The Horses Rejoice: The Horses Know Book 2 (The Horses Know Trilogy)

by Lynn Mann

  We can reach your minds easily enough, but it will depend on how open an individual is to receiving our help, as to how far they are able to progress, Mother Elder pointed out. Our younglings, even those with a greater human heritage than the rest, still have enough animal heritage that they are instantly open to the possibility of their oneness with All That Is. Humans are the most closed of all the animals. Your horses have had enormous patience to persevere with teaching those of you that they managed to reach.

  I nodded. I know. It will take time. But will you come back to our villages with us and help us? There is so much that we can help the Kindred with in return. You can be Aware of the methods of farming from any of us, any time you wish, but experiencing the process alongside our Farmers will help you so much more. We have houses of stone that stay cool in the summer, so you wouldn’t need to migrate to the mountains any more. You could establish villages of your own or integrate into ours. So much could be learnt by both races if we cooperate.

  There will be much fear to be overcome by your people. We will help wherever we can, but I do not foresee it being easy, Mother Elder told me.

  My sister will help.

  I felt Mother Elder read from my mind the role that Katonia would play. You and she made this agreement long ago and she does not remember it, she observed.

  Not yet, but she will. Katonia will not let us down.

  We will not know until the time is upon us, but I hope that you are right, Mother Elder replied.

  Katonia was my sister. I didn’t hope, I knew.

  Twenty-Three

  Group

  My friends and I remained in the clearing for some days, recovering our strength. Our horses grazed bare the nearby grassy clearing and then followed some Kindred younglings to more grazing just beyond the edge of the woodland. None of us held the remotest concern for our horses’ safety as they disappeared through the trees; the Kindred were treating them with the utmost reverence.

  We spent our time cooking the food that was brought to us by the Kindred, resting and enjoying being part of the group that we had become. We all had our individual identities, but we now resonated so closely with one another as a result of our shared experience and purpose, that together, we were something more, as if everyone was magnified by everyone else. We were a profound strength.

  Fitt politely but firmly resisted requests from her family to return to them and she insisted that we continue to call her Fitt, and not her given name of Lacejoy. We could feel her sense of belonging with us, and the name we had given her seemed to be part of that identity for her, so we happily agreed. She didn’t hide her eagerness for us all to catch up with her astonishingly fast recovery, so that she and Flame could continue their mission alongside us. They were both revelling in everything they had achieved and were as determined as ever to push onwards.

  Aleks was a different person. He had put to good use the water that the Kindred had hauled to us in deer bladders and was now clean, shaven and wearing freshly washed clothes. Despite being as thin as the rest of us, he no longer looked gaunt and his eyes sparkled. We felt his frustration that neither he nor his horse were strong enough for him to ride her yet, but we were also astonished by how quickly he found his centre. It seemed that as soon as he was Aware, he was easily able to keep his concentration on the physical whilst exploring all of the sensory input to which his mind was now subject, and he was not in the least overwhelmed by it all as the rest of us had been. It seemed that, ironically, the intense focus on his physicality that had previously hindered him so much was now the attribute that helped him to both find and maintain his centre. I saw yet again the perfection that existed as everything found a balance.

  Vickery was different too. The toughness that she had always presented as her exterior had softened into a sense of capable confidence. Her face, previously quite square, was now dominated not by angles but by relaxed, blue eyes and a smiling mouth. She had always had a restless energy about her, but that had changed to a more purposeful, dynamic energy, despite the weakness of her recovering body. She Is Verve, I thought to myself as I watched her exchanging banter with Marvel. I couldn’t wait to see her ride her beautiful white stallion once they were both strong enough.

  Sonja was as jolly and encouraging as always. She had never hidden her fondness for Aleks and now that he was free of himself and returning her interest, her blushes at our silent teasing frequently matched the red of her hair, despite her efforts to remain unaffected.

