Chapter 82
The Horned King wished he had not been so harsh on the girl. Her fear had flared up more quickly than he thought was necessary, which had faintly surprised him, especially considering he had not tried to approach her in his anger. She had known what she was doing, the gwythaint had known what it was doing, he should have known nothing would happen. After all, he had told her to ride, not just to sit there while the gwythaint flew in a straight line.
It was the day after the gwythaint incident, and Avalina had ridden her again today. The Horned King had told her this morning she could ride the gwythaint as often as she wished, perhaps in an attempt to smooth over his harsh words the day before.
He could feel her tension all through the music this time, and it left him wondering what in the world the matter was. He had never gotten his answer about what had seemed to make her afraid of him all over again a week ago. Well, more afraid than she had been lately, that is. Whatever it was, she certainly wasn't going to say by herself, so he realized he would have to ask.
"What is troubling you?" He questioned, watching her.
Avalina looked a bit startled, so to speed things up he elaborated.
"You have not been yourself these past days."
Avalina looked down, wondering how to go about this. She couldn't very well tell him, "Nothing," because it was definitely a "Something." He hated being lied to, and he would know if she tried, but the idea of talking about it made her extremely uncomfortable.
But maybe he would know something about it.
"Do. . .you ever have. . .nightmares?" She asked softly, watching him warily.
The Horned King furrowed a brow slightly, before it sank in.
So that was what this was about. The nightmare the Invisibles had told him she had had a week back. It was still bothering her? He would never understand how mortals could be so frightened by things that weren't even there.
Slowly, he shook his head, wishing he had a better answer for her.
"No."
"Oh," Avalina whispered disappointedly, before looking up again curiously.
"Do you have good dreams, then?"
"No."
"Why?" Avalina asked, puzzled. "Do you dream at all?"
"No."
Seeing her confused face, the Horned King elaborated.
"I do not dream because I do not sleep," he explained.
Avalina's eyes widened.
"You don't sleep? At all?"
Clearly she was having trouble wrapping her mind around this.
"No."
"Don't you want to?"
After a pause, he continued.
"It isn't that I do not, rather, so much as I can not."
"You can't sleep?"
Avalina asked incredulously, the Horned King answering with a shake of his head.
"No."
"But why?"
The Horned King gave a soft sigh, before heavily answering.
"Because, child, there is no rest for the wicked."
"Oh."
Avalina replied, crestfallen, before saying softly, "I'm sorry."
"Do not waste your sympathy on me, child," the Horned King dredged out slowly.
"There are others far more deserving of it than I. I do not deserve rest, and I will receive none. For I am a monster beyond compare."
Avalina could think of nothing to say in return, and the Horned King decided to shift the conversation away from himself.
"How is your horse?"
"Not good," Avalina said softly, "I think he has an abscess in there where the stone was. I may have to remove it, but I'm afraid I'll hurt him."
"You can't possibly give him more pain than what he is in now," the Horned King answered, referring to the daily walks Avalina took the horse on outside the stable. "Have you done this before?"
"No. I haven't even seen someone do it. I've just read about it."
The Horned King frowned to himself. This would pose a problem.
"How much information did the book give you?"
"Too much. First it says one thing and then it says another and I don't know which one to listen to."
"Then pick the option you would do, and do it."
"But what if I pick the wrong one?" She asked uncertainly, tears beginning to build. "The last thing I want is to hurt Mitternacht. And if my hand slips with that knife. . ."
The Horned King frowned, interrupting her.
"You will not pick the wrong one. Whichever one you choose, it will automatically become your correct choice. Do not let doubt cloud your mind and hinder you from making decisions. You will get nowhere if you allow doubt and second-guessing to take over."
The Horned King continued as Avalina watched him uncertainly.
"You must trust yourself, regardless of what anyone or anything else thinks or says."
"I'll try not to doubt," Avalina finally whispered, looking down.
The Horned King narrowed his eyes, seeing she was not convinced.
"You seem to have a way with animals, child. Horses in particular. I am not blind," he told her as she looked up at him in surprise, "And you should not be either. Embrace your ability and use it. You will understand as you go."
Avalina looked down for a moment, before gazing back at him.
"'I'll. . .I'll try to do as you say."
The Horned King gave a short nod, pleased.
"Good."
An hour later Avalina was standing in the stable hall, Mitternacht tied to a post, a thick book spread out on a table on his left side.
"Ok, boy, let's try this," Avalina said, releasing a breath.
Lifting up the horse's left front foot, she rested it on a bale of hay she had previously turned sideways, so she would not have to stay doubled over all the time.
After cleaning out the hoof, she consulted the book.
"It says to use hoof testers to find the exact location of the abscess. Hey, I knew that already, Mueric told me!"
Avalina groaned.
'Idiot.'
Using them, she carefully pressed around the hoof until Mitternacht flinched sharply.
