Horse Ride

Lord Raul was still serving his punishment inside the cold coffin. When Amira opened the coffin, icy smoke clouded the air. She cast out some spells on Lord Raul's lifeless body. The unconscious body came out of the coffin with a closed eye.

Smoke was coming out from his body and it was stiff and cold like ice. The man was only wearing a pant, leaving the rest parts of his body bare.

"Come to me!" Amira instructed and he obey, walking toward her like a walking corpse. Still with his eyes closed.

Only Amira gave out instructions that he obeyed. "Open your eyes."

Raul opened his eyes. It was a terrifying sight to behold. His eyes had no eye socket. His face was pale and his bones were vividly visible. His eye was red like that of the red sun.

Amira chuckled to herself for a job well done. The man in front of her was nothing different from a skeleton. She made him lie inside the coffin again so that he could regain enough strength and enough flesh.

This time around, he won't be the friendly Lord Raul.

Back in the castle, Ariel already arrived at the royal stable since her husband had earlier told her that they'll be going on a horse ride.

She took some steps inside the stable but nobody was there.

"Hello...Your Majesty!" Ariel called but there was no response.

She heard some creepy noise inside the stable. But was a little bit frightened.

Ariel was somewhat sacred but she felt huge to go deeper inside and she did. The place was dark, she couldn't see clearly but her gaze met with icy blue eyes that shone brightly through the dark.

The pair of eyes reminded her of the unknown creature in her dream and that of her husband; king Vladimir.

Could he be the one?

"Your Majesty, if you're there please don't scare me." She pleaded.

"Oh, you're already here. So sad that I came late." King Vladimir spoke from behind, lighting up the giant candles that were at the edge of the stable.

The place was already bright now and Ariel turned around and saw King Vladimir.

Who was the person she had seen earlier that had the same eyes as his? Has the unknown creature come to her? No! It must be her hallucination. Ariel thought. Taking a deep breath.

"You seem frightened. What happened?" He asked seeing her wary face.

Ariel forced a smile and turned around to look at the horses. The stable was very large and King Vladimir did the lighting of candles by himself instead of asking a servant to do so.

That seems weird!

"I'm fine. I thought that I might find you here." Ariel said.

King Vladimir patted her shoulder. "I'm here now. Have you picked a horse yet?"

In the first place, when she came in, the place didn't look like a stable to her but like the enchanted cave, she found in her dream.

The stable was like a house, specifically built for the horses.

"No, I've not." She answered, snapping back to reality.

King Vladimir noticed that she was absentminded and was not in the right state of mind. He knew what was bothering her but didn't want to talk about it.

"Let's see all the horses, then you'll get to pick one."

Ariel held onto his arm, afraid that he might disappear from her sight.

After walking around the stable, Ariel didn't find anyone suitable to her taste. They all were male horses, either black or brown.

"No one suits your taste?" He asked seeing the disappointed look on her face.

"Yes. They're all male horses." She complained.

"Oh... I must have forgotten!" He shook his head. "Patty!" He called an unfamiliar name that made Ariel curious.

"Who's Patty?" Ariel asked with a knitted brow.

He didn't respond further. There were a few minutes of silence not until when a pony arrived. Much to Ariel's surprise.

"Wow!" Ariel was amazed.

The pony came in between them. Its hair had pink and white colors. The pony was white and Ariel adored it so much.

"Her name is Patty." King Vladimir said stroking the horse's hair.

"Wow! She's beautiful!" Ariel complimented the horse with a bright smile on her face. She was smiling from ear to ear.

The horse was beautiful indeed.

"You like it?"

"I love it!" Was Ariel's response.

"Then it'll be yours. Take care of her." King Vladimir handed over the horse to Ariel.

Ariel was so happy to be a horse owner and not just an ordinary horse owner. She had the most beautiful horse.

"Shall we?" King Vladimir asked, climbing onto his black shiny horse.

Ariel saw him climbing his horse and a hint of jealousy was visible on her face. She glanced at Patty and then at the man on his black horse. He looked more like a demigod.

King Vladimir saw the frown on her face. "Don't tell me that you can't climb a horse." He asked curiously. He furrowed his eyebrows.

Ariel shook her head innocently making the man groan in frustration.

"Can you ride?"

"Yes, I can!" She nodded.

"You know how to ride a horse but don't know how to climb it. Are you for real?" His frustration turned into anger but he managed to subdue it.

What Ariel wanted was for him to carry her up to her horse and not yell at her. She was quite displeased that he didn't get the message that she was indirectly passing to him.

Meanwhile, King Vladimir was too angry to know what she had in mind.

"Arielle, you never do anything right!" He frowned and came down from his horse, helping her up to climb hers.

After they were both done, they rode off to somewhere King Vladimir had in mind to show her.

A place that was familiar to Ariel but someone else has brought her to the place before. Maybe in her dream or reality, you can't tell.

The latter was excited to have a new horse and Patty was pretty fast and obeyed her new master's every command. Also, Ariel was careful not to hurt her newly found pet.