other end of the field. Eyeing the other horses, I saw Wind taking the lead as Cassio looked back and smiled smugly.

I smirked. Oh! This wasn't even Buttercup's fastest speed yet.

After crossing about half of the field, I wrap my legs tighter to signal Buttercup to speed up. Buttercup took the hint and we breezed through the field. I was taking the lead and beamed while looking back at Cassio. I got ready to hold the reins back as Buttercup neared the end of the field. Just as Buttercup's hooves was about to touch other end, a deafening yell split the air. I swung my head around and yanked the reins back to halt Buttercup.

What greeted me was an ugly sight.

I was paralysed with shock as I took in the scene. It was like a stacking tower with Cassio at the top and two writhing horses in between. Underneath all that, was a poor Marcus who was probably crushed underneath the humongous weight of two horses each weighing about a whole house (A/N If a house weighs about 500 kg, just a rough or okay, maybe an exaggerated estimate). Recovering from my shock, I swung my leg over getting off Buttercup and ran towards the mangled mess.

"What happened?"I exclaimed.

Cassio tumbled out of the heap and didn't bother to reply. How polite of him. He tried moving the horses away as Marcus groaned in pain while trying to hold back the tears stemming from the excruciating pain. I walked over to give Cassio a hand and grimaced. It was hard enough to budge the horses, imagine being underneath all that weight. After some time, we managed to move the horses out of the way and heaved Marcus up.

"Can somebody please tell me what happened? I don't suppose the horses wanted to play a stacking game."

Cassio shot me a flummoxed look before mumbling," Ginger knocked into Wind"

"What's with that funny expression?" I asked.

"It's... strange. A knock out is the least possible accident that can happen to skilled riders."

"Well, you just said it yourself, it was an accident, nobody knew it would happen." I said, trying to wipe the dubious expression off his face.

"But the speed... it... it just doesn't add up..." Cassio's voice trailed off when Marcus cried out.

"A little help here!"

My cheeks flushed with embarassment as I muttered a quick apology but couldn't help but glance at Cassio's expression. The war must've gotten into him, it's hard to see him so jittery about things.

I staggered as Cassio and I managed to heave Marcus into his bed. Boy, he doesn't look as though he weighs much but appearances can be deceiving.

"Are you feeling alright?" Cassio asked, his face wrought up in concern.