A Curse of Fate

Chapter 5

By the time I had recounted the events of my meeting with the great Countess, Illona bride of Dracula, it was noon. The Count became impatient with Max’s attempts to reschedule the horse finding trip, “Dad she’s tired, we can wait to get her a horse!” “How dare you, what child of mine could ever say that?” The count bellowed as he glared at his son, the look could have scared a bear away. “I never understood why you needed to have them around, we moved faster than them,” Max exclaimed as he tried to subtle sneak me out the door. The count was even less amused by that comment,  so Max is now locked in our room while the Count and Lila are sprinting out the door with me slung over Lila’s shoulder. I was beginning to feel like a medieval princess being taken to and from prince charming's castle by Vikings. “He's gonna just break the door down and chase us,” I stated as Lila sat me down outside the castle. She smirked as she wrapped an arm around me, steering me to what I assumed was stable, “He’ll never risk that kind of wrath. Mom designed everything in that room, it's pretty much sacred at this point.” I nodded, that made sense, “Plus dad taught us young the repercussions for such actions is getting tossed off the tower roof.” My jaw dropped, “He really used to do stuff like that to you guys?” She laughed “ Nah not the girls just the boys. They were the cause of a lot of damage to the castle when they were learning how to control their strength and tempers.” I could sense that embarrassing stories were coming next but we were interrupted before she could pick the best destruction story of the boys' past when the count grabbed me. “We can talk about Max and Hector’s demolition days later, Horse now.” He literally carried me by my shoulders into the stable which was impressive, to say the least. Every stall had a rubber mat floor that was used for cushioning the floor for them, a heating system that kept the whole building at a cozy 50 degrees, at all times, and there automatic hay baskets that kept the horse's hay stocked at all times. The began to walk me through the building he explained how the stable was designed and rebuilt throughout the ages, “The newest version of the stable still has the original foundations that I put in during the first round of Crusades, putting it into the mountainside helped to keep those thieving Templars from sneaking out my war horses when I wasn’t home.” Looking around you could see parts of the original stones that were used hundreds of years ago to make the stable, they were a black and grey granite that had a faint vein of silver running through them. It was breathtaking, walking into the section of the stable that was housed in the mountain, I saw all of the local farmers with their horses. 

Dozens of farmers and even more horses were housed in a giant arena that had been set up with different pens and stations to accommodate the medical needs of the horses as well as the farmers' own pens. “I expanded further into the mountain when I realized that the locals needed a safe trading place and an emergency shelter.” The count said proudly looking out at the football filled the sized cavern and the people in it. “Dynamite is such a useful tool, we couldn’t have gotten anywhere near this big space without it.” Note to self does not leave explosives near the count. I was slightly more concerned with the fact that he kept explaining how the dynamite was used and the proficiency he gained in dealing with many forms of explosives throughout the ages. I eyed him suspiciously when he ended his lecture with his disdain for radioactive based bombs, “ I can’t understand why anyone would want to use that many resources for so little in results.”. New thoughts of Dracula and nuclear tests came to mind in a concerning fashion.  He knows way too much about this topic for it to just be a hobby.  Thought as we made our way down to the first grouping of horses.

As we walked into the arena's main floor every farmer would wave and greet the count with such a gratuitous manner, children would run up to him and wrap themselves around his legs until their parents grabbed them, These people love him, and he is so kind to them. I watched each interaction as we made our way through the pens, my thoughts turned warmer for the creature I was taught to hate all my life. He never left me out either, every person would ask who I was and he would say “Meet my newest daughter Elaina, Max’s fiance”, beaming at whoever happened to ask. Many of them would hug me or shake my hand before bringing me over to the horses, the count never leaving my side. 

Every horse was beautiful and well taken care of, the farmers had raised most of the horses by hand and loved them like children. There were so many different breeds and colors, the count knew the history of all of them as well as the farmers' history. Going through pen after pen I looked and petted many of the horses but none of them felt right to me. The count never pressured me to hurry up or make a choice, he would ask questions and help guide me through the pens and crowds of people. I began to wonder if any horse would feel like it could be mine, the ones I trained with were the councils, and showing emotions towards anything meant that both of us would suffer. Hearing a thundering of hooves to my left, I turned and stared at the massive horses that were come out of the fairer’ station. Drawn to the giant beauties I walked over to them, the count was impressed by them, he too couldn’t stay away from them. “Look at these beauties” He exclaimed, placing a hand on their gate leaning in to have a closer inspection of the animals. “Thank you, Mr. Temps. They have been through some rough times but once they got to us they were well cared for.” A man said as he came out of the gate, shaking hands with the count when he reached us. “They are rescues?” I asked as I stared out at the ten or so horses in the pen eating hay, totally at ease. 

Mr. Davidson told us each horses’ story as we looked at each one, many of them were neglect cases that were abandoned when the owners realized what a draft horse needed. The other stories were worse, one was found on a railroad track dragging logging chains bleeding from shallow cuts. Another was used as target practice by a sadistic monster who would shoot her repeatedly with low caliber guns and arrows to keep her alive for more. I felt sympathy with a lot of these horses, the council put me through special training alone that often left me in a damaged bleeding state. The count helped me go through each horse with Mr. Davidson closed behind us ready to answer any of our questions. At the back of the pen, I saw the shortest of the group hiding, all alone, eyes darting everywhere in a mild panic. “Hey, sweet thing come here” I called to the horse as I slowly drew closer, hand outstretched before me. Mr. Davidson and the Count watched as I made my way over, “ Careful miss he's not so good with people just yet,” I looked back at him, “He was beaten daily by a logging company, and starved, we reduced him a month ago.” sighing Davidson continued “ We still can’t get him to keep calm or let us handle him. He kicked  two people out of his stall when they were changing out the water bucket.” My face pulled into a frown as the horse walked over to my hand, “Looks like you and I have a lot  of the same issues.” I whispered softly, laying my hand on his nose. 

From the moment my hand touched his nose he calmed down, count helped me convince Mr. Davidson to bring him out to the cross ties. Inspecting him I found tons of scars all over his body, some wounds still healing. Going through the whole health check he never once tried anything, he just stood there letting me lift his hooves, run my hands over his belly and look at his teeth. Mr. Davidson was stunned at how well it went, “ Wow miss he never lets us get anywhere near his mouth or hind legs. He must really like you.” I was brushing his coat at this point, enjoying the feel of the curry comb going against his back. “What's his name?” count asked as I moved the steps closer to the horse so I could reach better, “ Well he didn’t come with one and we haven’t been able to get him to come to any of the ones we tried.” He said apologetically, looking lost. Walking up to his head I looked him up and down, smiling, Only one name could ever suit this creature. Turning to the men behind me who were in a debate about something, “ Call him Gunther, it means warrior.” The two nodded approvingly at me and the newly named Gunther, my future father in law's face took on a hearty smile. “Well, I think that we found your first option.” He said as he looked over to another stall, waving a young woman over. “Let’s see if you can ride him” As both the horse and I were set up with tack and padding, Now I know why they laughed at me when I told them I could handle their dad's shopping trip. I thought with sudden clarity.