The Vampire & Her Witch Chapter 1876: Testing Steel (Part One)

Reynold’s horse was a destrier stallion with a rich, chestnut coat and a blaze of white across his face that matched the white markings on his fetlocks. He stood sixteen hands tall, and he was the pride of the Aleese stables.

"Hello, old friend," Reynold said, greeting the horse as soon as Liam brought him to the training yard.

Reynold had raised Star Chaser since he was a foal six years ago, and together, the pair of them had ridden further into the Southern Steppe than almost any living human. He felt like he’d spent half his days for the past three years in Star Chaser’s saddle, roving across the grasslands in search of a place to build something new, and to Reynold, the powerful warhorse had become every bit as much a member of his family as his parents or his little brother, Rain.

"I know you don’t like it in the cold," Reynold said, patting the horse affectionately. "I’ll find you a few good apples after this if I can. Tonight, we’re going to work hard," he told the horse. "I’m going to be counting on you."

Star Chaser tossed his head and chuffed happily, bumping its nose affectionately against Reynold’s chest before the young lord got to work checking the saddle and adjusting the tack.

It wasn’t that Reynold didn’t trust Liam to have done his job as a squire, but Reynold knew Star Chaser better than anyone, and in his opinion, a knight who left everything to his squire was asking to take a fall.

"Your family’s reputation is well earned," Thane said as he approached the young lord. The vampire knight wore a gambeson of flat, unrelieved black with thick leather gloves tucked into his swordbelt alongside a riding crop. If it weren’t for his bone-white skin and striking amber eyes, Reynold would have mistaken him for an ordinary tutor, one who knew horses well from the way he carefully assessed Reynold’s mount.

"Star Chaser has been good to me," Reynold said simply. "His father, Storm, was the bully of the stables, mean-tempered and fierce. His mother wasn’t anything special, no one we’d have chosen to breed with Storm, but my mother favored the mare for long rides," Reynold explained.

"Star Chaser isn’t a horse we planned," Reynold said. "But given the chance, he’s run further than most, and he’s never faltered under me. A knight couldn’t ask for much more."

"A knight shouldn’t ask for much more," Thane agreed as he turned his appraising gaze from the horse to its rider. "But so many of them do, and their mounts break under the strain of ambitions they can’t bear."

"I’m not an ambitious man, Lord General," Reynold said, shaking his head. "I’m just trying to do the right thing to protect my father, my family, and our home. Star Chaser and I can do that... Then that’s enough."

"Good," Thane said, clapping Reynold on the shoulder. "A lesser man would be eager to prove himself to the empresses while all the lords of the realm watched. Keep your focus where it needs to be, and you have a chance of accomplishing your aim. Lose sight of what’s at stake and your brother will be all that’s left of your family’s line."

"Now, mount up," Thane said. "I want to put you through your paces. Start at one end of the list at a walk and wait for my command to do anything different."

Within a quarter of an hour, Reynold and Star Chaser fell into an easy rhythm with Thane’s commands. Walk the length of the list, then a full turn to return at a trot, turn and walk, turn and trot. A few passes with the reins in his hands and then with the reins knotted while Reynold used nothing but the pressure of his knees and the tap of his toes and heels to command his mount.

Once both man and horse were warmed up and ready for more, Thane pushed them harder, from trot to canter, then a full charging gallop around the training yard.

"Good," Thane called as Reynold and Star Chaser completed their second circuit of the yard at a gallop. "Collected canter, without the reins," Thane called, catching Reynold momentarily off guard, but his body moved automatically, shifting in his seat while his legs moved into position.

Instantly, Star Chaser’s gait shifted, slowing from the gallop into a tightly controlled canter designed to allow his rider to change direction more easily, adapting and responding to the flowing pressures of melee combat or dodging arrows or spears hurled by adversaries.

"Come round to the poles!" Thane called. "Keep the canter collected and weave," he said, setting the pair to race through a series of poles at a brisk pace while maintaining a balance that Reynold could fight from.

Reynold and Star Chaser flowed smoothly into the drill, and Reynold felt a smile forming on his lips as he let go of the pressures and stresses that had dominated his daily life since Empress Ashlynn toppled the Lothians and seized the throne of the march.

Here, with a horse moving at a canter and all of his focus on executing Thane’s commands, there was no room in his mind to worry about where borders would be drawn or how laws would change... Nor were there any discussions of potential brides and his future as the next Lord Gardener or Lord Warden of a ride...

It was just him and Star Chaser and the work of blending the line between man and beast as the two became united in movement and purpose.

"Good," Thane said, gesturing to Liam. "Take two circuits at a trot, then one at a walk before you collect a lance and shield from Liam," he said as he began setting up a swinging target with a dented steel shield on one side and a heavy sandbag on the other.

"You ride reasonably well," Thane said as Reynold prepared for the next phase of training. "Now, I want to see how you fight."