Wow, i didn't realize how popular this story would be. Thanks for all the reviews and story alert and favorites that ya'll have added. it means a lot to me. enough of me blabbering on; now, what you've all been waiting for!
"Fine," Ella nodded and gasped.
"Here, sit up," the man said, helping Ella into a sitting position.
It helped and Ella could breathe again. "Thank you," she said finally, resting her head in her hands, not knowing who was with her still.
"Welcome, it was a stupid idea," he criticized.
Confused for a few minutes, Ella realized what he was referring to, "I know."
"Then why did you do it?" the man pursued.
Ella looked up at him finally and saw that he was a Ranger. He had peppery hair with flecks of grey and his beard was the same color too. He had green-grey eyes that matched his Ranger-ness. Ella had seen or heard of this man before but couldn't place the name. "I did it because I wanted too and Titan doesn't get enough love," Ella explained.
"You know that the Choosing is today, right?"
"Yes," Ella groaned, not wanting to think about it.
"What do you think you're going to be?" the ranger pressed. Ella wondered why he was still with her when she was perfectly fine from her fall.
"I have no idea. I can almost everything well and don't excel at anything better than another," Ella explained slowly, for she coughed often to stop her voice from trembling.
He looked at her trying to figure out what was going through her head. Ella thought about her situation deeper and had the worst case scenarios running through her mind. The tears escaped slowly and she wiped them off with her sleeve before they reached her chin.
She sighed, "Sorry."
The ranger only nodded, but looked at her in a fatherly way. Ella noticed that throughout their conversation and few minutes together, the Ranger's eyes softened from their normally hard glare to understanding.
"I think I should return Titan to his stall before anyone notices he's gone," Ella continued, after getting control of her emotions, barely.
Ella stood up and staggered a little bit from sitting down for so long. The ranger steadied her and let go of her elbow once she was balanced. She whistled and Titan came trotting up to her. He looked at Ella with his big warm brown eyes that melted Ella's heart. Knowing that the ranger was still behind her, she tried for the longest time to keep the tears in her. She led Titan towards the gate and looked over her shoulder; the ranger was gone, but Ella still said, "Thank you."
Getting Titan's blanket on and her own hat and cloak, she leaned into the battle horse's shoulder, and sighed, "I can't do this, Titan." She longed for the fatherly look the old ranger had given her. Ella knew she couldn't talk to any of her ward mates because they were all stressed about the Choosing and she wouldn't get any special treatment. Ulf was out of the question because he was more of a boss and not a friend. That left no one to take her problems too and they were all bottle up inside of her.
Feeling the cold creep into her bones, she stood up and took Titan's lead rope in her hands. They walked slowly along and Titan could sense something was wrong with his girl. He nibbled her shoulder to try and get her to smile; it worked. Ella glanced back at Titan, who quickly stopped and lifted his head, as if it were a game.
Ella could see the barn at the top of the slope and saw the morning sky brighten to a light blue, making the thin clouds have a pink lighting to them. The snow glistened like glitter and the hot breath from Titan's nostrils make a thick cloud of condensed air that got in the way of Ella's vision. She waved it away, only to have another blast take the other's place. The birds were starting to stir, a few cheeps could be heard from the depths of the branches on the cedar trees. The woods are starting to wake up, she thought grinning slightly.
A couple hundred feet from the cobblestone walkway that lead to everywhere from the stables, Ella saw a big movement to her right, on the other side of Titan. The next thing she knew, Titan was rearing up, scared.
"Easy, boy!" Ella tried to calm him down while avoiding the thrashing hooves. She kept a hold on the lead to keep him from bolting, but got a rope burn across both her palms. The rope slid out of her grasp but Titan remained close to her, as if he were still connected to her. Titan spun around Ella to her left side so Ella was exposed to the movement that frightened Titan. She looked over at the woods but didn't register anything, for she was knocked to the ground by a large mass. The person was pinning her to the ground, holding her hands against her back. She could feel the person's knee jabbing into her lower back. The wind was knocked out of her a second time, but she didn't have the liberty of sitting up to get her breath back.
"You've committed a felony!" Ella heard a male voice yell at her. Ella turned her head to the other side, hoping to figure out who was on her and see if Titan was okay.
To her disbelief, Kyle was holding the rope connected to Titan. The big buckskin was freaking out even more now that his girl was in trouble. Kyle avoided the thrashing hooves but did nothing to stop Titan from his rearing. Titan stopped rearing for a moment, only to be backed up harshly by Kyle. He banged the halter against Titan's nose, giving the poor animal a rope burn on his face.
