The Dark Legend (Star Stable) (Under Editing/Re-Write)

Chapter Nine: Wild Whispering

Over the weekend, as well as the weeks that followed, Erika was suckered into working with the druids of the village and Rhiannon taught her how to do Wild Whispering, where she did her best to learn all about them. She started to form ties with the Druids and the Keepers of Aideen. Erika had managed to adopt Firefly, Nightshade, Sunbird, and Nemain into her stables in the Valedale Village farm. Those four horses were the only horses who get along with Erika, especially Nemain with her fierce loyalty and protective personality.
It wasn't long till Erika, Rhiannon, and their two respective horses had arrived to South Hoof Peninsula and started getting off of the boat. But she stayed close by Skip's side as they walked onto the wooden port. Erika looked around as she approached the beautiful landscape and has to reveal herself to her. Gone were the towns and villages. She could see rocky cliffs that and some scattered stone on the light greenish-yellow grass covering up almost the whole entire island and is accented with and some purple dead-nettles within the grass.
Erika smiled at the sight of the small town as she and the others approached it. A wide, stony road ran the length of the South Hoof town. There's some buildings lining both sides of the road. The architecture was a hodgepodge of design, from Spanish stucco to Western facades. There were no crowds, no street noise. But on the right side was garden of fruits and vegetables behind the stony fence.
As Erika continued riding on Nemain, she saw a barn and a broken down round corral by the broken down the Horseshoe Farm. There's some ponies and horses by the barn with some pigs and chickens. But Erika noticed a broken down barn with a stony house and some, smaller broken down buildings that were probably for feeding and watering, cleaning, and medical care.
She looked at the crowd and took note that there's about twelve of them in total before they continued following Skip to the ranch. Erika saw Hugh Shepherd, she recognized him as a retired military man with his fake left leg and from the website. She felt some respect for him as some stablehands gathered him.
"Welcome everyone," said the man. "I'm Hugh Shepherd. I was originally from the military, but I retired and became a veterinarian." He smiled at everyone warmly. "I'm going to need everybody's help to fix up this place to make it a Rescue Ranch for both human and animal to recover in." Hugh gestured towards a clipboard that's by one of the stone walls and a supply house. "You will find your jobs on the clipboards and you can set up your tents around here." He smiled at them. "Now, lets get to work everyone."
Later on that day, the temperature in Jorvik had soared. It was surprisingly warm in the center of August. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.
A good day to explore Jorvik, figured Erika restlessly. But not to work nonstop underneath the hot sun on the stables. She and the other workers had started fixing up the place as different members of the teams. Erika has started to lend a helping hand with the others with the repairing of the new Rescue Ranch. But when she was fixing up the wooden fence, she thought she saw a herd of horses galloping across the fields and disappeared quickly as it came. She shook her head and continued fixing up the fence with her tools.
"Erika." She looked up to see Rhiannon standing on her right with a warm smile. "Come with me."
She nodded as she started to get up and the duo both mounted their two horses, then they both rode through the town carefully due to the number of visitors in the small town. Erika saw some volunteers and Hugh's family engaged in a conversation about the latest Jorvik news. To her left was a blonde, middle-aged woman tending to her laundry in front of the house. A couple of Jorvik terriers were playing around with their toys and each other. Wagon wheels leaned against the exterior walls and there's a wagon nearby. The sights were so different from the ones in the city. Erika smiled when she walked past the corral.
About a dozen horses and ponies stood inside of the circular fence. Some were drinking water, others were standing about. A couple were grazing, clearly wanting a snack. A few playfully nudged one another, clearly friends. A few foals chased after each other as if they were playing a game of tag. They varied in the colors of bay roan, cremello, flaxen chestnut, palomino, liver chestnut, light gray, black, and much more. Some have white pinto markings on their coats or have regular white markings too. Erika recognized some of them as ponies, due to their smaller statures and smiled at the sight of them.
But Hugh didn't stop there and Erika continued following him towards a hill that gives them a clear view of the waving plains and the sparkling sea. She closed her eyes with a peaceful smile as she felt the wind whooshed past her gently and casting the mixed scents of both the fields and the sea towards her direction. 
"Erika, you ready to head out?" Rhiannon asked her with a smile.
"Yes." Erika nodded. "I'm ready."
At that, the two of them galloped away from the town and into the wild fields that rightfully belongs to the wild mustangs and wild ponies.
The South Hoof Peninsula fields could be seen gleaming in the sunlight. Vast. Clear. Crisp. And from it, a chestnut speck rockets across the grassy fields and was followed by a black speck. The image of unbridled freedom.
The chestnut speck, revealing Rhiannon riding on Nix and the black speck was Erika astride on Nemain while galloping behind her.
The ocean shimmered in the early morning sunlight. Fresh, grassy fields with rolling hills surrounded the area, which was specked with boulders. As Erika looked ahead, she spotted one of the Primeval Trees of Jorvik, the Singing Yew, which is encircled by an ancient, but large Druid stone structure.
They both came to a stop, just across from the Singing Yew and a few feet away from the rocky cliffs. Thunder. Roaring thunder, coming from the lower part of the hill on the right. The thunder was definitely getting louder and closer. Erika's heart refused to keep from beating against his chest.
For a moment the thunder ceased. Then, as quickly as it had stopped, it came back, this time with a deafening clarity that pounded in Erika's ears. But it was the sight that made her speechless.
There was a dot on the plains, a mass of brown that was moving slowly across. The herd appeared up over the hill, running together as one through the valley. The ponies varied in color — some were bay, a few were chestnut with white markings, a couple were light gray and/or white, one or two were dappled buckskin, others were chocolate brown or bay with white markings. The mustangs also varied in color — some were bay, a couple were bay roan, a few were black and black leopard, a couple were gray pinto and bay pinto, a few were palomino, and a couple were buckskin.
But she soon caught sight of a magnificent, wild stallion running ahead of the herd. His sleek coat is pure golden palomino, like the color of the morning sun completed with a white mane and tail flowing behind him like a pair of rivers. He pulled ahead of the herd, managing to keep ahead of the herd and leading them through them.
"Erika, this is one of favorite places to be at," said Rhiannon, clearly connected to the island of Jorvik. "It's where horses could run freely and become friends with humans with their own free will." She glanced at the galloping horses and the Singing Yew. "Aideen's gift is more than about the bond between rider and horse, but understanding it's about the land we share." Rhiannon sighed softly. Erika knew Rhiannon had told her about her past. "It's what lead me to travel north, to become a Wild Whisper as well as Warden and find my horse partner, Nix."
"My connection is closely linked to the night and the wildlife of Jorvik," Erika replied softly.
Rhiannon smiled at her goddaughter. "And you're not wrong about that."
The two of them both watched as the herd of horses galloped towards the horizon, as one family.