I think for a moment before I reply. “I’m glad he’s with us instead of against us. Old warriors tend to be either fearsome or cowards. His scars tell me that he’s not a coward. He’s been with Kenric since Kenric was a boy, and as much a father to Kenric as Kenric’s own, maybe more so. If I had to fault him for anything, it would be a lack of a sense of humor, though his penchant for understating things brushes up against humor quite closely at times.”
“Why is humor important?” Inaba asks.
“Humor helps keep us from despair. The surest path to failure is to despair, ”I reply.
Inaba considers this silently for a while before he nods. “If you would win, you must first believe that you can win.”
I smirk and nod. Kenric asks me what I plan to say about their horses. “They were on a different ship and their horses were lost in the shipwreck. We’ll have to get them new ones.”
I look at their armor, and it seems like we’ll need an unusual saddle to fit it. “I might have to make their saddles, or they might want some help in making them. Any ideas on where we can get horses for them? I don’t really like having them piled on top of the carriage like this. If we had to move quickly…”
I trail off, imagining armored men flying off the roof of the carriage in all directions, and grimace a little.
Chuckling and following my train of thought, Kenric nods. "We can check at the coach stop. They usually have horses for sale there, though they’re often not the best and almost always overpriced. Usually, when someone buys a horse, it’s because the coach stop is closer to where they’re headed. You can look and see if there’s anything there that catches your eye.”
Since I won’t scandalize Inaba and Miyabe by indulging in what Kenric promised to occupy my afternoon with earlier, I take out a deck of cards and start teaching them to play Iron and Embers while learning their language from them.
By the time we reach the coach stop, I've made some progress with basic parts of their language, and I’ve managed to teach them the game along with most of what I know of Kenric’s language. Kenric arranges rooms for everyone and a bath for the two of us. I gesture to Inaba and the others to follow me as we head out to the stables. Inaba glares at me. “What are you planning?”
I shrug and try to reply to him in his language. “I’m going to talk to the horses and see if I find any I like.”
Most of the animals in the barn are coach horses, built for pulling things, not riding. I pass them by with a pat or a quick scratch. Toward the back, I find what I’m looking for. My heart breaks when I see these animals in such poor condition. None are in good shape, but I can fix that once we buy them. There are five horses here, not quite enough, but better than nothing. They look like the most pitiful nags I’ve ever seen, with bones sticking out, untrimmed hooves, neglected coats, and broken spirits.
I know Inaba will object to what I’m about to do, so I suggest using these as mounts with some explanation, and I do it quietly. “If I can buy them and heal them, they will be worthy of you. Some of the best-trained war horses to be found anywhere.”
They were once warhorses, but some unfortunate events have left them in a sad state. They have been discarded here, likely as a last stop before being sent to the glue maker’s.
One by one, I approach each horse and ask the same question. “If I heal you, will you serve these men and serve me?”
The dappled gray is the first to agree, followed quickly by the bay, the roan, and the dun. There is a white one who remains listless, only flicking an ear in my direction. I approach him cautiously and place my hands on his head. “What’s your name?” “Falke.” “What has happened to you, Falke?”
The horse’s memories come flooding back to me. Horses have great memories. Every detail—faces, sounds, and smells—is remembered clearly and accurately.
He cared deeply for his owner, and a strong bond of affection existed between them. This horse is devastated over the man’s death. There was a battle. I don’t know enough about the flags and symbols to identify his owner or the specific battle, but I know he was killed in the fight. The horse ran away from the battle, hoping to make it back home. Men came with torches and whips, driving the riderless horses. He was trapped and caught, along with others, by men looking to make quick money while looting the fallen on the battlefield.
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Everything was taken from them, and they were sold. These five are the fortunate ones. They have been starved and beaten by ignorant, uncaring humans in an attempt to break them. The memories I have of these events make me want to cry. Gods above! Are these damnable humans really this ignorant? It seems they are. War horses are not trained like other horses. Other horses are taught to allow almost anyone to approach them.
War horses typically only permit a few people to handle them—their proper owner and a select few carefully chosen grooms. War horses are trained to react violently to anything other than their handlers. Anyone else is likely a threat, and war horses defend their owners with everything they have. These fools assumed that since the horses reacted violently, they were unbroken and worthless. Many times, he has changed hands with each new owner, attempting, yet again, to break him.
