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Tubbo ran over the courtyard. His servant Tommy (He preferred to be called a knight, even though he wasn’t yet) ran after him. “Oy, wait up. Not so fast.” He yelled. Tubbo just smiled. He was free from princely duties for a few hours, so he wanted to go to the stables. Maybe he could take one of the horses out to go see the bees out in the field. Quickly he slipped into the stables. He heard Tommy struggle to stop in time to not walk into the door.
It was quite busy at the stables. Servants were walking around bringing horses back to the stables or taking them to the paddocks. Others were cleaning the tack or mucking out the stables. Tubbo and Tommy walked around. It was always interesting in the stables. Suddenly they heard a voice coming from one of the halls. “The new horses can be placed in those stables. I will start training them tomorrow.” Tubbo knew that the voice belonged to Dream. Dream was the king’s personal guard, but when he had time he also trained the horses.
Tubbo walked up to Dream. Tommy quickly followed. Dream quickly noticed them. “Good day to you, your highness. Tommy good to see you, as well.” He said. Dream always wore some kind of mask or helmet to cover his face. Nobody really knew why, they only knew that you shouldn’t ask him about it. When Dream was at the stables he always wore a porcelain mask. God knew how he could see al around him without holes in the mask to see through.
“What are you doing today?” Tubbo asked. “A few new horses arrived. The king wanted one horse trained for him and the others will become horses for the royal guard.” Dream quickly smiled at Tommy. “Maybe one of the horses can be your horse. How has your training been going?” Tommy looked at him. “Good I guess. They just say that I have to learn more about fighting in strange situation. Don’t know what they mean by that. I can fight perfectly fine in every situation.” Tommy complained. Dream nodded. “If I have time I can show you what they mean by fighting in strange or different situations. I have to train with my own horse now.” He said. Dream walked past them to the tack room. Tommy looked at him with a begging look. He wanted to watch Dream train, but he knew that Tubbo wanted to go out. Tubbo quickly turned around towards Dream. “Can we watch you train?” He asked. It stayed silent for a little while. Then Dream came back out of the tack room. He was carrying a saddle with one arm. In his other hand he held the bridle and a helmet. He quickly looked at the two children. “I don’t see why not. Just be sure to listen to me and stay to the side of the arena when I don’t give you an order.” He said. Tommy and Tubbo nodded in unison.
Dream took the tack to the stable of his horse. Well, actually he owned two horse. The horse he was going to ride now was his horse that he used for almost everything. They other one was younger and was still trained for al the fighting work it had to do. Most of the time his little sister Drista trained that horse for him.
Dream swung open the stable door. He put the tack down on the ground and quickly picked up a brush. He cleaned al the dirt from the horse. Especially were the saddle was supposed to be. After that he took the saddle pad and swung it on the horse. With a quick check he made sure it folded anywhere. He placed the saddle over it and quickly fastened the two girths. Dream had asked the smith who made the saddles to make two girths on the saddle. That way he could do a lot more from the back of his horse. Dream quickly bridled his horse. He switched his porcelain mask for the helmet he had taken with him. He checked his sword that was hanging by his side. Than he took his horse by the reins and took it out to the arena.
Tommy and Tubbo had been waiting at the riding arena. The quickly looked up when the saw Dream walking towards them with his horse. “Tubbo, can you take two fighting dummies and place them in two different places in the arena? And Tommy can you place a few of those little jumps around the arena, if it possible close to the dummies?” Tommy nodded and quickly ran to the jumps. Tubbo looked around the arena. “Do you want the dummies in a specific place?” He asked. Dream shook his head. “Surprise me, fighting is full of surprise so training should also be surprising.” Tubbo nodded and quickly started placing the dummies.
Dream was already trotting his horse around the arena when the two boys were done setting everything up. “Everything is ready.” Tommy said. “Thank you. Now stand to the side and carefully watch. When I want you guys to do something I will tell you.” Dream said sternly. He knew he sometimes forgot everything that was happening around him when he was training and he didn’t want to accidentally hurt one of the boys. He let his horse speed up to a slow canter. He took his sword in his hand. He rode a few rounds around the arena to work on his balance. After that he approached the dummies from the side without jumps. With two carefully aimed slashes he hit both of the dummies across the chest.
He steered his horse around to the small jump that stood alone on the other side of the arena. With ease he jumped his horse over it with just one hand on the reigns. Dream looked over to the dummies and steered his horse towards them again. However this time he went to the side with the jumps. He approached the first jump and while his horse was in the air above the jump he hit the dummy with his sword. By the second dummy he did the same thing with ease.
