by Spoor, Garry
“As for your horsemanship, several Hunters reported hearing Master Pike say that only a fool or a master horseman would ever ride that … mountain pony, and since you were witnessed doing just that, they figured to count that as well.”
“Why sir? Why the sudden change of heart by the council?”
“It’s just as I said, the council made a mistake and they want to avoid any bad publicity. For starters they were watching the wrong cadet. Now, all you have to do is prove to the council that they were wrong about you from the start, that you are a hunter, and that means keeping your nose clean during your probationary year.” Oblum said as he reached for the door. He paused for a moment, looked out the window and sighed.
“One more thing, if you’re up to it?”
“What's that sir?” Kile asked.
What was she supposed to be up to, she’s been lying in bed for the last five days.
“You have two visitors that, for some reason, really want to see you. I’ve been trying to keep them out, but they’ve been driving me crazy.”
“Um, I guess it’s alright.”
She had expected to see Daniel and Alex, or Carter and Daniel, or any combination of the two, what she hadn’t expected was two large black mastiffs charging through the door as Oblum opened it. Gorum was nice enough to stop at her bedside, Hunar, on the other hand, leapt onto the bottom of the bed, almost bouncing Kile off.
“I’ve never seen them take to anyone before.” Oblum said with a smile as he walked out the door.
***~~~***
18
“So, how are we today?” Daniel asked as he set the tray of food down beside Kile’s bed.
“Miserable.” She replied.
She had been cooped up in the halls of healing for another five days even though she insisted that she was completely fine. Even Morgan came to her defense, telling the healer that the effects of overtaxing one's edge is a temporary condition, and that Kile should be well enough to leave, but Bealer wouldn’t hear it. He was in charge of the halls and he would decide when a patient was well enough to be discharged. It got into such a heated exchange between the two old men, each claiming to know more about the situation than the other that she ducked under her covers until it all blew over. Neither one conceding to the other’s opinion and Morgan left in a huff or actually it was more like a puff as he suddenly disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She was sure the smoke was left for Mr. Bealer’s benefit since she had seen Morgan enter and exit places before without leaving anything behind.
“Come on, you have to eat.” Daniel said as he set the tray up and slid it over her bed. She was sure he was enjoying this a little too much, as she looked down at the tray that held her evening supper. A serving of fried potatoes, steamed broccoli and a slice of the chiefs apple pie for dessert. At least there wasn’t any meat on the tray this time. The first night she was able to eat a decent meal, Mr. Bealer brought in a large steak, insisting that the only way for her to regain her strength was to eat red meat. Needless to say she wouldn’t even touch the meal. That only resulted in Bealer’s concern about her loss of appetite and was probably responsible for her overly long stay in this most luxurious of resorts.
The hall of healing was actually an appropriate name, if not very original. The room was considerably longer than it was wider and resembled a long hallway with a row of windows that overlooked the compound along one wall, and a row of beds for patients along the other. Kile was fortunate enough to get the one closes to the door, and on more than one occasion thought of making a run for it, if it wasn’t for the fact that Mr. Bealer had posted a guard.
“Do I have to feed you?” Daniel asked.
“You do and I’ll break your arm.” She replied as she continued to push the potatoes around the plate. “When can I get out of here?”
“Soon.” He said, but that was just an echo of Bealer and she had been hearing it for the last five days.
“When is soon?”
“Actually, Master Bealer says you can leave anytime you want.”
She dropped the fork on her plate and turned to stare at Daniel, at first she wasn’t sure that she had heard him right, and then she thought maybe he was joking.
“Seriously?”
“Well, his actual words were more in the line of, get her out of here, she is driving me crazy.”
“Get my boots, I am so gone.” She shouted as she pushed the tray aside and nearly jumped out of bed. She quickly grabbed her clothes from the back of the chair and started to get dressed. She wanted to be out of this dreadfully boring place before anyone could change their minds.
“You are still supposed to take it easy, Master Bealer’s orders. You don’t want to go rushing around and having a relapse.” Daniel informed her as he handed Kile her boots. She sat down on the bed and quickly pulled them on.
“Relapse, there isn’t going to be a relapse because I have no intention of ever trying that again.” She replied.
After she got one boot on, she stopped and looked at Daniel suspiciously. “Why didn’t you tell me sooner, instead of bringing me supper?” She asked.
“It… never came up.” He replied, and she could tell he was keeping something from her. There was a mischievous smile waiting to break out.
“When was I released?” She asked.
“What difference does it make?” Daniel said as he took a step backwards, getting closer to the door. “You’ve been released.”
“When… did… he… release me?” She asked very deliberately.
“Oh, I don’t know exactly when, sometime… yesterday afternoon.”
She said nothing as she pulled on her other boot. Stomped her foot to make sure it was on all the way and very slowly got to her feet. She turned to Daniel and smiled.
“You are so dead.” She told him through clenched teeth.
“Now Kile, just wait.” He laughed as he took a few more steps backwards.
