Star Stable: The Lost Legend

Chapter Six: Tied Fates

Over the next few weeks, Erika had befriended a Riding Club called the Flying Foxes. But she has never met Rania's childhood friend yet, since she's at the new ranger station at Wildwoods that's known as Redwood Point. But Erika was growing hopeful to become close friends with the Flying Foxes.
This Saturday, the whole stable was giddy with anticipation. Boys and girls raced up and down the aisles with saddles, blankets, camping supplies, and heavy saddlebags. Many were dressed in riding clothes. Erika spotted several velvet cloaks and even a Jorvegian folk costume in the island's colors of green, blue, yellow, and white. One of the riding instructors was helping a ten year old girl fasten a saddlebag onto her pony.
Erika was dressed in a dark blue sweater with a lighter blue t-shirt underneath her sweater. She also has dark blue pants that's folded at her dark brown riding boots. She strapped on her black fingerless riding gloves onto her hands. She had a brown helmet with a golden-threaded fox on it and has her silver amulet around her neck. She smiled when she saw Sonja, Luciana, Emma, Rania, and Agnes leading their horses towards her in normal riding gear and their Flying Fox helmets, with thick sweaters over their vests.
"I will ride ahead," Sonja said to them as they mounted their horses. "Luciana, you will ride behind me with Agnes in between you and Emma. Rania, you'll both come up behind them. Erika, you will take the rear to make sure nobody gets left behind by accident."
They set off as soon as the sun had begun to dip toward the tree line behind the stables. Lit torches had lined up the trails. Folk music of the Jorvik lullaby could be heard coming from somewhere, and a crowd of onlookers had gathered to see the riders off. A small boy handed Erika a bouquet of flowers, Erika accepted it and thanked the blushing child.
"That's Jorvik clover," Sonja explained. "You give Nemain a couple with his evening meal when we take a break, then he won't get tired."
Erika remembered somebody telling her that, but she doesn't remember when. Anyways, the Red String Trail Ride covered many miles so they mostly walked to conserve their horses' energy. They stayed close together so they could talk. In the distance, they spotted the vast vineyard and the beautiful gray stone manor.
The farther they rode, the more Erika felt it like they were traveling out of time, away from the modern world to a mystical place where anything was possible. They rode toward the eastern part of the Mountain Range, just beyond the large Silverglade Manor. From the summit, there was a view of Everwind Fields and the lights from Silverglade Village beyond it. On the clear night, Erika could see the lights in the castle windows. Though, she prefer the moon and the stars guiding her way towards the campsite. The castle served as a kind of beacon for the riders traveling through the rural northeast corner of Jorvik. Erika's dazzled by the sparkling colors of the mountain forest.
Rania turned around and looked at Erika, who was riding right behind her and the others, she looked up at Rania with a weary smile. Nemain's ears were pricked as she nimbly trotted up the hill. Rania gave her an encouraging smile and Erika felt herself smiling back at Rania.
Several other riders were nearby, but they mostly kept to their own little groups. Some went alone. A few there were plenty of others to form a long line of riders. A couple sang well-known traditional songs and the long journey toward better times. Erika let the song warm her heart and soul, she allowed the song go into her mind. Several people took the opportunity to stop at the crest of a hill; their horses walked on a long rein and stopped to graze occasionally.
Maybe it was the singing, the lights, or the soft evening breeze, but Erika began feel like anything was possible. Erika started to think back to the morning when she and her family had arrived to Jorvik. Everywhere, there was shining stars and the fading rays of the sun, the silvery moon rising from the east and a few silvery gray thunderclouds strayed past Silverglade Village.
"And when the night is cold and dark," sang Erika. "Know that you have fire in your heart."
"Nice singing Erika!" exclaimed Luciana with a warm smile.
"Your singing is as beautiful as the sunrise breeze rustling through the forest with the songbirds singing in the early dawn," Emma praised dreamily.
Everybody gave Emma odd looks at her strange ideas and exchanged looks with each other. Erika exchanged a glance with Rania, who gave her an awkward smile and simply shrugged. They both looked at Luciana, who gave them an amused smile. Sonja smiled a little wearily Emma, with a slightly exaggerated expression.
Erika listened in silence to the long, incoherent conversation about how the Red String Trail Ride had came to Jorvik and the strange incidents that has a tendency of happening over the trail ride.