Tubbo and Tommy looked at him with admiration. “I want to be able to do that.” Tommy whispered. Dream rode up to the solo jump in the arena. While his horse was in the air he let go of the reigns and quickly sheeted his sword back in the scabbard. Just as the horse landed on the ground, Dream picked up the reigns again. He steered his horse over to the corner were the two boys were watching him. He let his horse stop in front of them. “That looked amazing. Can you teach me that?” Tommy asked. Dream laughed. “Maybe. But first I want you to do something.” Tommy looked up at Dream. “Come here.” Dream said while he took his sword back into his hands. He pointed the handle towards Tommy. The boy just looked confused. “Take it.” Tommy carefully took Dream’s sword. He felt so proud. He was actually holding the sword. “Place it somewhere in the arena. Just stab it into the ground with the handle up into the air.” Tommy still seemed confused, bit he still went and did it. Dream quickly checked some of the ropes and loops that were hanging at the front of his saddle and his saddle horn.
When Tommy had given the sign that the sword was ready he motioned the boy over to the corner again. Dream let his horse gallop. He steered the horse towards the sword. Quickly he calculated everything he had to do for this action. His horse went faster and faster. When he got closer to the sword he gripped one of the loops to the side of his saddle and let himself fall to the side a bit. Without looking he felt for the handle of his sword. When he felt it against his palm he wrapped his hand around the handle. His other hand quickly felt for the horn of his saddle. When he had his hand around the horn he pulled himself up back into the saddle. He grabbed for the reign with his hand and quickly stopped his horse. It reared a bit out of frustration, because it had to stop running. “What the hell was that?” Yelled Tommy. Dream smiled. “That, is what you do when you lose your sword in a horse battle. If you lose your sword in battle you are done for, so it’s important to get your sword back without dismounting.” Dream quickly looked around the arena. He wanted to train the boys, but he didn’t want anyone to see. The other page boys he was supposed to train didn’t get this training and he knew they would be jealous. Luckily he saw no-one, most people were smart enough to avoid the riding arena while Dream was there.
Dream looked back at Tommy and Tubbo. “Tell you, what. If you to promise you won’t say anything about this I will let you guys try to pick up the sword with my horse. Just as I did. Only difference, is that you are not allowed to do it in a gallop. First try it with a walk, maybe later with a trot.” Tommy beams with happiness.
Tubbo knew that Tommy’s smile would never leave his face when he saw Tommy seated high on Dream’s black horse. Dream was explaining where Tommy was supposed to place his hands at what moment. When he was done explaining he walked over to the middle of the arena and placed his sword back in the ground. “Well, give it a try.” Tommy steered the horse to the sword, just like Dream had before. Only with Tommy the horse was walking instead of galloping. Tommy looked down at the saddle to the loop he was supposed to grab. He placed his hand there already and when he got close he let himself fall to the side. He felt the handle of the sword and grabbed it. Het took the horn of the saddle and pulled himself up in the saddle. “Great job. Dare to try it in trot?” Dream asked. Tommy nodded. “Throw the sword to me, I can catch it. And you can trot the horse around to get to know it’s movements a little.” Tommy did just that. He threw the sword, which Dream quickly caught, and started trotting the horse around. After three rounds Dream gave the clear that he could try the trick again. Tommy trotted the horse towards the sword. He did everything just like before. He grabbed the sword perfectly, but at that moment the horse started to canter. It wasn’t a fast canter but it did mess with his calculations. In a panic he searched for the horn of the saddle. “Just stay calm. Grab the horn and pull yourself back into the saddle.” Dream said. On the one hand it made Tommy calm down, because Dream was so calm, but on the other hand it made him panic even more, because it meant that Dream wasn’t coming to help him. At that moment he found the horn and pulled himself up. In a panic he grabbed the reigns and pulled. Dream saw it happen and knew what his horse would do. “Lean forward.” He yelled quickly. The horse reared up high and Tommy quickly leaned forward. When the horses landed again, he smiled. “that was amazing.” Dream laughed. “That mare is a bit of a temperamental one. If she gets the chance she will take her own route. Sometimes it helps, sometimes it doesn’t.” Tubbo joined them. “That was scary, man.” He looked at Tommy. “Oh, it was fine. Did you see me when the horse reared? I was so high.” Dream looked at Tubbo. “I have a feeling you don’t want to try it now, your highness.” Tubbo looked from Dream to Tommy and back to Dream. “I do want to try it, but only in a slow walk.”
Tommy and Tubbo quickly switched places. Dream gave Tommy his sword again so he could put it in the ground. Dream took the reigns of his horse, so it would shoot away again. He walked with the horse and held it al the way so Tubbo could focus on the sword. It took him three times, before he succeeded. But when he did, Tubbo was very proud of himself. While Tubbo jumped out of the saddle to the ground they heard a voice coming from the stables. It was Drista. “Dream, the king is looking for you.” Dream nodded. “Tell him I’ll be there in a minute.” He looked back to Tubbo and Tommy. “You two should go back to the castle. And remember tell no-one about this. If they asked, you just helped me with my training.” The two boys nodded and ran back to the castle through the stables.