The Amulet (4 page)

“Just thought I’d pop by and say hello before
I take Gypsy out for a ride.”

“Good evening, Faedra.” A voice called from
behind her. She turned.

“Oh, hello, Vicar. How are you this
evening?”

“Very well thank you, my dear. I see you are
off for a ride this fine day,” he replied, taking note of Faedra’s
clothing.

“Sure am. It’s a beautiful evening for
it.”

“Well, you have fun, my dear,” he said before
heading towards the vicarage.

“Excuse me, Vicar,” Faedra called out after
him.

“Yes, dear?”

“Does that black and white dog belong to
you?”

“Which black and white dog, dear?”

“That one…” Faedra’s voice trailed off as she
noticed the empty space in the direction she was pointing. “The
black and white collie that always sits over there.”

“Can’t say I’ve ever noticed one. Must be a
stray; we don’t have a dog.”

“Oh, never mind then,” she said, drawing her
eyebrows together as she watched the vicar walk out of sight. She
looked over to where she had just pointed, and, sure enough, the
dog was sitting there again like she’d never left.

“Hmm, that’s odd,” she said, looking down at
Faen and shaking her head. “Come on, let’s go get Gypsy tacked up.
Bye, Mum, I’ll be back soon.” She kissed her fingertips and pressed
them against the headstone, letting them linger for a moment,
before turning toward the path and heading back in the direction of
the horse barn.

When she walked back over to the barn, she
noticed her friend getting out of a car and wandered over to greet
her.

“Hi, Lisa, going out for a ride tonight?” she
asked.

“Haven’t made my mind up yet. Which trail are
you thinking of taking?”

“I thought I would go through the woods; it’s
warm and the shade would keep us cool.”

“Nah, then I’ll have to say no, Fae. Those
woods give me the creeps,” Lisa replied with a shudder.

“They do? Why?”

“I can’t explain it. I just get a weird
feeling in there, freaks me out.”

Faedra raised her eyebrows at Lisa’s
descriptive distaste for the woods, but that wouldn’t deter her.
She had always loved riding through the woods and never felt
anything weird, must be Lisa’s overactive imagination.

“Okay, no worries. We’ll catch up for a ride
somewhere else another time then?” Faedra said as she made off in
the direction of the paddocks.

“Sure thing, Fae. Catch you later,” Lisa was
already across the car park and heading toward the stables.

Gypsy was grazing at the far end of the field
when Faedra and Faen reached the gate to her paddock.

“Gypsy!” Faedra called. “Come here,
girl!”

Gypsy’s head popped up and looked in Faedra’s
direction. It was obvious she recognized her voice. Her horse
turned and started to walk toward the gate, then the walk turned to
a trot, which turned to a canter, until the thunder of her hooves
could be heard on the ground. Faedra grinned. She loved that sound.
It was a sound she always associated with a feeling of freedom.
That’s just how she felt when she was on Gypsy’s back going that
speed. The wind in her face, the thunder of hooves below her, and
the countryside zipping past in a blur as they flew like the wind
along the trails.

Gypsy was a striking beauty in Faedra’s book.
Her coloring was classed as blue roan, she had a black coat with
white flecks all the way through it that gave her a bluish tinge
from a distance. She had a black mane and tail, and a white blaze
down the length of her face that had an odd crescent shape to it
just below her ears. Three of her legs had white socks that went
almost up to her knees and one back leg had just an ‘ankle sock’.
Gypsy slowed as she neared the gate and walked calmly until she was
standing just before it. Faedra leaned over the gate and held out a
treat for her. Gypsy nuzzled the palm of her hand, gently picking
the treat from it.

“Hi, girl,” Faedra whispered, rubbing her
hand down Gypsy’s face. “Ready to go for a ride?”

She climbed up and over the gate and reached
up to put the halter over Gypsy’s head. When the halter was
fastened, she unbolted the gate and led Gypsy through. Once they
reached the stables, Faedra tied her to the ring on the wall just
next to her stall and proceeded to groom her. She paid special
attention to getting the knots out of her mane and tail. It didn’t
take long after that before Gypsy was saddled up and ready to
go.

