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// Chapter 49 Morning Zecora 
// Story: Spike the Knight 
// by vadram 
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Morning Zecora






After spending most of her night slaving in front a hot cauldron, preparing for the upcoming battle, Zecora’s new body finally gave out three hours before sunrise.

She had fallen asleep while stirring the contents of the large pot, perched on top of a high stool. Even in her sleep she continued stirring, but the more she moved, the more the chair wobbled beneath her.

Eventually the center of gravity moved too much and it started falling over. Even asleep Zecora noticed that she was falling and jumped, grabbing the closest thing she could, the hot edged of the cauldron. Letting out a pained yelp, she let go of the hot iron, plummeting to the ground.

Lying on the floor she cursed her clumsiness, and pondered the day to come. Less than two hours remained until sunrise and even if she ran she the journey would take at least an hour and an half. To make things worse, her upper body, the back of her forelegs as well as parts of her hind legs had been injured as they came in contact with the hot metal. At least the burns were not severe.

Thinking fast, she whipped up a cream and rubbed them on the burned skin. She would be fully healed in half an hour. Now with less than an hour to go and a journey that took at least one and a half times as long she should have entered panic mode, but she was as calm as usual.

She wasted a few minutes examining the contents of her saddlebag, making sure she knew exactly what she had on her and where every item was placed. A bag of small beans, a couple of vials and jars hermetically sealed with wax, a small dagger, and, carefully wrapped in enchanted cloth, her secret weapon. A red and grey trinket she hoped she did not have to use. But then again she was fighting Kirabo, the chipo Otieno. And she knew all too well that he had the tendency to go overboard.

She placed the bag on her back and tightened the belt, careful not to touch the burned regions. After walking around the room and getting used to the extra weight, she picked her trusted staff and placed in on her back between her coat and her bags.

Before leaving the house she picked up a cup that she left next to the door, and drank it in one go. Another couple of minutes were wasted trying to make sure that the drink stayed inside her.

When she passed through the door it was still night time, and it would take a few hour still till the sun rose.

One last pass through her mental checklist and she thought she was ready to go, that is until she realised what she forgot to do and bolted towards a nearby brush. She returned shortly with a smile on her face feeling a lot better. She tightened her saddlebags belt and now was ready to go.

Thirtysomething minutes remained till first light.

She hit her earing with the golden bracelets, did the math and waited.

Two or three minutes for her ride to arrive, thirty two minutes would take her to get there, two minutes of getting settled in and thirty minutes of peaceful meditation awaited her. Thirty five minutes in all, she was cutting it a little close but there was nothing she could do now.

Two minutes later her ride arrived.