by D. L. Kramer
Paki shakily got to his feet. He avoided looking at the few bodies laying between the stalls as he ran for the stable doors.
Once outside, his stomach lurched. He barely made it behind the stable before his dinner came up. Still shaking, he turned and stumbled away from the stable, wiping his mouth with one hand. He didn't know which direction the stallion had run off in and wandered aimlessly towards one end of the village.
He had almost reached the farm where they paused to watch the other plowhorse, when he heard the stallion scream in pain. Fearing the worst, Paki broke into a run, heading toward the sound. With the moon as his only light, he was able to pick out the huge horse where he lay several yards from the road. Not bothering to look for anyone around who might catch him, Paki ran up to the horse, sliding on his knees the last few feet.
The stallion was hit high between the chest and shoulder by a crossbow bolt. A quick check showed the bolt hadn't gone in too deeply. Paki closed both his hands around the shaft and pulled, but it refused to budge.
Kicking and neighing, the stallion struggled to push himself to his feet.
"Please don't," Paki whispered, trying to push down the tears he felt coming. "It's okay, boy, but you have to lie still." Paki stroked his neck, trying to calm the horse down. After several seconds, the stallion relaxed and laid his head back down with a snort.
Paki felt around the wound. It wasn't bleeding much, so he hoped it was a sign the bolt missed anything vital. Pressing gently with his fingers, he could feel the head of the bolt just under the top layer of muscle. The stallion jerked at the pressure, but didn't start struggling again. Paki crawled over to his head and stroked his nose.
The look of trust in the stallion's eyes was almost too much for him; cleaning lash cuts was one thing, but Paki had no idea how to remove the bolt without hurting him further. He knew he should go get help, perhaps at the farmhouse, but he couldn't bring himself to leave the stallion.
"There 'e is!"
Paki turned toward the road when he heard Kile's voice. Kile and Adie were walking along either side of the road, obviously looking for him.
"He's been shot by a crossbow," Paki called, the tears he struggled to hide now coursing down his cheeks. "I can't get it out."
Kile and Adie were by his side within seconds. Adie immediately checked the crossbow bolt while Kile knelt beside Paki.
"Church guards'," Adie mentioned, glancing up at Kile. "Doesn't feel like it was poisoned, but with no light, it's hard to tell for sure."
"'ow deep is it?" Kile asked.
"Not deep at all, the guard was probably quite a bit ahead of him when he shot."
"Did ye see anyone else around?" Kile asked Paki.
Paki shook his head. "I heard him scream when he got shot, but I didn't see anyone."
"Did you hear the crossbow?" Adie asked, still examining the bolt, despite the stallion's occasional snort of protest.
"No," Paki answered.
"Okay, I think we can get it out," Adie finally decided. She looked up at Kile. "You'd probably better sit on him, I don't think I could hold him."
Kile nodded his head and gently pulled Paki to one side. Putting his weight on the stallion's head and neck, he nodded to Adie. She took a deep breath, nodded to Paki, then jerked the bolt out.
The bolt seemed to resist at first, then suddenly came free in a surge of blood. Cursing, Adie tossed the bolt to one side then pressed the heels of her hands against the wound, pushing with all her strength.
"Bleedin' very bad?" Kile asked, as he kept his weight on the stallion. The horse struggled against him for several seconds before giving in and letting Kile keep him down.
"Something was cut," Adie said, trying to find more strength to press with. "I wish we had some light; I can't see very well."
Paki began to stroke the stallion's nose again. He couldn't see the blood flowing over Adie's hands, but he could smell it.
"Please, boy," Paki pleaded. "Please."
They all jumped when a light appeared beside Kile.
"They got the horse?" a strong, clear voice asked. The man was shadowed behind the lantern, but Paki thought he recognized the man who was plowing the field earlier that day.
Startled by the sudden visitor, Kile reached for his sword, then remembered he had to stay where he was or Adie would be kicked in the stallion's struggle to stand.
"Who are you?" Adie asked, not letting up the pressure.
