The Angry Boy Chapter 5
After Chase Tanner returned the stallion to Sir Mittel's manor, he stopped by the Temple of the Iron God. Master Tanner was a bastard half-brother of Faro Mittel. His father had given him a gentleman's education, but there was no inheritance for bastards. Aside from showing early skill with horses, Chase had had no craft or trade.
Seeking a vocation, Chase had spent several years as an acolyte in the temple. Father Milo, the Patriarch at the time, had seen that the young man was not suited to the monastic life. Father Milo had noted Chase's skill and obsession with horses. The monks were foot-soldiers, not cavalry; not even the Masters rode. There was no place for a rider in the Order. Through his contacts at Bransat House, Father Milo had arranged for Chase Tanner to be taken on as assistant to Count Wyeth's horsemaster at the time.
Chase had quickly proved himself as a horse-trainer and riding instructor and had taken the old horsemaster's place when the latter was killed in a bad fall.
He had kept in touch with the monks of the Temple and worshipped there himself. Father Toma had been one of his early instructors; the two remained good friends. Chase often came by to talk with the priest, which helped Father Toma keep abreast of the goings-on at Bransat House. Chase also came to the priest for guidance when troubled.
Today, Chase Tanner was a very troubled man.
The two sat in Father Toma's office.
"I don't like it, Toma. That horse is far too much horse for the boy. He could kill Kensie."
No horseman, Toma raised an eyebrow. "But as a noble and heir, he has been riding since the time he could sit upright. Surely he can ride well by now."
"He could be an excellent rider. He has a good seat and good hands. But he has a foul temper and lacks patience. He has never actually trained a horse. He is not yet ready for a war stallion. He lacks the experience."
Toma smiled. "I recall a twelve year old acolyte who could ride a wild horse through fire." Father Toma referred to an incident when the young Chase had 'borrowed' a horse from his father's stable and jumped it over the midsummer fire. The horse was notorious for its vicious temper and skittishness. It had injured three of Dasan Mittel's stable hands. Only its near-flawless conformation had prevented Dasan Mittel from gelding the horse.
"I was a damn fool to get on that horse." Chase retorted. "I got away with that stunt through more luck than skill. Besides, Ornias and I seemed to get along for some reason."
"I'd suggest that there was some level of skill involved." Toma said.
"I'll not play modest." Chase said. "Yes, I was a better rider than most grown men and I had spent more time in the saddle than on my feet. But it was still a foolhardy stunt. Ornias was a difficult horse at the best of times.
"Not to put too fine a point on it, I was a much better rider at twelve than Kensie is now. And I knew I couldn't beat a horse into submission – at least not a war stallion. And I was still learning right up to the time old Kendal Wilkes came off that mare.
"Kensie thinks he knows all about riding. He barely listens to me in the lessons any more, except when he gets himself thrown. Then he will listen for a lesson or two, but soon goes back to thinking he knows it all. He lacks the experience to deal with a stallion and he doesn't realize it.
"He's demanded that I let him ride Eagle. I have only thwarted that by pointing out that Eagle belongs to me, not his father.
"Now that he's got that new stud, I won't be able to keep him off it. If I refuse to teach him on it, I'll be replaced by someone who will."
Chase Tanner sighed. "I don't want the boy's death on my conscience. That horse will kill him or at least hurt him badly unless there is a special miracle from the gods."
"'Miracles begin within ourselves.'" Father Toma quoted.
"The miracle will have to come from Kensie." Chase retorted. "I have run out of ideas."
"Have you spoken to Count Wyeth?" Toma asked.
"Repeatedly. But he is blind to the faults in his son. Or thinks they are just passing phases." Chase Tanner sighed again. "I am thinking of resigning."
"Walking away won't save the boy."
"But whatever happens won't happen on my watch." The horsemaster said.
"Are you willing to let a disaster happen when there is the slightest possibility you could prevent it?" The priest asked.
Chase made a sour face. "You do ask nasty questions, don't you? The trouble is I have no idea how to prevent it."
"'If you do not try, you cannot succeed.'" Father Toma quoted another proverb of the Iron God.
"'When the house is burning, it does no good to throw yourself into the fire.'" Chase retorted.