  Holly was as serene as ever and recovering almost as quickly as Fitt. Her long, blond hair framed a face that was warm in its expression as her long legs stretched out towards the fire in front of her.

  Rowena and Marvel leaned affectionately into one another, more comfortable showing their feelings for one another now that our group had been so intimately one. Marvel looked thinner than the rest of us, though it was merely the size of his frame that accentuated his weight loss, but he had lost none of his handsomeness. His hazel eyes twinkled in the firelight as he looked down at Rowena, easily supporting her weight with his own as she leant against him. Rowena’s smile back up at him was easy and shone from her dark eyes as much as from the curve of her lips. The pair radiated strength.

  Justin and I were the quietest of the group. We had missed each other keenly and were glad of the comfort our physical bodies afforded one another, but neither of us could shake off a feeling of listlessness. The first time I found myself alone with my thoughts after my return to my body, I felt a sense of loneliness and grief, despite the sense of my soul being entwined with Infinity’s and despite my Awareness of everyone around me; it wasn’t the same as the all-encompassing oneness that we had all recently experienced, but a muted connection by comparison. Infinity immediately made herself more of our mind by way of comfort and reassurance and Justin, whose feelings mirrored my own, appeared out of the darkness and sat down behind me, his legs either side of mine. He drew me to lean back against him, hugging me tight as he murmured in my ear, ‘it’s harder, returning this time, isn’t it?’

  I nodded as I sighed and nestled back against his warmth. ‘Much. I suppose it will pass. I’m glad you’re here.’

  His chest rumbled against my back as he said, ‘Gas and I were always going to make it, however much Marvel jokes about our timely arrival.’

  I chuckled. ‘I never doubted you both.’

  ‘Timely arrival? Is that what it’s called when you leave your friends dangling from a cliff edge and then make an entrance no less dramatic than what was already unfolding, in order to save the day?’ Marvel said.

  ‘Those ears of yours haven’t got any smaller since you left The Gathering, I see Marv,’ Justin retorted.

  But we all knew that Marvel hadn’t been listening with his ears; our thoughts were less of our own than they had been since our shared experience in the oneness. A collective laugh reverberated between us all, an echo of the intensity of feeling we had shared, but a comfort to us all.

  Justin and I found that we preferred to speak to each other in our thoughts rather than to talk and we ate with far less fervour than our peers. When we slept, Gas and Infinity joined us in our dreams and the four of us were one as we flew over the hills. That was all we needed. That was all we wanted, really. Gas had been as impassive as Infinity about whether or not he returned to his body, and we wondered if our horses’ lack of concern over their future was influencing how we felt now. Or, possibly, it was Fitt’s enthusiasm and the rest of our friends’ excitement at what was to come that merely accentuated our lack of feeling about it either way.

  Infinity chose to enlighten Justin and me one morning as we were waking. You are merely more conscious than you were of your lack of need to be here. But you chose to return. Whilst you are here you will better serve your friends by embracing your choice.

  ‘Well that’s us told,’ Justin whispered as he gently extricated his arm from underneath me, stretched and sat up.

  ‘She’s right a
s always,’ I whispered back, sitting up beside him to see that our friends all slept still. ‘We’ve been feeling sorry for ourselves.’

  Justin nodded and I felt him make the same necessary changes to his mind that I did. He poked the banked fire with a stick and blew the sparks into flames. Adding more wood, he said, ‘it’s time to get this party started.’ He stood up, threw his arms wide and hollered, ‘LET THE DAY BEGIN!’

  I laughed as Fitt and Marvel both sat bolt upright with a wild look in their eyes. Rowena groaned and pulled her blanket over her head, as did Holly.

  Sonja giggled and leapt to her feet. ‘Today’s the day,’ she said and nudged Aleks with her foot. ‘Wake up, it’s time to see you in action. And you Vic, I know you’re awake because I heard you yawn, come on, feel the mood, it’s lifted and it’s time to push on!’

