Private Tales The Goblin, the Horse, and the Hair

[Kael]

The Restach Fields, or “Resties” as they were known, were a collection of fields and obstacles for training on horseback at the Dreadlord Academy, supposedly named after the original Proctor responsible. Kael had an examination coming up that required some time on a horse, and had booked some time to prepare. There was an issue, namely that all the horses seemed to hate Kael. He had managed to figure out how to ride a couple of them, but it was a constant battle to keep control. Kael suspected at some level they had an intuition that he wasn’t human, but who were the horses going to tell?

Kael picked Chestnut Charlie for the ride. He brought the creature an apple, but it wouldn’t take it from his hands. He sighed and left it on the ground before loading a quiver and slinging it over his shoulders. An audible crunch filled the room, and Kael sighed. He picked up a torch, coated with special powders and lit it before placing it in it’s holder. It let out a bright red light, more sparkle than flame. He hopped on to the beast’s saddle and waited. There was a pop, and the color of the flame turned green. Kael clicked his heels against the creature and they were off.

Kael rode and pulled an arrow from his quiver, knocking it to his bow. The first target came in sight, a wooden replica of a man in heavily rusted mail. The feathers of the bow kissed Kael’s cheek before releasing, and the arrow was off, into the helmet of the faux man. One down. Kael’s hand returned to the quiver, pulling another arrow as the horse galloped into a path between a small cluster of trees. His eyes darted between them, before finding the faux bandit in wait. Kael pulled and released the arrow, sailing another arrow into the neck of a would-be brigand. Two down. Kael needed to strike five lethal blows before the green flame was spent, but was aiming for at least eight. The pair exited the forest, turning a corner and hopping a small fence, gaining the height necessary to aim and fire at dummy hidden behind a mock-city wall. Three down.

Chestnut Charlie landed on the ground, then abruptly stopped. Kael was thrown to the ground. His muscles shrieked at him as he rolled to avoid breaking a bone. Kael took a deep breath and felt pain in his stomach. His ribs. Feth. Eyes darted to see if anyone else was at the Restie. He couldn’t be seen like this, weak. The other initiates would eat him alive, as was the human custom. His face went right, then left, and saw the distinct golden hair reflecting in the sun.

Avery.

 

[Avery]

Avery certainly knew how to ride a horse, much like any other Initiate that took to the skill well enough. Having just finished taking a lovely natured mare out for a brisk ride, she had dismounted and allowed the horse to graze a moment before walking her back towards the stables.

Her hair was weaved into an intricate braid, all artistry credited to her roommate Summer Taryden, and she was glad for the help as it certainly kept her hair from whipping about her face on her ride. Kitted out in riding gear borrowed from the Academy, the ill fitting jacket was slung over the saddle and threatening to slip off.

Dusting off the shoulder of the horse, she cooed some soothing words and let the beautiful creature gnaw at the long grass.

Turning around to look up at the sky, she raised a hand to cover her eyes to shield it from the sun. The clouds were all scattered thin and far, telling Avery the wind will reach them down here later in the evening at least.

There was movement in her peripherals, and she turned her head to spy what had caught her attention. "Kael?" She scrunched her facial features, uncertain if it truly were him from this distance but it certainly looked like him. "You alright?" Horse nearby, him on the ground, it did not take much to calculate what had happened.

 

[Kael]

Kress. She saw him. Her words indicated concern, but was it actually true? Humans hid there emotions well, guarding for the right moment to strike. The goblin could try to ignore her, but then she might come over. Or worse, call over a proctor. Or a medic . . . No. Kael had to deal with this head-on.

"I'm fine." He grunted. Kael began to roll himself upward and a screech escaped his breath. His head returned quickly to the ground. He let out a sigh.

"I'll be fine." He corrected himself, changing tense but not adding a timeline. "I just need to . . ." He focused for a minute. As a shapeshifter he was very in tune with his ever-changing anatomy. With a pulse of magic he felt out to his spine and realized it wasn't broken. A stroke of luck, or just an end to his bad-luck. Not all of his ribs had made it free however. Kael was a shapeshifter, the most talented in his tribe. Could he just force it into place? A sigh escaped his mouth. Showing weakness to a classmate was dangerous, but it was better than her getting help.

"My bag is over by gate three." He said to Avery. Great Marsh, how embarrassing. To suffer such from a bucking horse. "Can you grab the blue and green vials out of it? They're a couple poultices should have me right up."

