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Thinking
Horse Heart
Chapter 2
Hadrian's first experience in this new, unknown world was raging, killer of a headache. He woke up slowly, lying on his back, to a smell of fresh air, aromatic soil and grass. He sat up carefully, groaning in pain – he felt like he had been struck by a lorry.
-Great Merlin in panties, where am I?
He looked around from his sitting position. As far as he could see, he was surrounded by great expanse of a flat, grass covered land, with no sign of any other creatures or human settlements.
He took of his shrunk trunk and got a headache potion. Grimacing, he swallowed three mouthfuls and waited few minutes for his head to clear from cobwebs of unconsciousness.
Hadrian quickly decided to change into his true form, as he could cover greater distances with more haste. Not that he had any reason to make haste, but to be honest; he never had much of opportunity to enjoy roaming around in his horse body.
Within blink of an eye he was in his animal form and turning into direction of a sun he decided to explore. With more of a roar than neigh, he went into smooth canter, enjoying fresh breeze on his equine face.
Few hours later, he saw edges of what looked like great forest. Curious he went closer. The trees were unlike he had ever seen, tall and majestic. Forest itself seemed to be full of wild life and at the same time –full of peace.
Hadrian has fallen in love.
Still in is animal form, he spent days in the forest, finding lovely streams, small rivers, hidden animal paths and beautiful meadows. But there was one thing he did not find – humans.
Wizard was quite happy with that. After last thirteen years of constant public scrutiny, he was rather content to be away from people.
Nearly two weeks into his excursion in this so far, lovely world, he decided to start looking for a place to stay for a bit.
Sometime later, he came across a tiny meadow, surrounded by thick shrubbery, very much hidden from the view of unwanted eyes. In the middle of it were six large boulders hiding an entrance to a cave. Cave itself was rather small, maybe a size of a single bedroom, but dry and cozy. It was perfect!
Wizard checked if nobody still was around and changed back to human. He went inside and sat in the middle of a cave, on a carpet of thick moss. He closed his eyes and reaching with his magic, he weaved a thick net of wards inclosing whole meadow. After few seconds, he felt them snapping into place.
Now, that his new cubbyhole was safe from unwanted wanderers and wild animals, he laid proximity charms warning him of anybody coming close.
Finally, he went about adding stone colored door in the entrance and unshrinking trunk, which he has taken of his necklace. He put it on the ground, by the furthest wall of the cave and charmed it to be invisible and undetectable to anyone not knowing it was there.
He was set. Let's not forget, Hadrian had a fully functional and really comfortable flat inside his trunk. All he really needed was a safe place to put it.
Hadrian has spent next few years living in solitude, enjoying the nature and his freedom. As much as he enjoyed it thou, he started to miss human contact, so one fine morning he decided it was time to move on.
He also realized two other things. One – he had absolutely no information about the world he was currently staying in, except for a forest. Second - according to his calculations he was about 30 years old right now, but when he looked in the mirror in his bathroom, he still looked like he was in his early twenties. So it was possible, that he either aged very slowly here – or he stopped aging altogether.
Oh well – he thought – we will see with time...
There was one more change he noticed about his appearance. The more time he spent in his animal form, the more equine his human form has become. Characteristics, such as bigger chest, stronger thighs, muscular arms and high, aristocratic looking cheekbones – changes were becoming quite prominent. The most noticeable change however was his hair. Nearly waist long, it was more of a mane than human hair – and it was not his original black. Right now it was snow-white and made him look very distinguished.
Thinking about those changes, Hadrian realized, he was not overly bothered by them. It was just another thing that made him different and being honest with himself – he was always the odd one out.
So one early morning, he washed himself, dressed, packed his trunk and once again changed into stallion; he left the idyllic safety of a forest in search of humans.
He travelled for about a week, when his sensitive ears have caught sound of a battle behind a nearby hill. Curious but cautious at the same time, he changed into human and stealthily crept to the top, crouching behind a small boulder.
