Fall Art Auction And Masquerade Ball 2014

Participants

Three riders and their horses were walking through a forest path under the cool October sunshine. First of them was Ann Heartfield on her black and white stallion Milkyway. Milkyway seemed to be in a jolly mood, like always in a show day, and walked calmly, but same time proudly forward toward the coming challenge. Ann felt little nervous. She almost fell of here last year on their last dragon hunt .
They were followed by this bit unusual looking creamy yellow mare. “Mary, her name was?” Milkyway though and bend his neck a bit to take a quick look to the mare. He hadn’t yet really got to know this mare, but she seemed ok.
Mary was slightly spacing out. “Wasn’t this a beautiful day? Look at the sun shining through the tree branches! And… Ooh!  Was that the last butterfly of this year? Could it really be? This must be a really good day!” Mary thought and it made her so happy that she had to dance a bit, which was bit more like a few steps of jogging. Her rider Mathilda Rosebloom, mostly known as Hilda, had to calm her a bit down. “Calm down girl. Save you energy. There are still a lot to do for today!”, she said and pat the horses neck on her right hand when the mare started to walk again. However Mary kept flickering her ears every direction and her head was also moving tiny bit more side to side than in usual walk as she still tried to see, hear and breath in as much as possible this autumn day.
“Are you okey?”, Ann asked over her right shoulder.
“We are fine.”Hilda replied cheerfully and sat calmly on Mary as they finally came to the wider sandy road. She knew that her mare was not spooky at all, just bit more …energetic?.. than others.
“Yes, they were ok.” Milkyway thought and smiled a bit.
Somewhere on his left side came slightly bored snort, like somebody had just about enough of this silliness. Milkyway turned his attention slightly toward the sound. It came from the third member of their companion. Rose gave him a quick look and then looked away from him. The black and white mare looked stone cool as always. She was not a cold person and definitely did not think she was any better than anyone else, but she just seem to be so down to bone serious that she could not really understand any kind of dreamers. Milkyway felt tiny bit uncomfortable between this two totally different mares.  He was about to say something politely mediating between two of the mares, when they just came around the last big curve and bit away down the hill open the festive area and thus everybody’s attention turned toward the coming events.

Arrival

It was only afternoon so the place was bathing in all short of colours. Most of the bushes and grass was still greenish and the trees were only halfly turned in all shades of yellow and orange-redbrown scale. There were bright orange pumpkins all around them, but Milkyways guess was that the real Halloween mood would kick in when the sun would set.
The horses were tied in front of one the building with other dozen of set of horses. The humans went in wallets and registration papers on their hand while the horses were left to get use to the area. Milkyway was again between the two mares. He liked both of them, but it was really hard to be polite both of them at the same time. However he did not have time to say anything when a very familiar little white and black mask appeared from Mary’s saddle back. Before anybody had time to say anything the polecat was sitting on Mary’s saddle observating the yard.
“Mmm… Pumpkins. Lots of pumpkins!” he muttered in his most dreaming satisfied voice and rubbed his little front paws together. Milkyway was quite sure that he saw how the polecat mouth started watering just from the idea.
“I don’t know if this is such a good idea. There is quite lots of all sorts of creatures…” Mary said, obviously in most worrying voice.
“No time for talking, sis!”, the polecat declared, slide down to Mary’s lead rope and swung himself on the ground.
“Wait!” all the three horses tried to call after him. Even Rose seemed to get genuinely worried, when their little stowaway companion started to make his way gross the yard.
The polecat did not get faraway until it run in to one of the keen eyed Raelans. Although probably smallest of her kind and definitely smallest that Milkyway had seen the Raelan still stood a head higher than the polecat. The polecat took one good scary look to those paws and the feline jaw and turn around running back to the horses twice faster than before. Milkyway happen to be the closest and the polecat climbed using the dragon tack on his back. The timing was actually pretty lucky as the humans returned just at the same time. So there was no time for their little companion swap a ride, but just to hide somewhere behind the saddle and the tack.
The horses gave each other’s relieved looks as their little friend was now somewhat safe and not running alone around the strange place. The mares and their riders made their way toward the dressage arena, while Milkyway and his companions left to the other direction. Milkyway could feel the black cloud of disappointment arising from behind the saddle where the polecat sat front paws crossed on his chest like a small human kid while the pumpkins disappeared to the horizon with the mares.