 

[Avery]

She had begun walking over to him so that she wouldn't have to yell across the distance, but from where he laid on the ground, he asked her to retrieve his bag. She paused, turning to see where the gate was and gave Kael a reassuring smile. "Not a problem!"

Avery turned back to her horse, mounted up, and was on her way.

Minutes later, she would be making her way back towards her classmate. Not one to rifle through one's belongings, she instead got off her steed and walked the few feet towards Kael and gently laid his bag beside him. "You know, I know some simple healing. Or I can help take the edge off the pain. Proctor Urahil was actually quite informative about the human body, especially how we can trick the... oh, sorry. Rambling. How are you feeling?"

Perhaps she was not the best one for the job if he was feeling too poorly, afraid she may do more harm than good when it came to healing.

 

[Kael]

As the woman came over Kael was able to confirm it was indeed Avery. And she smiled at him? Was she smiling at him, or his predicament? She seemed to be earnest in her effort to help. Kael was naturally suspicious, but perhaps the blonde initiate was of a different breed.

As she cantered off Kael was left with Chestnut Charlie, just a few feet away. The beast looked over at Kael and whinnied in what felt a mocking fashion.

“Well what did I do to you?” Kael protested. The horse let out a huff, then turned and began to trot away. Kael sighed, pain rattling through his ribcage as breath went through. One more thing to do. Avery arrived shortly after Chestnut Charlie left, dropping Kael’s bag at his side.

“Thank you.” Kael responded to the gentle placement. He went through the bag, pulling out the blue and green vials with care. She mentioned Proctor Urahil, and if he were anyone else that would be the right move. Kael however, was a bit concerned about application of medical treatment. While he was extremely confident in his shapeshifting ability functionally, he wasn’t confident he’d perfectly replicated every internal structure of a human. What if his heart was two sizes too small, and his stomach a size too large? Kael had good enough answers to get by the academy so far, but it was always better not to be asked.

“I’ve been better.” Kael said as he pulled out a knife. He put it in his hand and looked over his stomach before deciding cutting himself was a bad idea.

“Can you cut my shirt?” He asked Avery , pain still evident in his voice as he handed over the knife. “I need to fix up a rib. Third up on my left. If I can fix that the rest is just bruises. Should heal on its own. No need to bother anybody else.” Could he avoid proper medical treatment again?

 

[Avery]

Avery's face flashed with concern.

"Cut i—" Her hands held the knife offered to her, looking at it first and then his shirt. Would it not be best to let her try to heal him? But he mentioned his ribs, and Avery was no medical expert. No, the Academy wanted her to manipulate pain than to alleviate it.

With a reserved sigh, Avery went to help her classmate. "This is... I didn't think I would ever have to do this!" Her hand shook, but she kept a firm hand in hopes that she wouldn't accidentally carve into him. One hand pulled the fabric from his flesh, slowing hacking away at it gingerly with the knife. All the while, Avery's face was scrunched with apprehension.

"If I accidentally cut you, do those vials heal that too?"

 

[Kael]

“Woah, hold on!” Kael reached out a hand and wrapped it just below @Avery’s wrist. His leather riding glove gripped firmly to stop her, but hopefully not enough to cause any pain. Why did she have the blade pointed down at his chest? Why did she not expect to do this sometime in her life? Wasn’t this a military academy? Did humans not do field dressing?

“You’re not going to cut me.” Kael said, trying to reassure. Pain still rung through voice, and she could probably hear a little concern, but he was trying. Kael released his grip slowly, bringing his hands to his shirt. “I’ll show you how to do this, and then we’ll go slow.” Kael said. He let out a breath, then made a pained smile.

“Start by pulling my shirt up, away from the ground as much as you can.” Kael would pinch at the fabric of his shirt and begin raising it. “Bring the knife under my shirt flat as if to lay on my chest. Stop about here.” Kael would point about three inches below the base of his neck. “Bring the point up to touch the shirt and turn the knife edge so it comes down. The push upwards to make the initial cut.” Kael motioned a fist as if holding a knife and raised it upwards deliberately. “Then slowly pull the knife downwards. Don’t use your strength, let the edge do the work.” The goblin dreadlord to be let out another large breath.

“If that all makes sense start whenever you’re ready. Don’t rush.” Another pained smile hit his face. “I’m obviously not going anywhere.”