“I could have been out of here yesterday?”
Daniel knew when to retreat and made a run for the door. She made a desperate lunge after him, and probably would have gotten him if she hadn’t been stopped.
“Cadet Veller.”
“Sir?” She said, turning around and coming to attention. Master Bealer was slowly navigating his way up the hall. She could have pretended she hadn’t heard him; she could have been out of the door by now. As long as he didn’t want her to stay longer, she would listen to what the old healer had to say.
“You must not over exert yourself. You are to take it easy for the next couple of days. You’ve had a nasty spell and we wouldn’t want any relapses.” He said.
Why was everyone talking about relapses?
“No sir, sorry sir.” She replied.
“I want to see you back here in two days for a full evaluation. We are still not completely sure what caused you to pass out like that.”
He might not be completely sure, but she was. She knew the effects of her edge, especially the Maligar, and she knew the after effects of it as well. To suddenly snap back to her own reality after having her identity split between twenty six horses and one stubborn old cat was more than she could take, but Mr. Bealer wouldn’t understand, and she really didn’t feel like trying to explain it to him.
“Yes sir.”
“Okay then, get out of here, and tell Daniel he can take the rest of the afternoon off, I have to go into town as see if I can solve some supply issues.”
“Yes sir, thank you sir.” Kile replied as she reached for the door, she stopped and grabbed the slice of apple pie from her supper tray before finally leaving the halls.
The sky was gray, the trees were bare and her last winter at the academy was quickly overtaking her. The supper shift was over, which meant most of the cadets would either be somewhere practicing what they had learned earlier that day or back in their cell to dread about what they would have to learn tomorrow. She saw Daniel talking with Carter and the two of them were laughing at something or someone. As s
he got closer Carter must have warned him because Daniel suddenly turned then ducked behind the larger cadet. Kile ignored him.
“Nice to see you finally up and about.” Carter said.
“Thanks, it would have been a day sooner if I had known.” She replied.
“Where are you off to now?”
“I thought I go take a look at the stables, see how much damage was done. Do you know where they’re holding our horses?”
“The staff have been forced to rent space in the city stables, as for the cadet’s horses, they have some out in the western paddock and a few up on the north wall until they can find a suitable place for them. I think Grim’s up there if you're looking for him.”
“Thanks.” She replied. “Oh, and if you see Daniel, tell him that Master Bealer had to go into town and he needs him to work the night shift, something about having to clean out the bedpans, or something like that.”
“Are you kidding?” Daniel asked stepping out from behind Carter, all pretense of mirth gone.
“Oh… there you are.” She said.
“Very funny Ky. Does he really want me to work tonight?”
“That’s what he told me. He had to go into town to work out a supply problem and he wants you to work the night shift.”
“Great.” Daniel said throwing up his arms with a heavy sigh. “I thought Jarred was supposed to work tonight. I better get started. I guess I’ll see you guys later.” He said with a noncommittal wave as he headed off back toward the hall.
“See ya Danny.” Carter shouted back and waited until his friend was out of earshot. “He doesn’t have to work the night shift does he?” He asked Kile.
“That depends.” She replied. “Do you know where I can find Jarred to tell him he has the night off?”
“I know where his, I’ll give him the news.” Carter said with a grin.
She arrived at the stables, or what was left of them. The place she had once dared to call home was now just a pile of black ash, and charred sticks protruding from the ground like little tombstones. Only the stone foundation gave credence to the existence of the structure that had once stood there. She stepped through the remains of the archway that she had entered so many times before, kicking at a beam that disintegrated under her foot. She reached into her pocket and her fingers found the blue and white stone that was still there. They hadn’t taken it from her when they brought her to the hall of healing, they probably didn’t realize what it was, not that she knew what it was. So much destruction for something so trivial.
She put the stables behind her as she headed up toward the northern wall where she found the make shift paddock. It was a random series of gates, poles and fences tied together with rope to keep the horses in one place, not that it would really work if the horses had any intention of leaving. Three boys were in the process of feeding them. The uniforms they wore weren’t guild issued, so they weren’t cadets. They were probably from the city stables, more than likely the one that the staff had to move their mounts to. The horses appeared to be in good spirits after the harrowing experience they had, but that was ten days ago and they didn’t seem to hold any ill feelings toward her as she approached. Many of them raised their head and called out to her, not that the three boys knew what was happening, they just tried to calm the horses down.
“Can I help you miss?” One of the boys asked as he stepped away from the others. He was the tallest of the boys with shaggy brown hair that covered his eyes and she was surprised that he could even see her from under it. He couldn’t have been much older than she was, and it felt a little odd being addressed with that much respect from someone her own age.
“I’ve just come to see my horse, make sure he’s alright.” She replied.
The boy appeared to be a bit skeptical, he probably didn’t know there was a female cadet at the academy, or maybe he just wonder why it took her so long to check on her horse, they had been there for over a week. Either way she wasn’t really in the mood to explain it to him.