 Labyrinth  

Milkyway and his rider were not here for the costum party, but for a race. Race through a labyrinth! They had done well in smaller competitions, but not so well in dragon hunts. Ann had almost got burned on their  first hunt
– or last year in this same place only just even stayed in the saddle, so maybe this was a class to  boost their confident back! They arrived in the warming up arena where around twenty other nordanners and ten Raelans were getting ready.
Milkyway looked around him. They all were surely fearsome opponents, but his eyes caught especially a certain large pinkish Raelan female, she defenitly had a body for running. On the nordanner side he saw a black pearl stallion. He was very muscular, but much more runner type than himself. He was probably reasonable sprinter, where as Milkyway was most sustainable for long distances.
As Ann was double checking that all the tack was as it should be the stallion came to stand next to them for a minute for the same reason.  
“Good afternoon, sir.” The strange stallion greeted him.
“Good afternoon.” Milkyway replied likewise.
“My name is Ciel. Nice to meet you.” The stallion introduced himself and before Milkyway could replied: “ Pardon me, but are you aware that there seems to be second rider behind you saddle?”, the stallion asked.
“My name in Milkyway and nice to meet you too. Yes, he’s my friend.”
 “I see. Then I apologize for intruding, I just was not sure… Is he alright, he seems bit – upset?”, the stallion, Ciel, said carefully.
“Yes, I’m afraid that this festivity is not quite going as he had planned, but I believe he’s other than that perfectly fine.”
“My pumpkins…”, came little quiet cry from somewhere, hinting that third person present did not quite agreed on that so called fine part.
Yet again the conversation was stopped halfway. “What a day…”, Milkyway thought as the announcers voice appeared on the megaphone:
“Participant for the labyrinth race please ready yourself. Two minutes for starting. The rules shortly one more time: Any raelan or horse or rider crossing the finishing line on the other side alone OR together with their partner is the winner…”, the announcer continued reminding them with the basics.
“See you on the other side and good luck!”, Ciel said and walked toward the starting line.
Ann hopped on Milkyway and soon the three of them also joined the starting crowd.

The Competition

Impatiance, excitement, nervousness…  Everybody seemed to be full of emotions, when they gathered together.
“Maybe I should go back?”, little stowaway tried on Milkyways back.
“Too late for that, you still wouldn’t get past those Raelans. So just hang on.” Milkyway said when the countdown music turned out.
He cantered proudly forward when the start signal was given. There were about five wide entrances them to enter. Milkyway was not the first one going in, at least 10 creatures got before him in. For couple of turns they were following a dark coloured Raelan, but in some point they lost that tip of tail. Not that they really cared for that anyway. They made about three dead ends in very short time, which of course made them go bit edge of their nervs for a minute. Suddenly Ann saw a pink tip of tail end of one corridor. “Why not?”, she thought and they followed the  lead of the huge Raelan that they had seen before in the warm up arena.
It turned to be one of the best decisions they had made. Suddenly they all came to open air – and at the same moment that stallion, Ciel, also jumped out of the labyrinth. There was no one else as far as they could see. Where they really first ones out? Well, it most definitely was not the time to give up. Three of them spurted shoulder to shoulder as hard as they could the last forest road quarter mile…

 After the race

“Are you still there? You OK?”, Milkyway flickered his ears toward his back.
“He is just absolutely exhausted…” Ciel said walking a step or two behind him.
They greeted the mares and Milkyway introduced his new friend. Everybody seemed to come along pretty well as Ciel’s natural politeness really lifted the mood around the mares. Mary seemed especially liking this stallion that actually looked bit like her… Milkyway smiled to himself a bit. It was nice to see her enjoying the time and not feel so much of a outsider anymore.
“Guys”, it was Ann,”I think together we could make a Pas deux for the costume class!”. All the riders cheered. They were now four, the creamy colours and two black and white. How could they now loose. Mary’s rider was wearing  a skeleton costume, Rose’s rider a vampire, Ciel’s team was a ghost, Milkyway’s team made Jack Pumpkinhead.
While other were planning the moves, Milkyway let the polecat down – next to especially juicy looking pumpkin! ”Wait me here.”, he said softly.
“Thank you!” polecat said most cheerfully and dived in the pumpkin.
When Milkyway had joined the others that small Raelan came to stand next to the pumpkin. “I see that you also enjoy pumpkins. They are also my favorites!” she said. Soon the two them also become friends nomming the juicy pumpkin away, while the four horses danced the night away.




Approximately 1,900 words

Characters mentioned here are





and a little polecat that has no ref.

Comments

- Writing in second language, so I hope this all makes sense.
- No race winner mentioned here as I feel that's not my place choose (I do not own all the characters, this is suppose to be part of larger event etc. ) , but everybody were satisfied so lets just have a wonderfull masquarade!