Ch 21: Bedridden
The first thing she felt upon waking up, was the lack of cold. In fact, she was pleasantly warm. A fact that confused her, as she distinctly remembered passing out in the snow. The second thing she noticed answered the budding question in her mind. The familiar scent was overpowering. She knew exactly where she was without even opening her eyes. He must have found her outside his den.
A sneeze forced its way out of her, causing her body to pull forward from the force of it. With a small groan she opened her eyes. Far above her sat a stone ceiling, the light fixtures within seemed to be newly installed. Peering around, she found herself in a small room, resting on a bed. A large blanket was draped over her. She could hear him downstairs, though it was faint. She briefly wondered why his steps were always so light. A being of that size had no right to move as quietly as he did.
She shook the thoughts out of her head as she slowly lifted the covers off her. She wasn’t going to sit around at his mercy. Never again.
Getting the blankets off was the easy part. All she had to do was move a little bit and they slowly shuffled off her. As soon as she did, though, she began to regret it. With the blankets gone, she was exposed to the cold of the world. It was almost enough to make her crawl back underneath them and await her captor. A part of her mind screamed at her for the thought, and she continued with her original plan.
Crafling to the edge of the bed, she tried her best to step off. The key word was try, as she failed spectacularly. The moment she reached a paw out for the floor, she slipped off the bed, slamming her face into the ground and flipping over onto her back. She merely groaned in annoyance more than pain as she laid there.
She felt drained from the short events that lead her to this position, and even though she tried, she couldn’t stand up. Panic began to set in as she heard the creatures footsteps approaching. Before long, the door was opened, revealing the tall creature looking down at her with an unamused look. He sighed and ran a hand through his mane as he walked over to her.
The mare’s eyes bugged out as he did so, and he must have seen it, as he took a step back a moment before she took a swipe at him. It was a weak swipe, but it was the thought that counts. This amused him even less, a frown firmly placed on his face as he crossed his arms.
“I could just dump you back out in the snow.” He told her, making her grit her teeth.
Her response came slow as another sneeze forced its way out of her. “Why?”
“Why what?” He raised a brow.
“Why help?” She asked, not looking him in the eyes.
“Because I’m nice. I think the better question was why you decided to come to me of all people for help.” He said, scratching at his face hair.
“Don’t… don’t know.” She admitted with a frown. Why did she come here? She knew she couldn’t have killed him in her state. What was the point?
The creature sighed as he stepped forward again, making the mare glare at him. “Can I at least get you back in the bed?” He asked in annoyance. “You’ve already got a fever, no reason to make it worse.” The mare continued to glare at him, but the creature wouldn’t look away. Eventually, she relented and nodded her head. He rolled his eyes as he walked up to her, and she had to prevent herself from lashing out at him. The fact that he picked her up as though she weighed nothing made it even worse. It only reinforced the one thing she knew for certain about this situation.
She was at his mercy.
~-~
Aurick returned to the guest room after a couple minutes, a steaming bowl in his hands. This time, the mare hadn’t attempted a daring escape and had stayed in bed. Though that didn’t stop the scowl from crossing her face. At least she perked up when she smelled the food in his hands.
“You gonna try and hit me again?” He asked her. She looked between him and the food for a moment before shaking her head. “Good.” He mumbled as he stepped closer. He crouched down beside the bed and started to hand the bowl over before frowning. He looked at the spoon and looked at the mare’s paws for a moment. “Can you even hold a spoon?” He asked, mostly to himself, but the mare was able to hear it. She lifted a paw up to her eyes before looking back at the bowl.
“Hold bowl.” She said, miming holding the bowl and tipping the contents into her mouth. Aurick frowned and shook his head.
“These are my only other bedsheets. I’m not gonna let you get them dirty.” He sighed and stood up. “Gimme a moment.” He left the room and quickly returned with a chair. He sat next to the bed and leaned forward, taking the spoon in hand. The mare looked at him and looked at the spoon before scowling again.
“No.” She said firmly.
“Either this or you don’t eat.” He told her, equally as firm. The growl from her stomach was all the answer he needed.
~-~
Arick sighed as he rubbed his neck. He looked down at the newest set of armour he finished. He wondered if there was even a point to this anymore. Shrugging, he set the armour aside and went back upstairs. He still had a ‘house guest’ to entertain. As he did so, he had grabbed a small cut of meat to bring to her. He vaguely remembered Runa telling him that people who were starved needed to eat smaller portions throughout the day. He couldn’t remember the why, just that it was what he was supposed to do.
He didn’t bother to knock as he entered the room. The mare was still in bed, a scowl firmly pressed onto her face as she glared at the ceiling. She lifted her head to look at him as he approached. The scowl faded slightly as she smelt the food in his hand. He was glad she didn’t seem to care if it was raw or not. Probably something from the mutation.
