Eternal Changes (Mikah) (10 page)

Fifteen minutes later, Smokey was brushed, haltered, and saddled. Michael led him into the round pen and Lucy waited before she followed them in. The last thing she wanted was to accidentally be kicked.

Lucy looked down at the ground. There were several indentations embedded in the dirt of a horse’s shoe. No grass grew in a perfect circle around the inside edge of the round pen.

“Why’s there grass in the middle, but none around the edge?” Lucy asked.

Michael looked around the round pen and back at Lucy.” That’s just from where we train the horses. They keep the grass from growing because that’s where we make them walk, trot, and run.”

“That makes sense,” Lucy said.

“I’m gonna show ya how to lunge a horse first,” Michael said as he led Lucy to the middle of the round pen and attached the black lunge line to the bit.

Lucy’s eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. “Lunge?”

“Yep,” Michael said as he handed Lucy the red lunge line and stepped behind her. “You’re gonna keep your body and this,” he said as he handed her a red whip, “behind the horse in order to move him forward. You’re gonna use your body language and the whip to show Smokey where to go.”

Lucy’s heart beat thumped in her chest as Michael grabbed her arm that was holding the lunge line and lifted it up. Smokey’s head and ears perked up. Michael lifted up her other arm that was holding the whip and held it behind Smokey. Michael clucked to Smokey and Smokey started trotting around the round pen.

“We’re just gonna stand right here and turn as Smokey makes his way ‘round,” Michael said. “When we get ready for him to switch directions, we’re going to put the whip in front of him and step out and that will tell him to switch directions. Smokey’s a pro at this.”

“I’m glad he is,” Lucy whispered as Smokey hooves pattered across the dirt.

“Now let’s have him switch directions,” Michael said.

Lucy’s eyes widened. “Ok.”

Michael helped Lucy place the whip several feet in front of Smokey and Michael stepped forward and pointed a finger in the opposite direction. “If you ever get a chance to watch Clinton Anderson on TV,” Michael said as Smokey turned and trotted in the opposite direction. “He is the man when it comes to horse training.”

“Better than you?” Lucy asked.

“I pale in comparison,” Michael said.

Twenty minutes later, Michael stopped Smokey. “That should do it,” he said as he turned to Lucy. “Are you ready to ride?”

Lucy nodded as she followed Michael over to where Smokey was standing. His black coat was slick with sweat.

“I’m going to help you up,” Michael said as Lucy moved next to Smokey.

“Will you
please
hold onto the reigns?” Lucy pleaded.

“I’ll hold onto ‘em and lead you ‘round the pen for a while,” Michael reassured.

Lucy held her breath as Michael walked up behind her. Michael placed her left foot in the stirrup and gave her a boost up. Lucy kicked her leg over Smokey’s back and placed it in the stirrup. Her knuckles became white as she clutched onto the saddle horn. “It looks like I’m a million miles from the ground,” she said as her legs grasped Smokey’s sides in a vice like grip. It felt like she was going to fall off at any moment.

“You’ll get used to it in a little while,” Michael said as he moved to lead the horse around the pen. “Are you ready?”

Lucy took a few small breaths before nodding her acquiescence. She was jolted forward in the seat as Smokey lurched forward. One of Smokey’s ears stayed turned towards her as Michael led him around the pen. The tension eased out of Lucy’s shoulders as she swayed gently in the saddle. By the second trip around, she was beaming with delight.

An hour later, Lucy groaned. She could feel the soreness starting in her legs. “I think it’s time for me to get off,” she told Michael, “or I’m not going to be able to walk tomorrow.”

“Well, you’ll be sore if you’ve never ridden before,” Michael said as he stopped Smokey. “I’ve one more thing to show you before I take you home.”

