Seven Tails: Tail 03

"I..." he started then stopped, apparently searching for words. "I... Don't you... I mean..." I held up a hand and stopped his stammering before it got too far.

"Stop, David. Don't speak. Just nod yes or no. Understand?"

He nodded.

"Do you want to get out of your contract?" Davids eyes widened and he shook his head.

"So you want to stay and be my pony." he nodded and nodded.

"But you have a dire question burning in your chest and it embarrasses you when you think about it." He nodded again.

"Close your eyes, Daniel." He did so. "Now take a deep breath and try to relax." he took a deep breath, then another at my direction and I could see his shoulders slump a bit as the tension left his body.

"Now stop and think about it carefully. Can you phrase the question in five words or less?" He thought for a moment, I could see him counting on his fingers, then he nodded.

"Pretend I'm not here. There's nothing in front of you but a mirror. You are practicing to ask me this burning question of yours. When you are ready, ask the mirror the question."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath and relaxed, some more of the tension leaking visibly out of his shoulders. He parted his lips and after a brief hesitation said "Master, don't you want me?"

Then his eyes flew open and went wide then he looked down at the ground again, a deep flush spreading over his cheeks.

I held out my arms to him.

"Come here, David." He stepped into me and laid his head against my chest. My arms went around his back and pulled him tight against my body.

"Of course I want you, dear boy. I wouldn't have paid so much money for you if I hadn't wanted you." I patted his back gently and kissed the top of his head.

"I have a couple of self imposed rules, though. The first one is that I won't take a new pet to my bed for at least the first three days. That gives us all a bit of time to get used to each other. Learn how we are and for them to get used to being owned by me."

"What's the second rule?"

"I won't take a pet to my bed until they give themselves to me freely."

He raised his head and looked up at me. "Master, I would..." I put a finger over his lips.

"Shush, David. I know. But now is not the time or the place. This discussion is tabled until we return to the farm in... what? Two more days? Yes. In two days we will be home. My home and your new home. Then we will start afresh again. Three days for you to get acquainted with my household and how things run, then we will discuss it again. Five days from now. Can you live that long, do you think?"

"Yes, Master."

"Good. Because trust me, David. It's going to be a long time for me as well. Remember, I saw you naked on the auction block, boy. From all sides." He blushed again. "And it will be just as hard for me to keep my hands off of you for the next five days." I slipped one hand down the back of his sweats and cupped his firm little butt in my palm and squeezed it. He gasped and his ass tightened up in my palm.

"Now if I really wanted to be mean, I'd grab hold of that big prick of yours just long enough to get it good and hard then send you back inside. Do you want me to be mean to you, David?"

"N-no, Master!"

I patted his ass then pulled my hand out of his pants and took him by the shoulders and kissed him.

"Then lets go back inside so we can all get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be a long day as well."

And for the first night that week I slept alone. I didn't mind doing that now and then. It was relaxing.

Sixteen

Friday morning broke clear and beautiful. I stepped outside after breakfast to stretch and enjoy the sunrise. We'd only been here five days, going on six, and it felt liked we had been away from home for a month. It had been a busy week.

Two more events to go. And the Ponys Ball, of course. They did look forward to it so. I would have to see if David had anything suitable to wear.

Then Saturday I was going to be taking delivery of my other new pet. I worried about how that was going to go. I tried to think of all contingencies, but...

No matter. It would happen or it wouldn't. I would worry about it then.

Just about the time I was nearing the door to my suite when I got a text message from Nathan.

"Master. Going for a morning run. Can Daniel wear sweats to work out in?"

I sent back "Certainly. Take it slow and enjoy. See you soon."

I got a reply that said "Daniel says thank you."

Ah, the chariot races.

I had mixed feelings about them from the first time I attended a gathering. Kind of a love/hate thing.

In actual form they were just another pony race with chariots instead of sulky carts. You stood up behind them as opposed to sitting down.

But in my minds eye I envisioned an old fashioned chariot race, the way the Romans used to do it. With drivers battling each other with weapons and trying their best to run one another off of the track. A battle, rather than a race. That would have been something to see.

