The moon peaked through the clouds in broken whispers. The only noise was the hsssh hssh of the dry field bending under the path of the soft wind. It always started that way. Yet, each time, the moonlight bouncing off the grass, the almost dry sparkle of the air, these moments just before the arrival of the beasts, they made Kiedreth’s mouth dry and the spaces between his bones shiver. He spat out the piece of the dried grass between his teeth onto the cracked ground. It landed next to the little girl. Her grip on his trousers shifted but she didn’t flinch. The child wasn’t much taller than his knee. Kiedreth deepened his grimace. His mouth felt even dryer without the grass to chew, but he didn’t want to break what was left of his teeth.
“Whensit goingta get to gettin?” whispered the scratchy voice below and ahead of him. “My knees are startin ta talk up somethin fierce.”
“Shet yer mouth,” was the only response he got from the others.
“You better hope you got this right,” a half hearted threat at Keidreth, as if they hadn’t harvested twice already under his guidance.
He kept his quiet, not that he spoke much otherwise. In fact, of the thirteen of them, Kiedreth kept his lips on the tightest bit. When they said it reflected poorly on his enthusiasm as part of their job, he didn’t offer any counter. Kiedreth may be a thief and an outlaw, but he wasn’t a liar. That’s why he wasn’t going to say outright where he had taken his brother’s daughter that night, provided anyone asked.
Mutters traveled from the girl to Kiedreth. He leaned down, hands in the pockets of his ripped overalls, to hear her.
“I think I see one Uncle Kay,” were the words on the breath of the blond girl.
“Whet was that? Spek up girl!” shouted the other man at Kiedreth’s niece.
He stared at him something fierce.
There was a final break in the clouds and the full force of the moon poured upon the grass filled valley. That’s when they arrived.
Silver horses. Materializing in the mix of moon and starlight until the pale flanks and white manes lost their ghost-like qualities and challenged Kiedreth’s stifled wonder again with their reality. The little girl yelped and clung on tighter, as if her trembling legs might rebel and carry her away after them. He intended to make sure they didn’t.
“Set down, and don't move, you hear?” he muttered.
Blond waves bounced as the girl squatted down to the earth. She was chewing on her hair again. He’d tell his brother to get her to stop that.
Then the full lot of the men dashed into the field without so much as a glance at the beasts. He was the only one who paused before jumping into the stiff and unyielding plants.
Kiedreth grunted as he navigated their weight.
“As much as yer arms can carry boys!” instructed gruff voices. “Quickly now! Get it out of the light!”
Some had gloves, others weren’t so fortunate. Kiedreth still had lingering scrapes and bruises on his palms. The moonlight glinted off of the metallic sheen of the grass he was buried hip deep in. He could barely move but that didn’t matter. He’d chosen a patch in unbroken moonlight in full view of the stars. No need to push any deeper into the field. He checked once behind him to make sure she had listened. Nothing but her pale blue irises could be seen straining over the stalks after the shimmering mustangs. So he dove into the work.
Curses drifted over the dry wind. Kiedreth didn’t look up. Cloudcover coming, in which case Kiedreth had to be quick, or scorpions, and he had no fear of the sand sleepers.
He filled his mat full of the golden stuff, then began wrapping it tightly so that none was exposed to the sky. A couple pieces made their way into the deeper parts of the patched pockets of his overalls, and under his hat, but they all did that and Dike knew it.
The shouts intensified. Had to be scorpions. Some folk just didn’t know how to walk soft.
A new light shone on his half wrapped pile. Kiedreth froze. He knew that light.
Slowly, barely daring to let in a raspy breath, he rose from his bent frame, eyes straining upwards from under the brim of the leather on his brow.
It was right there. Right, there. He’d never been this close to them in his entire life. A moonmare stood before him in the grass, closer than a rattler would need to be to strike. Silver glow poured from the flanks of the brilliant horse. Gold light from the moon reflection on the stalks made graceful arcs on its legs and underbelly. The turquoise charm beneath Kiedreth’s button up glowed. The beast exhaled with a short grunt and that dry sparkle of a smell he’d dreamt of as a child washed over his face. His cheeks slackened. He felt cold as a corpse.
That’s why he jumped when he felt her grab his pant leg.
“What in tar-” he started before coming to an abrupt stop.
Neither the girl or the horse stirred. Their eyes were stuck on each other like tar to wood. The star-filled dark orbs of the moonmare on the cold blue ones of the child.
The horse took a step closer, then brought down its magnificent head to place its nose before the face of the little blond girl. A small hand reached out to meet it. Then the moonlight left, and only Kiedreth and the girl remained.
Another shout. Kiedreth brought himself from the trance and looked, adding his own quiet curse to the chorus that was rising in the field beyond. Protectors. Lots of them. Horses thundering beneath the shadow of the cloud, dust and blue light piercing the darkness surrounding them.
Both arms grabbed his niece and lifted her off the ground as he ran, soft but swift, away from the field. His mat filled with brown dead grass remained upon the ground where they’d stood.