"Kyle! Stop it! You're scaring him!"Ella yelled at her friend. She tried to wriggle free from her captor's grasp. From the corner of her eye she could see that it was Herbert. "Get off me, jerk!" Ella tried to yell, but Herbert's knee dug deeper in to Ella's back, cutting her breath short.
"Stop moving and you won't get hurt," it wasn't Kyle's or Herbert's voice. Ella recognized it all too well.
"Ulf, what the hell! What did I do?" Ella tried to lift her head so she could yell at the horse master. That only led to Herbert smashing her face on the icy cobblestone again.
"You stole a battle horse, simple as that. And don't think you'll get special treatment because you're a girl or one of my workers," Ulf spat the last word at Ella, leaning over her. "You won't be going to the Choosing for this. You should've thought about what you were doing."
Ella mustered up her strength under Herbert's body and rolled onto her back, knocking Herbert onto the snow. He still had Ella's hands but at least she could breathe and stand up. "Titan was sick. I forgot to tell you. By the time I had told you, which was late in the evening, Titan could've been at the point where he wouldn't be able to heal. I did you a favor by taking a dead horse off your hands," Ella replied icily, incorporating as much hate in her voice as she could.
Ulf just shrugged, "Sorry, that's not a good enough excuse. We have to sell Titan now. Boys, you know what to do."
Kyle tied Titan to a hitching post and Titan reared and bucked more, trying to break free to help his girl. Herbert pulled out a rope and tied Ella's hands behind her back. The rope cut into her wrists and she could feel the warmth of her blood trickle slowly down her fingers. Kyle and Herbert took Ella by a shoulder each and shoved her into the barn. Titan saw them manhandling his girl and he flipped his head harshly, only to get a whipping from behind on his flank. Finally, he stopped his striking out and stood with his head and tail low, defeated.
In the barn, Kyle and Herbert threw Ella on the ground. She couldn't break her fall and fell on her shoulder, all the shock of the fall was on her shoulder and bruised instantly. A groan of pain escaped her and Herbert flicked the toe of his boot at her bruised shoulder. Ella positioned herself so she was leaning against a stall door, looking up at her Ward mates.
"What are you going to do to me?" Ella asked sarcastically.
The two boys exchanged a small glance and picked her up off the ground. Kyle kicked her legs apart and pressed her head against the wall. He then patted her up and down, looking for any weapons.
"Why on earth would I have a weapon?" Ella asked, incredulous at the two boys' way of working with a felon.
Thankfully, and to Ella's disbelief, they weren't rude to her and respected her. Kyle went back to her waist and pulled a sheath off Ella's belt.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Kyle said, letting Ella turn to see what he was holding.
"Cool! I didn't know you had a knife!" Herbert interjected, coming forward and taking it from Kyle. Herbert pulled it out of its small sheath to find a small folded knife. He looked at it, confused, for a moment. Then he flicked it and the blade shot out of it. At that moment, Ella felt a sharp pain in her other arm and the feeling of her flesh splitting apart. The pain was so sudden that she let her feet slip out from under her so she was sitting again.
"Herbert, you idiot!" Ella shouted, doing the instinctive thing to press on the gash; but her hands were still tied behind her, and the rope only cut into her more.
"Whoops," was all Herbert replied. It wasn't an apologetic "whoops" just a "sucks for you" whoops.
"Well, I think our work here is done, pal. See you at the Choosing, Ella," Kyle said, turning to leave, "or not I guess," he called over his shoulder as he and Herbert walked out of the stable. Herbert tossed the flipping knife on the ground beside Ella.
Ella looked after them and felt the warm ooze of her blood trickle down her arm. She felt sick, from not eating, not sleeping and the multiple pains on her. When Herbert and Kyle opened the big sliding barn door, they didn't close it all the way so Ella could see out. Titan was still tied to the hitching post, looking like a defeated animal about to be butchered.
Taking a deep breath, Ella stood up and limped to the barn door. She slid out the small gap and made her way over to Titan. He pricked his ears and gave a low wicker. Ella ignored it and kept limping. She got lightheaded and fell to her knees on the snow. The pain in her arms was worse than the cold, wet snow that was soaking her clothes. She saw black and fell face first in the white blanket.
In the woods, Halt had seen the struggle with the boys, Ulf and that girl he had been scouting for Gilan. He was impressed with the way the girl, Ella, handled the situation. She didn't show signs of weakness and chose her words carefully based on the situation.