The priest laughed. "My friend, I cannot say what is best here. I think there is a chance you can help the boy if you stay. On the other hand, if your fears come to pass, you may find the blame laid on you for what you hoped to prevent. Those who warn of danger are often labelled as the cause of what they foretold."
Chase Tanner sat still for a moment. "Thank you, my friend. You have just summarized my dilemma. I have a few days to think it over."
"Maybe the boy will decide he doesn't want the horse." Toma suggested.
"No chance of that." The horsemaster said. "I think the boy saw the horse this afternoon." He described how he had brought the horse to the saddlery and the discovery of Bredin hiding in the shed.
"I think there was another person in the shed. I could hear a soft voice coming from inside. I couldn't make out the words, but I think it was Kensie from the sound of the voice. Whoever it was, it was like a lover wooing his beloved. The horse was aware of the sound. He kept an ear pointed at it the whole time he stood there.
"After Bredin came out, the horse kept watching the shed, not Bredin. So, whoever was with Bredin was still in there.
"I noticed something else, too. When his father asked why he was in the shed, Bredin said he was watching the horse. He didn't say he wanted to watch the horse, just that he was watching it. Enro didn't catch the evasion."
Toma smiled to himself. It looked like Bredin had gotten something out of their talks. "I hope Bredin didn't suffer too much at his father's hands."
"Nah, Count Wyeth talked him out of beating the boy and I got Enro to have the boy come to Faro's barn with me so Enro would have time to cool down." Chase said. "My point, though, was that I am sure that Kensie has seen the horse and, from the tones I was hearing, he is as infatuated with the horse as any swain was ever in thrall to a maid."
Toma mused on this for a moment. The horsemaster's story jibed with what Brother Manas had said a candlemark earlier about the boys being seen together sneaking through the alley behind the street. Father Toma had dismissed the story at the time, thinking it improbable that Kensie would ever associate with Bredin. In light of his friend's information, the report began to make sense.
"I will question Bredin tomorrow when he comes to school. I'll let you know what I find out."
The two rose and shook hands. "If you decide to go, I'll write to Grandmaster Sanat in Haven. He will have some contacts among the noble houses there and could help you find another place." Father Toma said.
Chase Tanner thanked his friend and left. Father Toma's offer of a letter gave him an idea. He would put his concerns in a letter to Count Wyeth. If worst came to worst, at least there would be a record of him warning of the danger.
The next morning, Father Toma called Bredin to his office. He handed Bredin a bottle of liniment. "This will help your muscles. Rub it in morning and evening. It will sting a little as you apply it, then you will feel warm. It should stop the aching in a sennight."
Bredin thanked the priest and turned to go. "Sit down, Bredin." Father Toma ordered.
Bredin stared at the priest in alarm. He wondered what Father Toma wanted now.
"I said 'sit down', Bredin." Father Toma repeated firmly. Bredin gulped and sat.
"Who was hiding with you in your father's shed yesterday, Bredin? Who was with you when you were looking at the horse?"
"I was just looking at the horse, Father." The boy said.
Father Toma repressed a smile at the evasion. The boy had learned something, after all. Trying not to sound angry, Toma said "I know you were looking at the horse, Bredin. What I want to know is who was with you."
Bredin tried once more. "None of my friends were with me, sir."
Father Toma laughed outright. "Bredin, I am sure that neither Rhys nor Tagan are interested enough in horses to sneak into your father's shed. Nor are you. For that matter, you could have seen the horse just as easily if you stood in the yard. You didn't have to hide."
"My father banned me from his shop." Bredin said, desperately trying to convince the priest. At least Father Toma did not sound angry.
"The yard is not the shop, Bredin." Father Toma pointed out. "What I want to know is who was with you in the shed."
"There was no one else." Bredin said.
The priest sighed. "Bredin, that is the first outright lie you have told me. You are not a boy who is smitten by horses. Even if you were, you did not have to hide in the shed. The only reason for you to hide in the shed was if you were hiding someone else, someone who wasn't supposed to be there. Who was it?"
"I won't tell you. I promised not to tell." Bredin said. He might be punished by the priest, but it couldn't be worse than the beating Kensie would give him.
