Chapter 4

The morning light was glaring down on the pasture where the war horses were all grazing. I was standing on the bottom pole of the wooden fence, looking out as far as I could to see them all. Huge beasts that were fast, lethal, and brave. They trusted us to take care of them on the outside of the wall, just like we trusted them to have our backs. I climbed down from the fence and walked over to the stables.

"Its almost time.." I whispered to myself. I began playing with the large black feather that I had woken up with. I crimped the end of my hair around the quill so it would stay in my hair. It seemed to bring me comfort, which was odd to say but hey, you don't question gut feelings. I then proceeded to give myself a pep talk in my mind. "Alright, first day of training. You've ridden horses a million times on the farm. Yeah they're huge but they're still tamed animals… very huge, very lethal, so big they could bite a chunk of your ass off…but.. still just horses. You got this Rini." I was still pacing and giving myself a talk when the squad showed up.

"Hey! It's the newbie!" I looked at a taller man, with a cocky attitude. He had hair that was bowl cut. It looked like he was trying to imitate Levi but his hair was just a little too curly for it. He looked at me with a droopy, uncaring, and sarcastic stare. "Shut up Oluo." Another man said. I switched my attention to him. Long blonde hair and a serious but respectable expression. "He must be Levi's second…" I thought to myself. " All y'all need to shut your damn mouths! We are here to train. Focus." A third voice replied sternly. He had short dark hair with slightly darker skin. He looked a little too serious. They were all quarrelling to each other when Levi walked into the stables. "Enough.." He said sternly. "This is how you 3 assholes act in front of a new member..? Way to show her what idiots you all are."

" PFFFTTT! Oluo started the whole damn thing by picking on her. I was just telling him to shut his mouth before he bit his damn tongue!" The dark haired man stated exasperatedly. At that moment Oluo tried to speak against him but his tongue was swollen and there was blood dripping from him mouth. The blonde with long hair then walked up to me and held out his hand. "The name's Eld. Sorry about these two idiots. You'll get used to it in time." He said smirking. I took his hand and shook it. " Nice to meet you, I'm Serentiy." I said professionally. I wanted to make a good impression. Eld nodded to me as if to affirm my name.

"That goon who was talking shit is Oluo. He is always being a dick. You can just knock the shit out of him if it gets to be too much. The hothead is Gunther. He is the most serious son of a bitch you will ever meet but he has his good moments." I nodded in agreement. They were both assholes in my book, but this is my squad now and I'll learn to love them. We lined up as Levi strode further into the stables. "Alright today we are training Rini to ride. She might need some assistance so please grab your horses and mount up. We're taking her to the pasture so she can pick her steed and we can begin the breaking." The team then split up, each of them going to separate stalls with their names on them. Each had their own horse that they themselves raised. I watched as Levi pushed a stall door to the side and a giant grey stallion greeted him. I stared in wonder as the horse greeted Levi like a good friend, rubbing his satin nose in Levi's hair.

Levi then gave him a pat and turned to me, the horse looked at me as well. "I know he's big but he won't hurt you. He's a gentle giant until he is on the battlefield." Levi said with his usual stoic expression. The horse then moved past Levi and walked up to me. He lowered his head to look me in the eyes. I raised my hand to stroke his soft nose and he rested his forehead against mine. "He's amazing.." I breathed. "Hm.." Levi huffed. "It's quite rare that he let's strangers touch him, he must like you." I let out my breath that I didn't know I was holding and the horse continued to look at me. Then all at once I felt a firm but gentle grip around my waist and I was airborne. I landed with a soft thud on the horse's back, and a huge blush at the fact that levi had his arms around me. He then mounted in front of me and settled into the saddle. All the while everyone else had mounted up and was waiting at the pasture gate.

