Thunder and the mark
Three days after the incident by the tree was the first day Amelia would spend as a page. She would never admit it, but she was nervous. Up before dawn had even decided it would show, Amelia was running around the lake again. Her now favourite place to run in the morning. Meeting no one, she ran quickly. Making sure to stretch all the muscles in her legs and use her arms to pump herself forward, by the time she had come back to where she started she was well stretched. Cleaning up and dressing in her practice clothes she moved out into the hall where all the new pages had congregated. From the end of the hall came a man. He was tall and very well built, with short cropped brown hair and the stance of a warrior. As he moved down the hall slowly the older pages joined him, speaking quietly, catching up on summer news.
'Who is that?' Amelia asked Jake in a whisper, who was on her left.
'That's Lord Sauler, training master. The second last training master, Lord Wyldon who was apparently really hard, is a fluffy bunny compared to this guy' he said also whispering.
By the time the man came to a halt all the pages stood behind him. Except for eight pages. Amelia with her friends stood along one side of the hall, while Jason, Ben and Andrew along with another boy stood on the other side. Amelia ignored the evil glare she received from Jason and stood taller. She would not be pushed around by someone like him.
The man stood before them all and looked at each of them carefully, while the page's behind him peered around him to look at the pages. Mainly the figure on the end of the end. The man sighed to him self, he had hoped he would never have to deal with a female page like Wyldon had. Wyldon's successor hadn't had one, but he did? Obviously the gods wanted to test him.
'Right listen up little ones, from now on you answer to me. If you have a complaint l don't want to here it. If your tired, l don't care. If you want to go home crying, by all means go for it. I will not put up with children who don't have the determination to be a knight' he said bluntly, looking like her rather be doing something else.
'Right you' he pointed at the boy on the end of the line opposite Amelia's, 'Name and fief' he said uninterested. The boy stood up straight and cleared his throat.
'Callen of Rosefall, my lord' said the boy in a somewhat quivering voice. Lord Sauler nodded and then pointed at Jason, who pronounced his own title. And so it continued down the line of boys then starting up the top of her line. Making Amelia the last person to be introduced.
'You' said Sauler pointing at Amelia. Holding her hands behind her back so that no one could see they shook, Amelia cleared her throat.
'Amelia of Snowsworth, my lord' she said holding his steely gaze, with some effort. Finally he looked away, releasing Amelia of the staring contest. Resisting the urge to shake her head to clear it Amelia stood straighter.
'Lets go then' said Sauler, he turned on his heel and marched through the boys making his way to the mess. Following like ducks the pages walked behind Sauler into the mess hall. Ignoring the looks from the others already in the hall and those from the other pages. Amelia walked straight to the counter to get her food then sat down in the same spot she sat everyday. The boys soon sat down with her with Jake next to her and Ryan and Greg facing her. Without warning the boy that had stood on Jason's side of the hall stood next the their table nervously. Amelia and the others looked up at him.
'C-can l sit with you guys?' he asked looking at the ground. Greg pulled out the chair next to him and said,'Yeah sure, have a seat'. This made Amelia's brain start clicking. Hadn't she seen Callen walking around with Jason before?
'Why aren't you sitting with the ranga?' she asked using the street name for a red head. The others frowned and Callen shrugged.
'I didn't like how they were doing things' he said engrossing himself in his food. Amelia knew when to drop a subject. The fact that he hadn't met her eyes while he talked had been a give away, also the fact that Jason and his friends kept looking over at their table also hinted that something wasn't right. Amelia shrugged to herself, leaving that mystery to be pondered later on.
Once the morning meal had ended the pages walked out as one into the open, in a field by the stables. Standing in the field was Lord Sauler and two another men.
'Alright children, well start today with riding' said Lord Sauler as the pages assembled around the men. His voice clear and rising to the last person as clear as if they stood at the front.
'To first year pages this is Master Tobe and his apprentice Kale. They will help you to choose your mounts. To the other boys go and see if you remember to saddle a horse after your lazy summers' said Sauler moving in the direction of the stables himself.
When Amelia got their all the stalls near the door were taken by the older pages horse's, she gradually moved along the line looking at the horses, finally one stood out to her and she stood by the gate which, thankfully, no one had chosen. The mare was black, her coat colour reminded Amelia of the black clouds of a storm.
'You'll be taken this one then miss?' asked a soft voice from behind her, Amelia turned to see Master Tobe looking at her closely. She nodded.
'Yes, is that alright?' she asked trying not to panic at the thought of not being able to have her. Tobe nodded too.
