To be discovered here, the enemy would have to search long and hard for them.
Good enough.
Eva slipped back to the mare. She pulled aside bushes and branches to allow the mare to slip easily through, before pushing them back into place so no sign of their passage would be visible.
Finally, the mare stood in the small grove, her head down, her breathing labored.
She paced, making low grunts of pain as her contractions tightened and loosened.
Eva kept up a steady commentary of soothing noises, all the while cognizant that every sound the mare made might draw the enemy to them.
The mare was agitated, her need for escape and her need to deliver the foal almost in direct contrast.
She whirled on Eva and it was only because of her practices with Caden and her own long history with animals she managed to evade the sharp teeth as they closed inches from where her face was.
Eva's heart thundered but she didn't show weakness, keeping up the soothing croon.
The mare pawed at the ground, tearing out the grass and piling it into a small bed. She settled down and Eva knelt beside her, careful to keep one eye on the tricky Kyren as she felt along the mare’s belly.
Concern made Eva's movements quick and efficient. The birth was taking too long.
The foal should have come by now.
Eva moved around the mare, checking to see if she could spot the foal's hooves.
There was nothing.
She waited until the Kyren's latest contraction had ended before reaching in and feeling around. The two tiny hooves were easy to find.
Eva waited as another contraction started, controlling the small sound of pain that wanted to escape. A mare's contractions were strong, necessary given the size of the foal they needed to push from their bodies, but they weren't exactly comfortable to sit through when your arm was stuck inside the birthing canal.
Eva ignored the discomfort, worry starting to build. The hooves were properly aligned. There shouldn’t have been any problems. It should be a smooth birth.
Yet, the mare was in obvious distress that was growing deeper by the moment.
What was preventing the little foal from sliding free?
Eva leaned closer, pushing her arm up to her bicep as she carefully investigated, making sure to keep her movements smooth and slow so she didn’t distress the mare further.
There. Something that didn't belong.
She felt along it, learning the shape with her hands. It wasn't another hoof. A wing perhaps? One that felt like it was pinned up against the pelvic bone. This was why the foal wasn't sliding free.
Eva was paralyzed with indecision. It felt like the wing was outstretched when it needed to be tucked tight into the body.
She could see what she needed to make happen but didn't know how to do it. None of her previous experiences birthing horses would help her with this.
She was in unchartered territory. On her own, as per usual.
There wasn't a lot of time either. If she didn't do something, and soon, the mare would die. Alternatively, the people hunting them could find them and then Eva would die. The mare and foal would only wish they were dead.
Think, Eva, think. You're smart and you've attended dozens of births for several different animals.
But not birds. Because birds were hatched and not born, or at least no bird around her old village had come into this word as a mammal would. They'd all come from eggs.
She didn't know how fragile the wings were. If she forced it down, she could snap the delicate bones, splintering them and complicating the birth further.
Quit dithering and make a decision, Caller,the mare's pain-wracked voice filled her mind, before she snapped her teeth at Eva.
