that had tumbled down during the winter storms. I considered turning around but when I looked back the track seemed to drop steeply behind us.
I’m not sure what happened next or what caused it, Beaut snorted, side stepping quickly and almost tossing me off one side, then he bolted headlong up the track, careening further up the hill over the uneven ground. I leant forward gripping his neck, my fingers twined through his long mane, I felt my foot fall from the stirrup, instantly I began to bounce harder on his back, shaking my other foot free. Closing my eyes I prayed for him to stop, and hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much when he did. I knew a fall was inevitable, I just hoped it would be quick.
Branches and leaves whipped past us, my face stung as a twig scratched across my cheek.
I kept my eyes closed, hoping the outcome would be painless, I had never dealt with pain well, I just prayed for Beaut to stop.
Stop he finally did, turning sharply to the left and halting in an instant, I however didn’t stop, and I felt myself hurtle over his head, weightless as I flew through space, before landing heavily on my side.
Impossible aye Pop
, I thought wryly, before my vision went fuzzy and everything went dark.
6.
T he leaves stirred around me in the breeze, blowing my hair into my face, tickling my nose and eyes. I wasn’t sure if I had been knocked out or not but I felt strangely groggy as I opened my eyes to the forest floor. Beaut was gone, I lay on my own, somewhere I was throbbing but I couldn’t quite think clearly enough to pinpoint its origin.
One side of me felt a little numb, I could feel a number of sharp rocks pressing up from the ground digging into my ribs. I didn’t move at first, instead I chose to stay still, until my head stopped spinning. Sunlight streamed through the canopy above sending dapples of light dancing across the forest floor, I looked a little further and realized that I was in fact almost out of the forest, ahead of me the trees disappeared and the landscape opened into a huge field, the plateau paddock Pop had mentioned.
Then I saw them.
I froze instantly, white hot pain shooting up my left side, but I ignored this instead squinting into the field and wondering if I had concussion, or if I had really just seen what I thought I had.
I lifted myself slowly, my head spinning as the blood drained back down to the rest of my body, something throbbed painfully just above my eye. My left arm and leg were cut and bleeding, I watched in a detached sort of way as the blood ran from a cut across my knee in a slow red trail before disappearing into the top of my boot.
I shook myself gently, pushing back the fuzz that seemed to surround the edges of my vision. Taking hold of a tree I pulled myself to my feet, ignoring the spinning feeling and squinting between the trees into the daylight that bathed the field beyond.
Although facing my direction Robert hadn’t seen me, he was completely still, a statue of Adonis, the sun so bright at his back that he was little more than a silhouette.
He held himself tense, his entire posture that of a cat ready to pounce. His expression was what made me freeze and my blood run cold, so full of hate, but also something else, fear perhaps, I didn’t know him well enough to be able to tell.
The even more unreal aspect of this vision was the man who stood in front of him.
He was the mirror image of Robert, the same build the same muscular set to his shoulders, the same stance, except he was darker somehow. If Robert was day this man was night, he had thick wavy brown hair tied in a ponytail at the base of his neck. His skin was of a more olive complexion than Roberts and his face, from my vantage point, was slightly more angular, although I couldn’t see him clearly behind the dark sunglasses that hid his eyes.
Both men were silent, a breeze blew quietly through the trees around me, even the birds made no noise, sensing the tension from the field just as
I’m not sure what happened next or what caused it, Beaut snorted, side stepping quickly and almost tossing me off one side, then he bolted headlong up the track, careening further up the hill over the uneven ground. I leant forward gripping his neck, my fingers twined through his long mane, I felt my foot fall from the stirrup, instantly I began to bounce harder on his back, shaking my other foot free. Closing my eyes I prayed for him to stop, and hoped it wouldn’t hurt too much when he did. I knew a fall was inevitable, I just hoped it would be quick.
Branches and leaves whipped past us, my face stung as a twig scratched across my cheek.
I kept my eyes closed, hoping the outcome would be painless, I had never dealt with pain well, I just prayed for Beaut to stop.
Stop he finally did, turning sharply to the left and halting in an instant, I however didn’t stop, and I felt myself hurtle over his head, weightless as I flew through space, before landing heavily on my side.
Impossible aye Pop
, I thought wryly, before my vision went fuzzy and everything went dark.
6.
T he leaves stirred around me in the breeze, blowing my hair into my face, tickling my nose and eyes. I wasn’t sure if I had been knocked out or not but I felt strangely groggy as I opened my eyes to the forest floor. Beaut was gone, I lay on my own, somewhere I was throbbing but I couldn’t quite think clearly enough to pinpoint its origin.
One side of me felt a little numb, I could feel a number of sharp rocks pressing up from the ground digging into my ribs. I didn’t move at first, instead I chose to stay still, until my head stopped spinning. Sunlight streamed through the canopy above sending dapples of light dancing across the forest floor, I looked a little further and realized that I was in fact almost out of the forest, ahead of me the trees disappeared and the landscape opened into a huge field, the plateau paddock Pop had mentioned.
Then I saw them.
I froze instantly, white hot pain shooting up my left side, but I ignored this instead squinting into the field and wondering if I had concussion, or if I had really just seen what I thought I had.
I lifted myself slowly, my head spinning as the blood drained back down to the rest of my body, something throbbed painfully just above my eye. My left arm and leg were cut and bleeding, I watched in a detached sort of way as the blood ran from a cut across my knee in a slow red trail before disappearing into the top of my boot.
I shook myself gently, pushing back the fuzz that seemed to surround the edges of my vision. Taking hold of a tree I pulled myself to my feet, ignoring the spinning feeling and squinting between the trees into the daylight that bathed the field beyond.
Although facing my direction Robert hadn’t seen me, he was completely still, a statue of Adonis, the sun so bright at his back that he was little more than a silhouette.
He held himself tense, his entire posture that of a cat ready to pounce. His expression was what made me freeze and my blood run cold, so full of hate, but also something else, fear perhaps, I didn’t know him well enough to be able to tell.
The even more unreal aspect of this vision was the man who stood in front of him.
He was the mirror image of Robert, the same build the same muscular set to his shoulders, the same stance, except he was darker somehow. If Robert was day this man was night, he had thick wavy brown hair tied in a ponytail at the base of his neck. His skin was of a more olive complexion than Roberts and his face, from my vantage point, was slightly more angular, although I couldn’t see him clearly behind the dark sunglasses that hid his eyes.
Both men were silent, a breeze blew quietly through the trees around me, even the birds made no noise, sensing the tension from the field just as
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