'Aye that be fine young miss, this mare will serve you will. She's a tough one' he said moving into the stall with Amelia close behind. 'Do you have horse magic miss?' Tobe asked suddenly. Amelia turned surprised.
'No sir, I've no gift' she said with a slight frown on her for head. Both her sisters had the gift and quite a bit which came from both sides of the family. But she had nought.
'Your sure?' he asked carefully, looking her over bit by bit. Amelia nodded sullen.
'Why do you ask, sir?' she inquired softly as she watched the mare butt Tobe in the chest with her head. Tobe patted the mare absently, then turned to Amelia.
'I found this mare in a storm' he said quietly so that only she may hear if anyone was about. 'She has never let anyone but a person with strong horse magic near her, in all the time I've had her. And that's been a fair while' he said moving over the tack hanging up in the stall. Without another word about the mystery of the horse, he showed her how to tack up her new horse. As she led the mare out of the stall, tacked up and ready, Tobe spoke again.
'She says she take good care of you, miss' he said gently stroking the mares head as a type of farewell, and walked away. Shaking the strange man from her head, Amelia led the mare outside to line up between Ryan and Greg.
'Right kiddies, lets see how many of you can mount up' said Sauler as he rode up on his own stallion, he started at the end of the line and worked his way up to Amelia and her friends on the end of the line. Absently stroking her mares side and scratching an itch that wouldn't go away on her left arm, Amelia watched the training master come closer. Finally reaching her he pointed to her even though she knew what she had to do.
'Lets see if you can mount up Snowsworth' he said as he pulled his stallion up in front of her mare. Ignoring the fact that she knew he had stopped right in front of her mare to try and make her restless because of the stallion irked her but she pushed it away. In fact the mare just stared at the stallion for a moment then blew out air at him making the stallion back up immediately. Sauler ignored the fact that his horse tried to move and held him firm and watched as the girl attempted to mount up.
This is just like at home mounting Clump, she told herself firmly. Placing her hands on the saddle horn firmly, Amelia lifted her right foot and placed it in the stirrup. Letting it take her weight, she swung her left leg clear over the saddle. Coming to rest neatly in the middle of the saddle with her left foot falling easily into place in the left stirrup. Sauler merely blinked at her for a moment after she did this. None of the boys had managed to do so well on their first try or their second. Yet this girl had managed the feat in one perfect go. Maybe she would be such a pain after all. Lord Sauler nodded to Amelia and asked Ryan to mount up watching him. Now sitting on her back, Amelia could fully appreciate her mare size. At the moment she was big for her, but not at such a point that she would be unmanageable. At least...she hopped she wouldn't be unmanageable.
Soon they were riding around in rings to show Sauler they could as well as other basic things, Amelia had learnt years earlier. But she said nothing. Marcus always said that the sign of a good warrior was one who could do any task no matter how small or large without a word or complaint. Once they had finished riding it was time for lunch, but they were to rub down their mounts and care for the tack before that. Amelia took Thunder into her stall as soon as possible, smiling to herself at the choice of name. After riding her as fast as she dared at the moment, she thought it sounded like thunder rolling in a storm as her hoofs beat against the ground. She also thought it was strange how the name had occurred to her so suddenly like she had known all along, and that it was to do with a storm. Which was what Master Tobe had said she was found in.
Taking her time in rubbing Thunder down, Amelia made sure to do a good job so that if Sauler came in during lunch to do a surprise inspection she would be safe. Starting from the top, Amelia worked her way down. Thunder occasionally butted her, which Amelia would have taken for the idea that she was just naturally an affectionate horse but from what Tobe had said she was quite the opposite. Finally Amelia got down to Thunders flanks at which point the itch that had annoyed her all morning turned into a fierce burning. The brush dropping to the ground from her hand due to the pain didn't even register to Amelia as she watched her inner left arm just under her wrist. On it she watched as if some one drew it, a swirling symbol. One that played at the edge of her memory, as if she had seen it before or known it some how. The burning ceased as quickly as it had begun, gingerly she touched the new mark that blended into her skin like a birth mark, it didn't even sting now. Hurriedly she pulled her sleeve down over her wrist and bent to pick up the dropped brush. Only to drop it once more on the way up. Thunder had exactly the same mark on her back left leg.
Thankyou to everyone who had reviewed so far, l love hearing from you to AMulata thankyou for the point on building suspense l hope that this last paragraph had fit that point. Also thankyou to everyone else
Thanx
Warrior
