It did not take terribly long to retrace the path back to the keep. Nobody wanted to be up there, it seemed.
Incidentally, that made searching what was left of the stable an uncontested affair. Much like Jazdia predicted, the villagers were hard at work assessing their livestock and properties, and would indeed surely notice-- and care very deeply-- about somebody making off with their horses-- wounded or not.
The livery stable was a nice, but not overly elaborate 10 stall affair, with more than half of it either burned or collapsed. The charred remains of five unlucky horses graced the destroyed end of the barn, the blackened curls of bone and bits of hoof being in the first stall, and varying degrees of "cooked" in the next four.
Three of the stalls had no sign they were occupied while the structure burned-- and at the very far end, one stall was half burned, and the other collapsed when the roof caved in from the flames and the winds caught it. Two unfortunate (or very fortunate, depending on your outlook on the matter) souls were found inside. In the charred one, a badly burned blue rhone laid on its side, gasping for air. In the collapsed stall beside, a lovely chestnut with black mane and tail laid prone beneath the ridgepole that had fallen in, breathing hard but paralyzed from the injury.
"That's bad-- We should put them both down." rasped Reinhold, shaking his head at the sight. "We'd be better off trying to find the three that ran off. They shouldn't be too hard to find-- the ground's real soft. They'd be easy to track."
"Take tuh long-- ain't got da time. We gotta git while da gitt'ns good." Cedar gruffed, pawing his nose at the rank smell of burned flesh and smoke that cloyed the air where the barn used to be.
"These ones are as good as dead!" the old man countered. "hell, They could go any damn moment!"
"At means nuh-one'll miss em." responded the bear flatly
Reinhold held his hand to his head, as if Cedar had just outdone himself on saying the single dumbest thing he had ever heard that day. "How do you expect to ride a horse missing half its skin, and another with a shattered neck, and probably broken legs?"
"How duh ya es'pect ta rustle horses wit an ol' fool zapped by a crook'd ol' conjuror?" Cedar countered coarsely. "Ya fix em up fir', at's how." He moved to the burned and gasping horse, which tried to protest at his approach with fear and screaming, but was unable to rise, and instead just snorted red foam. "Dis gunna be hard-- Dey's scared outta dey're minds. Duh me a favor, an' go says nice thangs ta da brown one o'er dere. Calm 'er daown while's I work o'er 'ere--"
"You cant be.... Fine" Reinhold groaned, then crawled into the remains of the collapsed stall, before sitting on the ground next to the prone mare inside, placing his hands on it, and trying to sound reassuring. "It'll be OK pony-- The crazy talking bear over there will come spoon your butt while you try to die like a decent fella, and make you all better."
"I hearded dat...-- Ya radder still be estra crispeh roas' pork? Give at fucker da satisfaction a killin' ya AN' Ya frien', aft'r ya track em fer days on end? Die face-daown inna dirt, same as him?"
"Shut the fuck up."
"'At's what I figur'd. 'Ese 'ere horses don' wanna die neader. So we helps em. Same as you."
Reinhold gruffed, then gently patted the bay behind its ears. "Pay no attention to that crazy bear. He's nuts, and thinks he knows something."
"'Ats more like it."
Cedar laid down beside the gasping, wild eyed horse, pressing his face gently against its own, and looking straight into the eye on that side of its head, clearing his thoughts and arranging them to be easy to understand.
The horse was full of terror. Suffocating, and in unbearable pain. It did not know what had happened, or how it had been hurt like this. It wanted to escape the fire, and tried to seek shelter, but this was what it had found instead-- and now a meat eating monster had come for it, and it could not run. Terror reverberated off pain, and painted a gristly tapestry in its mind.
Cedar did his best to be a source of calmness; Soothing, reassuring, instructional.
'breathe' and 'you wont die today, if you trust.' being concepts woven into a collage of what she should expect, and what he would do next. Incredulity, and resounding terror mocked his efforts, but he held fast, and worked anyway, carefully slipping behind the horse, leaning his head over it's neck to remain in close face-touching contact, eye-to-eye.
He laid his heavy arm over the top of its neck with one arm, stroking it gently, while tugging the beast close with the other. Blue light erupted like fire over the damaged skin. The horse tensed. Nostrils flared. The eyes darted with wide whites-- all the while, the bear-man held and stroked, while breathing hard and slow, laboring under the magic.
Time passed, then the light abated. The horse made nasty faces and stuck out its tongue repeatedly, trying to get the taste of its own blood out of its mouth.
"'Eree naow..... Erre naow..." he crooned, then nuzzled the grey's head affectionately. "All be'er naow..."
He released the horse, which staggered to its feet, squealed, snorted then turned and looked at the still prostrate bear with wild, incredulous eyes, nostrils flaring at the air, tail swishing, with ears darting between being forward and back.
Cedar was tired. This was hard work, and still not done.
"You OK over there bear?"
"Mind ya own bizness, ya ol' bastard!" he crooned back. "Jus' gimme a minute. 's Hard work ya know? Go see ta da laydee o'er dere. I'sll be up in a jiffy." Cedar waved his paw irritably in the air in the general direction toward the now mended blue rhone, which now sported bright white patches where the burned flesh had been, marring its otherwise beautiful smokey coat.
"Fine, but I'm not making out with it like you did." then down at the horse he was only half-assedly trying to calm "Better watch out- he's a hugger."
"Shut the fuck up-- dunno what ya goin' on 'bout. -- Ain't inta horses."
Reinhold cackled and wheezed as he clambered up out of the ruined stall, and moved to stroke and pet the dismayed rhone, tossing its mane with his fingers, and rubbing its nose, while cedar rolled, sat up, shook his head, then tried to get into the next stall over, failed miserably, then resorted to lifting and tossing the fallen roof beam like a caber-- the old hunter laughing harder and harder the whole time.
"ya don' shutup ya gonna suck in a fly." the bear said flatly before settling into position with the next horse, and repeating the process-- Blue light blaring around the horse's crushed neck and head, along with parts of its butt and legs. The bay shrieked a dismayed whinny, snorted then bolted to its feet the instant it was able, crowding in beside its companion, nostrils blaring and tail swishing, staring at the bear in the remains of its stall.
Cedar needed a drink. Something with some alcohol in it. Maybe a nice bottom ale. Good and brown-- and a whole bowl of salted nuts. Damn that would be good.
"Dey gunna need names." he wheezed, then labored to get up onto 4 legs.
Reinhold's horse laugh paused only long enough to gasp for air, before pointing at the bay-- "Schnitzel" then at the Rhone "And extra crispy!" The old man was having a hard time keeping air in his lungs. "So..." he wheezed. "Which one you ridin?"
"SHUT UP, an' help meh git em back daown wit' da odders." cedar protested, then staggered upright, then wobbled for a second before starting a fairly brisk walk. "Ain't got all day."
