Chapter 15 : The Madness Of White Horse

"Thank you for taking the effort to get my horse out." Angela said with an irritating smile on her face.

To keep my anger in check, I casually stepped closer to her, and touched the white horse that I had just freed, "I'm sorry princess," I said, bowing with my arms stretched out to the side along with my gestures just like people salute the royal family, "Without losing my respect, this, is my horse. I found it first, I freed it, and I am its horsemate!"

She laughed with a condescending expression that I wanted to punch her right in the face, "Hahaha, what? Horsemate? What kind of childish thing is that? It's really quite disgusting."

I was running out of patience, I could no longer manipulate my facial expressions if she continued like that.

"Disgusting? Everyone here calls it that. Is everyone disgusting? Then why bother coming to this disgusting stable? Shouldn't you be at the palace in pretty dresses?", I retorted.

I saw the look of annoyance on her face. It looks like Angela is starting to feel cornered.

"The affairs of the kingdom don't need to be known by commoners like you. So go and get out of my horse's way!", she retorted as she pulled the rope that had been attached to the horse's mouth.

Not to be outdone, I pulled the rope as well, but tried to keep the argument from affecting the horse. We continued to pull on the rope attached to the horse's shoulder, while the horse only occasionally moved its head.

"Arghhh!", I said as I threw the rope, fed up with this tug of war, "It's not going to work! I want it as much as you do!"

"Fine, then let the horse choose." , she said.

I glanced at her, "How?"

"Well," she twisted to the front of the horse and held her face as if to boast that she was used to dealing with horses, "How about we take turns riding this horse. Whoever can stay on the horse for one minute without the horse moving, gets it." , she explained with a mocking smile.

I nodded in agreement, "Okay. But I will ride first."

"Go ahead." , she said and returned to her position beside the horse.

Seeing how calm this white horse was, I was sure he wouldn't move an inch until someone pulled it out. And furthermore, considering how sneaky Angela was for what she did to Sam earlier, I'm sure she had calculated everything. Including the fact that this horse will indeed stay where it is. So I'm going to steal a head start.

Angela saddled up the horse and took two steps back, giving me room to get on. I told you earlier that I've never ridden a horse, didn't I? That's the truth. I haven't since I was born into the world. And this really made me nervous. However the pumpkin had already become porridge, I couldn't take back my words.

I still vividly remembered how the troopers I saw earlier mounted the horse and controlled it. At first my left leg went up to something similar to a big D, I knew this thing was used to my foot rest on. My hands trembled slightly as I held onto the black saddle that had been tied to the horse's body, as did my legs. I leaned forward slightly, hoping not to fall and painstakingly pushed my body up so that my right leg could ride on the other side.

I could see Angela stifling her laughter, damn it. She was enjoying this.

Unexpectedly the horse started to move like a human yawning, only it made a whimpering sound. I caught my breath and counted silently. At the count of three, I pulled my body up and managed to sit on the horse. I breathed a sigh of relief and tried to reduce the tension I felt. Apparently it's quite a high distance to the ground when sitting on a horse.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes, I'm ready. Start counting!", I said loudly, to cover my nervousness.

What I didn't expect happened next. Angela, the damn princess, instead of counting, she smacked the horse's buttocks and instantly the horse I was riding curled up while standing on its two hind legs and galloped out.

Luckily, I grabbed the reins tightly and didn't fall off the horse. I kept shouting for people to get out of the way. From the horse I saw people running around in panic, just like me. Cold sweat started pouring down my face.

In the midst of this panic I tried to think clearly, remembering how the senior trooper had controlled the horse. I pulled the rope like he did, but it didn't work to make the horse stop running. My efforts only succeeded in changing its direction. My panic had reached its peak, especially when the horse had entered the field area and was heading towards the cafeteria.

Didn't want a bigger mess, I used my ability to change the horse's direction so that we were just circling the field. I don't know how many laps I did, and no one wanted to help.

As if the horse was getting angry that I kept pulling the rope in the same direction, he started to rebel by jerking his head to the right and left, until I lost control. It turned back toward the stables. This was getting more and more serious.

I yelled for Sam who was frozen on his horse as I passed by him. I kept shouting his name but he didn't do anything at all and just stood there looking at me, just like everyone else.

I began to cry in despair. It would be a shame if my life was over just because of a horse having a tantrum. If it was true that I was going to die today, I swore that I would not go straight to the afterlife and would remain in the world to haunt Angela for the rest of her life.

On the verge of despair, I still kept trying to control the horse. After a few tries, I managed to steer it away to the riding arena despite having to crash into the fence. People gathered outside the fence to see me riding the raging horse.

Suddenly I heard the neighing of another horse and a few seconds later Gerard was beside me, riding his dark brown horse. It was hard to tell what color it was.

Gerard seemed to be very good at directing his horse. The shouting, the stomping and also the way his body moved to match the horse's movements, was really professional. Apparently he was trying to balance his horse so that it was parallel and had the same speed as the horse I was riding.

Once aligned, he turned to me and this was the most serious face Gerard had ever seen.

" Tighten your legs with the horse's body!", he shouted.

My face was already wet with tears, and I couldn't hear his voice clearly, "What?!", I shouted back in a shaky voice.

He brought the horse closer, and we were now less than three feet apart. This was dangerous!

"Tighten your legs and pull the rope with both hands at the same time!" , he shouted again.

I quickly did as he instructed, but it was to no avail. The horse was really angry.

I shook my head and tears fell from my eyes, " It can't be helped! I tried!", I said desperately.

Gerard looked furious and jerked the reins on his horse and it sped off, leaving me in its wake. I was disappointed to see Gerard give up on helping me.

However, I was wrong. Gerard hadn't given up. He was around the corner ahead, standing on his horse that had stood still. I repeat, he was standing on his horse!

His hand moved as if giving a code. I took that code as a sign that I should keep going, directing the horse. Immediately I directed the horse to turn, passing Gerard and right away he jumped on the horse, with me.

I didn't see exactly how Gerard did it, but I could feel him actually sitting behind me, holding onto my waist. It felt so awkward, his big hands, holding both sides of my waist like he was holding a big log.

"You have to follow the rhythm." , he said right behind my ear.

I was stunned. I could feel the electricity flowing from my neck to my head when I heard his voice. His hands were now adjusting my waist so that the movements were in sync with the shocks on the horse. When I could feel the rhythm, he released his hand and moved to my hand holding the rope.

"Your body and hands must not tremble. Horses can sense it and perceive it as a threat. Calm yourself!", Gerard said emphatically as he squeezed my clenched hands tightly on the reins.

After catching my breath, I managed to reduce my tension. I'm sure Gerard could feel it too. My grip on the rope began to loosen but I didn't let go.

"Are you ready?", Gerard asked urgently.

I nodded, assuring myself, "Yes, sir!"