Chapter 189 – The Dragon Horse Herd
They went around the island for a week, and as Kosto speculated, Black Horse Island was indeed a less-than-perfect oval-shaped island.
There was no natural sheltered harbor and the best place they found to build one was the rocky pier that they moored on to last night. However, that area was difficult to park large vessels on since it wasn"t deep enough. Medium-sized merchant ships such as Flowers was difficult to harbor.
The sun started to get hotter.
The crew gradually moved deeper into the heart of Black Horse Island, looking for the Dragon Horse herd.
The island was spa.r.s.ely wooded and the mountains are not as large,so the field of vision is wide and one"s view can go far. Marcus continued to use his own binoculars along the way to find the traces of the horses. Without much effort, he found the desired trace.
“Sir, this is horse dung, the Dragon Horses are not far!” When he bent down, he opened a ball of small black b.a.l.l.s in the gra.s.s with a stick, exhilarating.
Knights were definitely more familiar with horse manure than that of their wife"s moles.
Liszt was no stranger to horse manure as well. He looked up and at the flat hill in front of him, “It should be on the opposite side of the hillside, we"ll have to go around.”
Tremblingwoods took the lead, taking Liszt by small steps.
Marcus and others didn"t ride so they had to trot along. A few moments later, the group sailed across the weeds to the other side of the hill. Without a telescope, one can see a group of black horses on a remote hillside, enjoying a relaxing meal of gra.s.s.
“Dragon Horse herd!”
“The horses are black, these are Dragon Horses!"
“Don"t rush over, look closely and count how many horses there are.” Liszt took out his telescope and looked at the dragon horse herd.
In the lens.
Each of the steeds were no less than the steeds and horses from the castle, and didn"t seem to notice them pa.s.sing by. The horses were only eating and playing.
One, two, three……There were 37 black horses.
A small herd, but for Liszt, it was a big gain. Because every black horse here was also a dragon horse as well!
After Marcus counted the horses, his excitement was difficult to restrain, “Master, there are 37 horses in total. There are nine foals, and the remaining 28 horses are enough to arm two knight squads !”
“Teacher Marcus, you can own one now.”
“Thank you!” Marcus was anxious to go up immediately and catch a black horse to be tamed. But this would alarm the horses so he said, “There must be aHorse King in this wild horse herd, Sir. You should personally tame the Horse King so that the remaining dragons will not run away. “
The Horse King is a popular term, for there must be a leader among the wild horses. It"s usually the bravest male, leading and protecting the herd.
Other horses will still habitually obey the king"s leadership. Therefore,after taming the Horse King, the entire herd will be tamed.
“Can you be sure which is the king?” Liszt was very eager to try. The Horse King belongs to him since only the Lord is qualified to ride it.
“It"s quite simple. We scare the horses, and the one that leads is the Horse King.
The task was directly handed over to Tremblingwoods. As soon as Tremblingwoods appeared, the breath of a mid-level magical beast scared the black horses. All of them refused to eat gra.s.s, turned around and ran.
“Do you see which one?”
“Look clearly Sir. The Horse King is the black horse with a little purple on its forehead. It has the longest mane and is also the tallest. It certainly looks more handsome than a regular black horse."
Liszt heard the words, “We will study the surrounding terrain first. After the horses relax, we will round the horses but leave the Horse King to me!"
The dragon horse herd was already slow-moving so there was no need to be nervous.
They were positioned in the the rough southern part of the island while the northern hillside of the highest hill was the feeding pasture of the Dragon Horse herd. The gra.s.slands included from this hill to another including the valley, all were spa.r.s.ely wooded.
“This is a natural pasture area for them. I found four high-quality pastures in total. Please take a look …” Marcus said.
“This is sheep gra.s.s which is most suitable for sheep. It"s small in quant.i.ty but high in nutrition. This is needle gra.s.s, the one which horses like to eat the most, but they are not growing well here. Without a sprite, it will be difficult to grow. This is ice gra.s.s, a good forage, but unfortunately it is also not growing well and the plants are short. “
The meadow on Black Horse Island has the absolute potential to become a top-level pasture, with its rich variety of pastures. However, the poor soil, and the lack of sprites to manage it, resulted in poor gra.s.s growth.
This was probably why there are only 37 horses in the Dragon Horse herd. The pasture cannot feed more wild horses.
The team continued exploring,
They went deep into the middle and northeast side of Black Horse Island. They climbed the highest hill, barely glimpsing the appearance of the island.
The four hills, distributed in a "mouth shape", make up the terrain of the island.
The oval-shaped island lacked contours. They were on the foot of a hill, which was estimated to be no more than 300 meters high. There were three other smaller hills.
“Let"s mark it. This will be called Sheep Gra.s.s Hill, Needle Gra.s.s Hill, Alfalfa Hill, and Ice Gra.s.s Hill here at the foot.” Liszt responsibly named the four hills.
Standing on the top of Ice Gra.s.s Hill, one could see the hillside of Needle Gra.s.s Hill where the dragon horses began to graze again leisurely. Pastures ranged from Sheep Gra.s.s Hill to Needle Gra.s.s Hill and half of Alfalfa Hills. From the slopes of Alfalfa Hill to Ice Gra.s.s Hill, random trees began to increase and forages gradually decreased.
“Cut down all the other trees here, grow the gra.s.s and expand the size of the Dragon Horse population.”
Liszt could already see the magnificent scene in the future when the Dragon Horses would run back and forth between the four hills. Of course, now is not the time for imagination, he and Marcus must plan together how to tame the Horse King.
There was not much technical detail.
The crew of the Flowers will be divided into four teams. All of which would approach the Dragon horse herd from four directions. This would cause the horses to fall back and forth, panic, and break into confusion. This would then be Liszt"s opportunity to ride the Horse King and tame it — for it is an elite knight"s duty to do so.
It was settled.
An hour later.
Liszt had put his arm around the Horse King"s neck. He let the Horse King jump around and take him across the hillside.
He even thought of humming a song: “Spin, jump, I close my eyes……”
Half an hour had pa.s.sed and the Horse King still did not stop scurrying around the hillside. It was obviously stronger than a regular dragon horse.
But surrender was still at hand in the end.
Shortly afterwards, the King lowered his proud head and let Liszt ride and lead.
“It is indeed stronger and taller than a normal Dragon Horse.” Liszt took the handkerchief that Thomas handed in, wiped his sweat, and threw it back. There was unbelievable excitement in his tone. He touched and touched Horse King"s neck. “See this purple hair on its forehead. Doesn"t it look like lightning?”
He smiled.
Liszt announced, "The Horse King of the Dragon Horses is called Lightning!"