“Which one would that be miss?” He finally asked as he looked over the row of horses. His eyes favored the grays. Maybe that was what he thought a girl would be riding.
“I see him.” She replied as she moved past him.
It wasn’t difficult to find Grim; the horse was isolated from the others, tethered to the largest tree with the thickest rope and looking as miserable and as ornery as ever. When he saw her his mood picked up, but if she wanted to be realistic about it, it was more likely the slice of apple pie that she was carrying that attracted his attention. She started to move toward him when the shaggy haired boy grabbed her arm, an action that almost made her drop the dessert.
“You can’t go over there miss.” The boys said, and he looked genuinely concerned.
“And why is that?” She asked.
“That’s a dangerous animal. He almost bit off Pete’s hand if he had been a little quicker.”
Maybe Pete shouldn’t have had his hand in the horse’s mouth she thought.
“It’ll be fine.” She assured the boy.
“We’ve had orders not to let anyone go near that horse.” He replied, and now the other two were in agreement as they walked over.
“Whose orders?” She asked.
“Mr. Revers for one.”
“And then there was that Master Pike fellow.” One of the other boys added.
“Master Pike I know too well, but who is this Mr. Revers when he’s at home?”
“That’s who we work for miss, Carl Revers, he runs the city stables. He sent us up here to watch the horses.”
“So he’s the one that isolated the mountain pony.” She asked.
“Yes miss.” The boys replied.
“It took eight men to do it.” One boy added.
“I’m sure it did.” She grinned and found it amusing how the boy reacted to Grim.
She started to move toward him again, and again the boy grabbed her arm to stop her. Grim reared up and stomped the ground. The two other boys back away to a safer distance; it appeared that being thirty some odd feet away from him was not far enough. They didn’t know that Grim was only trying to protect his apple pie.
“I’m serious miss, he really is dangerous.” The eldest boy repeated more desperately.
If she had dropped the pie, then he’d know how dangerous an animal Grim could be.
“So who would I have to talk to get permission to visit the horse?” She asked, leaving out the fact that it was technically her horse to start with; she wanted to see how far this would go.
“Visit the horse miss?” The boy asked, as if the question was beyond comprehension.
“Yes, you know, actually walk over to the horse.”
“Why would you want to do that miss?” One of the other boys asked.
The whole ‘miss’ thing was starting to get on her nerves.
“To give him this piece of apple pie.” She replied, holding up the dessert, and watched as the confused boys exchanged looks. Clearly they though she was as mad as the mountain pony.
“Well… I guess you would have to talk to either Mr. Revers or Master Pike.”
“How about the horse’s owner?” She asked.
“I don’t think he has one miss. Mr. Revers says no one in their right mind would own a mountain pony let alone ride one.”
“Oh, that’s good.” She sighed. “I’ve never been accused of being in my right mind. So, can I go see my horse now?”
The boy quickly released her arm and watched in awe as Kile walked over to where grim was now straining at the rope. She was sure that if they kept the dessert away from him any longer he would have either broken free or uprooted the tree. She held out the slice of pie and he inhaled it with one bite.
“How are they treating you otherwise?” She asked as she strokes his side and looked him over. There was no sign of injury, but his thick shaggy coat did make it nearly impossible to tell without a thorough inspection, something that Grim was not very keen with.
“They mean well. I heard you gave Master Pike a good scare.”
-That’s another one. Foolish little vir thinks just because they call him a horse master that he can order me around.-
“I wanted to thank you, for saving the other horses.”
-I didn’t save the other horses. That was your fault, I went back in to get you out.-
“Better be careful, that almost sounded as if you cared about me.” She laughed.
-Well… you’re my only means out of here, aren’t you?-
“I suppose I am. Which means you better behave yourself. No more scaring the kiddies, not more biting the boys’ hands when they try to feed you, no more harassing the other horses.”
-Doesn’t leave me much to do.-
“I’ll tell you what. If you behave yourself, I’ll bring you another slice of apple pie tomorrow.”
-Two-
“Two then… if… I can get them and if you behave. Do we have a deal?”
-Can I still scare the horse master?-
“Oh sure, you can still do that, just don’t hurt anyone else. Is it a deal?”
There was a long pause as he looked over to the three boys that were staring at him. She could only image what was running through the mountain pony’s mind.
-It’s a deal.-
Grim reluctantly replied as he shook his long hairy mane.
“So I can tell them that they have nothing to fear now. They can come over and feed you, water you, groom you.”
-No grooming, I don’t want their little hands all over me.-
“Fine, no grooming, just feeding and watering.” She said as she stroked his nose, something that Grim didn’t normally allow her to do, maybe he was mellowing. “Come on, it's only another six month, and then we’re gone, we are out of here. Neither one of us will have to put up with this after then.”
She walked back to where the three boys were still watching her, their jaws hanging open in awe. Anyone would have thought she had just interacted with a dragon instead of an ill tempered horse.