That will be an additional sugar cube for dessert for my trusty steed!
Words are stuck in my throat as Nate joins me, because he’s been through so much I fear the sight of blood and twitching flesh might set off his fears. There is no hesitation as he approaches the trembling cow and places both hands on her head, which is bigger than his entire upper body.
“Shh, girl. I won’t hurt you…”
I look around, wary of the cows changing their minds about our presence, but nothing alarming happens, so I turn all my attention to Nate. There’s none of the terrified trembling I’veseen him succumb to, and his breathing is even. He scoots down, unbothered by the blood and unpleasant smells.
“Maybe we could fetch a medic,” I say and stroke the cow’s sweaty head.
The moment of silence is noticeably long, but then Nate takes a breath and rises. “I’m here,” he tells me as if it’s the most obvious thing in the universe. I stall and watch him move, fingers never leaving the heifer’s skin, as if he wants to reassure her that it’s still him, that there are no unknown actors who didn’t let her smell them.
Nate scoots behind the cow, brows low over focused eyes. “I need light.”
I don’t question him anymore. He told me about his experience with animals, and if he feels he can handle this, then so be it.
I run over to Stone and grab a lantern off his side. As soon as I kneel with it next to Nate, I turn it on. A few of the cows let out harumpfs next to us, but they’ve seen swamplight, and thankfully it doesn’t alarm them.
“What now? What do you think is wrong?” I ask, spotting a calf’s leg moving beneath the semi-translucent sac.
“It’s probably stuck,” Nate says before shaking off the fine outerwear, until he’s only wearing the tight riding outfit. I don’t know much about the particulars of cattle rearing, but when my human gently tugs on what is currently out, a bout of nausea tightens around my throat.
Nate isn’t moved, even though the cows could overwhelm and trample us. Even though there’s so much fluid and blood. Even though the expecting mother could kill him with one kick to the head.
He’s calm, focused, and by the time he reaches inside the cow, I don’t try to stop him.
He knows what he’s doing.
In this world of unknowns, he’s found himself in the perfect time and place.
There’s a lot of push and pull, and I get nervous when the other animals close in, humming like a choir, but then one head is followed by another, and the calf lies on the cobbles, twitching inside the sac.
“Knife,” Nate demands, and when I offer it to him, he cuts through the layers of membrane, revealing four big red eyes. “Poor thing…” he whispers as if to not alarm the mother.
This is not the first two headed calf I’ve seen, but I realize that might not be the case for Nate. “It’s all right. You got it out,” I stroke his back, weirdly proud.
He’s been through so much, yet as soon as he saw the animal in need, dropped everything to help. So what if we’re now dirty, stink, and are in no shape to go to the village anymore? We got to do a good deed. Well, Nate did. I would have been lost without him here. I knew he was an animal healer back home, but I had no idea he would have such a good sense for the beasts of the Nightmare Realm!
“Yes but it probably won’t live long,” he says, watching two of the other cows approach the new mother, almost as if they were offering help.
The calf wiggles its skinny legs and makes a needy whine. I stroke its head. Then the other. “Why? Looks healthy to me. It’s not every day we get one like it, but I’ve seen them live on.”
Nate exhales, smiling when the heifer finally rises and licks slime off its baby, only to then stroke her long, meaty tongue along Nate’s arm. He laughs, catching my gaze, and for the first time since I saved him from Gloombane’s tower, there are no clouds to disperse his joy. It’s shining through in his gaze and smile, as warm as the sun he’s grown under.
I’m so in love with him.
But if he never chooses me again, I wish to at least keep him in my life as a friend.
“Really? It has a good chance?”
I smile back at him, itching to stroke his face, lips tingling with the need to kiss him. “Yes! It will probably be adopted by the village wiser like the last one. They consider such unusual creatures keys to understanding. What? I don’t know, but I’m notwise.”
Nate swallows, his face so close to mine, eyes shiny as they reflect the stars and moon above. “You’re being too harsh on yourself.”
I laugh in surprise. “Nah, I’m good at pretty much everything else, so I can’t be wise too, otherwise the universe would be left out of balance. You on the other hand? Nate, you were amazing. You just went in there with such confidence.”
His gaze lowers, and I shiver when his cheeks bloom with the prettiest shade of pink.
My heart leaps.
