“What about the foal?”Roger asked.
“The mare will have nothing to do with himand Gare and Fergus need help to save him.I told them I’d ask youabout letting the princess take a look at him.Seeing as how sheand her family are so well known for their stables and theirknowledge of horses.”
“Not a bad suggestion,” Roger said agreeably.“Especially if she knows even half as much as her father, thestablemaster, does.”
Alina had told Roark about Fenrir and the oldwater scryer and the untrue rumor that Hamar, the stablemaster, wasAlina’s and Anders’s true father, which was easy enough to refute.One look at Anders, her twin brother, was all a person needed totell that he was Jerrik’s son.Still, Roark knew better than tocontradict Roger.He said nothing.
“You will keep guard over her,” Roger said.“Make sure she doesn’t try to escape.”
“I will.”
Roger flicked his hand.“Go then.A dead foalis worth nothing to me.”
***
“Gare, Fergus, this is Alina.”Roarkintroduced her to the stable hands in their Green Isles tongue.Both men doffed their caps.“Alina, this is Gare,” he said in herNorthern tongue, introducing the older hand, a moon-faced man witha balding pate and kindly brown eyes.“And this,” he said,introducing the flame-haired younger hand, “is Fergus.”
Alina nodded to the men and then opened thegate to the brooding pen, holding her hand up to all three men.“The mare is scared enough,” she told Roark, who translated.“Thefewer people coming at her, the better.”
“You be careful, miss,” Gare warned.“She’sright skittish and tried to bite Fergus when he brought the weefoal to her earlier today.”
Alina waited for Roark to translate again andthen nodded her head in thanks.This would all go so much morequickly and easily if she didn’t have to pretend ignorance of whatthey were saying, but Roark was right, it was important to keepthis one advantage over her captors.
The foal was lying in the straw on its belly,legs tucked and barely able to hold its head up.She knelt at hishead and lifted his lips.“His gums are pale and tacky to thetouch,” she said, more to herself than the men watching, whocouldn’t understand her except for Roark.“His eyes are dulled andstarting to sink into his skull.”She ran her hand over its mattedcoat, stretched thin over its ribs and pelvis, and lifted itstail.
“You’re nothing but skin and bones, poorbaby, and your tail is covered in shit and flies.”She swatted theflies away and stood, ready to chew Gare and Fergus out for lettingthe foal get this bad, but they both looked so worried, and Roarkhad told her about the stablemaster leaving abruptly and how theywere both new at the job.“If we don’t get some milk into himsoon,” she told Roark, “he won’t live another day.”She met thehands’ worried frowns.“He might not anyway.”They may not haveunderstood her words, but they understood her meaning by theirdownturned mouths.“Does the keep have milk goats?”
“Aye,” Roark said.“The farm keeps a herd forcheese making.”
“The foal will need three to four bucketsfula day,” she said.“We can start with two for now.Make sure thebuckets are clean before you use them.And get me a blanket for thefoal.”
Roark told Gare and Fergus what she said wordfor word, and Fergus took off running, while Gare disappeared intowhat Alina assumed was the tack room.He came out and handed her ablanket, with which she covered the foal.
“We’ll get some good milk into your bellysoon, baby,” she told the foal in a singsong voice, tucking him intight for now.She stood and dipped her hands into the bucket ofwater it looked like the mare hadn’t touched and scrubbed at them,and then she grabbed a handful of the cleanest straw she could findthe farthest from the foal and rubbed her hands dry with it.“What’s going on with you, Etain?”she sang softly to the wall-eyedmare, angling her body sideways so she wasn’t standing or staringhead on to the mare.“Did that strange, scary little creature comeout of you?”She squatted down and looked at the mare’s udder,which was swollen and lopsided and both teats crusted over.“Doeshe keep shoving that rude little nose of his into your sore udder?”She stood slowly and stepped closer to the mare’s head, still notlooking her in the eyes.“I’d like to help you feel better,” shecrooned.“If you’ll let me.”
Alina walked around the brooding pen,describing what she saw with a soft patter.“The water bucket isfull and clean, though untouched, as is the hay in the feeder.Thestraw on the floor is fresh and clean, the stall itself is roomyand away from the other horses and there’s no tack hanging from therafters to frighten you.”She turned to Roark and Gare.“Where’sher usual stall?”
Roark translated for her and then Gare.“Inthe middle of the stables, between the two plow horses.”
“How about we take you back there?”Alinasang to the mare, letting her sniff her hands before slowlyreaching for the lead rope dangling from her neck.“How would liketo go back to your old stall, where things are familiar and yourbig, calm, steady friends are around you?”She led the mare aroundthe foal, keeping herself between them, and followed Gare toEtain’s old stall.
Once inside, Etain nickered to the horse toher right, who nickered back.“There you go,” Alina crooned.“Thisis much better, isn’t it?Safe and sound back where you belong.Thestrange little creature can’t get to you here, pretty girl.Ipromise.”
Alina turned to Roark.“Will she normally letGare handle her?Is she still eating and drinking?”
Roark told Gare what Alina said, and reportedback what Gare said.“He says she’s always been a little tightlystrung, though not naturally mean, and she is still eating anddrinking, though very little.”
“Tell him to apply a warm, wet compress toher udder, and then gently wipe the crusted milk and dirt off.Ifher teats are raw, he’ll need to rub some healing balm on them.Double her grain and add alfalfa to her feed if they have it.”
“Should he try to milk her?”
“No, she needs to dry up, not produce.If hecan tend to her, I’ll tend to the foal.”
Roark told Gare what Alina said and turned totell Alina what Gare answered, grinning as he caught her with onefoot hanging mid-air, remembering to make herself wait for him totranslate.
“Gare can take care of the mare,” he said.Hefollowed Alina back to the brooding stall.“What can I do tohelp?”
“I need a soft brush, a washrag and dryinglinen, a bucket of warm water, and the mildest soap you have.”