Lucy helped Michael unsaddle Smokey and put everything way before she hobbled over to his truck and attempted to step up. She moaned as pain lacerated her. Her inner thighs and butt were on fire. Lucy placed her foot up onto the truck, grabbed onto it with both of her hands, and squeezed her eyes closed as she pulled herself up. She sighed as she made it into the seat. Lucy glanced over at Michael. He had a small smile on his face as he pretended to be looking at the road.

Michael started the truck and drove down the road. Lucy was barely able to rest before he pulled up to an old building with a decrepit grey barn next to it. There was a fence by the building that was not as pretty as the fence they’d just left. The ugly brown posts were every few feet and barbed wire was running from post to post.

Michael climbed out of the truck and walked around to open Lucy’s door. She looked down at the hand he was holding out to her. What was it about country boys? She didn’t think guys held open doors for women anymore. She took the hand he offered her and stepped down.

“This is where we milk the cows. We’ve got to milk them every morning and every night. We’re supposed to do it at the same time every day to get the most milk,” Michael said as they walked towards the side door of the building.

A picture flitted across Lucy’s mind. There were a bunch of guys sitting on small brown stools, milking the cows. She could vividly see the milk squirting into the metal pail as each hand squeezed a pink udder.

 A creaking noise disrupted Lucy’s thoughts. She looked over at Michael. He was holding the door to the parlor open.

Lucy was astounded as she walked in and looked at the setup of the building. There was a line of cows and a few of them were separated into several wooden stalls. There was a weird looking contraption hanging from each of their udders. Their udders were compressed by the glove-like suction cup as the machine pumped the milk from the cows and into a long tube.

“We’ve gotta clean each udder before putting on the machine. It sucks out the milk and once it’s finished, we take it off all the cows and move them out of the building for the next cows to be milked,” Michael told Lucy as he took her hand again and led her to the back room of the building.

Lucy looked around. There was a gigantic metal container that looked like something she’d seen in a sci-fi movie.

“This is the tank where all the milk goes after it’s sucked from the cows,” Michael said as he let her explore. “Would you like to try some milk before it gets pasteurized?”

Lucy stopped dead in her tracks and stared at Michael. “I don’t think so.” She shuddered. “I like my milk in the jug. I know that people drank milk straight from the cow back in the day, but I’m not ready to try it just yet.”

Michael smiled at her as he took her hand and led her out of the building. “Wait right here for a minute,” he said as he headed back into the building.

Lucy looked around as she waited for Michael to return. There were a few cows, enclosed in a barbed wire fence, eating out of a long metal bin. She walked over to where the cows were to see what they were eating. When Lucy looked inside, she noticed that they were eating something that looked like grass with corn kernels in it.

“I thought cows just ate grass?” Lucy asked out loud to herself.

“Not these cows. They’re eating silage. It’s every part from a cornstalk and its ground up and fermented. The silage helps them to get the nutrients that they need all year long in order to produce the most milk,” Michael said as he walked up next to her. He was holding something that looked like a massive baby’s bottle. There was a white substance sloshing around inside of it. Lucy’s curiosity was piqued.

“What are you going to do with that?” she asked him as she pointed to the bottle Michael was holding.

“I’m not gonna do anything with it. You, on the other hand, are gonna feed a calf,” Michael said as he grabbed Lucy’s hand and pulled her over to one of the many metal gates in the pasture.

Michael held the gate open as Lucy walked in. She waited for him while he locked the gate back. A movement out of the corner of Lucy’s eye caught her attention. A small calf with big brown eyes was walking towards her. One of his eyes had a perfect black circle around it and he shook his small head as he mooed. Lucy smiled. The calf was absolutely adorable. She walked forward and knelt down in front of it.

“Here,” Michael said as he walked over to Lucy. “Take the bottle and hold it upside down with both hands. He’ll latch on and drink it.”

Lucy took the bottle from Michael and grasped onto it with both hands. She gently put it up to the calf’s white mouth. The calf latched on and started making suckling noises as it enjoyed its meal. Lucy wanted to reach up and pet him, but she couldn’t hold onto the bottle with just one hand with the way the calf was tugging on it. The calf was pretty strong for a little guy.

