Here's the next chapter, everyone! I actually have already written the entire story, so I will be posting the chapters when I receive two reviews. So please review if you want to read more! :D Thank you!

-Shire from CollieandShire


Chapter two

Horse Decorating

"This isn't going to work, Ilene."

"Trust me Merida, I know what I'm doing."

"Trust me, Ilene, this isn't going to work."

"Oh ye of little faith."

"Oh ye of little brain!"

"Merida!" Ilene snapped, exasperated. "I told ye, I know what I'm doing! Don't you believe me?" the blond girl turned to her older sister, glaring at her. Merida shrugged.

"You may think ye know what yer doing, but I'm having a hard time believing that ye do." Merida stated bluntly, tossing her bright red hair behind her shoulder. Ilene rolled her eyes, and gestured to the large, skinny sorrel horse that she was currently braiding ribbons in his hair.

"Rylee doesn't mind at all. See, all he's doing is eating his hay."

Merida glanced at the thoroughbred stallion, who tossed his hay out of his trough and picked through the stuff he liked. He didn't seem to mind the ribbons, but Merida doubted he'd like what Ilene was going to put on him next.

"Why don't you decorate Mystery instead? You know for a fact she wouldn't mind." Merida suggested as Ilene finished braiding the ribbons in Rylee's hair. The large thoroughbred had been a gift from Lord Edward to Ilene, because Ilene had given herself up to save Lord Edward's daughter, Elizabeth. He'd given her the purebred thoroughbred to show his gratitude, and even though Ilene was a Draft Horse lover, she came to fall in love with the big red stallion. That was why she was currently attempting to decorate him with ribbons in his hair, and the next step was bells and garland. Now, most horses don't care if there were ribbons in their hair or not, but horses hate loud noises, especially when the noises come from things attached to them. Even a large draft horse got nervous at the sound of the bells around their neck and saddle, but a thoroughbred? Well, Merida figured he'd be in England before Ilene had finished tying the first bell into his mane.

"Well, his ribbons are done, so, onto the garland." Ilene announced.

"Aren't ye going to try his bells on first?" Merida teased, knowing that Ilene was purposefully putting that off until last minute.

"Ye can be such a trouble maker, Merida."

Merida laughed, and shook her head. Ilene carefully laid the garland on Rylee's neck, and he shot his head up, glancing at her as if to say why are you nervous? Is it because this thing on my neck is scary? It's scary, isn't it! Wait, if it's scary than it's going to eat me!

"It's okay Rylee boy." Ilene soothed as she tied the garland around the big thoroughbred's neck. He snorted, and tossed his head, his eyes growing wide as he glanced at the garland again. "Good laddie. Good boy."

Ilene stepped back from the sorrel, who stood rigid for about thirty seconds, then snorted and put his head down to eat again.

"See, he's fine!" Ilene said triumphantly. "And ye thought he'd be spooked."

"Ah, but ye haven't put on the bells yet, Ilene." Merida reminded her. Ilene made a face, pursing her lips doubtfully.

"Perhaps I'll do that some other time. He's been so good, I'd hate to scare him now."

"More like ye don't want me to be right." Merida jeered.

"Nonsense. I-I- oh never mind. I'll put on his bells now." Ilene huffed, picking up a string that she'd tied five bells to. Rylee lifted his head up and pricked his ears forward, wondering what that strange noise was. Ilene walked timidly up to him, and let him sniff the bells. He didn't seem to mind it, and she swiftly started to tie them into his mane.

Rylee put his head down to eat once more, and the bells rang. His eyes widened, and he froze. That was not a good sign.

"Maybe ye should take him out of the stall so if he gets nervous he won't break-" Merida began, when suddenly Rylee squealed and reared, and Ilene fell to the ground. "Oye! Ilene, get out of the stall!" Merida screamed, leaping over the walls of the enclosure. Ilene followed suit and threw herself over the side of the stall.

Rylee screamed and reared, kicked and bucked as the bells continued to jingle. But the more he created a ruckus, the more the bells sang out their merry tune.

Rylee kicked the stall door hard, and with a thunk! the latch broke and the door fell over. Rylee saw this as an opportunity to escape the monster in his mane, and raced out of the stall, bucking and kicking as he galloped off. Ilene and Merida stared after him as he disappeared into the forest.

Merida turned to Ilene. "Told yah."


Fergus snickered, trying to keep a straight face. "So let me get this straight." He said, doing his best to force back the bellows of laughter he so wanted to let loose. "Ye wanted to dress up that Thoroughbred of yers with garland, ribbon and bells, and he spooked at the bells, tore down the stall door and took off in the woods?"

Ilene nodded glumly. "Aye Dad, that's what happened."

The look on his adopted daughter's face was too much, and Fergus burst into fits of laughter. "Ye were dressing up a horse? I can understand perhaps prettying him up, but you were dressing up yer horse!"

"One of my horses. I didn't dress Mystery up." Ilene corrected, obviously embarrassed.

"Aye, but she was going to do Mystery next." Merida couldn't help but add in.

"Merida!" Ilene protested.

"And ye, Merida? Ye were helping her do this?" Fergus roared with laughter, holding his sides as he gasped for breath between guffaws. "Oh, that is too rich! Oye! Ilene, ye have the most creative mind in all of Scotland! Dressing up yer horse! I've never heard of such a thing!"

"Please don't laugh Dad." Ilene begged. "I'm embarrassed enough."

Fergus smothered down his laughter, but let out a chuckle now and then. "So, ye girls want to ride out and find him?"