"I live across the road," the voice answered. "I heard the horse and thought I ought to come take a look." He paused to take in the stallion's condition. "Damned church guards, they can't leave well enough alone."
"Can ye help?" Kile asked. "We're travelers and don't have any way to care for 'im."
"Can he stand to walk?" the man asked. "My stable's back behind my house."
"Adie?" Kile asked.
By the lantern light, Paki was able to look down at the wound. He was surprised to see that not only Adie's hands, but also her arms and lap were covered in the stallion's blood.
"It's slowing, but it's far from stopping," she replied. "I'm afraid walking across the road would just start it bleeding again."
The man knelt down beside Adie, setting his lantern between them.
"Let me do that," he said, putting his hands over hers. Adie slipped her hands away as he pressed against the flowing blood. "If you take the boy and go across the road, you'll find a well to wash up in just outside the stable. My horse is in the nearest stall to the door, move him down to the end and see that whatever this one will need is ready for him. Everything is in the back room."
Adie stood up, not quite sure where to put her sticky, blood-covered hands. Finally settling on holding them slightly out from her sides, she motioned to Paki.
"Come on," she instructed. "I'll need your help."
"I want to stay with him," Paki said, not standing up.
"Go on, lad," Kile told him, his voice reassuring. "We'll be along in a bit." He paused, studying the stallion's eyes. "He says ye're the only one who knows how he likes his straw, so ye have to go."
Paki looked down at the stallion, then petted his nose once again before standing up and following Adie to the road.
They crossed the road quickly and Adie paused by the well to pull up a bucket to wash her hands and arms. She looked down at her ruined breeches and blouse, then sighed and turned towards the stable.
"So, how does he like his straw?" she asked.
Paki shrugged. "Just a little bit," he answered numbly. "He doesn't like it too soft."
Paki followed her in. The stranger's horse didn't protest about being moved and seemed genuinely curious about their work in his stall. Paki moved automatically, not thinking about what he was doing. He didn't know what he would do if the stallion died. He told himself he still had the mare and colt to look after, but they seemed of minor consequence compared to the stallion. The stallion, after all, saved their lives by killing their master. His gentle nudges on Paki's shoulder were always reassuring.
The stallion was always even-tempered and gentle with Paki and it took years of abuse from their master to drive him to violence. It didn't seem to have taken much back in the stable, though, he reminded himself. Something about Captain Janec had upset the horse from the start and Paki couldn't blame him. He hadn't liked the captain either.
"Adie?" he asked, spreading the last of the clean straw on the floor.
"What?" she asked, setting a pail of clean water beside the door.
"That man in the stable, he said Kile was a murderer. Why did he say that?"
Adie stopped to look at the young boy in front of her, not saying anything at first.
"Did he kill someone?" Paki pressed.
Adie leaned against the stall door. "Kile's killed people, yes," she said. "Whether it was murder or not depends on who you ask. Kile's never tried to hide the fact that he's a Mo'ani and the church doesn't like that. They'd like nothing more than to catch him off guard and take out their fears on him."<
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"Does the church treat all the Mo'ani like that?"
"They don't like us," she pointed out. "And they've tried to disband us, but Mo'ani keeps out-maneuvering the Archbishop."
Paki studied Adie for several seconds. "Are you a Mo'ani?" he asked.
"No," Adie said after a moment's pause. "I haven't had the time for the more in-depth training the Mo'ani receive. Mo'ani taught me how to fight, but I can't understand the horses like many of them." She sat down on the straw just inside the stall and motioned for Paki to sit beside her.
"Then what do you do?" Paki asked, sitting down.
"It's really rather boring," Adie warned. "I travel to the holds allied with Mo'ani and keep records of each new apprentice."
"Is that all?" Paki had a hard time hiding his disbelief. Adie carried herself more like a warrior than anything else.
"That's what I do for the Mo'ani," Adie replied. "But it's not the only thing I do."
"What else?" Paki pressed.
"It's probably for the best if you don't know right now," Adie decided. "Very few people know and it would put you in more danger if you were among them."
