She's Broken

Chapter 34

Chapter 34 (Not proofread so please ignore any mistakes, thanks!)

                He’d done it. I knew that Tempest wasn’t far away from trusting Eli but the fact that he had managed to sit on her back for a total of ten minutes was absolutely astounding.

                Since ten that morning, both Eli and I had been out in the field with her, trying to get her to give in and just relax. For a whole two hours, she was restless. Eli wasn’t able to stay on her back for more than a few moments without her kicking and running around like a lunatic. In the past hour, after feeding her and riding Harley in front of her, she managed to calm down a bit when Eli mounted her.

                Eli gave me a proud look, walking Tempest around the field. She seemed docile enough, her ears flickering gently whenever Eli changed direction.

                Leaving Eli to give her a few more laps, I went to grab Harley’s bridle, not bothering with the saddle. He was waiting for me by my calendar in the tack room, obviously already knowing where we were going.

                “Hey, baby,” I whispered, ruffling his mane. The sight of the calendar, the short gap of only seven days before my nightmare became reality. Shuddering, I grabbed the bridle and left, taking a deep breath. With every day that court drew closer, the more on edge I felt all the time.

                When I emerged and swung onto Harley’s golden back, Eli was still aboard the mare, his excited face drawing closer.

                “The stream?” he asked. My answer was a nod.

               

                Originally, we tried walking, then trotting. Tempest didn’t seem bothered by either gait; she just merrily went along, trusting Eli’s judgement like she’d once judged Finn’s.

                “Fancy a little competition?” Eli asked, pulling Tempest to a stop. I glanced over at our cross country course and grinned, nodding.

                “You’ll only lose again,” I warned. Eli gave me a nonchalant look, walking Tempest up to the starting line with silent confidence. Tempest was a star runner and was alright with the jumping. Finn used to win quite a few times on our cross country races but I put that down to the talent he had as a rider.

                “We’ll see.”

                On the count of three, we both dashed forwards. Tempest was a lot faster than Scrabble and as much as I hated to admit it, Harley. For the hill run, Harley came up short, slowing to prevent stumbling over his own feet. Tempest, however, shot forwards, taking the first jump in her stride.

                Staying on Harley’s back was proving difficult. When we’d left, I didn’t count for doing the cross country so we had to slow down. The clover beat my chest, joining in the echo of Harley’s hooves as we cantered. In the end, I slowed Harley down, allowing Eli to belt through the finishing line with a victorious whoop.