Thursday, February 04, 2016

Unriddling Clues: Day 4

Word Count: 24,011

Summary of Events:
Nikita seethed after Gavriila left, and got upset at the Major-General for suggesting that he'd been behaving immaturely; in his tent he got to thinking about how to get information about the things he'd received from his father. The next morning Gavriila apologised to Nikita for her disrespectful conduct and was saddened when he wouldn't say he forgave her; at breakfast she ended up sitting with some soldiers she didn't know who didn't believe she was a Major and bullied her, but a nice Major from her unit came to her defence. Nikita led his troops on a patrol with intent to find the camp the soldiers who'd attacked his unit leading to his father's death had come from, but they ended up running into a gargantuan stallion who fancied Nikita's mare Breasha; Nikita succeeded in mounting the stallion, who had no idea what to do with him.

Excerpt of the Day:
"The stallion halted abruptly, but paused only for a moment before continuing on backwards. He continued the reverse and halt motions until he nearly ran into the line of horses which were Nikita's forces.
"Should we continue, sir?" one of the soldiers asked quietly.
Violently the stallion startled and hurried forward, then started backwards again abruptly. Nikita had not expected such a smooth ride from the stallion, but, being as the stallion was confined to a forest, he wasn't surprised. It also showed the stallion was familiar with the forest, knowing it to be too dangerous for him to try bucking or galloping to get away from Nikita.
The stallion nearly backed into the line of horses again, then started forward once more, this time going at a brisk walk, passing Breasha, who looked curious, and followed quickly behind.
Nikita glanced over his shoulder and saw his troops were following as well. He didn't want to get separated from them, lest the stallion succeed in throwing or injuring him, or get close to doing so and leave him with no one to swoop in and rescue him from the predicament he'd somewhat gotten himself into.
They passed over a ridge, after which the trees thinned into a clearing. It was too small to support a camp, but in the clearing was a small group of horses, who looked up and nickered to the stallion. Nikita guessed they were his herd.
Out in the clearing, the stallion circled around, as if he were trying to get a good look at Nikita, which he couldn't do because Nikita was on his back. The stallion backed up again and grazed a tree with his hindquarters, startling himself and setting him to bucking — what Nikita had been expecting all along.
Being a big and muscular horse as he was, the stallion's bucks were quite forceful, but Nikita's grip on the stallion's mane was strong, and horsehair didn't give easily. He hung on as the stallion tried everything it possibly could to remove him.
Nikita didn't let go, even though his arms and shoulders felt like they were all pulled out of their joints. He was going to hang onto this stallion until it stopped and see if he could ride the stallion all the way back to the camp with his herd and maybe get some seasoned veterans to train the horses for them. They could always use horses.
Finally the stallion stopped, downright exhausted, his sides heaving, his legs slightly splayed with fatigue. Nikita bent forward, his own sides heaving from the effort it'd taken to keep his seat.
It took some work to extricate his hand from the stallion's mane, but finally Nikita got a hand free and hand-signalled to the troops to circle around the herd and start back for the camp."

Breasha: breeshah

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