When a girl runs away from her past, she winds up in a magical place. One that no one knows, and no one believes in. Can she get back to what she knows? Does she want to?
Abigail had a complicated past. Her parents had died in a fire when she was little, leaving her with little memory of them. She was given to her neighbors, although calling them neighbors wasn't very accurate. Her parents lived on a farm in the Ree Kingdom, and the people that lived closest to them were 6 miles away. They were also very unkind and uncaring about little Abby. She spent her days as a child waking up at 5 AM to feed the chickens. Then she spent the rest of her day, until 8 o'clock, tending the fields. When she returned home, Doris had made soup and bread for Abigail's dinner, while she and her husband feasted on chicken, corn, and berries. Then she was sent to her room to sleep until she repeated her day again. This process was repeated everyday for 7 years. She never knew anything else. Until her adopted mother sent her to town for fabric and thread when her favorite yellow dress ripped.
Abigail was 16 the first time she was sent to town by herself. She had been before, but not alone. Town was in the opposite direction of her old home which she was glad for since she missed her parents so much. She was always thinking of them, wondering what her life would be like with them. She woke that foggy fall morning ready to go to work, but when she went downstairs Doris was waiting with a piece of fabric and an almost empty spool of thread. She motioned impatiently.
"I need 2 yards of this fabric, and a spool of this thread." She said in her unappealing voice, "You can take the white horse to town. I don't care when you're back as long as you still feed the chickens this morning and mend my dress tonight." She handed Abigail the small things before turning to the small chest on the kitchen counter and retrieving several gold and silver pieces. She pushed them into Abigail's hands more violently than necessary. It was more than enough for the thread and fabric.
"Yes m'am." Abigail turned to find her light coat and boots by the door where she had left them the night before. Although it was foggy, there were not any rain clouds in the sky so she didn't take her rain jacket. She exited the house before she stepped into her boots. As she walked off the porch and to the barn and stable beside the house, she slipped the coat on. Since they only cared for their animals for the profit, Doris and Walker had never named the horses. Abigail had taken it into her hands to care and name each of them. She had named the white one, her second favorite of the 5 they had, Argentum, which means silver in Latin. Latin was the second language in Ree, so she knew a few words from the small amount of time that she had spent in school. Since gold and silver was the currency, she had to know how to say both in Latin.
Abigail made her way towards the back of the stables where the horses were kept. Before she did anything, she found the chicken feed and spread it at the entrance of the stable. She hung the bag on a hook so they couldn't break into it. She hurried to the horses towards the back. Argentum was in the first stable on the left, across from Faun, a dark brown Cleveland bay. She quickly gave hay to both horses before returning to the pile for more. She didn't trust that they would be fed by Walker so she did it herself. This time she passed to the light brown Morgan. This one she named Lutum, after dirt. Despite being so young when Abigail had been learning Latin, she had been so intrigued by it that she had taken it upon herself to learn many words. She fed the beauty then took a few steps to Noctis, her favorite horse. This horse was a black Clydesdale. She named the mysterious, wild beast after her favorite thing. The night. Needing to feed one more horse she again gathered more hay with her pitch fork. She unloaded it into the grey dappled thoroughbred horses pen. Aurora whinnied with approval. She felt guilty whenever she cared for one horse but not the others, so she quickly pet and brushed the manes of all 5 horses. She fed each one a carrot before preparing the white horse. She put the saddle pad on Argentum's back. Abigail then gently set the saddle on top. She connected the front cinch, then the back, after placing everything on the horses back correctly. The breast collar is buckled. She fits the bridle on as well, making sure the bit is in the horses mouth so she can easily control him. Abigail guides the horse to the entrance of the barn. She sees the outline of Walker in the field as she walks to the dirt road in front of the house. Abigail carefully pulls herself into the saddle. In her coat pocket she makes sure the gold and silver, as well as the fabric and thread, are still there. When she finds everything in its place, she lightly squeezes the horse and heads east towards town.
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The picture above it the house they live in, although to the left is a stable/barn and where the picture is being taken from is a dirt road that leads to town.
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The horse above is Argentum, the white horse that she is riding into town.
Pictures of the other horses will be appearing, but you can use your imagination for now.