This horse has had enough of humans and is ready to give up. I show this horse my true self. “I am not human. I am something else entirely. I am Fey. If I give you my word, I cannot break it. My First Oath is as a Lawful Fey. This is the bargain I offer you, and I will swear to it. I will let you pick from the men here, and you will serve the one you choose. If the one you pick doesn’t take you with him when he leaves, then I will keep you myself, and you can carry my lord, my beating heart, into battle and protect him for me, since he will not allow me to accompany him. You will have food if I have food. You will have shelter if I have shelter. You will have water if I have water. There will be no more beatings. If I heal you, will you serve one of these men, serve me, and serve my lord?”
I sense many things from this horse: resignation, distrust, fear, sadness, grief, shame, frustration, turmoil, but underneath it all, there is the tiniest spark of hope. I open the stall and gesture toward the waiting men. “Choose your rider then, while I go make arrangements to buy you from these fools.”
The horse steps out carefully and goes to snuffle at each of the men. He goes back and forth between Yoshida and Inaba a few times before settling on Inaba. “He’s blind, so you’ll have to be his eyes.”
The horse bobs his head in understanding and nuzzles Inaba.
I move quickly back inside the inn and grab Kenric, leaving Inaba to get acquainted with his new mount. “I’ve found five horses, but they’ll need a good bit of healing before they’re ready to go. Based on what you said, I hadn’t expected to find five war horses here.”
Kenric grimaces at the expense, but I wave him off. “I doubt anyone here realizes what they are. If I weren’t able to talk to them, I wouldn’t have known it, either.”
Kenric frowns at me. “Let’s see the innkeeper and see if we can buy these beasts. I’m not sure I have enough gold on me.”
I chortle. “You’ll have more than enough for the state they’re in now. Once we’ve bought them and we get them out of sight of this place, I’ll heal them.”
We find the innkeeper and go out to the barn, where I point out the five horses that we want.
The innkeeper looks at me oddly, “I can’t believe you got that white demon out of his stall, and he’s not attacking anyone. You’ll have to put him back in there yourself. None of the lads here will get near him. None of those five are really mine, but I don’t think he’ll mind if I sell them on as long as I get more than the gluers would pay for those nags. The glue makers are supposed to come and pick them up at the end of the week. One hundred ducats each, and I’ll throw in their tack. The saddles are worth nearly that much.”
Once the sale is concluded, I approach the white horse and begin to curry him. I use this as a cover to cast a healing spell on him that will take effect once we’re away from this place. I have Kenric come over, and I introduce the horse to Kenric. “This is my lord, my beating heart. He’s human, but he’s my husband. He’s not like the others you’ve run across.”
I hand the curry comb to Kenric. “His name is Falke. Be kind to him; he’s had a dreadful run of luck with people. Talk to him. Get to know him. Let him get to know you. I’ve promised the horse that if Inaba doesn’t keep him, he’ll become yours.”
I shoo Kenric, the horse, and Inaba back into his stall. I go to the dun next, since it’s next to Falke’s stall. I put my hands on the dun. “What’s your name?” “Corrado.” “You can pick from any of the men in the aisle, if you like.”
Corrado bobs his head, so I open the stall and let him out. He snuffles at each of them and settles on Oshida, lipping at his armor. I curry Corrado for a bit before I shoo Oshida and Corrado into a stall. “His name is Corrado, by the way.”
When we’re done matching horses with riders, Nasu and Usami are still afoot.
The roan, Nicko, chose Miyabe. Hagiwara was selected by the bay, Ulrich, and the dapple, Arnol, chose Yoshida. I’ve cast the same spell on all of them. There’s going to be a pretty significant change in the morning once we’re away from this inn. The innkeeper looks at Kenric and then at me. “Your Lady has a way with these animals. None of the rest of us have been able to get close to any of them. We’ve all been bitten, kicked, head-butted, body-slammed, and one of the younger boys was picked up and thrown. These animals have been wilder than I’ve ever seen. They haven’t been calm and gentle like this, ever. That’s how they ended up here,” the innkeeper says.
I smile at the innkeeper. “I’ve always had a way with most animals. If you acquire more aggressive horses like these, please notify Lord Kenric. We’ll take them off your hands. They’ll need to be fed and watered well tonight. We push on to the capital in the morning, and they’ll be coming with us. Please give them a triple ration of hay and grain for a destrier. Leave them an extra bucket of water.”
As well-trained war horses, each of these animals is worth a lord’s ransom when in top condition. These horses are being sold as mere glue nags, yet they should be selling for a hundred times the price of a good riding horse. A good horse, like one Kenric might use to tour his estate or tend to his affairs, would cost a few hundred ducats. These horses should be worth thousands of ducats each. If whoever is leaving them here for the innkeeper can get more, it would surely be profitable for us to rescue them and find them new homes with worthy owners.
- Who's a fan of the horses?