Faedra put on her helmet, mounted her horse,
and rode out of the yard towards the trailhead, Faen keeping pace
behind them. She would have to ride a few yards down the road to
reach the entrance to the trail that was on the opposite side of
the lane to the barn. The farmer had opened up all of his land to
the riders after renovating the stables. He’d created several
trails that went off in different directions. Faedra’s favorite was
the one that followed a stream and then led into and through a
thick stand of trees.

The sun was starting to dip in the sultry
evening sky; yet another reason she loved the woods. Her ride
started out heading towards the sun. The woods made a handy shade
so that she didn’t get blinded when the sun dropped to eye level as
it was setting. She considered its position in the sky and made a
mental note that she had about an hour of riding left before it got
too dark. Although Gypsy was very adept at finding her way in the
dark, she knew her father would worry and didn’t like to give him
any reason to.

She always let Gypsy warm up first by walking
her for a while. Faedra drifted off into a daydream as she watched
the sparkles of light dance in the water of the gently flowing
stream to her right. When she was ready, Faedra squeezed her calves
and made a soft ticking noise with her mouth to ask her horse to
move forward into a trot, which Gypsy did quite willingly. The sun
was getting brighter by the minute and Faedra was relieved that the
opening to the woods was just up ahead.

“Okay, girl, slow it down,” she asked, and
with a squeeze of her hands on the reins Gypsy responded by coming
down into a walk again.

They were at the mouth of the woods and
Faedra wanted both of them to adjust their eyes to the decreased
light before increasing their speed. She was glad she slowed them
down, because as soon as they entered the trees, Faedra, at least,
was blinded for a moment while her eyes adjusted to the darker
surroundings, but she put her trust in her horse to keep on the
path until she could see clearly again.

The chinks of light from the sun poked their
way through the foliage, creating shards of illuminated,
see-through swords, which rained down from high in the branches to
the ground below. As they rode through them, the shards were
distorted, contouring around their bodies. Faedra squeezed Gypsy’s
sides to push her up into a trot again; she enjoyed picking up the
pace in the woods. After a few strides in trot, she asked for
canter and looked round to check and make sure Faen was keeping up.
He was right there on Gypsy’s tail, and hardly even panting.

Faedra wondered when Faen was going to start
showing his age. He must be nearly thirteen years old by now
because he was full-grown when she had found him, or rather he had
found her, and that was getting old for a dog. Yet, he still kept
up with Gypsy and didn’t show any signs of slowing down. She looked
forward again, not having to worry about guiding her horse through
the trail that led through the woods. They had cantered down this
path so many times before, but she enjoyed watching the trees fly
past. Faedra thought they must have been half way through by
now.

In a split second, everything changed. Gypsy
came screeching to a halt, throwing Faedra forward and forcing a
plume of dust up from the trail. Faedra caught hold of her horse’s
neck and clung on for dear life until she managed to regain her
balance. Adrenaline pumped through her veins as she sat up straight
in the saddle and repositioned her feet in the stirrups. She looked
all around her in desperation to see if she could spot what had
made her horse react so out of character. She could see nothing
unusual, but Gypsy continued to be agitated. Her horse started
neighing and pawing at the ground, which was creating quite a dust
cloud. Faedra became more and more unnerved the more agitated Gypsy
became.

“What is it, girl? What’s wrong?” she
whispered, trying to calm her, but Gypsy just kept getting more and
more disturbed.

“Steady, girl. Steady,” she took a shorter
hold on the reins and attempted to turn her horse around so they
could leave. It had become evident that Gypsy was not going to move
forward another step.

Just as Faedra thought she was calming Gypsy
down, her horse spun and reared all in the same move. There was
nothing Faedra could do. She had lost her footing in the stirrups.
It was such an explosive movement that she was thrown violently
from the saddle, hitting the ground with so much force, making a
loud ‘oomph’, knocking all of the air out of her lungs.