"Does Kile know?" Paki asked.
"Yes, but Kile knows me better than anyone except Mo'ani."
Paki fell silent as his thoughts turned to the stallion again. "Why did they have to shoot him?" he finally asked. "By now they would have gotten away from him."
"Your horse?" Adie asked, then continued when Paki nodded his head. "Fear," she suggested. "Anger, or any one of a dozen other reasons. Whoever shot him probably didn't care that they could have gotten away from him." She paused. "It's a favorite trick of the church guards' to kill or steal a Mo'ani's horse when no one's around. I knew that's what Janec was there for when he went into the stable. That's why I tried to claim your horses as my own." Adie smiled faintly. "Janec and I have a certain respect for each other. While he wouldn't have thought twice about arresting Kile, he's had plenty of opportunities over the years to arrest me and never did. He's always left my horses alone, too."
"It's not like the stallion to be so mean," Paki explained.
"Well, if he hadn't been, we might not have won the fight." Adie said. "Kile's good, but not that good."
"How did you know there were problems in the stable?"
"Nicho told Kile what was going on. Kile climbed to the roof and dropped down to the rafters while I tried to distract Janec." Adie paused to frown slightly. "I don't understand what Janec was doing with a dozen under-trained guards though. He's always commanded much more elite men."
Paki fell silent, not knowing what to say to Adie's spoken thoughts. Something else occurred to him in the silence that fell between them. "Why doesn't Nicho need a saddle?" he asked.
"A saddle?" Adie asked, puzzled, then laughed quietly when she obviously figured out what Paki was referring to. "Kile's been almost impossible for the church guards to catch," she explained. "They've finally decided there must be something magical about Nicho."
"Is there?"
"Not so far as I know," Adie admitted. "And I was there when he was foaled."
"Then why is Kile so hard for them to catch?"
"Kile's been around for a while," Adie said. "He's seen everything from bar fights to battlefields. You can't survive that long and not pick up a few tricks." Adie chuckled again. "His flute helps. He's had them chasing illusions of himself all over a forest while he calmly rides away."
Paki and Adie looked up when the stable door opened. Kile came in, leading the slowly walking stallion. The stranger walked beside the stallion's shoulder, keeping one hand over his chest.
"How is he?" Paki asked, jumping up.
"'e needs to rest," Kile said. They led the stallion to the stall. He stepped on the straw a few times, as if checking it's softness, then slowly laid himself down on it. "But the bleedin' seems to 'ave stopped."
Paki immediately knelt beside the stallion and stroked his head and neck. The stallion nuzzled his hand with his nose and snorted. When Adie set the bucket of water beside him, he took the rag in it and began cleaning the blood off the stallion's dark coat. He didn't notice when Kile and the others left the stall and then the stable. His thoughts were only on the horse that needed him.
When he cleaned off all the blood he could, he lay down beside the stallion and stared at the loft overhead, content to listen to the horse's breathing. He thought about everything Adie told him.
He didn't understand why the church guards would hate Kile so much and he didn't understand why they would shoot the stallion, especially for no reason other than to kill him. By the time they reached the edge of the town, they would have been able to get away from him with no problem. Even the farmer's comment about the church bothered him. It seemed as if no one cared for the church or it's guards and now Paki could understand why.
Kile told him he was free now and could follow any path he chose. As sleep finally caught up with him, he decided he would talk to Kile and Adie in the morning about going with them to stay at Mo'ani's Stronghold.
Four - "Looks like Halona likes ye"
Paki stirred in his sleep. He heard movement, then voices, but none loud enough to wake him. At first, he thought he was dreaming, then he wasn't sure, but the familiarity of the voices demanded his attention as he watched the visions in his mind.
Kile stepped carefully around the stall door. Paki slept to one side of the stallion, his legs pulled up to his chest. The stallion was lying on his side, his breathing labored. Stepping carefully around Paki, Kile moved to check on the stallion's chest. Seeing the wound was still seeping some blood, he took the rag from the bucket of water and wiped it away.