"Aye. I know Mum says that we need to ask either you or her before we head out into the woods at this time of year, seein' how it gets dark early." Merida said.

"Good lassies for obeyin' yer Mum." Fergus broke into a smile. "Ye can go out and find him. Be back by the time it's dark, though. We don't want any bears getting' yah."

"Thanks Dad!" Ilene and Merida said at the same time, rushing out of the castle and towards the stalls. Merida jumped onto the already saddled Angus, and Ilene jumped onto her horse, Mystery. They asked them into a canter, and the horses plunged through the snow, sending the powder flying as they left the castle and went over the bridge, then ran out into the forest.

There was nothing better than riding on horseback in fresh snow. Especially at this depth. The girl's favorite thing about snow this deep was that if they came off, they never got hurt. The snow broke their fall, and it was kind of fun to throw yourself off, knowing you wouldn't regret it.

But Ilene and Merida had a job to do today, and that was to find Rylee. There was no telling where the Thoroughbred had gotten to, and they were worried he might hurt himself.

"He's not a Scotts horse, and therefore he has no idea the dangers that lie within these woods." Ilene said to Merida, her tone of voice showing her concern.

"I'm sure he's fine, Ilene. Don't worry." Merida assured her sister as they continued to canter on their draft horses. Mystery tossed her head, snorting as snow flew up into her nostrils.

"Well ye silly horse, if ye didn't run with yer nose on the ground that wouldn't happen!" Ilene laughed. The Shire mare snorted again, and broke into a trot. "No lass, we need to keep on moving." Ilene said firmly, asking Mystery back into a canter.

Angus wanted to trot too, and Merida cued the Clydesdale on. "No need to stop, Angus." She told the stallion.

It took half an hour before the girls found the hoof prints of the escaped horse. "It can't be any other horse than Rylee, for his feet are so much smaller than regular horses." Ilene pointed out, gesturing towards the prints as she reined Mystery in.

"Aye, that's him." Merida agreed. She leapt off Angus and studied the tracks. "Looks like he was headin' back to the castle."

Merida mounted back up, and Ilene and her continued on, following the prints. They kept their horses in a walk, not wanting to miss any details.

"Look, there are the bells!" Ilene called out. Sure enough, there was the strand of bells, lying on the ground.

"Looks like Rylee finally got them off." Merida giggled. "I'm sure he about collapsed out of exhaustion."

Ilene glared at her. "Ye were right, ye were right. Are ye happy?"

"I want to hear ye say I was right again." Merida teased. Ilene rolled her eyes.

It was then that they heard a whinny. "Oye! That sounds like Rylee!" Ilene exclaimed.

The girls kicked their horses into a canter, guiding them through the trees as they headed in the direction of the sound. The Clydesdale and the Shire bobbed their heads in sync as they frisked along, eager to stretch their legs some more.

"There he is!" Merida shouted. And there stood Rylee, his ears erect and his head held up high. All of his ribbons were out of his hair, and his body was covered with sweat.

"Rylee!" Ilene exclaimed happily, stopping Mystery and jumping off, running towards the red stallion. "Oh poor Rylee, yer drenched in sweat. I'm so sorry lad, I won't ever put bells in yer hair again."

"Yah, until next year when it snows again." Merida interjected. Ilene ignored her as she petted the Thoroughbred on the nose.

"What a good boy Rylee." She cooed. "Yer me good laddie, ye are. Come on, let's go home."

Ilene turned around and went back to Mystery, pulling an extra halter she'd brought along off the saddle. She approached Rylee and let him sniff it, then slipped it on. "There we go!" she announced. "Ye ready Merida?"

Merida nodded, walking towards Angus and grabbing his reins to mount. Ilene lead Rylee towards Mystery, and she mounted up on the large Shire mare. It was then that she noticed that Merida wasn't on her horse yet.

"What is it Merida?" Ilene asked.

Merida was staring at the ground, her lips pressed together and her brow furrowed deeply. This can't be right. She thought.

Ilene trotted Mystery over, tugging Rylee along. She whoaed Mystery, and glanced down at what Merida was looking at.

"Oye!" Ilene gasped. "That isn't real, is it?"

Merida put her arms out to measure the print. Half the size of a full grown man. She gazed up at Ilene, and then returned her gaze to the giant paw print. "I don't think so." She said finally. "I think someone's playin' jokes."

"I bet it was Hamish, Hubert and Harris." Ilene said with a sigh of relief, referring to their younger brothers. "Ye know how they like to scare us."

"Aye." Merida snorted. "Remember the time-"

"Don't remind me." Ilene groaned. "That was terrible!"

Merida giggled, and mounted up on Angus. "I wonder how the boys were able to pull this one off." She gestured to the enormous paw prints which someone had attempted to make look like a bear's prints. But the prints were too round to be bear prints, proving they were fake. "This would have taken a lot of time to make. Plus I don't see any evidence of them anywhere."

"Who knows. The little tikes can do anythin' they set their minds to." Ilene retorted. "Come on, let's get agoin' home. I'm starvin'!"

With that, the redhead and the blond cued their horses into a canter, Ilene leading Rylee beside Mystery. But Merida couldn't get the prints out of her head. They had almost seemed real, but they couldn't be. No bear made prints like that, and the only bear big enough to make prints like that was Mor'du, and he was dead. It's nothing to be worried about, Merida. She chided herself. She shook the thoughts out of her head and instead concentrated on the ride ahead with Ilene.


Boy howdy, it's a good thing the boys were the ones who made those paw prints. Or were they? Please review and thanks for reading!

-Shire from CollieandShire