Not anything I would want to get my ponies involved in, of course. As much as I enjoyed my place in the standings, their skin was more precious to me than winning a race. And my skin as well. I wanted both my pets and myself alive and well to enjoy the fruits of our labors. We worked damn hard all year making sure we were all in shape for these events. Not only so we would win, but so that we would come through without any injuries.

In all the years we had been attending these events, none of my pets had ever been injured. Not seriously, anyway. There'd been a few bump and bruises and strained muscles. His first year competing in the dressage Nathan had stepped on a stone during his routine and turned his ankle. He'd finished, but limped for a couple of days afterward and I had to pull him from the sulky race. That sucked for both of us.

I think I'd be horrified and feel awfully guilty if one of my pets were seriously injured during an event.

It turns out I was correct. I just didn't know it until later.

The chariot race differed from the sulky race in a couple of ways. First, of course, there were two ponies pulling the chariot, like the tandem sulky's. It would be the first time my boys had actually raced together. Naturally we had practiced a lot before leaving home. Secondly I actually had to steer the chariot by leaning my body into the turns. I wasn't allowed to just drift off in a fog watching those two bewitching backsides and switching tails. My moves had to be in synch with those of my boys to make the turns just right. All of my attention had to be on the race.

Nathan and Daniel and I had several long discussions about this event beforehand. We decided that we would try it this one time to see how we felt about it. If it was fun and enjoyable and exciting, we would do it again. But if none of us liked it or if it seemed too dangerous, then we would drop it.

This whole thing was all about having fun, after all.

The lads were stoked about the race. They were both exuberant and pumped up and ready to run their hearts out. Daniel was especially wound up, as this was his first ever event in front of a crowd. It took both Nathan and I to calm him down and get him to focus. I considered putting blinders on him to keep the crowd out of his view during the race but I needed him to be able to see Nathan at least out of the corner of his eye.

We all wore knee and elbow pads, leather gloves and those little plastic bicycle helmets. It wasn't unknown for a chariot to overturn and everybody to take a tumble. The connectors on their harnesses were different as well. They would hold under horizontal pulling but if there was any sudden vertical movement, say if the chariot upset, then the clips would break away and they wouldn't get thrown around. If worse came to worse, I would be the only one getting tossed across the track.

I was really hoping to avoid that.

There were eight chariots in all. Two ranks of four at the start. As we were the newest team, we were assigned the outside lane in the back rank. A handicap I was hoping we could overcome swiftly. My boys were swift runners and Nathan knew how to maneuver a cart around in traffic. I was hoping that Daniel would remember the signals.

As we walked up to the starting line I gave them each a quick kiss and a pat, saying "Let's do our best and get to the finish line in one piece, lads. Let's also show these rubes how the big boys play. They will know they have to race harder than ever to beat us even on our worst day!" When I climbed onto the back of the chariot and grabbed the reins in one hand and the grab bar in front with the other, I saw the boys lean in and kiss each other for luck. They looked back at me and I gave them a thumbs up. I could hear David and the girls hollering from my box. We all looked up there and gave them a wave and a smile.

The final seconds before the gun were excruciating. Using a technique that Nathan had though of, we started rocking like a bobsled team right at the final countdown so that we were headed forward even as the gun sounded. That gave us just enough edge and forward impetus that we were able to scoot between two of the leading teams inside of the first fifty yards. That set us up in third place right at the beginning. Things were looking up!

We all found that being in an actual race contending with other teams was way different than running solo around our track at home. We botched one signal when we were trying to go around another team and Daniel actually stumbled for a few steps before he recovered. That cost us a second or two but we managed to make it up and actually passed them on the next corner. Second place!

Try as we might, we couldn't catch the front-runners. They were very good and very fast and their trainer was a savvy driver with several years of experience in the event. Add that to the fact that his ponies were almost a foot taller than mine with legs to match and a stride longer than my whole rig put together.

The photo at the finish line showed both Nathan and Daniel lunging forward so that their heads were actually just a little ahead of the winners wheels. We came in second, but it was a damn close race. Their owner, one Marquis Duquesne from Quebec, came up and shook my hand after the race. His team had been the champions for two years running and he had worried that we would upset that streak. I told him his team better train harder for next year.