She could hear the thunder of hooves grow
softer and softer as the distance grew between her and Gypsy. She
couldn’t move to lift up her head and watch as her horse fled the
woods in terror. She couldn’t catch her breath either. There was no
air getting into her lungs. She grasped at her chest, partly in
desperation, partly in fear.

Oh, God, I can’t breathe. What happens if
I can’t breathe? I’ll die.
The terrifying thought swam through
her head and she could feel herself starting to panic. Her lips
started to tingle, and her fingertips followed suit. She opened her
eyes and could make out the shards of light raining down on her but
couldn’t focus completely.

“Faen?” she gasped.

A menacing growl resonated from deep within
her dog, who she could sense was standing close beside her. She
unclasped her arms from her chest and searched with her hands
either side of her body for her faithful companion. Relief filled
her heart, which was pounding wildly within her ribcage, when she
felt his soft fur with her fingertips, and, at the same time, she
was able to catch her first breath.

Her breathing was very shallow at first, but
steadily became stronger as the moments passed. When she was able
to take a deep breath, she did so, and promptly coughed it back up
again. She had taken a lung full of the dust that Gypsy had kicked
up during her chaotic panic attack and subsequent departure. While
lying on the ground, she did a mental inventory of bones, moving
each limb with caution to see if anything was broken. Nothing
seemed to be, so heaving a sigh of relief, she pushed herself up
into a sitting position.

“Oh, good grief, I’m a mess,” she groaned,
glancing up and down her legs and arms that were now covered in
muck and dust. Her clean white t-shirt was more of a khaki color
now. There was a tear in her jodhpurs and her shiny black boots
were scuffed and dusty.

She sat still for a moment to check and make
sure she did not have any searing pain, she didn’t.

“Well, I don’t think anything’s broken, boy,”
she stated to Faen.

He looked around at her and allowed one wag
of his tail in response. Then he turned back to what he was staring
at intently in the trees and continued his ominous growling. Faedra
took more notice of it this time because she could see his posture,
too. If he were not her dog, she would have been pretty darned
frightened of him right at that moment.

Faen stood in a stance that would allow him
to pounce at any second. His hackles were standing tall on his back
and his tail was held rigid. He had all his teeth bared. Faedra
could hardly recognize this dog as being her Faen. His growl was
menacing and it sent chills up her spine.

“What is it, boy?” she whispered, as she
looked into the trees where he was staring. Her eyes widened with
fear as she caught sight of what Faen would not take his attention
from and gave an involuntary gulp.

“Please tell me those aren’t eyes,” she
stammered. She wasn’t sure if she was expecting Faen to reply, but
he did with another menacing growl.

There, hiding within the shadows of the
trees, were not one, but two sets of what looked like yellow eyes
glowing hideously in the darkness.

They could be cats. No they were too tall
for cats, and cat’s eyes were more rounded. Not dog’s eyes
either
, she pulled in a sharp breath; they looked like smaller
versions of human eyes.

“What are they? Who are they?” Faedra asked.
Again, Faen growled in response.

The eyes turned to look at each other, then
moved up and down as if the owners were nodding to one another in
agreement. They then turned back to look again in Faedra’s
direction.

Faedra felt like a wave of ice cold water had
just splashed over her, and she froze where she was, still sitting
in the dirt.

Run, Faedra!

A familiar voice bellowed in her head. Where
had she heard that voice before?

Faedra, get up; you have to move, NOW!

She looked all around her, half expecting
someone to be hovering above her. Could she get up? She hadn’t
tried yet. She was feeling very stiff.

FAEDRA RUN!

That did it, pain or no pain, she was
listening this time. As if someone had just grabbed her by her
shoulders and lifted her off the ground by her bra straps, she
suddenly realized she was running as fast as her legs would carry
her in the same direction that Gypsy had fled just minutes earlier.
Faen followed closely at her heels. She could hear rustling behind
her and it sounded like it was getting closer. The adrenaline
coursing through her veins gave her just enough extra energy to
speed up, just when she believed she had nothing left. Faedra and
Faen burst out of the woods and were bathed in the light of the
setting sun once again.