The Sapphire Broach

Chapter 17 (rough draft)

With a snort, a horse stepped into view.

It was a chestnut mare—the most beautiful thing Ivy had ever seen!

"Sweetie!" she cried. "Help!"

The horse sniffed, then nodded her head as though acknowledging Ivy's plea.

"Come here, girl." Ivy stepped forward, her hand outstretched and covered in Kenric's blood. She took a few more steps and hoped Sweetie wouldn't bolt. The mare didn't. Instead, she moved forward until her nose touched Ivy's hand. She sniffed.

"Yes," Ivy said. "Kenric. He needs your help."

She grabbed the reins and encouraged Sweetie toward where he lay on the ground. Sweetie nuzzled his head, then nibbled at the cloak surrounding his wound.

Ivy walked to him and positioned herself behind him again. She grabbed around his chest and heaved. She lifted his upper body off the ground, but knew she could never lift him onto the horse. Not willing to give up, she tried again and again. She lifted him from the back, the front, side, and middle. She tried until she collapsed.

Oh, how could she get him onto that horse?

Then suddenly she remembered Sweetie's trick. But Kenric had said his horse only obeyed his voice. Well, Sweetie would just have to obey Ivy's to save Kenric.

"Sweetie, sit," she commanded. The horse did nothing. "Sit. Please!"

Sweetie only looked at her.

"You have to sit! Can you not see that Kenric is dying? He is dying! Sweetie, sit!"

Ivy grabbed the halter and put her nose against Sweetie's. "Please, sit!"

Sweetie just stared at her.

In frustration Ivy cried, "Come on, you good-for-nothing horse! You have to sit or Kenric will die! Can you not understand? He—will—die! Please, Sweetie! Sit!"

The horse sunk down on her front legs, then sat her back end down, too.

Ivy gasped, then hugged the horse. "Oh! You wonderful, wonderful girl! Thank you!" She brushed at her eyes, then stepped behind Kenric and wrapped her arms around him.

Her entire body shook when she tried again to lift him. Though Sweetie now sat low to the ground, it still took Ivy several minutes and many tries to get his body draped over the mare. Thank all the kings of the past that he was not a large man!

Once she had him securely on, she swung herself up behind him, grasped tightly to the reins, and called, "Sweetie, up!"

Obediently the mare stood. The movement nearly dropped Ivy and Kenric off the back.

"Now go!" Ivy dug her heals into Sweetie's sides. She knew not where to go, but somehow she had to find help for Kenric.

The mare worked her way through the forest while Ivy hovered over Kenric's body and tried to keep branches from whacking him. He moaned once, but otherwise remained sill.

They emerged onto the road, though Ivy knew not where they were. She judged the direction to travel by the morning sun, and hurried the horse on in hopes of finding a town or village nearby.

They raced for what seemed an eternity, though it could not have been more than half of an hour, before Ivy saw a town or any side roads that might lead to one. Then she spied a road ahead on the right. She turned Sweetie down it and hurried on. A farmhouse appeared in the distance with a path that led to it. Someone stood in the field working.

"Help!" she screamed and waved her arm, only then realizing that it was covered in blood.

The man in the field turned toward her, then yelled to someone else. A boy ran off through the trees and the man hurried toward her.

"What has happened?" the man called. "Good heavens! Miss, are you all right?"

Ivy slowed the mare and the man reached for her, but she jumped down on her own. The man caught her and held her firmly. "Stop. You are hurt!"

"No." She pushed away from him and pointed at Kenric. "I am uninjured. It is him. He has been shot with an arrow in his stomach. Please help him!"

The farmer looked her over from head to toe, and she knew he did not believe she could possibly be uninjured. "Are you sure you—"

"I am fine! Help him!" How could the man not see that it was Kenric who needed help? Then she looked down at herself and gasped. Blood covered her hands and arms and stained nearly every part of her dress. She had likely wiped it all over her face as well. What a sight she must be!

The man shifted his gaze to Kenric's body. "We must get him to the house. I have already sent my son to fetch the physician."

Ivy grabbed Sweetie's reins. "Come on, Sweetie."

She walked the mare toward the man's house. A woman ran out, looked at Ivy, then screamed.

"Bonnie," the man called. "It is all right. Make up the bed. A man has been shot."

The woman continued to stare at Ivy.

"I am all right, ma'am," Ivy said. "Please, he needs your help."

The woman scurried back into her house. Ivy stopped Sweetie and helped the man pull Kenric down. They supported him between them and carried him to the porch. Ivy struggled to lift him up the steps. Every ounce of strength she possessed seemed drained from her. She could hardly move, but pushed on nonetheless. Kenric was nearly where he needed to be, then she could think about her exhaustion.

On the last step, she stumbled and fell hard on her knee. She bit back her cry of pain and forced her body back upright. Shivers seized her and she felt sure she wouldn't make it.

Somehow they got Kenric inside. The woman had spread a fresh sheet over the bed in the corner of the room that served as both kitchen and sleeping quarters. They walked him to the bed.

Ivy helped the man lower Kenric onto the bed, then she straightened, relieved of his limp weight. Her body felt like it might float away without such a burden holding it down. The room spun and the edges of her vision grew black. Then she fell.