David and the girls had come down from the stands, cheering and smothering the lads in kisses. Even David had kissed both of them in congratulations.

Daniel was upset that we lost and kept trying to apologize for losing his footing. I took him in my arms and held him tight and said "It was your first race, Daniel. And we came in second. That's nothing to be ashamed of. You did wonderful and I'm very very proud of you."

I reached own and patted and squeezed his smooth tight little butt. "And as much as I hate to do it because you look so hot in just your harness, you have won your clothes back, Daniel. Your punishment is now officially over."

"Thank you, Master." He brightened up and said "We'll beat them next year!"

Nathan, Daniel and I had time to shower and change while they were setting up for the steeplechase. Sarabeth elected to stay down in the dressing room with Gael and help her get ready and relaxed during the men's event. The lads and I watched from my new box.

Instead of little plastic fences like we used at home, the jump barriers were actually little plastic plants that were shaped to look like hedges. That way there was nothing solid to catch a foot on if you jumped too low. I decided to make some of those for use at home if we decided to keep training for that.

Again, I didn't really like the jumping events, even if they were entertaining to watch. They were just too hard on the body and a little too dangerous. But my wish to find something that Gael could shine at and my impetuous mouth got us into this. I really hoped I wouldn't regret it.

And I sat and fretted while watching the two heats of the men's race. In the first heat, two of them went down and one had to be half carried, hobbling off the field. In the second, one went down on the other side of a barrier and the two behind him got tangled up and all three of them were out of the running.

My hands gripped the arms of my chair hard as I considered going right down to the dressing room and pulling Gael out of the race. But doing so would have hurt her feelings and disappointed her horribly. I guess Nathan saw the set of my jaw and the look of concern in my eyes. He reached out and wrapped his arm around my leg.

"She wants to do this, Master."

"I know that, Nathan. I thought it was a good idea at first, but now... I'm not so sure."

"Gael knows the risks and she's ready to take them on. She wants you to be proud of her."

"I'm.." I started to say and Nathan raised his hand.

"Even more than that, she wants to be proud of herself."

I sighed, still troubled, and patted Nathan on the head gently.

Gael was in the first heat and pranced merrily out to the starting line with the rest of the girls. There were nine ponies in this heat and the other eight were all at least a head taller than my little flame haired beauty. But none of them showed the excitement for the event that she did. She stood at the starting line and vibrated like a little red tuning fork.

Three laps around the track. Six barriers. Eighteen jumps in all. Two of the barriers were taller than the ones we used at home, but since there was nothing solid in their makeup I didn't worry about that. All that counted was if you passed them. There were no points taken away if your foot went through one.

After the first lap passed without incident I got over most of my jitters and yelled and cheered with the rest of the crowd. Even though Gael was at a disadvantage because of her height and the length of her short but very sexy legs, she managed to stay in the middle of the pack, giving the other girls a good run for their money.

Halfway through the second lap two girls got tangled in each other and went down. Gael, who was right behind them, managed to clear the barrier, take one step and jump again over the girl in front of her as she rolled in the dirt trying to get out of the way and back to her feet. My heart went right up into my mouth then roared out a cheer as my little beauty kept running.

Then, at the first barrier of the third lap, it happened. The girl in front of Gael went down and, instead of rolling out of the way, she tried to get right back up to her feet in the middle of the lane. Gael collided with her and they both went down.

I saw it happen right in front of me and I was helpless to stop it. To this very day I can still see the whole thing in my minds eye like it happened mere moments ago.

The girl right behind Gael, a tall sturdily built brunette, cleared the barrier and as she touched down, her foot stomped right on Gaels leg about six inches above her ankle. I didn't hear the crack as her leg broke, but I did see it bend in a place where it's not supposed to and I knew it was bad.