"Sorry boy," she said apologetically as she shaved off a tiny bit of hoof on the wall, leaving a paler strip to mark her place. "But I found it, at least."
Consulting the book again, she read out loud.
"It says to look for a black mark or line indicating where to cut. Cut in a circular motion. Yeah, sure, find a black mark on a black hoof," she said sarcastically to herself. "No problem!"
Picking up his hoof again and propping it on the hay bale, she spied a paler line in the dark hoof, right above her own mark. Maybe in dark hooves the colors were reversed.
"Aha!"
Carefully, she began to pare away where the pale mark indicated, which was not easy because Mitternacht had hooves like tested steel.
Press down and twist. Blow away the shaving. Twist again.
Avalina might as well have been trying to carve out something in a stone wall with a stick.
As the minutes ticked by, her back began to ache with the strain of it, and her hands hurt. she could feel herself rubbing blisters on the insides of her fingers, particularly her thumb.
Mitternacht stood as patiently as a statue, his head down, his ears flicked back to listen to her.
Avalina made hardly any headway, but she did not stop. The mark seemed to be getting smaller, and she fought down her rising panic by encouraging herself with the fact that that could only be good. The book hadn't said anything, but it seemed logical to follow the mark to its source.
That is, until it disappeared completely.
"What?!"
Avalina grabbed the lantern and held it close, straining her eyes to see where it was.
"You've got to be kidding me."
The mark was completely gone. There was nothing to even show for her effort except a large space on Mitternacht's hoof that had been carved away, leaving a grotesque looking dip.
"This can't be happening."
Fighting down her panic, she consulted the book again.
"Nothing. It doesn't say anything. Great."
Shaking with fatigue, she wiped her forehead with the back of her wrist, trying to keep from panicking.
"I can't believe this."
Weakly, she let Mitternacht's foot gently to the floor and sat on the bale to rest her aching legs and back, trying to think of what to do next.
"Well, this is a fine mess," she gasped to Mitternacht, who turned around to nuzzle her.
"Your foot looks absolutely terrible and I accomplished nothing."
Her head in her hands, she stared unseeing at the floor, wondering what to do next. His hoof looked horrible with a fair bit of it missing, creating a paler groove in the glossy black wall.
'What,' she thought to herself as she fixed her gaze on a paler spot on the floor by Mitternacht's damaged hoof, 'have I done?'
The horse shifted slightly, showing another paler mark on the floor nearby.
"What is that?" She asked out loud, leaning over to examine it.
It was sickly yellow in color and seemed to be rather thick.
"That looks like infection."
Looking back as his hoof, she picked it up and examined it.
Right where she had been paring away, a faint yellowish liquid emanated slowly from the hole in the horse's hoof.
"The abscess!" She gasped, reaching for the knife.
Pressing against the deepest point, she twisted as hard as she could.
A faint pop could be heard as a fairly thick part of Mitternacht's hoof was carved off, right before a spurt of yellow gunk flooded out of the hole to run down the side of the hoof.
Mitternacht gave such a deep groan of relief it would have sounded like a growl to anyone else, but Avalina knew her horse.
"I did it, boy!" She gasped in triumph. "I did it!"
The horse sighed as the infection continued to ooze rapidly out of his hoof, his ears going back in a relaxed posture, feeling the poison finally leaving his system.
Avalina could see his relief in every muscle.
After consulting the book some more and stretching her exhausted spine, she went through the shelves in the tackroom and found a can of thick black drawing salve.
Placing it on the top of Mitternacht's door, she cleaned away the hoof shavings that littered the floor and put her tools away.
After several minutes of brushing him, the flow of infection was trickling nearly to a stop, and that was her cue.
Picking up his hoof again, she generously smeared the black, shiny goop deep into and around the groove, coating it, before wrapping and bandaging the horse's foot. The salve would help to pull out any more infection that still remained inside, while the bandage would prevent the salve from rubbing off on the horse's bedding.
"There!" She said as she stood back to survey her work, wiping her hands on an old rag.
"I think that should do it for tonight. But until you heal, boy, you're gonna have to have that done three times a day. No exceptions, you hear?"
The horse flicked an ear back in slight irritation.
"Don't give me that look. You're feeling better, aren't you?"
A huff was her answer.
As she walked him to his stall, she noticed he was walking twice as easily as he had been the past few days, and she felt glorious, knowing that she had been able to ease his pain. The Horned King had been right. She shouldn't be so blind to her abilities.
As Mitternacht ate, she went around and checked his thigh where a wolf had either clawed or bitten him in the attack, grinning when she saw he had healed back without even a scar to show for it.
Going back around, she kissed his face when he turned around to look at her.
"Goodnight, handsome. See you tomorrow."
Boy, this chapter was interesting to write XD. I've seen hoof abscesses removed before and it is *not* a fun thing to watch. And those pictures on Google Images will stay with me for a while. 0_0 (Shudders)
Anyhow, I hope ya'll enjoyed it! XD