He cautiously peeked at the battlefield and saw group of then men on horses struggling to defend themselves from what looked like ambush by over fifty armed in swords and bows, filthy creatures, reminding him of miniature trolls.
Hadrian wasn't sure about revealing his presence and involving himself in the fight, but he changed his mind, when he saw a horse being shot with an arrow. He didn't realize until later, but he could understand equine neighs and snorts.
My kin is being murdered! Not acceptable!
Without realizing it, he changed into Sleipnir and with a roar he dashed into middle of a fight.
The men and the creatures alike were shocked into stillness. Following the roar, they saw the most magnificent, huge stalling gallopping from the top of the hill towards them.
The moment Hadrian has reached the battle, he went berserk. He kicked, he head-butted, he tore with his fangs, he crushed with his hoofs. Within minutes, the surviving creatures were running from him like from pack of hellhounds. He wouldn't let them however, he followed them, until the last one died with ripped out throat and crushed under his feet.
The battlefield became silent, the only sounds were panting of men and horses. Hadrian has turned to face them. Men were all tense, hands still on their swords, as if waiting for him to attack them. Fear and awe were equal in their eyes.
He snorted. As long as they didn't attack him, he had no reason too. He turned his head towards the horses. They were beautiful and well cared for. Wizard kooked at the two fallen ones. Their riders were kneeling next to them, trying to see if there was anything they could do to save them.
Hadrian slowly went loser and knelt by slender, cinnamon colored mare. He could see she would not last. An arrow pierced her side, lodged into, what he suspected was a left lung. She was wheezing and bloody saliva was dripping from her muzzle. She looked at him with her full of pain eyes and he couldn't stand it any longer.
He grabber the arrow with his mouth and pulled it out in one sharp yank. She screamed in pain. Men all jumped forward but he sharply threw his head and hissed at them. Three closest men took a step back, but didn't take their eyes off him. He turned back to task at hand, closed his eyes and concentrated.
It didn't matter in which body he was, he possessed magic in both. Hadrian took a deep breath and gently blew at the bleeding wound, praying and believing in his ability to heal it. He did not see, but the breath had emerald green color and in shape of a fog dived into the ripped flesh, knitting it and restoring to health.
When wizard opened his eyes, it was to quiet murmurs of awed men and relieved eyes of cinnamon mare.
-Thank you my lord, I will be forever in your debt. – He heard the whisper in his mind. Astonished, he responded thinking loudly;
-You are welcome sweetheart, I am just happy you are all right.
Mare has nodded her beautiful head and stood up. Hadrian moved to the other horse, also a mare and repeated the procedure. Luckily neither of the injuries was immediately mortal, so both animals were fine.
Hadrian finally stood up and faced the rest of the company once more. Now he could clearly hear all of the horses whispering their thanks.
-Well, – He thought, – you learn new things every day. I can speak horse! – He chuckled, letting out a whinny.
Men were still keeping distance, until one of them stepped out and came closer. He was about forty years old, with long light blonde hair and weathered face. He stopped few steps away from him and bent his upper body in deep bow.
Hadrian was flabbergasted. He never thought he would see a man bowing before horse, but there it was.
Horses had felt his surprise and quietly whispered to him.
-Those men are horselords of Rohan. They respect us. They cherish us. They care. They ARE friends of ours. Not enemies. We are appreciated.
Hadrian looked back ate the man and coming closer, he head-butted him gently on the arm and took a quick nibble of his hair. The man chuckled with wide smile, gently patted his neck and lightly kissed his muzzle. Hadrian of course had to sneeze exactly at the same time. The man just stood there shocked and covered in his mucus.
The scene was so comical that after brief shocked silence, rest of the men, including the one he sneezed at, burst out laughing. Horses also whinnied merrily and everyone relaxed.
Man wiped himself with his cloak and still grinning introduced himself to Hadrian as Théngel, king of free Rohan and expressed his thanks for assistance in battle in quiet words.
Wizard looked in his eyes and mentally replied.