Without conscious thought, I was over the rail and onto the steps, leaping down them three at a time headed for the track. There was a cluster of ponies at the lower rail below me. A breath that started somewhere deep in my guts came out as a roar of "MOVE!!" that scattered them like startled gazelles and I put one hand on the lower rail and vaulted over, dropping ten feet to the track in a move that should have broken one of my legs as well. I hit the ground, fell and rolled, and leapt up and ran to where Gael lay in the dirt, crying and holding her leg.

Moving carefully and thinking clearly again, I scooped her up gently as her arms went around my neck and she cried into my shoulder. We were most of the way back to the tunnel before the medics came out with a gurney. I snarled at them at first, wanting to carry her myself, but reason took over and I realized that being on the gurney would jostle her less than me carrying her so I laid her down on the gurney and they strapped her down and immobilized her leg.

I snarled again when the sign on the infirmary said "Veterinarian" until the nurse there assured me that the sign was just for the gathering and the doctor was a fully qualified and highly competent M.D. And I clenched my teeth in anger when they took her in the examination room and made me wait outside.

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at the door in silent rage and guilt before I realized that Sarabeth and the boys were clustered in the doorway behind me. I almost screamed at the invasion of my privacy before I recognized them and the worried looks on their faces. Sarabeth came and threw herself in my arms and held me tight. The boys came and clustered in close, lending what support they could.

I don't think I ever loved my pets so much before that moment. It took all of my control not to burst into tears.

Although it seemed to be an eternity, it was probably only thirty minutes or so before the doctor called me into the exam room. Gaels harness and shoes were in a chair in one corner of the room and she lay on the table covered with a sheet up to her chin, pale and vulnerable looking, her eyes only half open. There was an IV running into one arm and the doctor told me they had given her drugs for the pain and to take down the swelling. He showed me the x-ray and said it was a "good clean break" which seemed like a really stupid way to describe it at first. It took a bit before that filtered into my brain that it was a good thing.

There were no loose bone fragments and no apparent tissue damage and they would be able to put a cast on it and she should be fine in about six to nine weeks. I almost burst into tears again.

A light touch on my hand made me look down. Gael had slipped her hand out from under the covers. I took her small cool hand in mine and squeezed her fingers gently and smiled down at her.

"I'm sorry, Master."

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You have nothing to be sorry about, love. I should apologize to you. I was the one who got you hurt. I'm supposed to keep you safe."

She shook her head. "Wanted to do it. Wanted to be a champion, like the others. So you would be proud of me..."

The pain drugs had her just barely conscious. It was difficult to understand her but I really hope she would understand me.

"I'm always proud of you, my little flame." I caressed her cheek. "You are my shining star. The light of my life. You will always be a champion to me."

"Love you, Master..." she sighed as she drifted off to sleep.

I kissed her on the forehead again and whispered "Love you too, Gael."

Seventeen

After delivering the good news to the others, I sent them off to get some lunch and some rest. They all wanted to stay with me and I had to be firm with them before they would leave.

Of course I didn't take my own advice. It was my prerogative.

About five hours later I pushed her into the dorm in a borrowed wheelchair. She was dressed in a pair of hospital scrubs and carried her harness and things in a plastic bag in her lap, with the casted leg laying on a raised footrest. The others gathered around and gave her kisses and sympathy and careful hugs. She was still pretty doped up from the pain meds and I had a bottle of more of them in my pocket.

I was determined that she was going to take it easy and heal up right. And Gael was already talking about running the steeplechase next year. Apparently it would take more than a broken leg to slow her down. She was tough and resilient with inner strength that always amazed me.

All that we had left to do before we left was the Pony's Ball. That morning I had procured a black suit that would fit David and went well with his black hair and pale skin. It made him look pretty and somewhat mysterious. Daniel wore tight blue jeans, cowboy boots, a loud western shirt and a stetson. He looked like a rodeo star. Nathan was dressed in skin tight black leather pants that showed off every bit of his wonderful physique (including how well he was hung) and a frilly white shirt with big sleeves, like a pirate or some swashbuckling hero. Sarabeth was barely dressed in a tight backless and strapless black velvet evening dress that only came down to mid thigh and showed off everything. And black high heeled shoes showcased her slim beautiful legs. Seeing her in that dress always made me breathe a little funny.