The bottle was empty in a few minutes, but the calf kept sucking on it for dear life. Lucy gently tugged it out of its mouth and handed the bottle back to Michael. She petted the calf’s soft head as it stood next to her.

“Thank you,” Lucy said as she turned towards Michael, “that was absolutely wonderful. I think that’s one of the neatest things I’ve ever done.”

Michael smiled as he grabbed Lucy by the waist. “This is the neatest thing I’ve ever done,” he whispered as he covered her lips with his.

Lucy closed her eyes and enjoyed his soft lips against her own. One of his hands moved up to her head as he pulled her in even closer to him. It was nice, but she felt like
something
was missing.

She pulled away from Michael and looked into his eyes. He tried to move forward, but Lucy put her hand on his chest, stopping him.

“I’m not used to this kind of thing, Michael,” Lucy told Michael as she stepped away from him. “We’re moving way too fast.”

“I’m here to stay, Luce. We can go as slow as you wanna go,” Michael said as he shoved his hands into his jean pockets. “You make me feel things that I’ve never felt with any other girl. My heart skips beats when I’m near you and I find myself smiling every time I think about you.”

Lucy stared into his stormy eyes. Did he really mean that? Her thoughts briefly turned to Ashton, but she pushed them away. Why did she feel so confused?

“I think I’m ready to go home,” Lucy whispered.

Chapter 9

Ashton looked down from the top of the building as Michael kissed Lucy. Fury flowed through him. Ashton glanced away and willed himself to calm down before the emotion flooded out his common sense.

Ashton could still feel the anger coursing through his body when he was finally able to look down on the couple again. Lucy’s was no longer enclosed in Michael’s arms. Ashton closed his eyes to tune into Lucy’s thoughts. He opened his eyes in surprise. Ashton could feel Lucy’s confusion. He slowly smiled and the anger left his body. This was a battle that he was going to win.

It wasn’t long before Michael and Lucy left the farm. As the truck drove down the gravel road, Ashton saw a cougar in the field.
Malachi
. Ashton closed his eyes as he dissipated into thin air. He needed to know why the shifters were interested in Lucy. He solidified in front of the ground where the cougar was hiding. Ashton opened his eyes and noticed that Malachi had shifted into his human form.

“What do you want bloodsucker?” Malachi hissed as he folded his arms across his chest.

“I want to know why you’re protecting Lucy. What interest does she hold to your people?” Ashton demanded as he glared at the man in front of him.

 “You’ll have to take that up with Caoilainn. I’m not able to tell you, but I will be more than happy to take you to her,” Malachi stated as he shrugged his shoulders.

Ashton saw the gleam of excitement in Malachi’s golden eyes before Malachi was able to hide it.

“So be it,” Ashton said.

Malachi grabbed Ashton’s arm and the next thing Ashton knew, he was in a different world.

“Where are we?” Ashton asked.

“Welcome to Euphranor,” Malachi said. “World of the shifters. Very few know where it’s located or how to get here.”

Ashton had heard stories of Euphranor and how beautiful it was. The stories didn’t do the scene before him justice.

The trees of the forest were gigantic. The diameter of each trunk was the size of a large building on Earth. Their branches were the size of small trees and several exotic flowers of every color bloomed from the depths of their green leaves. The leaves glistened in the sunlight as if it had just rained, but the ground was completely dry.

Ashton walked over to smell a royal blue and gold fuzzy flower hanging off of one of the lower branches. He leaned forward, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His eyes popped open and his eyebrows scrunched down in confusion. There was no smell.

“’Guid day, whit the bludy heel is gonnae oan haur,” a voice, with a Scottish accent, boomed.

Ashton spun around, scanned the area, and glanced over at Malachi. “What was that?”