-I could not stand aside and let them slaughter you all.
Judging by astonished amazement of Théngel, he was understood quite clearly. He continued.
-Please, do not be frightened, I mean you no harm. I am just glad to be of help. Where are you going, if you do not mind me asking?
Man quickly got hold of his shock and politely replied.
-We are coming back from patrol, my lord. Lately our further outposts and villages are being increasingly attacked by orks. We were tracking this group for the last four days but we were not expecting two packs of them to join and were ambushed and overwhelmed. Why do you ask, my lord?
King asked curiously.
Hadrian suddenly had an idea.
-I have been a bit bored lately and maybe a bit lonesome. Would you terribly mind if I joined you for few weeks? So far, I find your men and yours company most pleasing.
Théngel eagerly confirmed his agreement and asked;
-What may we call you, my lord?
Hadrian thought for a moment then replied.
-You may call me Sleipnir.
Hadrian has spent nearly seven weeks accompanying Théngel and his men on patrol of his lands. During that time, he has learned, he was in world called Middle-Earth. Horses were excellent sources of information and knew a lot. He was told of different races the lived in this dimension. Proud men, short but mighty Dwarfs living in caves and mountains, small and cheerful Halflings with hairy feet, majestic and immortal Noldor Elves – called Firstborn, whom resided in beautiful Imlardis, dangerous but fair Silvan Wood Elves residing in realms of Mirkwood and Lotórien.
He has learned about bane of the lands, orks and Dark Lord Sauron, which left a bitter taste in his mouth.
Finally, he was told of Istari, five wizards that existed in this land, whom were supposed to help keeping peace and balance.
Hadrian's head was reeling with all those information. Well, at least he won't be bored any time soon – he thought. For now, he decided to avoid the Istari, as in general one wizard could easily feel the other, and he had no intensions of revealing that particular secret any time soon.
It was bad enough, that the men he traveled with treated him like incarnation of god of some sort. The horses were even worse. My lord this, my lord that – even king Théngel rarely called him by his name.
Sometimes he was very tempted to change into his human form and join the men in the evenings by the fire, but he was afraid they would think him a freak or a spy. He did not know which one would be worse, and he could honestly say, he counted them all as friends now. One thing he did not think he could face - was rejection.
Such is the thing about the horses, once you earned their respect and loyalty, you had it for life. Hadrian was the same – once he made you his friend – he would lay his life for you, but once his trust was lost, he would never bestow it on the same person again.
King Théngel did not realize, but in these few short weeks he and his men have earned Hadrian loyalty, respect and friendship. Horselords may not know about it, but they gained very valuable ally that in the dark future would guarantee survival of Rohan and it children.
Hadrian was nervous. Whole day he has had a bad feeling and it only got worse when it came to sunset. They were travelling by theedgeline of Mirkwood forest and wizard could feel creeping shadows getting closer with every minute. He came to stop by king's stallion and looked at the man.
- Théngel, there is something following us. I do not know what they are but be cautious, please. I would not suffer to lose any of you in ambush. Be aware, all of you.
Hadrian quickly informed the horses of a coming danger. They were determined to aid their riders.
King tensed and in quiet voice repeated the message to his men. All of them were looking around with their hands on hilts of the swords. Suddenly a howls could be heard, coming from direction of a forest.
- Wargs! About twenty of them! Forth Eorlingas! – Shouted Théngel, raising his sword and charging forward. Hadrian let out his own battle roar and joined the charge.
The beasts were huge; easily size of a big horse but a lot more muscled. Snouts full of sharp teeth and dripping with saliva, murderous glint in their eyes, they were running at them full speed.
Next few minutes were a blur to wizards' mind, whirlwind of crazed fighting, killing or being killed, until he heard a desperate shout from one of the men guarding their king.
He quickly stomped on skull of one of the wargs and looked for Théngel. King was separated from his men during the fight and his stallion slain. He was on the other side of battlefield, surrounded by three beasts, ready to pounce at him any time.