The stallion opened his eyes and searched Kile's. Kile stroked his neck at the stallion's projection of the burning pain in his chest. There was no way the stallion would be able to travel to the Stronghold with them, that much Kile was certain of. The hard part would be breaking that fact to Paki.
"Kile?" Adie's quiet voice came from just outside the stall.
"In 'ere," Kile answered, wiping at the stallion's chest again. He wanted to take the pain from the great horse, but couldn't reach that level of a bond with him.
Adie came around the stall door. "How is he?" she asked.
Kile stood up and walked to stand beside her. He motioned for her to follow him out of the stall. When they were several feet away, he sighed.
"He can't go," he said. "Four days of hard ridin' would kill 'im."
"How will you tell the boy?"
"I don't know," Kile shook his head. "I've never been that close to a 'orse in my life."
"Not even Nicho?" Adie asked, obviously surprised.
"No," Kile said. "Nicho's still too young to want to commit like that." He sighed again. "I'll need 'elp to get Nicho, the mare, colt and the stallion's saddle out 'ere. Would ye like to come? I don't think I should risk bein' seen in town alone," he added wryly.
"Well, if you wouldn't flaunt it every time you beat the church guards in a fight, they wouldn't be after your head." Adie paused. "Paki heard everything Janec said about you."
"Did 'e ask any questions?" Kile asked, his voice serious. He knew what his reputation was in the church guard ranks and also knew many, but not all, of the charges were false.
"He asked about the murder charge and about Nicho not needing a saddle."
"The murder bit is still up in the air," Kile sighed. "What'd you tell 'im about Nicho?"
"I brushed it off as nothing, hopefully he'll accept that."
"'opefully," Kile repeated, looking back at the sleeping boy and horse. "Let's go get the other 'orses out 'ere. I'd like to talk more with our new friend, too."
Adie also looked back at the stall. "You don't think you could do anything for the stallion?"
"He's not a Dwellers' 'orse like Nicho," he said. "I don't know if anythin' I could play would 'elp him heal. I guess I could try a little later."
Adie nodded her head and turned to walk from the st
able with Kile.
More strange dreams haunted Paki through the remainder of the night, but none were so vivid as the first. In one, Kile sat above him in the rafters. He was dressed in white breeches and a white tunic and played a long, sweet tune on his flute. In another, Adie came and sat with him while Kile's flute sang of past glories and future battles.
Morning came quickly and Paki rolled over to find the stallion standing. Scrambling to his feet, Paki pushed himself between the stallion and the door of the stall. The spot where the bolt had hit him was visible only by the knot on his skin. What should have been a heavy scab was almost healed!
"How is he?" Adie asked, leaning over the stall door. She was slicing an apple with a small dagger and would occasionally offer a slice to the stallion. "We have breakfast out here if you want." She brushed loose wisps of her hair out of the way. It was obvious her topknot wasn't going to last much longer without being retied.
Paki turned shocked eyes up to her. "How did--?" His voice trailed off. Something magical was at work here and he didn't know what. The dreams from the night before came flooding back. "Was Kile in here last night?" he asked. He didn't know why he suspected Kile, except for the music from the flute.
"We came in to check on you before going back for the other horses," Adie shrugged. "I noticed he's doing much better this morning." She offered the stallion another slice of apple only to have him push it aside and take the remaining half from her hand. "Picking up Nicho's tricks, I see," she said, giving him the slice too.
"What's going on?" Paki asked quietly. His dreams tugged at him, sending a chill up his spine, especially now that he saw the stallion's wound healed.
Adie laced her fingers together and set them on the stall door. "I honestly don't know," she said. "When I came in to check on him just before sunrise, he was standing up and looked like that."
Paki looked back at the stallion, lightly tracing the knot with his fingers. He was certain his dreams were connected, but didn't know how.
His concentration was interrupted by a clattering of hooves. He and Adie both turned to see the colt galloping towards them from the stable door. The colt skidded to a stop, then scrambled behind Adie. He peeked out from behind her when Kile appeared in the stable door.
