A/n~ This one's been sitting in my head for a while, and I finally got it all down on paper (er, well... Word). Thank you NerdySkeleton for Beta-reading this chapter. GO READ HER STORIES NOW, THEY ROCK. =3 Anywho, I apolagise ahead of time for any Oocness with Ghastly. He's not exactly the easiest nut to crack if you know what I mean. As always, read, enjoy and review, for reviews are love~
I DO NOT OWN GHASTLY OR SKULDUGGERY PLEASANT, HOWEVER, MITENA AND ALL OTHER CHARACTERS NOT IN THE ORIGINAL SERIES ARE MINE.
~Raven
~6/4/ 2004~
A Grey horse trotted through a wide expanse of open pasture, with a smiling rider on its bareback, improving her skill. She wore a grey tank-top and jeans as well as a pair of riding boots. She dug her left foot into the hoses side a little and it turned, just as she wanted it. "Buena!" she said, laughing in delight that she had gotten the horse to slow and stop. She patted its neck and got off the mares back. "Buena, Typhoon!" The Spanish word rolled off her tongue as she kissed the snout of the gray horse. She looked up as she heard a car pull up the long dusty driveway to their small, south-Texas ranch.
She lived here with her brother and father after moving from Mexico. Originally, she and her twin brother had grown up there, near the Yucatan. Her brother and her, as well as her family on her mother's side were part of a race as old as time itself, the Ancients. They weren't the Ancients she had once heard of after moving to the U.S. though. The ones she was told about worshiped dark gods. Her people followed one Great Spirit. They were a deeper society of the Maya, yet unknown to the outside world.
Her people followed one Great Spirit as opposed to many, and the beings that the other tribes of the Maya worshiped, were ancient and unknown creatures that were summoned by her and the other Shadow Wielders, or necromancers as they were called today.
She decided to take the horse back to the stable, and to greet her father. She splayed her hands beneath her, pushing herself a foot off of the ground and helping her get back onto Typhoon. She made a clicking noise after grabbing a small bit of the mare's mane, and trotted back to the stable.
After returning the grey horse to her stall, the girl pulled the ponytail holder out of her just barely shoulder length brunet hair. A black ink-blot like tattoo was on her left check. In fact, most of her left side was covered in many different patterns of black markings, all naturally occurring for mages like her and her people.
The car shut off and the driver got out, and then an unexpected sound, a second car door opening and closing. She ran to meet her father, who though well over one hundred and fifty, looked as young and handsome as any man. He was born in Texas and met his wife when she was on a trip to speak with the sanctuary of Texas. She went back to Mexico pregnant and married a year later, and had two children, a boy and a girl. Her husband, Marcus Hereford had come after the children were eighteen, to see them. Unfortunately, she died a week later. So Marcus brought the kids back and learned their Chosen names for the first time, his daughter, Mitena Nocturne and his son, Gavin Cheveyo.
Mitena approached her father, smiling up at him with her bright deep purple eyes. "How was Typhoon for you today? That was who you were riding out there, right?" he chuckled.
She nodded. "I took her out bareback and trotted her. She was great!" She looked at the man next to her father. He had deep scars covering all of his face, and he had no hair that Mitena could see, as he was wearing a brown fedora. He didn't notice her at first because he was taking in the landscape, eventually watching two of their horses gallop through the pasture. "Who's this?" She asked, making him turn to face her. He looked at her intently while she smiled politely.
"This is Ghastly Bespoke; he's someone I met when I was in Ireland for business. We became good friends and he's over here visiting." he said, beckoning for the scarred man to come over. "Ghastly, this is Mitena Nocturne, my daughter."
Ghastly held out his hand and Mitena took it, "If you'll need anything, you may ask me or my brother for it. We would be happy to do it for you as our guest." She spoke sweetly, "Mr. Bespoke, let's go inside. It's much cooler than out here in the sun, I put a fresh pitcher of mint tea in the fridge." She turned to her father, "Dad, I think Ender is about to throw his left back shoe. Can you go check him out? "
Marcus sighed, "Damn stallion's thrown a shoe twice this year and it's only June." He looked to Ghastly. "I'll be there in a second, I got to go check Ender out then call someone to get him re-shoed if he needs it."
He walked off and Mitena looked to Ghastly, "Shall we go in?" He simply nodded and followed her back to the old stone farmhouse. She opened the storm door for him and allowed him inside, gesturing him to the table. As he sat, she removed the clear pitcher from the refrigerator and poured two tall glasses of sweet mint tea.