Hadrian was too far! Without thinking about consequences, he called forth his wings and jumped in the air. With powerful blast of the wind under his wings, he rose up and praying to be in time, shot towards the king like bullet.
Within seconds he landed on one of the wargs, kicked crazily the second, breaking his neck and sending him flying. Before the third had a chance to do anything, Hadrian got to him and with one bite, he ripped out his throat. Wizard run to the king and whinnied loudly, urging him to mount his back.
Théngel could not believe his eyes. He knew Lord Sleipnir was not a normal horse, for start - his size, sharp fangs, unusual coloring and ability to talk, but growing wings in the middle of a fight and aerial attack was not something one saw every day, or more like never!
Still in deep shock he managed to crawl onto wizard's back behind his wings and grab part of his mane to prevent a fall. Hadrian turned his head and projected.
-Don't let go!
And up he went again. He circled around the battlefield for a minute or two, but the fight seemed to be finished. As far as he could see, they lost three of the horses and two men, but overall, it could be much worse. Few of uninjured men went around killing dying wargs. He counted twenty seven of them.
He sighed, they were lucky. The beasts outnumbered them nearly three to one. The losses were really not that heavy, all things considered.
Hadrian sighed once more. It was time to land and he knew, there were questions to follow sudden appearance of his new appendages.
He chose an empty spot and gracefully landed, trying not to jostle the king too much. Théngel slid of his back as soon as stallions hoofs has touched the ground, but his legs felt like jelly and ended up sitting on his ass on the grass.
Well, I am not surprised. I do not think men of those lands achieved means of flight yet. Hadrian thought humorously. But very soon he was back to serious mood, as all of the remaining men and horses surrounded him - and then all of them knelt bowing down their heads.
He was absolutely gob-smacked, staring at them in shock. This was one reaction he did not foresee. He expected fear, anger and disgust maybe, but not those happy amazed faces staring at him in awe, even king has knelt before him.
Hadrian felt humbled and overjoyed. They did not kick him out. They accepted his weirdness and still respected him. If he was in his human body, in this very moment he would have cried.
He knelt in front of Théngel and said.
-Please, stand up, both you and your men. I do not want nor need such gestures. All I need is knowledge, that rests of you are alive and well.
If you feel any debt, be it known that you and other horselords have repaid it already, by friendship and care granted to me end my kin. Arise and stand proud, dear friends. You do not have to bow before me.
Hadrian has spent another two weeks in Théngel's company, healing everybody after the fight and they became even closer friends.
Despite that however, Hadrian still wasn't convinced that changing into human would be a good idea. He even offered to serve as king's steed, but he was met with horrified face of Théngel and loud exclamations of thanks. King has said, he would never dare to treat him as mere steed and it would not be proper.
Privately, wizard's opinion was - Théngel was afraid he would take flight again and was scared shitless. He giggled mentally, suddenly having in his mind the image of screaming king holding for dear life while he attempted a Wronsky faint.
The problem was solved when one of the men has given king his horse and jumped on a mare behind one of the other riders.
Hadrian has escorted the men for another few days, until they reached first human settlements surrounding their destination, Edoras.
He gazed in wonder at the small stone houses and fields full of wheat and rye. Women were busily walking around, men chatting by the tavern and happy children running around and playing.
When they were spotted, group of children run up to them and surrounded them, laughing merrily and shouting. They arrived to an inn and men dismounted.
Théngel walked up to him and offered.
-Men will take their horses to stables now, for a rest. Would you prefer to go with them or will you stay outside, my lord?
People within a hearing distance were shocked to hear their king to speak to a horse in such a manner. Yes, it was a magnificent animal, but a horse non the less. How he was supposed to answer?
-No, thank you Théngel, I prefer to remain outside. I would be grateful, however, for water, bucket of rye and two pounds of fresh meat.
King nodded his head with smile and giving him a quick kiss on the muzzle, sent the man nearest for the things Hadrian asked for and walked into the tavern. Few minutes later, water and meat was delivered.