The idea was that the riders goes on the trail ride to improve their bonds and friendships. Some of the riders enjoy the beautiful nature surrounding them. But to mark the occasion, the riders wrapped a red string in the campsite. As Erika and Nemain both looked at the green valley and the amber dusky sky with an appearing moon and stars. Erika enjoyed watching sunrises, moonrises, pretty birds, majestic animals, rainbows, beaches — whatever caught her eye, but some of her friends had little patience for those things.
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As nighttime fell upon them, several other riders had lit lanterns and hung them on long sticks. But Erika was holding an flame torch in her left hand and was holding Nemain's reins in her right hand. The fiery amber light reflected into her bright blue eyes. They found a decent area to tie their red string on a skinny wooden beam.
But when the girls and horses looked up, they both soon saw something astonishing in the sky.
It was so beautiful. She could count more hues and shades than in the box of paints and watercolors that she had bought a few years ago. Shades of sapphire, violet, magenta, and amber shimmered and shined, like a giant rainbow had blanketed the sky and stretched out over the land. It was barely evening, but the stars started to sparkle brightly in the night sky. Despite the darkness of the appearing dusky sky, they were so bright and clear like distant diamonds sparkling in the night. The stars sparkled like distant diamonds in the sky, while the sky is like deep sapphire blue velvet that sparkled with the beautiful, spring constellations overhead. As the clouds cleared, a silver circle of the full moon had also appeared in the night sky and had casted its soft silvery beams of light over the lake. Not just that, but they could the Valedale Lake taking in the silvery reflections of the glowing moon and the sparkling stars.
Erika has set the fireplace aflame with hardly any trouble with her flaming torch. The fiery amber light had helped the seven riders set up their tan-colored tents on top of the mountain. The buckets are filled with either apples or oats and the troughs are filled with fresh water for the horses. They started roasting hot dogs, marshmallows for s'mores, and apples. The lights from the red and amber lanterns flickered warmly in the night. Erika felt warm inside, something about this ride was doing her good.
Sonja cleared her throat and smirked at them, while her eyes gleamed mischievously and said, "This is the tale of the Winter Miracle known as Heather Thrymson!"
While the other girls leaned forward at the sound of the name, Erika just raised a curious eyebrow and thought, Heather Thrymson?
"She was originally an orphaned daughter of Gunnar Thrymson and a druid named Kara Peregrine." Erika stiffened and thought, Thrymson? But that was my father's last name before he married my mother. She shook it off and continued listening to Sonja's story. "But when Jon Jarl was on a long journey towards Mistfall, traitors had attacked the Jarl and his escort. During this epic battle, a young woman had came out of nowhere on horseback and rose into becoming a heroine. Before he could ask her name, she rode her horse towards her unknown home."
"That's kinda of what Canter Ella and Tintoretto would do," Luciana whispered to Erika.
"No kidding," Erika whispered back to the other girl. "That'll rouse some surprises."
"In time, the Jarl had started searching for his savior. But not single trace of her or her steed can be seen nor found."
"I bet she was spying on him." Erika smirked and started to feel amused about this story.
"But it wasn't long till the Jarl's men discovered a village in a beautiful called Dundull that also had Vikings and Druids living together peacefully."
Erika glanced at Rania, remembering that she lives in the southeastern side of Jorvik just as well with her childhood friend.
"Jon Jarl was immediately told about this and had rode there to look through the village. He didn't know about the beautiful landscape of Mistfall till now. He was amazed by the beauty and peace there."
"Wouldn't blame him for that," remarked Erika as she remembered her nightmare.
"It's really beautiful," Emma added.
"The Jarl had sent out a group of men to find the mysterious savior. The men had hardly any luck finding the lady and her steed. But everyone felt like they were being watched from a fair distance. One of the men had noticed he was being watched by the mysterious lady and her steed. She told him that her name is Heather Thrymson and she rides a mare named Ember. Before he could speak to her, Heather rode away on Ember into the depths of the woods again."
Everybody exchanged glances and Erika felt a little confused by this.
She narrowed her eyes and thought, Sounds like she has an... uneasy, indirect relationship with Jon Jarl.
"But when he returned to report his progress, he found the Jarl speaking to a group known as the Druids. Jon Jarl made peace with the Druids and some of the missing Vikings."
I can imagine how that must feel, Erika thought quietly and smiled as Nemain nuzzled her.
"It wasn't long till Jarl was favored by the Druids and was gifted many horses to the stables. But Heather had made no attempt to get close to Jarl Jon. She stayed away from the Jarl and his men as they came into Dundull more than once. One of the Druids had sensed that Heather had a marking that makes her extra pure in Aideen's Light."