  ‘And it was us holding the mood down, sorry guys, we’ve been feeling a bit sorry for ourselves,’ I said.

  ‘Well we didn’t really like to say,’ Marvel said, chuckling.

  ‘More likely Rowena told you not to,’ said Justin with a grin.

  ‘What if I did?’ Rowena appeared suddenly from under her blanket. ‘It’s not like we can all keep anything from one another anymore and we knew you two were struggling a bit, understandably so. It was hard enough for us to return here, in fact without the horses, we never would have, and this is the second time that you and Amarilla have done it, Jus. We felt your weariness and if you needed a bit longer than the rest of us to readjust to being here, then it wasn’t anyone’s place to mention it.’

  ‘Unless you had decided it was yours, and then it would have been fine,’ Marvel said and then defended himself from her fingers as she tried to flick his ears. We all laughed.

  Once we had quietened down, Justin said, ‘thank you.’ He put his gratitude for our friends’ understanding and support into his words with such intent that everyone immediately became serious.

  ‘And thanks from me, too,’ I said. ‘Ever since Infinity and I bonded, I’ve blundered from one situation to the next and somehow along the way, I’ve managed to make some amazing friends. You’ve helped me, protected me and trusted me and now look where we all are – laying in the dirt, the light only knows where, no horses in sight and with no immediate plans to rectify the situation. I think we should all drink a toast to the futility of life.’ I giggled and then couldn’t stop. The toast was forgotten as my friends all joined in with me.

  ‘Am, I’m going to repeat what I’ve said before... motivational speeches are Ro’s domain. You just stick to leading us into one mess after another, that’s yours,’ said Marvel, still laughing.

  ‘Well okay then, I suggest that rather than waiting for the Kindred to bring our food for today, we go to ride our beautiful Bond-Partners and then make our way up to meet the Kindred,’ I said.

  ‘And I second that,’ said Sonja. ‘Bright’s up for it, and... I think that’s a good example of no sooner said than done,’ she added at Aleks’s rapidly retreating back as he jogged towards where his horse waited for him.

  If we had been Aware of our strength as a group whilst we lazed around the campfire, it became something that was impossible to miss once we were all astride our horses. As we rode bareback and bridleless and wherever our horses wanted to take us as they used the ground merely as a reference point rather than a medium to take their weight, it was impossible not to feel the magnitude of the positive force that we had all become – the air almost seemed to ripple with it.

  Gas fell in beside Infinity and as they cantered a large circle, they, Justin and I became one powerful being as easily as breathing. When Infinity and I peeled away from the other two, however, we weren’t diminished. Infinity caught up with Flame and then slowed to match her collected trot. Fitt grinned down at me as the four of us shared pure delight at how easily we knew ourselves as parts of the same whole.

  We passed Rowena and Oak, and Rowena and I revelled in our friendship as Oak and Infinity pirouetted in unison and then took off side by side at a gallop. As we circled and slowed, my breath caught in my throat at the sight of Justin riding Gas alongside Fitt and Flame. The two leggy chestnuts matched each other stride for stride as they extended in trot as one. The sun almost seemed to pick them out as it cancelled the dawn, intensifying the orange of their coats to the extent that they appeared on the verge of exploding into fire.

  And then Vickery crossed in front of me, upon Verve. The stocky, white stallion had always been a strong horse, but now he was powerful. He collected Serene and Holly as he passed them and the tall, delicately graceful, grey mare only accentuated his power as she glided effortlessly at his side.

  An ecstatic shout from Aleks drew my gaze to where he and Sonja galloped Nexus and Bright. The grey and bay slowed to a canter in unison and then to a trot, as if they were joined by strings and operated by the same puppeteer. They barely appeared to touch the ground at all as they eased back up to a gallop, enjoying the delight of their riders as much as the proof of their balance and return to strength.

  Oak slowed his pace to fall behind Infinity and join Marvel and Broad. As Infinity and I circled to watch them, I was struck for what must have been the hundredth time, by how two such large, heavy horses could defy their build to move with such poise and elegance.

