Cursed Blessings

Chapter Eight

Chapter 8
                Several weeks had passed since my coming of age celebrations, of which the parties, ceremonies and tests lasted a week.  In all this time I had heard nothing from my friend Reginn.  The day I left to find Grani he received a message from his home and was required to return, but still he sent no word to me as to how he fared.
                I spent all of my free time with Grani.  He seemed to prefer me to ride without a saddle and reins, but I had to convince him that the concept of using these tools was for the best if I was to have any success with him as my war horse.  He was as stubborn about not doing it as I was about doing it.  I was nearly on the verge of giving up when I remembered what the old man had told me about communicating with animals.
                I walked to his front and looked him in the eye, and then I stroked his nose with one hand while scratching his chin with the other.  This little exercise seemed to calm us both down.  I leaned forward and placed my head on his and whispered, “What can I do for you?”
                After this I concentrated on finding the answer that he was tying to tell me.  It seemed to me that I was there for an eternity when a picture came to my mind.  It was a simple image of an apple.
                It was amazing to know that communicating with beasts was actually possible, but first I wanted to know that the experience I just had was real.  It was off to the kitchen for an apple.
                Without delay I rushed back to the stables and presented the apple to Grani who seemed very excited at the sight of it.  I promised him he could have it if he allowed me to saddle and bridle him.  It seemed we had struck a deal and it turned out to be a successful one.  From that day forth I always had an apple for him.
                The most important thing for a warrior to do is to condition himself by practicing while he is not at war.  The fact that I had not yet partaken in as war and thus was not yet a warrior did not exempt me from this.  Practice every day was already my normal routine, but now I was faced with training Grani as well.  It came as no surprise that he feared nothing, but conditioning was necessary.
                One day while training I spotted a figure on a distant hilltop.  There was no doubt that it was a man on foot.  He seemed to be hiking his way directly to the castle as if he belonged to this countryside.  I decided to ride out to him to inquire of his intentions.  And off I went in full battle gear.
                When I came to rest it was in a spot that was in line with the place I first spotted him and where I should have been able to see him again, but I saw nothing.  Grani must have smelled something on the wind because he became excited just as a warhorse should when there was a possibility for battle.  And it was a definite possibility since a stranger in the land had disappeared.
                Without being urged into it Grani took off at a full run.  This caught me off guard, but I was forced to regroup quickly or fall.  The sound of his hooves hitting the ground was quick and pulsing.  One, two, three, four, I counted quietly in my head.  Soon every pulse began to mix together, matching the beating of my heart.  Excitement coursed through the two of us.
                One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
                And then there was silence.  No hooves, no ground, just the wind blowing by my ears.  No more heartbeat, no more pounding.
                To say the least I was amazed to discover that when I looked down his feet did not touch the ground.  He moved so fast that he actually rode on the wind.
                Suddenly he stopped and there in front of me, not even three hundred yards away, was a familiar shape.  The man was frozen in his tracks as if he were too shacked to move.  He just stood there in open jawed amazement as I walked Grani to him and dismounted.
I removed my helmet and saluted my friend, “Welcome home, Reginn.”
                “Sigurd, is that you,” he asked as he hugged me.  “What has happened to you in my absence?  You have gone and become a man and I have missed it.  I shall never forgive myself.”
                “You should not trouble yourself over such a trivial thing.  Come, my friend, we shall have our own celebrations.”
                “This is certainly one fine animal your father has given you.  I did not even hear his approach,” he said as he gave Grani a pat on the neck.
                “Yes he is,” I agreed.  “He is a very magical horse.  He does make me proud.
                “Come now, man.  Let’s walk.  We can share our stories of our travels on the way.”
                I told him everything that happened to me in his absence, but I left out the strange parts and I never mentioned to another soul what the old man told me about Grani being the offspring of Sleipnir.  That would only end up inviting trouble.  It was a secret best kept to myself.