It seemed that for a few days, I had the rest that I had desired. However, I hated it. Being back in the little village reminded me of a time that I had given up long ago. It reminded me of Almond and Cara. The three of us had lived here with Foster for a few years, and often came back. But that was before I killed Cara.

The village made me feel too young, too small. In places that I frequented as a youth, I expected to see Cara wandering around the corner, a glint in her eyes after having stolen a valuable trinket, or Almond, returning from his travels with a story of death.

I mostly worked to distract myself from this, to go places that as a child I had no interest in, or no need of. The bars and brothels saw much of my earnings, but most of my time, during the day anyway, was spent at the stables.

The day after I had arrived in Artis I returned to the stables to see how Dawn was doing, and to look at the other horses. The stables were actually on the island in the middle of the city. The island was saved for things such as farming and caring for animals. It had not always been like that though, there had once been a village to the north called Artem. It was Artis' sister city, and they farmed and raised cattle. The village was destroyed when I was younger by a great fire. I knocked on the door, but there was no answer. The door was unlocked so I walked in.

Inside, the room was dark, musty and dim, a pleasant change from the bright outside. Horses gently pawed in their stalls. At the far end of the stables, Dawn lay on a pile of hay, while a young woman worked on dressing the wounds.

“Good morning, Jesse.” I said. Jesse owned the stables, and had greeted me last night when I brought the bloodied Dawn into her stables.

“Morning? It's afternoon. I've been up since sunrise...You're horse is in a state here, but I think she'll be fine...” She turned around to look at me. “Any worse, and it would have been fatal. What happened? Big fire or something?”

“Something like that.”

“If I had to guess, I would have said that she got hit in the side with a burning log.”

I imagined the flash of the lightning as it crashed down. I wondered if Dawn and Dusk could have run if I had released them from the bindings of the caravan. “That's about it.” I said. “I was also wondering... You sell horses, don't you?”

“Yes.” Jesse turned back to Dawn and continued to fix her wounds, “I breed horses. Take a look around. If there's one you want to ride, I'll set you up.”

I nodded and wandered over to a brown horse munching on some hay. It looked me in the eye, snorted, and turned away.

“You know, Dawn will be just fine after some rest. There is no need to replace her.”

I walked past a few more horses, which glanced at me and then let their eyes flicker away. “I'm not replacing Dawn. I had two horses, and one died.”

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Oh. Sorry to hear that. Good horse?”

“The best.” I said without thinking. I moved on to a large black horse. It looked around, and stared at me. After a moment, it stomped it's feet on the ground and snorted.

“I think I like this one...” I said. The horse shook it's mane, and I was reminded of Dusk, shaking his mane in the sunlight.

“That one? That's Night. He's my stallion. I would be rather hesitant to sell him to you...”

I shrugged, and dropped the subject. I didn't need the horse right now and I felt confidant I could convince her to sell Night to me. I paid the fee to keep Dawn in the stables longer, and for her care. I returned every day or so to look at the horses, and to see how Dawn was doing. After that, I would wander the village until I finally made my way to my wagon, exhausted. I would repair weapons, prepare arrows, and drink until I collapsed.

Foster was far to busy to worry though, which I was thankful for. He always had the uncanny interest in what was going on in my head. However, Foster now had more important thing to worry about. He was doing research on the feather. I asked him one night what he was trying to research. He told me that asking questions could bring dangerous answers, and then he said he was trying to figure out how the items worked. Often, he was filtering through his books to see which ones would be most valuable to him, and more dangerous to leave behind. He didn't tell me where he was going, but he was preparing warm clothes, so he was likely going into the mountains. There is only one village in the mountains, and I don't like it because it's cold.

A few days before Foster would be leaving to go wherever he was going, he said he had a job for me.

“A favor, really. I just want you to pick up something from a friend on the other side of Artis. I'm to busy to be bothered, and you can look at the horses on the way. I think you should pick one today; some nobles will be coming in a few days to look at them.”

I nodded dully. “Who do you want me to see?”

“A friend of mine, name's Janace. He should have a package for me.”

***

I went to the stables first. I would pick a horse today. I had to, otherwise all the horses would be gone, and I would get stuck with trying to get a mule to drag my caravan alongside Dawn.

“'Evening, Stiri,” Jesse said, “Dawn's much better today. I would say that if you took it easy, you would be able to take her for a ride.”

“Greetings Jesse.” I looked up. How could I not have noticed the dimming of the sky. It was indeed evening. “I guess you're getting ready to lock up?”

“Yup. Wanna take a quick look at the horses?”

I nodded. “I think I'll get the black one, actually.”

Jesse patted Dawn. “I told you I would be hesitant to sell him.” Jesse said. “I've gotten some good colts from him. He used to be a warhorse, but his owner had to sell him to stay out of prison.”

I took a bag of coins from my cloak. I felt the weight, then threw it over to Jesse. She caught it and let her hands sink under it's weight.

“Should be enough to buy a couple of stallions.” I said.

“...And then some...”

“Can you part with Night?”

“...I suppose I can,” Jesse said, “But that's only because I know you'll take care of him. I've not seen anyone care so much about their horse. I've had injured horses around her to be sure, but most people would have refused to pay to have them treated. Others would simply have killed the horse. You came every day to check on her...”

“She's a good horse.” I said. I took a few more gold coins out of my cloak and passed them to Jesse. “This good for a few more nights?”

“...Are you a Rawlian Lord? Or a prince? A foreign king?”

I laughed long and hard. “Ha! Not likely!” I smiled, “Don't worry, I'm not royalty, so no need to worry about treating me like one.” I took a deep breath. “By the way, you said that Dawn was up for riding?”

“She should be. Go easy on her for a while though.”

I nodded, promised to be back later, and then ran off to find Janace.