  Balance, Infinity and I thought together. Everything searches for balance and everything finds it, eventually.

  I glanced down at the arched, silvery-white neck in front of me and love for my beautiful mare flooded through me. Her wavy mane rose and fell as she carried me at a slow, collected canter. Her ears were pricked forward, ever confident, and she was as strong and sure beneath me as I was on her back. I wondered how I could ever have felt down-hearted about returning to my body when it meant that I could share this very physical experience with my soul mate. I smiled. Infinity always rescued me from the pitfalls of my humanity in one way or another.

  Justin’s mind nudged mine, showing me a slim young woman astride a slender yet muscled piebald mare with blue eyes. They almost appeared not to be real as they moved as one in the early morning sunshine. They touched the ground briefly in between strides that were longer than should have been possible, light as the air that was barely required to part before them. They were surrounded by a white haze, barely discernible yet there for those capable of seeing it, a link to the ethereal with which they identified and had been unable to leave behind when returning to the physical.

  I looked over at Justin and saw that he and Gas, too, were surrounded by the haze. I had to almost unfocus my eyes to see it, but it was there. I smiled gratefully at Justin.

  Caught up in the elation of nine horses and riders in perfect balance weaving between one another in complete harmony, we all lost track of time. It wasn’t until, as one, we all became Aware of the wonder of the Kindred, that we noticed them lining the trees alongside the pasture in which we rode. As one, we drew to a graceful halt, facing them.

  We were Aware that the Kindred had been concerned for us when they took food and water to the clearing for us and found us gone. They had followed their sense of us and found us with our horses. They were unprepared for what they had then witnessed. They had broadcast it to their peers, more of whom had arrived to watch.

  ‘You were like the starlings when they fly in waves, as if they are small parts of the same being,’ rasped a black-pelted youngling.

  ‘I could see all of you individually if I really concentrated, but otherwise you all melded into one another, sometimes just horse with rider, sometimes groups of you together. There were times when all of you were just one being and I couldn’t pick out any of you, not even my own Lacejoy,’ rasped an adult female with light brown fur and vivid green eyes that glistened with emotion. ‘I’m sorry if we have intruded, but we are all honoured to have seen you and your horses demonstrating physically the beauty of which we are all Aware. I’ve never witnessed anything so moving. Lacejoy, there was a time when I was horrified by the
decisions you were making but I couldn’t be prouder to have been wrong.’

  The Kindred all began to cheer their agreement. It was an odd noise, like a crowd of people who had almost lost their voices all trying to shout, but we felt their emotion and appreciation. We grinned and nodded our thanks. Fitt slid from Flame’s back and embraced her mother, before returning to vault back onto her horse. We all followed the Kindred back through the trees, glad of the opportunity to walk the horses as they cooled down.

  The Kindred led us past and then away from the clearing where we had camped, some of them walking tall and others choosing to leap spectacularly between the trees. I was awed by their power and speed. I was chuckling and waving at a cheeky youngling who was wiggling his tongue at me from the tree in which he had just landed, when Rowena gasped beside me. I followed her gaze to what appeared to be enormous wasp nests up in the trees. They were made from vines, I realised. Vines woven tightly and anchored in various spots along the branches to provide both shelter and flooring. Outside the vine shelters hung bladders of water and clumps of various fruits and vegetables.

  Trees that were too far apart to be leapt between were linked by ropes made of twisted and plaited vines, one horizontally above the other and there were Kindred almost running along the lower ropes, barely touching the upper ones that would aid their balance.

  At the bases of trees that housed vine shelters there were fires, surrounded by large, flat stones. Meat and fish were hung to smoke above some of the fires and cooked meat and vegetables rested on the stones around others, keeping warm. Kindred moved around within the trees and on the ground and some were beginning to peer out of their tree homes. There was a sense of lives being lived in harmony with nature that appealed to me greatly.