Wizard went straight to a water-bucket and emptied it in few gulps, mentally complaining about missing good ale inside the tavern. The man who brought meat, was holding it, waiting, not sure what was it for. Hadrian, feeling playful, walked up to him and gave him up close big horsy grin, revealing his sharp fangs.
Man yelped in fear, closed his eyes and blindly brought the meat up to his muzzle, hoping not to lose a hand to that frightening creature.
Hadrian, feeling quite sorry for his little joke, gently took the meat from his hand and swallowed it quickly, nearly without chewing. Then he licked the man across his face in thanks and nuzzled his hair for a bit.
In the meantime another man has brought another bucket, full of rye, so Hadrian left poor, traumatized man to clean up his horse spit and went to finish his meal.
Hour later Théngel got out of the building and came up to him again.
- My lord, we are going to rest here for another couple of hours, but all of us miss home, so we are going to make haste. There is another five hours ride to Edoras. What would u like to do in the meantime?
Hadrian has done a bit of thinking and answered.
I am going to have a bit of exercise, as I am feeling wee bit restless. I hope you would not mind? I will be back before we continue our journey, but in case of delay – do not worry. I will easily catch up. I have promised myself to see you to the gates of Matusaleh, so it shall happen.
-My lord, allow me few minutes to inform the men not to disturb you and let you be. I would not suffer to see you chased away. – King has said.
Hadrian still in his playful mood decided, he might just as well cause a bit of chaos and make arrival of their king memorable for those friendly villagers.
He shook his head and whinnied loudly, then looked at Théngel and winked at him. King knew straight away, he was planning something. Over the period of last few weeks, Hadrian's mischievous nature become became rather well known to his men and himself. Groaning mentally at chaos that was sure to fallow, he took a step back and said loudly.
-Have a good time, my lord. We will be waiting for your return.
Hadrian snorted playfully and released his wings. Gasp of shocked whispers came from people standing around them. He whinnied again and took a running start, jumping into air and flying away.
Wizard has spent calm and relaxing morning, stretching his wings and trying to recreate some of aerial maneuvers usually done on the broom. He had to admit, it was lot of fun.
When he returned to the village, one of the men he travelled with respectfully informed him of an hours' delay, as some of the men were not ready yet. Hadrian was quite all right with that and nodded to let him know, it was fine.
Feeling quite filthy, he went to find somebody to help him with it, as he did not want to risk changing back in a village. He spotted one of the men, that brought him his fine meal and trotted up to him. He looked him in the eyes and mentally projected.
-Would you be a dear, my dear human and give me a wash?
The man stopped short and fainted from shock.
In the hindsight, maybe it was not such a good idea… - thought Hadrian,
It did cause a bit of commotion and Théngel was once again called out from the inn to resolve the issue. The king was treated to a sight of a grumpy Sleipnir and an unconscious man, lying in front of a stallion.
He took a deep breath and asked what happened, fearing the man has offended Lord Sleipnir somehow. Fortunately the answer was innocent enough, if not extremely funny.
- It was not my fault, Théngel! – The wizard rationalized. – All I asked for, was a simple wash, as I am feeling quite grimy, and the man – flop! – He fainted!
Théngel could not hold in his mirth anymore and burst out laughing. People standing around were not sure what to think, because it looked like their king has hit his head once to many times and went mad! Finally, he managed to calm his laughter and said aloud in the way of explanation.
- Dear folks, the only reason that poor man is lying here at your feet, is because of shock of Lord Sleipnir asking for a bath! – And he started laughing again.
Villagers were still not sure what was going on, until kings men came out of the tavern and explained, Lord Sleipnir could speak by looking into one's eyes. Then finally, the hilarity of a situation was widely understood and for a moment there was not a person not laughing.
Before royal companions have left, people were treated to a rare sight of their king washing and attending a horse.
After a relaxing wash and brush, much happier Hadrian and still grinning king finally decided to continue last part of their journey to Edoras. Men mounted their horses and whole company has ridden out of the village.