When they had disappeared into the barn, Halt made his move to see what was going on inside the barn. That's when he saw Ulf beat his horse that was tied and rearing. A wave of hatred and anger swept over Halt and he had to stifle it, only thinking of Ella.
Ulf, done with his beatings, turned up the path to the Castle, leaving the big horse standing outside. Halt slipped into the dimly lit stable, hood up and cloak pulled around him, and stood quietly in a dark corner to watch the boys and Ella.
He got worried when they did the pat down but was glad the horse boy did it as opposed to the big brute. Halt thought that the horse boy respected Ella better and he could see the pain on the horse boy's face as he was throwing her around.
The horse boy pulled out a small object from Ella's waist and Halt observed that it was a flipping knife. His hypothesis was soon proved when Ella fell to the ground and she winced in pain.
"Herbert you idiot!" Ella yelled at the brute.
The two boys said a few parting words and left Ella on the ground. Halt stood by while they exited, not even aware he was five feet from them. Looking at Ella still, he wondered why she wasn't trying to stop the bleeding in her arm, when she rose and limped down the aisle to the barn door. Her wrists were tied together and bleeding from the rope, as he noticed when she passed. She glanced in Halt's direction but he stood still and waited for her to pass.
He followed behind Ella a few feet back and walked silently after her. In a moment, Ella was on the ground. The horse that was tied freaked out once more. Halt glided over to the horse and untied him. He led the horse over to Ella and dropped the rope, knowing he'd stand there.
Halt stood over Ella, who was unconscious on the ground. First he untied her hands. Then he assessed her injuries and slipped her into his arms. Titan followed after him to a grove of dense trees. It was fairly untouched by the snow, just a trace of it. He set her down so she was propped up against a tree. Thinking for a moment, Halt went over to Titan, who was grazing on some grass that was peaking over the thin layer of snow, and took his blanket off. After wrapping Ella up in it, he disappeared in the direction of his cabin.
Walking with haste, for it was too deep of snow to run, he thought about Ella's situation. She had committed a crime, beaten people up numerous times, and didn't necessarily have a strong point that stuck out. Halt didn't want her to be sentenced to a life on the farm, there's no way she could handle that; as he had observed in the last four months.
Reaching his cabin, he was greeted by Abelard and Tug, who were enjoying their freshly thrown hay. Will must be up, he thought to himself as he passed the paddock and stepped onto the porch. Inside, it was warm and it smelled of breakfast and coffee. Another day without coffee, Halt thought as he went past the steaming pot to his room.
"Hey Halt!" Will called from his room on the other side of the small house. "Where have you been?"
"Ella got in a little bit of trouble this morning," Halt explained simply, coming out of his room with a small box.
"What kind of trouble this time?" Will asked as if he'd heard that explanation a million times before.
"Unconscious in the woods and has multiple gashes. She lost this one," Halt replied, going past the coffee once more and going out the door.
Will followed his mentor out the door but stayed on the porch, "Need any help?"
"No, not this time. We've gotta get her off to the Choosing today," Halt called over his shoulder.
Will shrugged and went back into the warm cabin.
When Halt arrived back to where he had left Ella, she was still unconscious. Taking this opportunity, he cut the sleeve off on the arm that got sliced to see if it was deep. It was. He opened his box and took out a little jar with numbing goo and dabbed it on the perimeter of the cut. Then he withdrew a small needle and thread. He sewed it together in a few minutes and tied a loose cloth around it with a cooling ointment to keep the pain at ease.
Now we wait, he thought, leaning against a tree opposite Ella. He watched her sleep, all curled up in the horse's big blanket. She looked so innocent and pure when she slept and he tried to figure out why she acted the way she did. Someone so small and cute shouldn't be a $$ kicker, he thought.
Titan laid down close to Ella so his muzzle was barely touching her knee. Halt sat on the ground with his cloak pulled tight around him. He glanced up at the sky through the intertwined tree branches to see the position of the sun. It was almost mid morning, the time of the Choosing.
Ella shifted her position so her shoulder was propped against the tree. It touched her bruise and, sadly, she was taken out of sleep and into the world. She groaned at the pain in both of her arms and looked down at her freed wrists. Blinking a couple of times to clear her fogged head, she looked up. Well wouldn't you know, she thought to herself. She then realized where she was and the position of the sun.
"Crap! What time is it?" she exclaimed.
"Mid morning. You still have a little while before the Choosing," the ranger replied, his face in shadow from his hood.
Not the best ending, i apologize. R&R?