Chael's Luck (A Knights of Dorathan Novel) Read Free Page B

would be
happening. If Klora was his usual self, it was most likely I’d end
up in the muck before I even had a chance to fight.
    “Do you know, Dad asked me if I wanted to use
Klard tomorrow.” I looked to the big grey sleeping three stalls
away from the one I was in. Klora pushed against me with his nose,
insulted by the fact I’d stopped scratching behind his ear. I gave
him the apple to make up for my lapse of attention.
    “Do you want to know what I told him? I told
him no. And do you know why?”
    Klora nodded his head as he chewed the apple
and I smiled. “I told him no because you do have one thing going
for you and that’s the fact that you can run. Now, don’t go getting
any ideas. It’s not something I’m particularly fond of when you
decide to do it and I’m not on you, but we’re going to need speed
to get through the race. So you see, I need you to get some sleep
and to quit wearing yourself out.”
    The thunder exploded over us and I gave Klora
an extra good pat on the neck when he didn’t jump out of his
skin.
    “What do you think?” I asked him. “Do you
think we can do it?” I didn’t wait for his answer as I slipped out
of the stall and latched it shut. Klora put his head through the
opening. His long ebony forelock fell into his eyes and I brushed
it back.
    “I still remember the day your dam dropped
you. You were the first foal I’d actually gotten to see born. You
were so small and gangly.” I smiled at his snort. “Well, now, look
at you.” I felt my heart drop just a fraction and my smile slipped.
“You’re the only black horse in the land. No one can ever remember
seeing a black.” I remembered the looks on my father’s and uncle’s
faces when the colt had shed out of his foal hair, but instead of
giving way to grey like the rest of the foals, the dull black had
given way to the shimmering raven color that now stood majestically
before me.
    “I’m not sure if you remember, but the first
thing Dad told me when he realized you weren’t going to turn grey
was, ‘well, I was going to give him to you regardless, Chael, but
now there’s no doubt in my mind this horse is meant to be
yours’.”
    I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“We’re a pair, you and I. I couldn’t get rid of you if someone
offered me a year’s salary. We’re different and because of that, we
have to stick together.”
    Klora took a deep breath and snorted.
    “Many of them expect us to fail, tomorrow.
I’m too small… They know something’s off, but they can’t put a
finger on what it is. And you, well, Chael’s luck, you’re black;
black and flightier than the wild kittens that live in the hay
loft.” I gave him one last pat on the nose. “We’ll prove them
wrong, tomorrow. I’ll take care of the fighting and you take care
of the running, yeah?”
    His soft nose touched my cheek. The wind
outside had subsided and by the sounds of it, so had the rain.
    “Get some sleep,” I ordered as I stepped out
of the barn.
    Once I was undressed and dry once again, I
stretched out under my blankets. Whisk’s tail thumped the floor by
the bed and I reached a hand down to pet him.
    “Good night, Whisk.” I rolled onto my side
and closed my eyes.
    I felt myself start to dream before I was
fully asleep and suddenly, I found myself sitting on a fallen log
in a clearing. Klora stood tethered a few feet from me, his ears
twitching lazily in the sun as he grazed on the long grass. I
looked around, knowing I’d be getting a visitor. This time, I was
shown my father. He smiled and came to sit beside me.
    “He’s a good horse.” He nodded toward Klora.
“You’ll have no problems with the race.”
    “Caleb won’t make things easy for me.” I
voiced my worries, just as I’d learned to do at a young age when
these strange dreams had started to occur.
    “No, he won’t. It’s a guarantee he’ll make
things hard on a few of the lads. Having said that, your dislike of
Caleb can’t get in the