Next five hours went without any major trouble and soon they could see fortifications surrounding their town.
Hadrian has escorted them right up to the gates, but refused invitation of coming in. He still had much to see and places to go, before he would consider settling down again. Wizard said his heartfelt goodbyes and promised to visit in the future. He truly felt sad to leave his new friends, but he had a plan and was determined to see it thru.
With the last nibble to Théngel's hair, he turned around and galloped back into grass-covered hills.
When he was far enough not to be overseen by anyone, he changed back to human, took off his shrunk trunk and getting it back to normal size opened it. He went inside and spent couple of minutes looking for a piece of jewelry suitable for the purpose he had in mind. Finally he found a golden ear-stud in shape of a winged horse. He smiled satisfied – it was perfect!
He sat down and concentrated, reached with his magic and started waving multiple protection and luck enchantments, adding low powered healing charm or two. Next was a locator spell – in case he needed to find the king quickly.
Lastly, he applied strong listening charm tied to his Sleipnir name and Théngel's emotions. If the king ever shouted his name in distress, he would hear it and be able to apparate directly to Théngel's location.
He picked up a new piece of parchment and quickly scribbled few lines across it, signed it and once rolled up, stuffed it in his pocket.
Once finished with his task, wizard grabbed his broom (which he also took with him from Earth), got out of his trunk, shrunk it back and put it away. He made sure he still had the ear-stud and parchment in his vest's pocket, sat on his broom and made himself invisibl. He flew back to Edoras at dusk.
When he got back, it was already dark, what suited his plans very well. He landed softly on the roof of Golden Hall and took out his rarely used phoenix-wand from his wrist holster. He put it on his palm and whispered softly.
-Point me Théngel's bedroom.
Wand twitched and turned, pointing to the left. He quietly crept across the roof, towards big stone wall connecting Matusaleh with building housing the royal family.
Still invisible, he silenced his footsteps and following his wand's lead, stealthily sneaked inside the house through the open window. He saw wide stone corridor with couple of doors leading to, he assumed, people personal chambers. The door on the furthest end of a passageway belonged to Théngel.
Hadrian has crept inside. The room was spacious and had Spartan furnishings, but one could easily see, it was a chamber of a noble. There were high quality weapons situated on the rack, solid but intricately carved wooden wardrobe was filled with beautifully crafted clothes, heavy silver candleholders were hanging from the walls.
In the centre of the room stood four-poster bed, made of polished oak and covered in warm furs.
Hadrian walked up to it and put a parchment with a note and golden ear – stud in the middle of it. He turned around and quietly made his way out.
He managed to leave the building without alerting patrolling guards and once he was back on the roof, he picked up his broom and mounted it. Within minutes he was quite a distance away from the Golden Hall.
Few hours later, tired and little bit drunk king has arrived back to his chamber. He clumsily undressed and just as he was about to lie down, he noticed the note and a golden trinket. He shouted loudly for guards.
Within seconds, three of his men run into the room with their swords drawn and ready to defend the king. Théngel said in grave voice.
-We have intruder! Search the area immediately.
Guards have walked out and proceeded to do so. Unfortunatelly, they never found the trespasser.
King, on the other hand, went back to his bed and picked up the note, leaving piece of jewelry lying on the fur.
Penned in distinguished, slanted writing, the note said;
Dear Théngel,
As a token of my thanks for your friendship, allow me to leave you a gift. The little golden piece, is a jewelry from place of my birth. It is an ear-stud, which you pierce your ear with and may be used as decoration.
For you my friend, it will also have a different purpose. If you wear it and ever find yourself in danger, shout my name and I will heed your call.
Never lose it, for as long as it is in your possession – I will hear you.
May we meet again in good health.
Sleipnir
TBC.
That is the end of chapter 2. Hopefully, you have enjoyed reading it and will be nice enough to leave a review. All of them will be appreciated. Best wishes to everyone, bye-bye! J
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