Malachi shrugged his shoulders and Ashton turned around, looking at the flower in front of him. He lurched back as the flower popped off the tree and flew into the air. The flower changed midair into some odd looking creature. It’s long, droopy ears puffed out as it glided to the ground.  Its gold eyes glared at Ashton.

“Ye dornt see me a walkin’ around smellin’ ye, dae ye?” the creature demanded as it stalked forward, waving its long, vine-like finger at Ashton.

“Och, boy…. haur we go again,” another voice, with a Scottish accent, chirped.

A gold and black flower shifted into the same kind of creature. It’s golden and black body shimmered as its oversized vine-like feet clung to the branch. Its black eyes stared over at Ashton. “Ye got heem started an’ it’ll be a bit afair he staps.”

The blue creature’s golden eyes narrowed. “Ye stay outta it Mischuff! Females hae nae business in a male’s affairs.”

The gold creature rolled its black eyes as it flipped off the branch and glided to the forest floor. “If ye say sae, Phitz. It’d nae be sae bad if ye didne bite ‘eryone’s heed off ye come across.”

Ashton looked from the blue creature to the golden creature. “What are you?”

Mischuff smiled up at him, showing off teeth that sparkled like diamonds. “Me and Phitz, we’re Eirian. Some ay th’ best creatures yoo’ll eva hae th’ pleasure ay meetin’.”

Phitz scowled as he glared at Ashton. “An’ we hae the
displeasure
of a meetin’ ye. Ah was sleepin’ soondly afair ye rudely awoke me.”

Ashton knelt down. “My apologies to you both.” He looked at Phitz and then Mischuff. “I’m new to this world and I didn’t mean to disturb you.”

A horn bellowed in the distance and Phitz’s ears perked up. Phitz rubbed his gold viney hands together as he licked his lips. “It’s ‘ime tae eat!”

Excitement flared in Mischuff’s black eyes. “Ye dornt got tae teel me twice!”

Ashton backed up as the Eirians spun, flinging dirt, as they burrowed into the ground. Mischuff and Phitz took off underground, causing the dirt to rise up on the forest floor. It reminded Ashton of what was left behind after a mole dug into the ground.

Ashton turned around and listened. A soft whizzing sound floated through the air. He arched an eyebrow and looked at Malachi. “Where’s that sound coming from?”

Malachi leaned against a tree and shrugged his shoulders.

Ashton looked up. Several fairies in a myriad of colors floated down from the trees and circled around him. Each of their bodies was a different solid color, but their iridescent wings sparkled in a collage of blues, purples, pinks, and yellows. They clapped their small hands as they danced and spun in all directions as they opened their mouths and started singing. Goosebumps rose up on Ashton’s arms. The melodious sound that left their small lips tinkled and chimed through the forest. His eyes closed as he swayed in rhythm to the music as the tension eased out of his shoulders. It was the most beautiful song that had ever graced his ears. The music ceased and Ashton’s eyes fluttered open. The fairies had vanished.

 Ashton jerked back as something rummaged through the thick green brush near him. A small cougar cub ran out of the brush at full speed, its tongue hanging out of the side of its mouth. The cub leaped into the air and collided into Malachi. Malachi fell to the forest floor, laughing, as he playfully wrestled with the cub. Malachi petted the cub before gently sending the cub on his way.

 “Caoilainn will know you’re here,” Malachi stated. “I’ll take you to her.”

Ashton followed Malachi through the forest, amazed at how good he felt. He took in the view and breathed in the clean, fresh air. In the hundreds of years he’d walked the Earth, he’d never seen anything as stunning. This world was untainted by the atrocities of mankind.

Ashton stopped and stared down at mushrooms the size of large yoga balls. The sunlight reflected off the neon colored mushrooms like strobe lights and pierced his eyes as he tried to look at them.  His eyes squinted slightly in the bright colorful lights as he looked. Two windows and a door were carved into each one. Gold and silver shimmered around every door frame.