She handed one to Ghastly, who eagerly gulped down half of the glass. "That's delicious, did you use tea bags?"
She smiled and shook her head. "Nope, it's fresh mint from out back and honey bought from one of our neighbor's bee keeps. We try to keep things like this as close to home as possible." She paused, "If you don't mind me asking, were you in an accident?"
He let out a light laugh, "That's a new one. No, I was jinxed before I was born. Now if you don't mind me asking, what are those marks from?"
She looked away, "They're charms bestowed at birth. They show both the side of dominance, like left or right handed, and in some cases type of magic."
"And what type would that be?"
She looked back to him. "Elemental magic, I'm one of the few of my people able to use it. But, it's not all I practice… Our chief found out I was a necromancer and instantly changed my training from Healer to Priestess. I trained for about two years then I left to live here with my father. But he's told you about that by now I imagine, why I don't go off to live on my own."
Ghastly looked at her intently, "I can understand why. You have quite a few horses. How many do you have?"
Mitena looked up at the ceiling, counting in her head. "Well, let's see… we've got four mares; Lea, Typhoon, Eagle, and Fleck, two geldings; Thunder and Blaze, two stallions; Poison and Ender, and two very unique siblings, Apple and Blizzard."
The scarred man looked at her. "How?" He asked, draining the last of his beverage.
Mitena looked at him and smiled again, "We call them los caballos de Mercurio, Mercury horses in English. Would you like to see why?"
Ghastly shrugged, "Sure, I'll be here for a while, I might as well start sight-seeing now."
"How long will you be staying with us Mr. Bespoke?" She asked, setting her glass down.
"Just for this summer. It's a vacation if you will."
"This is a beautiful place to come for a vacation, I hope you enjoy it. You can head out awhile if you like. I just need to get something," She said, walking into the living-room for a second and returning as Ghastly had his hand on the door, preparing to go out but he stopped. Around Mitena's neck was small, red and gold, snake-like creature. It looked up at him from its human perch and screeched at him, spreading two red and gold feathered wings. "Shush Tulum; he is a friend, a guest." Mitena cooed, stroking its head.
"What is that?" the tailor asked, looking very confused.
Mitena laughed a little. "This is Tulum, my Quetzalcoatl. He is the baby of a creature that I summoned, his mother."
Ghastly just nodded a little, opening the door and heading back out into the sun. The air was somewhat dry for June, and the mid-afternoon sun still burned brightly. Mitena took the lead to the stable, Tulum basking happily on her shoulders in the sun. Once in the cool stables, Tulum left his masters comfort, flapping off back outside to rest in the early summer warmth.
Mitena's father was inspecting the hoof of a black horse that Ghastly suspected to be Ender, but Mitena was at the end of the stable. A whinny came from the stall that she was opening, pulling on the halter of a brown headed appaloosa. But Ghastly looked in awe as the horse stretched out two white and brown wings as it was pulled out of the stall. The wings were perfectly positioned on the horse so that they allowed both flight and a rider. It folded its wings together again and nudged Mitena's side with its snout. It made a sort of grunting noise, causing the young mage to pull out a few white cubes from her pants pocket that the mare nibbled down.
Ghastly was even more confused now. Marcus had never told him about these creatures, and even though he knew that almost anything was possible for a mage of the right amount of skill, how on earth did he come across a spell for this?!
He stepped a bit closer, wary that the creature was slightly taller than him. He held out his hand, and in turn, the mare nudged it, as if asking for food.
Mitena giggled a little, stroking the horse's mane. "Ghastly, this is Apple, Apple, this is Ghastly."
As if the mare understood, It bowed. Ghastly's eyes widened, "Impressive, though it looks like a Pegasus. How exactly did you come across it?" He asked as Apple stood back up.
"A spell was cast on them by me just after we learned that their mother was pregnant. They are different from a Pegasus in some ways. They can understand the one who bestows the spell, and reach speeds of around eighty miles an hour when flying, hence 'Mercury.'" She answered, walking Apple back into her stall.
Ghastly wondered what riding such a horse would be like. "Have you ridden her at that speed? Flying and running?" he asked.
She nodded, "It takes much discipline and hard work, but yes, after a while I learned to ride her at those speeds." She hesitated, "Would you like to learn?"
Ghastly smiled for his first time since arrival and seeing the horses. "I'd love to."