Father Toma leaned back in his chair. He stared at Bredin, who fidgeted under his gaze. "I see." Father Toma said. "Well, I won't ask you to break your promise." The boy relaxed visibly as Father Toma said it. Toma forebore to point out that Bredin had just revealed that there had been someone with him.
"However, I must warn you, Bredin. Brother Manas saw you yesterday in the alleyway with a, shall we say, rather unlikely companion. It is not wise to involve yourself in the affairs of the nobles. They will put you in danger, then abandon you when you are no further use." Father Toma knew that there were honorable men among the nobility, but the only nobles in Bredin's world were not in that category.
"I want nothing to do with the highborn, sir." Bredin said it so fervently that Father Toma had to smile.
He rose and motioned Bredin to stand up. Father Toma escorted Bredin back to his class. As he left the boy, he said "That liniment should ease your muscle soreness in a sennight. See Brother Carnot if you don't feel better by then."
Bredin realized that the priest was giving a 'reason' for summoning Bredin to his office so no one would ask about the other matter. "Thank you, Father, I will do that." He smiled and winked at the priest.
Father Toma returned to his office, now certain that Kensie had indeed been the other person hiding in the shed. The problem was that Kensie was no master conspirator, no matter how clever he thought himself. Word would get out, somehow, and Kensie would assume that Bredin had told the secret, never thinking that there were a thousand other ways that people would find out. Kensie was probably unaware that his own father would spy on him as was common among the nobility.
Chase Tanner had figured out what had happened. Others besides Brother Manas had undoubtedly seen the two in the alley, would hear the tale of what happened at Enro's shop and put the two together. Probably some of Kensie's own coterie would figure out or know where he had gone; Father Toma could not imagine that group of bubbleheads keeping a secret for long.
As it happened, the last of these was becoming plain to Kensie at that very moment.
"So, how do you like your new horse?" Wallis Mittel asked Kensie as he rode out with his coterie. The group were headed for a picnic by a waterfall.
Kensie turned and gaped at his friend. "Who told you that I saw my new horse?" He demanded. "If that peasant brat babbled, I'll have his hide."
Wallis snorted. "I don't need a peasant to tell me which way the wind blows, cousin. You left us all very abruptly after luncheon yesterday. You said you wanted to be alone. Not a candlemark later, Naril sees you slip between two buildings along Temple Street. A sunwidth after that, someone calls that Bredin brat over to that spot. Later, that same brat pops out of a shed where he was 'watching the horsie.' We both know that brat doesn't know a hoof from a hackamore, so why does he want to see a horse?
"As for you, you've been worrying about what kind of horse your father is getting you ever since you found out that he was buying it. After you come back yesterday, you are suddenly saying that you can't wait to ride the horse. The man who wants a good horse becomes the man who wants to ride a particular horse only after he has seen the horse." Wallis smiled at his own cleverness.
For his part, Kensie was furious. "For Kerenos' sake, don't tell anyone! Father will be furious if he finds out I saw the horse."
Wallis shrugged. "I won't tell. But I'm not the only person who can follow footprints. Even if the brat doesn't talk, everyone is going to know you were there in a day or two."
At that point, Kensie realized that he had handed Bredin a means to blackmail him. Worse, Bredin's hot temper might make the younger boy blurt out the story. Kensie would have to take pains to avoid Bredin until after his investiture.
Meanwhile, Kensie summoned his coterie and begged them to tell no one especially not his father. He threatened retaliation if any broke the silence.
Kensie prayed that word would not reach his father; his prayers were in vain. Count Wyeth knew by that evening. The Count said nothing to his son, preferring to let Kensie live in the agony of suspense rather than the relief of certainty. In time, he would let the boy know that he had known. Hopefully, Kensie would something of the nature of secrets and conspiracy while he fretted about being discovered.
As Kensie avoided Bredin, the latter had one less problem for the next ten days. His father's intransience and his mother's impatience made the days tedious and slow. With Father Toma's liniment, Bredin's muscles began to loosen slowly over the next few days. He could walk easier and faster, but the increasing freedom of movement gave him no joy.
To pass the time, Bredin sought refuge in his books and began following the monks in their afternoon drills. Father Toma noted this; he formed the seeds of a plan.