Some More Horsey Stuff
So a headcanon I have is that Harry was pretty horsey. He got Rita into horse riding and she took to it quickly.
Poseidon is the God of both the Sea and horses so I have another headcanon that horse's have a unique sense about Mermaids - see Rebel pushing Emma in the water in H2o Riding For A Fall. I did make a tumblr post about it quite a while back. It also gives Mermaids a seemingly natural riding ability - to an extent. They're not going to go all 'protagonist in a horse movie or show' and be able to win the big race or big jumping competition the first time they sit on a horse or something
Harry's brother Hector is still into horses and Rita often goes over to visit him and his horses. Hector's boyfriend is Felix, a friend of Rita's with Mermaid connections. He's not the biggest into horses but enjoys having a plod about on Hector's Traditional Cob horse (sometimes called a Gypsy Cob) Teddy. He does often supervise the other's riding - just in case.
The Mermaids use the Moon Pool locator/watching spell when Rita happens to be riding. In this scene she had just fallen off. No context is given to why the fall happens but following a scene later on in this chapter horses can sense the Moon Pool spell as well and it makes them spooked and stressed.
There was a dull thump. Muted little thuds followed.
"I'm okay." Her voice came through the Moon Pool. Then the water focused.
Rita was sitting on the sand in a large fenced area, legs stretched out in front of her. There was sand stuck to the back of her burgundy hoodie and black riding helmet.
She stood up and brushed some of the sand off.
There was a grey horse standing off to the side, reins hanging over its head.
A second scene where they use the Moon Pool when Rita is out riding with Felix supervising
"You're going to fall." A man spoke (Felix but they don't know who he is currently)
Rita "Whatever happened to positive thinking?"
Felix "It goes out the window when you do something stupid."
Rita "I don't do stupid things. I do smart things that don't work out."
Ondina back in the Moon Pool cavern "Do we even want to know?"
The water stilled and they could see through to a sandy arena.
Rita was sitting on the back of a grey horse, minus a saddle, sticking along the wooden fence. The horse stepped up into a trot along the side of the area before breaking out into a canter at the corner. Rita turned the horse towards the centre of the area towards a small jump set up.
The horse's strides lengthened before the horse took off and leaped clear up over the jump, the Mermaid balancing carefully and following the horse's movements.
Rita patted the horse's neck on landing and slowed the horse down.
"I did it," Rita was smiling as she sat into the horse's slowing trot.
"You got lucky."
"Luck had nothing to do with it," Rita brought the horse back to a walk and its neck again.
"How do you put up with her Sylvie?" The man asked the horse.
Another scene with Moon Pool watching while riding
A steady three beat drumming echoed around the cavern. The water stopped moving and froze over.
A lean black horse was cantering smoothly across the sand, a jump of four painted rails looming. The rider encouraged the horse onwards. The horse obliged and stretched up over the jump, the rider holding herself out of the saddle. The horse landed with a snort and resumed the canter.
"Good boy!" Rita said and patted the horse.
A scene from Rita's pov of riding while they use the Moon Pool spell. The italics are from the Moon Pool where they're watching, normal text is Rita's pov.
Something felt...off. Wrong even. It was an unnerving feeling of being watched. Air felt almost like electricity buzzing around. It made her skin crawl. And apparently she wasn't the only one feeling it.
The grey mare she was riding tossed her head and pinned her ears back. The mare's strong galloping strides slowed down while her agitated snorts grew more frequent. She dug her hooves into the ground in a quick halt before tossing her head back again and half rearing up.
It wasn't difficult to see the distressed state of the horse. The whites of its eyes were showing as it reared up and acted like the ground was scorching coals that seared its hooves rather than simple grass. The rider was trying to soothe the horse , trying to encourage it forward.
"Drop your ring. Drop it now before something happens."
The horse didn't seem to be eased by the drop in energy. The horse lashed out violently with its back legs.
"Drop yours too."
The horse settled down, all four hooves on the ground, sides heaving but eyes still wide and white. The rider slipped her feet from the stirrups and quickly dismounted, holding the horse's bridle with one hand while taking the reins down over the horse's head.
She stroked the horse's face while speaking softly. She felt sick. She knew they had been watching. All the Moon energy made her head hurt and terrified Silvade. It wouldn't have taken much for it to have been worse than a few rears and a buck. The ground was far from even and the mare easily could've overbalanced and fallen backwards, crushing her.
She led her horse over to the jump they should've been clear over if not for the unwelcomed eyes. It was a coarse log about a metre in height and the same in width. She sat heavily down on top of the log, thankfully her shaking legs had gotten over there.
Silvade seemed fine now. The mare was snaffling at the short Autumn grass like nothing had happened.
Nixie is feeling down so Rita offers to take her out riding
"Wanna do something fun that is in no way related to Mermaids or Mako?"
" Yes," came Nixie's reply in a desperate tone.
"Then let's go."
"Where are we going and what are we doing?"
"We're going horse riding."
Rita takes Nixie out a hack down to a deserted harbour with ruins around it.
"How'd you find this place?" Nixie asked, looking around.
They had ridden down an old road through some woodlands before Rita led them through a large ruined wall with a broken down archway wide enough for three horses to pass through. The horse's hooves chimed out on the flagstone floor as they passed under the roof.
Once out of the ruins a deserted harbour spread out in front of them. The tide was out leaving it littered in rocks and shells and rotted old ropes.