Erika felt sympathetic towards the lonely lady who probably had no friends, no purpose, and so forth. She knows very well how that feels like, it's bitter and sharp like ice and it calms down into boiling water, waiting to blow.
"But one day, something terrible had happened all over Jorvik. A massive blizzard had ran over Jorvik and left it with harsh, cold winds. There was a high risk of strong winds and extremely deep snow."
She narrowed her eyes and remembered the blizzard that she had heard about in the past, but that blizzard sounded... unsettling for some reason.
"Around this time, Heather had helped her hometown before she and Ember had left Dundull. She was horrified of what happened and what the blizzard had left behind in its wake."
Erika sighed and looked up at the night sky. While the others looked eager, as if the snowstorm was about to happen.
"Heather had gotten out her supplies and had started riding Ember through the strong blizzard. She was willing to help those in need in the strike of midnight."
She exchanged an amazed glance with Nemain, who'd looked equally as amazed. That's it! Heather didn't have an image to maintain. She didn't have honor to preserve. She was just... herself. There was nothing false about her, so failures were a part of herself that she accepted, integrated into her person, and moved on from. That was something worth to admire.
"Nobody knew who had fixed their broken buildings. They didn't knew who had left baskets of fresh food, drinks, and trinkets were left on the doorsteps. Animals could be seen eating baskets of food. New nests has been built for the birds."
"That's pretty selfless of her," Erika said.
"As well as generous," said Luciana.
"It wasn't long till the Jon Jarl had learnt that his savior was his late, former friend's daughter. He didn't want to make the same mistake that he had done with Gunnar Thrymson and Kara Peregrine in the past that had caused their deaths. He wanted to find her and apologize to her for the loss of her parents. But something happened when he had searched for her alone."
I have a strange feeling about this, thought Erika with a frown and narrowed her eyes.
"A powerful blizzard had continued to blow harder then before. That's when he had came across a monster known as the Yeti. The Yeti was beyond angry that it was disturbed and started hunting Jon Jarl when Heather and Ember had appeared through the thick whiteness of the blizzard."
Despite what happened, she's willing to help him anyways, Erika thought in surprise. But why though? I don't understand.
"The Jarl was sent away from the vicious battle, while the rider and her mare had went up against the Yeti. Nobody knew what happened in the swirling wind, but the Jarl had said that he saw blue fire rising from Heather and Ember as they faced off against the Yeti."
"I bet that's going to leave a few scars," whispered Emma.
"Hey." Erika gave Emma an offended look, since she's the one with a few scars and one of the mentioned scars over her right eye gleamed boldly in the bright firelight.
"No offense," Emma said apologetically with a smile, to which Erika shrugged offhandedly.
"The battle had ended with Heather and Ember being the victors of the battle. She finally met with Jon Jarl, she wasn't sure how the Jarl would react towards her. She was extremely surprised when Jon Jarl had finally told her the truth about her parents' deaths and apologized to her for what happened to her parents. Heather was deeply upset about this, but she had forgiven him for his past deeds."
"Poor Heather," whispered Agnes, while everyone else seemed equally sympathetic.
"After the reign of Jon Jarl had came to an end, Heather continued to be a rider who's also known as the Winter Miracle. But when her death had came, one could hear her horse galloping through the morning mists and the wild whiteness of winter. Remember all miracles are there. You just need to believe."
Everybody seemed a little sympathetic out about the tale. But Erika doesn't seemed scared at all and listened to the tale with an even look and had a faint, sympathetic look in her eyes that was hidden underneath her solemn demeanor.
Erika wandered away from the others and looked up at the full moon with Nemain by her side. The full moon shone in a gentle, silvery glow and the stars sparkled like distant diamonds against the darkness of the night sky. She's not sure what felt wrong when she heard Heather Thrymson's legend. But Erika wonders if there's more Fire Riders like her and Flame Steeds like Ember and Nemain.
But another could see the outline of the Wildwoods over the Mountains of Jor and the tree branches swayed gently in the light wind, scattering the silvery moonbeams on the forest floor where a girl was riding a elegant black and orange-maned horse across the moonlit hills and looking up at the moon curiously.
One could see the outlines of Hollow Woods and the trees gently swayed in the wind, scattering the silvery moonbeams on the forest floor where a hidden lone rider was riding his dark mare and looking up at the full moon in the darkest depths of the woods before disappearing quietly.