"What's his name?" I asked levi as he motioned for his horse to walk toward the gate. "His name is Arion." Levi stated, the horses ears flicked back at the sound of his name. "Arion.. it suits him." I stated patting the horses behind. We had the reached the gate and a boy and what looked to be his father, the stable caretaker, opened the gate. "You might want to hold on to me…" Levi said, smirking as he glance back at me over his shoulder. "Oh shit… " I whispered as I felt the horse paw at the ground with his hooves. He was ready to run like hell was on his tail. I had thrown my arms around Levi's waist just as the gates fully opened, and the horses took off. I squeezed my arms tight around my captain and held on for dear life as Arion raced across the pasture at breakneck speeds. After Arion took off running I couldn't hear anything except for the thunder in my ears. I squinted my eyes open to look around and found the source of the thunder. Eld, Gunther, and Oluo were right behind us, their horses seemed to keep pace with ease but the sound of their hooves beating into the earth was deafening.

I looked forward as we were coming up over the ridge and my eyes widened. Nothing but war stallions for miles. All running free or playing. Levi brought Arion to a steady walk but I didn't loosen my grip on Levi. Not a damn inch. If the horse decided he wanted to take off I'd be on the ground in a matter of seconds. Levi then turned to me and chuckled. "What's wrong Serenity? Did you get scared? You're breathing like you just ran a mile." "I'm…fine. Just… winded." I gasped between panting breaths. I saw Levi smirk as he led Arion toward the other stallions. "Alright, be looking for the one you want." I heard Levi say over his shoulder. "I..get to pick?" I asked feeling excited that I would get to choose my own. "Yes, we all pick our own mounts. Now, do you see one that you like? We need to catch it." I looked out over all of the horses. There was such a diversity it was insane. Some smaller, some massive, in a range of colors that panned the spectrum. White, brown, black, auburn, and bay stallions were everywhere. Some even looked to be golden, their coats shining in the early morning sun. I squinted my eyes to look out across the field and almost immediately knew which one I wanted.

"I see the one I want." I stated to Levi. "Which one..?" He asked peering back at me from the corner of his eye. "Do you see the golden Clydesdale? I want that one." I said pointing out into the herd. "Alright, you guys heard her. Let's get the horse singled from the herd so we can catch it." As Levi continued to give out orders for a plan to get the horse separated from the rest, I stroked Arion's side. He seemed to relax under the petting. Levi then turned to me. "Alright Serenity. It's been decided that I'm going to go get your horse…alone." "What?!" I squeaked. "Why?!" "Well, you just so happened to choose the horse no one has been able to catch. I have yet to try though so this may be fun." Levi said with his trademark smirk. "I am going to have to ask you to dismount Arion though, regretfully I can't have your arms around me while I try to capture your mount."

I blushed as he turned his smirk on full blast. I let my arms fall from Levi's waist as I carefully slid down Arion's side. I walked around to Arion and patted him on the nose and he messed with my hair. "Alright, let's hope this goes well." Levi stated as he led Arion toward the herd. I walked over to Eld's bay mare and gently stroked her neck as I watched Levi. "Well, thanks to you newbie, we are most likely going to see our Captain put in the hospital." Oluo said on a grimace. "WHAT?!" I screamed. "Why?!" That horse hasn't been caught because it has killed everyone who has tried." Eld said somberly. "You've got to be shitting me… and you all were too much of a coward to help him?! You're a team, he is our Captain!" I yelled furiously as I began marching down toward the herd. "Serenity, stay back! That's an order!" Gunther yelled. I gave him the finger as I kept walking. "It's her damn funeral.." Oluo stated in his cocky asshole way.

I continued toward the herd as Levi led Arion around between the bodies of other horses, trying to isolate the Clydesdale. The other horses flowed together around Arion like water but the Clydesdale didn't budge. It knew what was happening and it didn't seem fazed. Then all at once, it was like a switch had flipped. The Clydesdale charged at Arion who barely got out of it's way. Levi then kicked Arion into a sprint, rope at the ready to catch the horse I had chosen.

As Arion was catching up to the golden beast, it suddenly tucked it's head down and took off like a bullet. Once it was a distance away it turned sharply and started sprinting head on toward Arion and Levi. "Look out!" I yelled over the roar of thundering hooves as the rest of the herd grew frantic and nervous. I kept an eye out for stray horses as I continued running for Levi. Arion reared as the clydesdale bit into his neck and I watched as Levi was forced to dismount as the horses fought. Arion continued to give chase to the clydesdale, revenge clearly seen within his eyes. Levi was now running after Arion as another fight broke out between the stallions. I finally caught up to Levi as the horses reared and crashed together. Their screams could shatter glass. Levi was walking around the brawling beasts, rope at the ready for the perfect moment.