"This is where I first came onto land. We used to swim here a lot. No one uses it anymore except for the odd dog walker."
Rita is out a ride on one of Hector's horses
Rita said something to the horse prancing below her in a foreign language. The concrete path changed to softer grass as she left the road for the woodland. She turned down a mud covered track off the main trail. The horse began tossing his head and jogging about.
Rita spoke in the same foreign language, holding her pressure on the bit and keeping a steady leg until the horse settled in an acceptable work. The Mermaid loosened her reins and the horse kept his walk but she could feel the power underneath her ready to go.
"Steady, just a second yet."
The beginning of this track was thick, wet mud from where the spring ran through it. Once they were past it the ground changed to springy mud, perfect for these kinds of days where they both just wanted a good run.
The mud stopped sucking around the horse's hooves and Rita urged him onwards. Without a second hesitation he sprung forward, kicking up through his gears in the blink of an eye. The woods passed by in flashes of green as they galloped down the track.
For a Mermaid on land escape tended to come in the form of swimming, it had saved Rita on so many occasions, just being able to submerge for a while. But then sometimes swimming just didn't cut it, speeding as fast as possible just didn't have the same adrenaline , the same fear as she wanted. Sometimes swimming just was too dull. So there was Windsurger.
A black stallion standing almost 17 hands. A challenge to control at times but worth it. Galloping on the open field, sailing over the various jumps set around the field. That always did the trick. The stallion's jumping ability from the Irish Sport Horse combined with the speed of the Arabian.
Using the Moon Pool again. Rita has gone to visit Felix.
The Mermaid had her body tucked low under the water. The top portion of her body was above the surface , pressed against a rock. Her hair was draped forward, partially obscuring her face.
"This doesn't look good. Why isn't she invisible?"
Someone walked along the dock a few feet above. If they looked down...
Rita slipped under the water and swam slowly above the sand floor. One quick tail flick and she surfaced.
"Hi."
"Jesus fucking Christ. Do not jump out at me. I hate it when people jump out at me. "
Rita laughed.
The man collapsed dramatically to the ground. He had a deep complexion, dark hair that lay like a mop and heavy Spanish accent. When his dramatics ceased he rose to his knees and shuffled over to the edge of the wooden dock.
'What are you doing here?'
"I thought I'd come see my little girl."
" Little girl? "
"Little? She's bigger than you."
"She's younger." (She is talking about a horse here, the vague wording was for comedic effect when it was only going to be revealed later on it was a horse she was talking about)
The man sat back, and rolled his eyes.
"I'm not even going to start on Wini. Your boy-" (another of the horses, Windsurger, mentioned in one of the previous scenes)
The Moon Pool cut out.
A new merman turns up who Nerissa quickly reveals to be Zac and Mimmi's father, a Northern Merman from another old line dating to before the War. However the night of the Full Moon shows his ulterior motive - activating the Chamber with a different Moon Stone, almost identical to the Trident stone. While no one knows if it will even work it's a chance no one wants to take.
With so little time before the Moon's peak Rita offers to go to Mako and try and stop him before he can try and activate the Chamber. With the help of her bonded horse she can make it across Mako in time.
Nerissa and Rita both have bonded horses but Nerissa wasn't able to go for a reason I don't know.
The grey horse galloped along the barely there track, the Mermaid on its back holding the braided reins and doing her best to keep from interfering with the horses movements. The green flashed by as the horse's long strides covered the ground heading towards the Trident Chamber.
If she was right the Moon would be directly overhead the Moon Pool in two minutes, and then the Chamber would activate. The woodlands opened out to the clearing and vertical cliffs marking the Chamber and the cavern that once held the Trident. Both entrances were open and warm light spilled out.
The horse slowed down and the Mermaid swung her leg over and dropped to the ground. She placed her hand on the stallion's nose , thanking him.
"Good boy."
She started off toward the entrance, the horse followed.
"You're going to keep following me, aren't you?"
Rita held out her Moon Ring and spoke the incantation before twisting her hand and cloaking both her and the horse. A simple invisibility spell but with extended range.
The tunnels were only vaguely familiar. The only other time she'd been here, she'd been alone and rushing to stop Veridia from killing Zac. The glowing beams of blue light however had stuck in her mind.
Standing at the carved out stone was a man. Tall and tanned with black hair and tired eyes. He held the Moon Stone in his hand as he hovered his hands over the carvings. It wasn't the Trident stone but she wasn't going to take the chance that it could work. She slipped into the shadows and hid, becoming aware that there was no longer the horse beside her.
A dull image of the trident flicked into life hovering above the carved out trident and glowing blue water. The man walked over towards the hologram of the trident, holding the Moon Stone.
"1.2.3."
She twisted her hand and the man went flying across into the shadows on the other side, dropping the Moon Stone.
The projected Moon vanished. The horse whinnied and pawed at the stone. Rita dropped her hand and ran. She reached the horse and caught a handful of mane before kicking up her leg and swinging onto the horse's back. He trotted quickly out, setting off before Rita had even sat herself out, the long extended strides breaking into a canter as they reached the end. There was a rumble as the Chamber closed back over trapping the man.
Rita halted the horse and turned them around to face the entrance.
She dug out her phone from her pocket and found Zac's number quickly. He answered on the first ring.
"Was he there?"
"He was. He's trapped in the chamber. We'll stay guard until you get here."
"I'll tell mum."