Chapter 15: Stalls and Steaks

The three adults stood with their jaws on the ground, as the young teenager and his magnificent stallion led the herd of horses across the stone bridge.

Tommy and Storm sat on the other side of the river watching the horses nervously walk across the bridge. The adults could hear Tommy arguing with Storm about how his herd would be better off in the stable than out here in the canyon. Of course the conversation was one-sided since none of the adults spoke horse.

"I'm telling you the truth Storm, once these other horses find out how warm and nice it is in the stalls they will not want to come out here."

Storm shook his head and stomped a front hoof.

"Ha! That's what you think. Wait until they see all the hay and grain sitting in their stalls. And again you got to remember there are no predators of any kind in the stables either." Tommy argued as the last of the mothers with foals made it across the bridge with Hugo following behind.

Tommy rolled his eyes at Storm, "A predator is anything that likes to eat horses. You know a lion, a bear, and them stupid hyenas that Hugo took care of."

The adults started across the bridge still listening to the one-sided conversation going on.

"No way! That's just sick! Are you sure Storm?" Tommy asked with disgust.

The teen turned back to see his parents and Dregg stepping off the bridge behind him, "Hey Dad! You know what Storm just told me?"

Tom still was in shock watching his boy carry on a conversation with a horse like it was the most natural thing in the world. "Uh, no what son?" he managed to get out of his mouth.

"Storm says that there are two-legged predators that look kind of like us but smell really bad, and they eat horses!" Tommy exclaimed in disbelief.

Tom choked back his denial as he realized that Storm was referring to the Mags in the area. No matter how insane it sounded to a modern day man, in this time horses were just meat on hooves to the Mags. As of right now, Mags did not know the benefit of horses for carrying humans or pulling supplies, they were just really fast meat that tasted good.

"It's true son. Right now you are the first human to ever ride a horse in the history of this world," Tom said to a very stunned Tommy.

"Geez, the idea never entered my mind Dad. No wonder Storm thought I was crazy when I ask to ride him," Tommy muttered as his dad walked up.

Tom looked into the beautiful stallion's eyes, smiling. "Well, I think the two of you make a great pair, and you can tell Storm for me that we will work very hard to keep any two-legged predators from harming any of his herd from now on," Tom said, quietly rubbing Storm between his intelligent eyes softly.

The horse nickered softly and moved his head closer to Tom's hand.

Tommy giggled a little and reached down to pet Storm's neck, "He says that even if he can't understand you, that your voice carries truth to him and he likes you a lot."

Tom looked into Storm's eyes. "I wish you could understand me old boy. It would make both of our lives a lot easier," Tom thought to the horse.

"Hey! He understood you completely just then Dad!" Tommy said gleefully.

Tom looked back at Dregg questioningly, "I thought only Tommy could speak with other animals so how can this be?"

Dregg shrugged his thin shoulders. "Well, to begin with, I would say that you can send your thoughts to any living species. It's just that they cannot return the same thoughts mentally to you," Dregg explained. "In other words, it will be a one-sided conversation with the other animal giving their normal response the best that they can back to you.

"Oh, well that's not too bad. At least my meaning will be clear to them," Tom sighed.

Bets was bouncing up and down like a little kid who just got her favorite new toy, "Are you kidding? Don't you get it guys? We will cut our training time down to almost nothing."

"How so my friend?" Dregg asked, perplexed.

"Well for example, normally you have to teach a horse to follow a lead rope for hours to get the idea across that you want them to follow you. And then halter breaking really is hard on a horse because they think they are vulnerable to attack by a predator while they are tied to a training post," Bets explained excitedly.

"Well yeah, that's always the best idea even though you have to wait for the horse to catch on to the idea that the rope and halter won't hurt them," Tom answered just as the light clicked on in his own head.

Tommy caught on before Dregg and his Dad did, "Dang that's a great idea mom! All we have to do is explain each step of training to the horses and then show them how safe they will be while learning from us."