I looked on as both horses reared again, their hooves ripping into each other. All at once Arion lost his footing on his hind legs and crashed to the ground. The golden clydesdale saw the opportunity and was getting ready to slam his front hooves down into Arion's neck. All of my training with horses seemed to surface in that instant. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as I ran toward Levi and snatched the rope from his hands. I Formed a slip knot in the middle of the lengthy rope and got behind the clydesdale as it reared for the final blow on Arion. I threw the middle of the rope with the knot over the beast's head and pulled back so it went around the mouth. I pulled the ropes on either side tight and as I did I used the ropes to hoist myself onto the beast's back. This is when all hell seemed to break loose.

As soon as the horse felt my wieght on it's back, It turned in a tight circle and Levi was now in it's path. I pulled back on the ropes to halt the horse, it worked but only for a moment. Levi had taken those couple seconds to move from it's path and to Arion who had gotten up with nostrils flaring. He was pissed. I had to tighten my legs around the animal's sides, it didn't help much considering the sheer size of the damned thing, and I tightened the ropes even more. All at once the beast took off with it's head down. I tucked closer to it's body, being wary of the moment when it would suddenly stop and rear its head to smash me in the face. I tugged back on the ropes again, forcing the horse's mouth to it's chest in an effort to get it to stop running. It worked but as the horse slowed, it began to buck. It's hind legs flying into the air with sporadic kicks and screams. I kept my legs clenched to it's sides and I gripped it's mane with the ropes in my hands pulled taut.

The beast tried every trick in the book. Spinning fast in tight circles, rearing, jumping, bucking, turning it's neck to smash my head with it's own, all the while it screamed. I held on for dear life, my muscles burning and twitching from the strain. Levi had mounted Arion and they were circling the frantic horse with another rope in hand. As the beast began to tire it had one more trick up it's sleeve. It stopped moving altogether and Levi saw the opportunity to rope it. As the rope was pulled tight around it's neck, the beast began to fall to one side and roll onto it's back to crush me with it's weight. I tried to swing off to the other side of the horse but I wasn't fast enough. As the beast hit the dirt it ground it's shoulder into my leg and I could hear the sickening crunch of bone. The horse stilled as I screamed bloody murder, one leg caught under it's body. The beast gave one last snort as it stopped thrashing, seemingly happy that it had caused me pain.

I continued screaming as Levi called to the rest of the squad to subdue the crazy beast. After they had more ropes around the horse's neck they pulled on them to get the animal to it's feet and off of my leg. Levi was by my side the moment the horse was off of me. "Serenity I'm so sorry. Why did you come down here. You had no horse, nothing." He continued to scold me as I tried to stop whimpering. "It almost killed Arion.. It almost hurt you.. " I whispered through gritted teeth. Levi continued to study my face, a small smirk adorned his features. "Well, I guess we're both lucky you were here then.." He whispered back. "I need to take a look at your leg though to figure out where it's hurt." I screamed in pain as he tried to examine my leg as gently as possible. I was screaming my head off when he reset the bones in my shin. "Holy shit, why would you fucking do that?! I should kill you, you fuckin asshole!" I continued to scream profanities as Arion came over to nuzzle my cheek in comfort. I stroked his muzzle as he snorted in my face. Levi was splinting my leg as Arion continued to comfort me. "Yeah, you're good, Unlike that asshole over there." I whispered to Arion. Levi snorted. "I heard that you brat." I rolled my eyes and Arion seemed to do the same. "Your leg will be alright. There is no splintering and the bone didn't break the skin so with some time your leg will be as good as new. We need to get you back to base so you can recieve medicine for the pain." Levi said as he stood. I can honestly say the ride back was the worst ride of my life even if I was cradled against Levi's strong chest.

Author's note: Hey everyone! Sorry that it took so long for an update. My apologies if there are mistakes as well. I wanted to get something to you guys and I felt bad. Things just came up. Life and work. I will continue writing though don't you worry about that! I know it's short but I hope you enjoy this chapter. Please leave a review. It helps a lot! Thanks for reading! - GurgleBurgle