Daine breathed in the familiar aroma of the horse fair and sighed with happiness. Despite being the Wildmage, she still enjoyed going with Onua to search for ponies for the Riders. They had already bought a string of fast ponies that had been brought in from the plains along with a string of the usual mountain sort. Now, with a week left of the fair, they were free to enjoy themselves while keeping an eye out for a particularly good bargain.
Daine wandered past the stalls, stopping briefly at one to buy a loaf of cinnamon bread. She chewed it happily as she went to look at more horses. On my way to the corrals, she stopped at a claiming race. She watched as a horse that was so filthy that the color was completely covered took the lead, the boy on her back whipping her despite the fact that she was far in the lead. After cruelly hauling her up at the finish line, the boy handed her to a heavyset man in exchange for a few coppers.
The man took her saddle off and put it into a nearby cart that was laden with many goods. He apparently didn't know much about horses because he hitched the tired mare to the wagon and whipped her into a slow walk. He apparently wanted a trot, because he never stopped whipping her, even when welts appeared on her back but she was too tired.
Daine growled under my breath and then left, feeling slightly uneasy. No animal should be treated like that, but she couldn't do anything just then. She walked to the corrals, still feeling uneasy where she met Onua. Daine told her about what she had seen and it was obvious that the news had disturbed her, but they both knew that nothing could be done. They walked back to camp sometime later with the dirty mare still hanging in the back of their minds.
Later that night Daine dreamed about Cloud. She had died in the first snow of last year. Daine had been expecting it because she was older than Daine was, but that didn't make her death any less painful. She hadn't called to anyone for help, she knew that her time had come. One of the stable hands had found her cold, lifeless body in her stall, a look of peace on her face. Daine had cried for days and even her husband, Numair, couldn't make her leave her room. About a week after Cloud died, the dreams started. They were dreams of Cloud. Some were dreams of the past, but others were events that Daine knew had never happened. She had one such dream that night.
She dreamed that she was watching Cloud run through a field. Then, she stopped and looked at her, rearing and throwing her forelock in the air. When she hit the ground, filth started to accumulate on her coat until the whiteness couldn't be seen. When she looked at Daine again, it wasn't Cloud but the filthy mare that she had seen earlier that day. As their eyes locked, the setting changed and she was walking slowly away with the lashes of the whip falling on her back. Daine screamed and woke up to someone shaking her shoulder.
"Daine, Daine!" Onua said as she shook the younger woman awake. Daine rolled over her face white.
"I dreamed about her again," Daine said, "I can't remember it at all, but I remember her and that it was disturbing."
"Hush," said Onua, "Go back to sleep. You need your rest and she probably won't visit you again tonight. We'll look at that new breed of pony that I liked tomorrow." She went off into a long ramble about horses and when she looked at Daine again, the woman had fallen asleep. Onua smiled and then went back to her own bedroll.
They were looking at a new breed of pony that had just come in when the horse that Daine had seen the day before passed. It's eyes were glazed over and it's coat was possibly even dirtier than the day before. There were many new cuts and welts along the horse's back which told of all the beating that it had received since Daine had last seen it. Daine watched it until it was around the corner. She warred with herself about whether or not to follow it.
"Oh gods blast it," she said to herself and then sped in the direction that the horse had gone leaving Onua bargaining for the ponies. When she turned the corner, she was surprised to see a great crowd forming. She grabbed a man.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"A horse collapsed," he said simply an resumed trying to get a better look. Daine instantly began shoving her way through the crowd. When she got to the front of it, she saw that the horse that had collapsed was indeed the mare from earlier. The man that was driving the cart was beating her mercilessly. Daine snuck up behind him and grabbed the whip as he prepared to hit the horse again.
"What are you doing?" Daine practically screamed.
"Tryin' to get me horse up," the man replied, "It's bein' stubborn an' lazy an' the only thin' tha' it listens to is the whip."
"Can't you see that the horse is almost dead?" said Daine through clenched teeth.
The man looked the mare over. "She seems fine to me," he said.
"Well she's not," Daine said. Then, a sudden idea hit her. "How much do you want for her?" Daine asked.
"I paid three copper bits so me price is four," he said, eager for an opportunity to make money. Daine sighed and handed over the money. Then she went to the horse that she had just bought. She knelt down beside it and tried t touch its mind. Nothing. She tried again. Still nothing. This was odd but her only priority at that moment was getting the mare out of there.
"Come on girl," Daine murmured in the horse's ear, "Get up." She unhitched the horse from the cart and a man from the crowd pulled it away. Daine sent some of her energy into the mare, enough so that the mare would be able to stand.
The mare opened her eyes. Daine was startled by the color. They were an ice-blue. Daine coaxed the mare to her feet and led her off. They were just around the corner when they ran into Onua.
"I bought that string of ponies," she said. Then she noticed what Daine was leading. She looked exasperated and said, "Oh Daine, you didn't. . ."
