Richard Parker - The Black Horseman

Mille’s features were in sharp contrast with Vio’s, who was dark. Her ink black hair was cropped short just below her ears. She had tanned skin and large dark eyes. And where Vio was very fit, athletic and tough, Mille, even with her short life of hard work and service, was all softness, like new grass in springtime. Mille continued to work, but she was aware that Gwaynn was looking at her and kept her face turned slightly toward him.

“You will catch Krys soon,” she said, as he finally resumed his duties. Gwaynn stopped again. He was not surprised that she knew of his running, for that was common knowledge among the Leek family. It was a source of pride that one among them would be so included even if Gwaynn was not a true son. He was surprised however, that she was following his progress.

“You’ve been watching?” Gwaynn asked, curious, flattered, and a little concerned.

Mille looked up and blushed again. “Yes…well we all get up and watch the finish some days,” she answered, not mentioning the fact that she was the one who watched most days.

“Father was especially proud the day you beat Stephen. We all watched, though father told us not to celebrate, but it was all we could do to keep from cheering,” she said her words coming out in a gush. “Surely you noticed the smile on father’s face. It was there all day.”

Gwaynn shrugged. He had not noticed, in fact, he was not sure he could remember Lane smiling…ever.

They continued to work, Gwaynn in silence and Mille chatting away about her new horse, the kittens their cat Sunshine gave birth to the previous week, and food. Mille was apparently very hungry and was making Gwaynn so. The family stopped about an hour before sundown and headed back to the house to clean up before Shari and Karin began preparing supper.

The evening was spent eating, talking, telling stories and laughing. It was a typical night in the household with Gwaynn sitting on the floor close to the fire and Mille sitting close by, though not close enough to touch. They both spent the rest of the night stealing glances at one another.

That night, though his body was very tired his mind was awake and racing in all manner of ways, mostly in the directions of Mille and Vio. Yesterday, he hardly had a thought for girls, now such thoughts seemed to be consuming him alive. It was not until well after the witching hour that he finally nodded off.

ǂ

The next morning came very early for Gwaynn and he groaned softly when Leek nudged him awake. He lay in bed, sleepy for a moment then his mind was racing once more, so he got up and climbed down from the small loft he shared with the old man. Leek and Lane sat in the dark kitchen, the only light coming from the small fire in the cooking hearth. They would soon enlarge it for the morning cooking, but that could wait until Shari was up and about.

Gwaynn glanced at the back room door where the girls slept, but quickly turned and headed in toward the two men. He grabbed a slice of day old bread then headed out to relieve himself. He went to the side of the barn, as was his habit and gazed up at the morning stars, sighing with satisfaction. He popped the last bite of bread into his mouth, and then turned to head back to the well to get a drink before going down to the beach. But as he rounded the corner of the house, Mille was there waiting for him, still in her long, white nightdress. He immediately stopped moving, but somehow she was still getting closer, then suddenly she jumped into his arms and quickly kissed him. He stiffened for a moment. She was very small, soft and smelled vaguely of flowers, and he quickly found himself returning her kiss with more enthusiasm than he would have thought possible. She held him tight and he returned her embrace. Mille’s skin was still very warm having just come from her bed, and Gwaynn’s head was spinning when they finally broke. They stared at each other for a long moment until somehow he managed to tear his gaze from hers and he walked down to the beach for his morning run in a daze. He felt all out of focus and that morning he lost to B’dall by a good margin, and he was very disappointed to find that Vio was not waiting for him at the finish as she had always done in the past. He swam longer than usual since she was not waiting on the beach, then dried and headed up the path feeling like he was somehow losing control of his own life. It was a bewildering, fuzzy feeling he was not sure he liked…not sure at all.

He spent the day with Leek gathering cattle from the hilly regions of the island’s interior.

“Storm coming,” was all Leek said by way of explanation, though the sky was a cloudless blue. Gwaynn found that he was disappointed at first not to be around Mille, but quickly decided it would at least give him time to think on what had happened, and maybe sort through some of his thoughts which seemed to be all jumbled. He wasn’t sure what was happening to him. He had no experience with girls and he seemed unable to think of Mille in any kind of coherent fashion. His mind kept playing the morning kiss over and over again. Thoughts of the encounter gave him a pleasant warm feeling that started from somewhere inside and then spread until his entire body seemed to be tingling.

The day passed with Gwaynn lost in his thoughts, which fluttered about landing mostly on Mille, but occasionally on Vio as well. Neither of the girls knew who he truly was, both thought he was just a tragic boy from a shipwreck, a commoner like themselves. He knew his long term goals contained neither of them, and though it was not rare for those of noble blood to take a tumble with a commoner, it was nearly unheard of to take one as a wife. Even though the thought of taking a tumble with Mille made his stomach lurch and his heart jump in his chest, he doubted that she would be satisfied with just a tumble, and for some reason he could not even picture taking a tumble with Vio, alluring as she was.

“Oy!” Leek yelled, frowning. “Wipe the grin from your face and walk down into those trees. A few of the buggers like to hide amongst ‘em.”

Gwaynn, jumped at the sound of the man’s voice, blushed, then nodded and moved off down the hill. He was still a distance away from the copse when he realized that Leek was correct. There were at least three head milling about inside the trees. The first one he caught sight of was a young bull calf, about three months old. Despite being young, the bull was already very large. For some reason seeing the young bull brought back thoughts of his large friend Karl, then of his former life, now seemingly long gone. He had only been on the island for….just over four months now, but it felt much, much longer. He thought of his Mother and how he missed her and suddenly he was overcome with grief, though his eyes remained completely dry. He thought of his sister and her execution, something he had not done now for weeks, and suddenly was angry. He would avenge them if he could, and not run away from his destiny, but any of that would have to wait until he was ready.

“Come on,” he said and moved around the calf with a stern look. He began to steer the calf out of the woods knowing that his mother would soon follow, which she did as did the two others that were with them. He continued to steer the young bull across the hilly grasslands toward the main buildings, but he only had to go a little past half way before he was able to turn back. He now knew that from there the cattle would continue to the barn on their own.

He worked with Leek into the early afternoon until all the cattle were moving back toward the main buildings.

“Storms coming,” Leek said, nodding toward the western horizon as they walked side-by-side back to the main house. Gwaynn’s stomach rumbled loudly as he looked at the dark clouds coming in the distance.