Horse Charmer

Horse Charmer - Chapter One - Part One

HORSE CHARMER - CHAPTER ONE - PART ONE

Her hand shading her eyes, Princess Cassia watched the bird glide over the outer walls of Castle Karah. A small shiver went down her spine when she saw it was a Royalty, a special messenger eagle used only to convey urgent messages. He swooped over her and across the stable yard to land on his perch.

The Royalty squawked and ruffled his feathers. He snapped and bit the young page who tried to take the message from him. Cassia shook her head at the boy as he backed away from the Royalty clutching his hand. The eagle would only release the letter to someone of high rank. She wondered briefly what the eagle could be carrying, but got distracted when her horse jumped underneath her. She focused on the young stallion as he bobbed his head.

"Good boy," Cassia said in a soft voice, soothing him until he settled down.

Her brothers raced their horses around her, spinning and weaving the buckets and poles positioned throughout the corral. She'd set up the obstacle course for them early that morning. They'd all just been released from their lessons a short time ago and had raced down to the stable yard. Her brothers tackled the course with gusto. Of course, they would be doing better if they actually did the pattern she'd set up.

She sighed in exasperation. At sixteen, she was the eldest child and heir to the throne of Karah, a job she was not looking forward to. If she'd had a choice in the matter she would spend the rest of her life in the stable with the horses. It was the one place she felt at ease. Even the grouchy stable master admitted she had an uncanny gift with the horses.

Tully, her youngest brother at eight years old, raced under her stallion's nose.

"Tully, heels!" Cassia yelled out automatically.

She was supposed to be helping them with their equitation today. She turned to look at Faolan and nearly rolled her eyes. At ten years old, he still hadn't outgrown his clumsy and awkward phase.

"Faolan, your elbows, tuck them in!"

Gordain was the second eldest at twelve years old. The oldest boy took his job as leader seriously. He constantly tried to prove himself and often pushed his horse farther than he could control.

"Gordain, he's a horse, not a goat," Cassia said. "Don't punish him for something he can't do."

Her stallion shifted to look toward the outside gate and she followed his gaze. She smiled in delight as she heard it; the unmistakable sound of hoof beats racing toward Castle Karah.

Two guards ran to the gate and barely pulled it open in time. A large herd of horses, around forty, raced in. A single horse and rider followed the herd, the Horse Wrangler Luki, one of the few people she considered a real friend.

Luki pulled his horse up as the guards shut the gate behind him. Tanned and with sun-bleached blonde hair, he sat on his tall Palomino stallion naturally. Luki spotted her and waved. Cassia slid off her horse.

A stable hand climbed into the large corral and she handed the reins to him with a quick thanks. Luki rode his horse up to the corral and Cassia stood on the bottom rail of the fence next to him.

"Princess Cassia," Luki said with a salute.

"Luki." Cassia bowed her head in the customary greeting, but also to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks. His horse snorted at her. "Dall." Dall sneezed on her in response. She laughed and looked back up to Luki, her momentary shyness forgotten. "Large bunch."

The milling horses neighed and trotted about the yard. Several stable hands were trying to keep the herd contained on this side of the yard, but weren't having a lot of luck.