Bets nodded triumphantly. "Yep, all we have to do is a little show and tell rather than wear them out till they can't stand up like normal training. And with all of us being able to at least communicate one way, the horses will catch on like wildfire," she said, smiling and clapping her hands together happily.

Storm whinnied his approval as Tommy explained the plan to him (in horse of course) and rubbed Tom's shoulder to let him know he approved of the idea.

The small group started back to the gates of the canyon with the herd following ahead with Tommy and Storm leading. Everyone was excited to show the horses their new living quarters.

On the way Bets realized that her family had yet to see the inside of their own home since they had started with the outbuildings first.

Tom laughed when she mentioned that fact to him and Dregg. "Well, unless ole Dregg here has made some significant changes in there as well, we should be right at home honey."

Bets looked Dregg and gave him the mom-eye, "Well my skinny gray friend, did you do anything different in my house?"

Dregg actually stumbled as the mom-eye locked onto his. "Uh well, uh ... oh come on Bets don't ruin my surprise for you please!" he finally stammered as he managed to break the mom-eye with supreme effort and looked away.

"Ah ha! So you did change my plans on my house! Well what did you do bucko? You better not have changed my kitchen or so help me my family will be having fried grayling for dinner tonight!" she warned but added a giggle to soften the threat.

Bets knew from experience now that Dregg would never change anything for them that wasn't a vast improvement on what they had originally designed. But it was just too easy to pick on her new friend when he still didn't know she was kidding.

"Oh hush woman, you know you wouldn't harm a hair on his little gray body. Well if he had hair that is." Tom interjected as he saw Dregg tremble at the thought of being supper tonight.

Bets laughed and wrapped her arm around the skinny alien as they all walked out the gate of the horse canyon, "This is true my friend, besides I know anything you do for us will be better than we could imagine on our own. I was just playing with you, can you forgive me Dregg?" she asked in her best little girl impression.

Dregg was still not used to personal contact with another, but he felt warm all over from the obvious genuine friendship and love that the human female showed him. "There is nothing to forgive my lady, but I do hope we can find something that tastes better than little old me for dinner tonight. I've been told before that my kind are stringy and tough to chew on," he said flatly with just a hint of a smile on his thin lips.

Tom was closing the gates at the time and fell over laughing so hard that he grabbed his sides. The half-closed gates started swinging back at the unaware man on the ground since they were on a spring system to keep them open. Bets saw the massive door starting to pick up speed and reached out with her mind without realizing it. The huge door stopped just inches from the prone laughing man's head.

"Tom! Get up off the ground you laughing hyena, you almost got clobbered by the damn gate," Bets yelled as realization sunk in of what she had just done with her mental powers. The gate weighed at least a ton and she had stopped it dead in it's swing!

"Oh shit!" she managed to utter aloud.

Dregg's black eyes were bulged out as he witnessed yet another power he knew for a fact that he hadn't included in the enhancements for his new friends. "Oh my ... I am at a loss on what is happening here my friends," he said softly.

Tom got up quickly and moved the gate to where it had been when he let go of it. Then stepping back to where he had been laying he watched as the massive gate came flying back at him, picking up speed and momentum as it came. Even with him expecting it, the force of the gate slamming into his newly enhanced shoulder muscles almost knocked him off his feet.

Slowly he closed the first gate and then the other one. Running the huge double latch back through the steel loops he turned and stared at his wife silently. Tom finally shook his head in wonder. "Damn woman, remind me never to piss you off again," he said with a grin on his face that spoke volumes to his wife.

The two humans both grabbed each other, sharing a gentle kiss and then turned to Dregg. "Well, care to explain?" they both said in unison.

Dregg blinked several times trying to figure out what had happened and came up with nothing, "I ... I ... I just don't know my friends. It was not anything that I have done. That much I do know."

The two humans stood quietly for a few seconds absorbing what Dregg had told them. Finally Bets had an idea, "Why not ask Falash to see if she can hypothesize what might have happened starting with a more in-depth look into the human species as a whole and not just a focus on ourselves."