He gently tossed it to her, and the mare opened her maw to catch it. He was surprised by the lengths she could open it. It was like staring at a snake that had razor sharp teeth filling its mouth. The moment the meat was within range, it snapped shut with an audible clack. The mare proceeded to happily chew on the food provided.
“So, Inkheart, wh-” He was cut off by the mare growling at him.
“No Inkheart. Dead.” This wasn’t what he was expecting. His brow raised at the words even as he attempted to decipher the meaning.
“So… Inkheart is dead?” He asked slowly, confused. The mare noded. “Then who are you?” He had to ask, scratching his beard.
“Am… other. Experiment kill Inkheart.” She told him with a scowl. “Not take. Become me. No Inkheart.” He simply stared at her for a moment before sighing.
“Then what do I call you?” She looked at him and shrugged.
“Care not.” Aurick couldn’t help but pinch the bridge of his nose and let out a groan. He needed to call her something, even if she didn’t want to be called Inkheart. He didn’t know anything about pony naming conventions, so he went with his own.
“Fine, does Ashwyn work?” The mare shrugged and nodded. “Good. Glad we got that settled, because I forgot what I was going to ask in the first place.” He sighed and left the room. There was still some more work he could do.
~-~
It was almost dinner time when Aurick heard a knock at the door. His palm met his face as he remembered the guards. He was quick to answer it, finding the three guards that had been searching the Everfree with him for the last couple days.
“You ready, Aurick?” The lead one asked with a smile.
“Actually, Hardy, there’s no need.” The guards raised their brows. “I’ve got her up in my guest room, right now.”
“Really!?” Hardy asked incredulously.
“Yep, but I wouldn’t recommend going up there. She’s barely letting me take care of her right now. I don’t know how she’ll act if she sees guards enter her room.”
“Understood. I assume you are capable of looking after her for now?”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll make sure she’s okay.” The group of guards glanced at each other before nodding at the elf.
“Very well then. Best of luck.” The group saluted him before turning and making their way back to town.
Aurick closed the door with a sigh. Just two weeks ago he was resting at home with his friends. Now he was watching a sick monster mare for a horse government.
Why couldn’t life just be simple?
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Fix hath been sated for another 24 he's.
Wonder how far this will go. Frienemies? BFF's? Person that eats all your food but you still like for some reason?
I was supposed to take a driver's test today. But I had to pull over mid test and read this chapter. I told the guy it was something to do with my sick grandma and he let it slide and I passed. Hahahahahaa
Lel
9397812
I feel powerful now.
Because if it was, then nobody would want to read about it.
Or; Simple is boring and your frustration amuses us.
9397819
Don't say it like that! It makes us sound like sadists
The ship has began its construction.
9397986
Aren't we though, when you really think about it?
9398185
*grips head* SWEET CELESTIA!
9398189
Are you psychic?
Aurick the artificer and Leader of the outfit. Ashwyn the Heavy muscle. We need three more for a five "pony" band. I hope I'm reading an origin story! Because I'm liking this so far. When it's too much for the Equestrian Guard and the Elements is overkill we have this little band of problem solvers.
Poor Aurick doesn't realize it's the power of friendship acting through him
Hadn't really thought about it while reading this yesterday, but on further thought it's pretty clear that the mare has moderate to severe PTSD depending on the stimulus, all tracing back to that doctor capturing her and experimenting upon her.
This is both surprising and not coming from an adventurer.
Any meaning behind that name by any chance? Ashwyn was it, and the idea of Aurick of what is now apparently a new type of pony considering what Ashwyn has said is both going to stir the princesses and possibly any future political issues in the future with her existence.
9604908
I vaguelly recognize name. I'm certain, it is derived from Tolkien's quenia, even while MC's world sounds like Forgotten Realms.
For the record, it's true. Your body tends to close in on itself as it goes through the various stages of starvation, and this not only affects stomach size and acid production, but also various other enzymes. Simply put, if she tried to eat too much, she'd just throw it all back up, and it'd also cost her a fair bit of water content, as well as damage the esophagus and surrounding areas (at a time when her mucous membranes are definitely not up to their best). In short, don't do it. The organism needs to be brought out of this stage as much as it would from any other (like hypo/hyperthermia).
Same thing for drinking too much water in one go when you're dehydrated, but I don't rightly recall the rationale behind that one (apart form the fact that if you went overboard - as you might, being dying of thirst - you'd just as likely throw it back up much the same).
9922889
The water one is simply because if you drink too much in one go you will get H2O poisoning. Something that is highly fatal. It also doesnt help that drinking too much in one shot will thin your blood to the point where you just drop dead.