“Make sure you don’t step on the mushrooms,” Malachi said as he carefully tiptoed around them. “The gnomes won’t be happy if you destroy their homes.”

Ashton nodded his head in acknowledgement as he stepped around the little houses and studied the ground around him.

“You won’t be able to actually see them. Gnomes stay hidden from those they don’t know,” Malachi said as they walked past the last of the mushrooms. “They’re a gentle species. They love the forest and all the animals that live in it. They’re the Daroch’s friends and allies, but they detest your kind.”

“Go figure,” Ashton muttered.

Ashton and Malachi finally reached a part of the forest where it opened up to a clearing. The trees were spread out and further apart from each other. There were flowers of all types surrounding the base of the trees. It looked like someone had professionally landscaped the area in a kaleidoscope of colors.

“We’re here, but we need to go up,” Malachi told Ashton as he pointed to the canopy of the trees.

Ashton watched as Malachi shifted to a cougar and started to climb up the nearest tree. A scraping noise resounded through the forest as Malachi’s thick black nails dug into the wood. Malachi soon disappeared into the camouflage that the canopy provided.

Ashton levitated and flew straight up as he followed Malachi’s lead. The branches of each of the trees were gigantic. Ashton had to zig and zag as he continued to follow the way Malachi went. Ashton glanced up and noticed a wooden platform just ahead of him. Malachi had already shifted back and was waiting for Ashton on the platform. Ashton took a deep breath and exhaled as he landed.

“She’s waiting for us,” Malachi said. “Let’s go, bloodsucker.”

Malachi turned without waiting for a response from Ashton. They walked up to a beautiful wooden dome that was hidden in the canopy of the trees. Ashton touched the wood as he looked at the images carved in it. A cougar was roaring in one of the images as fairies and gnomes danced around it. There were other animals and creatures he’d never seen before carved into the wood. The craftsmanship was phenomenal.

Malachi stopped as they came to what Ashton assumed to be the front, but there were no doors to be found.

“No one can get in without our help,” Malachi explained as he grabbed Ashton’s arm. Before Ashton knew what was happening, they were inside. Ashton was amazed at how big it really was. The caves he lived in were not small by any means, but this place was the size of Texas.

Ashton looked down as his feet sunk down into the plush floor. The design on the floor weaved in and out like a spider web. Ashton lightly bounced on the floor. Nope. Not tile. Ashton jerked back as the composition of the floor suddenly changed into black marble. How did it do that?

The pattering of footsteps getting closer pulled Ashton’s attention away from the floor. Two male shifters were walking towards him and Malachi with black scowls on their faces.

“I’m taking him to see Caoilainn,” Malachi stated as they walked up to the other shifters.

“We know,” the blonde male said as he looked over at Ashton in disgust. “She’s expecting him and we’re to guide him to the private meeting chamber.”

“I guess no one likes vampires of any kind around here,” Ashton muttered.

“Vampires bring death and destruction to the world,” the blonde shifter said as he spit on the ground next to Ashton.

“Listen here, pussy cat, that isn’t
all
vampires, so check your facts,” Ashton hissed as he tried not to punch the creep in the face. “The Dragomir are a peaceful clan. We bring no harm to any human and we keep the Haemon in check. Without us, there’d be nothing but death and destruction.”

“We don’t have time for this right now, Bran,” Malachi said as he stepped in-between them. “Let’s get him to Caoilainn before we anger her.”

Bran and the other shifter nodded in agreement as they turned without saying a word to Ashton. Ashton followed them down the corridor. They passed both women and men that looked at him with hatred blazing in the depths of their eyes.

They stopped in front of two massive wooden doors at the end of the hall. Bran used the gold knocker, designed in the head of a cougar, to announce their presence. The doors creaked opened, letting them inside. Ashton looked at the massive wooden table in the middle of the room. Fifty people could sit around it. Each wooden chair was formed in a different creature. One chair was a lion. Another was a flower with eyes.