"I did, and I don't regret it," said Daine. "She obviously needed to get to a better home and what better place than Corus?"
"If she lives that long," Onua replied darkly. They took the mare back to their corrals. Daine started to work on her coat. Once a few layers of dirt and grime were removed, Daine was shocked at what she saw. The mare was a mass of scars and sores. She had bald patches on her back from where various ill fitting tack items had rubbed and from a strange fungus. She was also covered in ticks and had bad ear mites and worms. She was also badly malnourished. After a few more layers of filth were removed, Daine realized that the mare was a palomino.
"Get me. . . All of the medicines that are in my bag," Daine said to Onua. Onua brought them quickly and helped her treat the mare. It took over an hour, but the mare was looking marginally better when they finished. They decided not to turn her out with the other horses, but rigged a small makeshift paddock for her. They decided to name her Karat because she was gold, and because she was a horse.
"We'll leave tomorrow," Onua said, "Before we have any more sick and injured horses to drag along with us." Daine blushed but agreed and they both went to bed early for the night.
They awoke early and tied the horses into a string and left before the area got too crowded. They had to go slow because Karat still hadn't built up much strength yet. They stopped at a rest stop in the middle of the day and had lunch. Most of the ponies were grazing, but Karat just stood there looking miserable with her head down.
"I'll look over her again before we leave," Daine promised Onua.
After Daine looked her over and discovered that nothing was wrong, they headed out and didn't stop again until nightfall. Then, Onua put a protective circle around the camp and the two women fell asleep to the sound of the horses grazing.
One horse wasn't grazing. Karat was looking up at the sky. She felt like she remembered something from a long distant past, but years had thrown the memory from her mind. She sniffed at the grass. She, unlike most horses, had never found grass particularly appetizing. Oh well, beggars can't be choosers. She lipped up mouthful after mouthful until she was full. She didn't trust the new two-legger that had her. No two-leggers were good.
The trip back to Corus was uneventful. As they passed familiar landmarks, Daine thought back to the time when she had first made the trip fourteen years ago, when she was twelve. So much had happened since then.
A few weeks later, they crested a ridge and there was Corus, spread out below them. It only took them a matter of minutes to reach the gate and surprisingly little time to reach the palace. They had just reached the stables when-
"Mama, Mama!!!!!" Two children were pelting towards Daine, their eyes shining with happiness. Sarralyn, the elder, was eight years old while her little brother Rikash was only six.
"Where is your father?" she asked as they swarmed over her. Two huge hands covered her eyes from behind. Laughing, she disentangled herself from her children and turned to give her husband a hug.
"I'll put the ponies away," said Onua, smiling knowingly
"Thanks," said Daine, throwing her a look of gratitude. Before she could leave, however, the queen arrived, dressed as usual in plain clothing.
"A good bunch this year," she said, "Except this one looks a bit iffy." She pointed at Karat.
"I rescued her," said Daine, "She was being abused and I can't let an animal stay in a situation like that, not when I can do something about it."
"I understand. I can see the whip marks from here," Thayet said. She moved closer to examine the rest of the horse, but Karat shrunk back from her. "Can you tell her that I won't bite? I want to take a lok at her conformation," Thayet said to Daine.
"I can't, sorry," Daine said, "It's like there's a barrier that prevents me talking to her. She is even scared of me. We had an. . . Interesting time on the way here treating her wounds."
"Oh," Thayet said. She untied Karat's lead line and practically dragged her away from the other horses. Daine went to hold the horse's head (with the horse protesting loudly and violently the whole time) while Thayet tried to get close enough to the mare to examine her.
"She may do eventually, but she will need to gain weight and lose her fear of humans if she is to become a good Rider pony," Thayet said thoughtfully.
"Actually," Daine said, "I'd like to keep her. I need a mount since Cloud. . ." Her voice trailed off.
"Okay," said Thayet understandingly. "You should probably release her now."
"Oh, yeah," Daine said as she let g of Karat's halter and tied her back in the string with the other ponies. She led the string to the nearest pasture and let them go one by one, Karat shooting past so quickly that Daine could hardly get her halter off.
Daine had to enlist the other ponies' help to recapture Karat. It seemed that now she ha gotten her strength back, she wanted nothing more to do with humans. Daine finally got the hater over her head and half dragged the horse back to the barn. The horse stayed in the barn for the rest of the spring and Daine spent time with her every day.
Even after all that time, Karat still wouldn't let Daine near her. Daine tried to ride her only once. She was a superior rider, but Karat managed to buck her off each time anyway. When the trainees headed to Pirate's Swoop, Daine brought her along and used her as a packhorse.
Throughout that time, Karat had strange dreams. She felt sometimes like she half remembered kindness, and had flashes of memory of the inside of a castle like the one she was stabled next to. She dreamed several times that she was human. One of the most vivid of those dreams was that she was little, only about five, and a woman was brushing her hair and singing a silly song. As she laughed in the dream, she woke up.