February Story Contest
Soul Whisperer part 2 part 1
By: Spellcheck
Age: 12Author’s note: if you haven’t read the first chapter, I suggest you do so before reading this one, otherwise it might be pretty confusing. And for those who have read the first chapter, I should probably tell you that I changed Michael’s name to Adrian. I hope you like this one even more!
It had been over a week since I’d last seen Cobalt. When I had been feeding Cobalt last week he had bitten me again, this time so hard he’d broken my hand and nearly my leg, so I had been in bed until now.
It was kind of my fault; after all I had tried to pet him when I should have known better. He had been acting really sweet… well for him anyway; he had actually stood by the fence with his ears forward, rather than back and watched me with what seemed like curiosity, rather than hate. But as soon as I can near him with my hand outstretched he bit my entire fist and jerked backward, slamming me into the fence so hard that when my knee cap made contact with the wooden fence, it bruised so badly that I couldn’t walk until now.
My hand was still in a cast, and my knee felt like it had been run over by a steamroller, but I could still ride a horse if I had to.
Quickly, before Josh or Sarah could say no, I ran—or as close as I could get with my hurt knee—out to the horse pen.
I grabbed a halter and walked out to the back pen where the eight best riding horses and a few who had begun to learn to be ridden stayed.
I was about to whistle when I stopped myself. It probably isn’t a good idea to ride one of the horses, I thought to myself. If I fall from that high I’ll get hurt a lot worse, not to mention Josh or Sarah will be more likely to notice one of them missing.
I switched my current rope halter with a smaller, pony-sized halter and a small western saddle.
Just behind the eight horses’ pen was where the lesson ponies were kept, and behind that were the weanlings and yearlings.
I walked up to the ponies’ pen and opened the gate. Instead of whistling, I walked up to the pony I was going to ride. It wasn’t that the ponies wouldn’t come if I whistled, in fact it was the opposite: they would all come at once and expect treats, due to spoilage by little kids.
The pony I intended to ride was a cute little black-and-white pinto mare named Misty. She was only twelve hands, which normally would be too small for me, but she was and Icelandic pony, a breed of pony that’s unusually strong for its size. She was the sweetest, and possibly the smartest of all the ponies, which also made her one of the best therapy horses.
She looked up and whinnied when she saw me, coming up to nudge me and search my pockets for treats. Misty was a favorite among little kids, so she was used to being spoiled even more than the others. After searching my pockets and finding nothing, she looked up at me with slight disappointment in her bright blue eyes. I laughed gently and scratched her itchy spot on her neck.
I led her out of the pen and tacked her up, easily climbing into the saddle. I had never ridden Misty before, but I soon saw why she was so popular with kids: she almost never went in the exact direction you told her to, but in a good way. She went where you asked her to go, but she would often alternate routes to make it easier on the rider, even if it meant going in a totally different direction for a short time.
I was about half way to the rescue horses when I heard hooves pounding behind me. I turned Misty sharply to see who was following.
It was Adrian, my foster brother. “Jasmine!” he called, riding up on his mare Stardust. “Mom and Dad told you not to see Cobalt until your hand and knee were completely healed.”
Stardust was Adrian’s horse; she was a medium-dark red roan with a thin snip on her nose as well as a star above it on her forehead. She was a registered quarter horse, seven years old and measured at fifteen point one hands high. She had an attitude like that of a spoiled princess; she hated getting any mud or dirt at all on her, she demanded attention nearly twenty-four-seven and picked her feet up as high as possible even at the slowest and most relaxed walks. She held her head as high as it could go, keeping her ears straight forward and her nose outward, and puffed out her tail like an Arabian, even though she had no such genes, even when she was alone in her pen.
“My hand feels fine!” I insisted, though it felt far from fine. “And I can walk just fine too, so there’s no reason for me not to see Cobalt.”
“Jazz, you had to ride Misty, the smartest, most even-tempered pony on the farm, what makes you think you’d be able to get away from Cobalt if he tried to hurt you again?”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s one of the reasons why I rode Misty; if anyone would be able to get me away from Cobalt fast enough, it would be Misty.”
He pursed his lips and paused for a while. “Fine. But I’m coming with you just in case. And if he so much as pins his ears back, you’re not going within twenty feet of him.”
I beamed. “Thank you, Adrian!” I reached up and hugged him—or as best I could with Misty being a foot shorter than Stardust and him being on my left side, which was the side with the cast.
He mumbled something under his breath. “Yeah, whatever, but if Mom or Dad sees us, I’m telling them it was all your idea and I was trying to stop you, got it?” When he said “Mom” or “Dad” he meant Sarah and Josh, but of course he called them Mom and Dad, because they wee his parents. I had come here a year ago when my last foster family had sent me back.
I smiled. “Fine. Let’s go.”
We set off, Adrian keeping Stardust at a slow walk to keep up with Misty’s short legs, which she did not like at all. It took a little while to reach the rescue horses because we were letting Misty and Stardust graze here and there. After all, they had bee taken out just after they’d been fed.
We were about half way there when I heard a loud neigh, coming from the rescues horse’s pen and sounding frantic. I ordered Misty into an all-out gallop, straight toward the horses. I pulled her to a stop about fifteen feet away from the pen, looking to see what was happening. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something disappearing into the woods.
Adrian called my name, chasing after me with Stardust. He caught up to me in a few moments. “Jasmine! What do you think you’re doing? Don’t run off like that!”
I ignored him, staring in shock at Cobalt. Rather than standing right up to the fence and threatening me with his ears pinned back, he was lying down about ten feet from the gate. His head lay flat against the dirt with his eyes closed. His legs were extended outward, rather than under him, caked in dirt to the point that you could barely tell they were black.
The bottoms of his hooves were pointing toward me, allowing me a good enough view to know that his position was unnatural—and he had been attacked.
I gasped and ordered Misty to sprint up to the gate. Misty snorted in surprise as I flung myself out of the saddle and ran to the fence, nearly hurting myself by slamming into it.
I used all my strength to throw myself over the four-foot fence in one leap. I landed hard and pain shot through my leg, nearly enough to make me fall. I continued forward, unheeding of Adrian’s shouted warnings.
I stepped carefully, trying not to do anything that might get his attention. My heart pounded as I neared him, one-fourth from fear that he was going to get up and attack me, one-fourth from excitement at seeing him this close up, and half from fear that he was dead.
I wasn’t sure at first what had happened to cause this, but then I got a closer look. He had been terribly attacked, worse than I’d ever seen. It looked like it had been some sort of big cat, and definitely bigger than a mountain lion. But… we were in Utah, so the only other type of big cat besides a mountain lion would be a bobcat, which was even smaller. I refused to let myself think about that; what had attacked him wasn’t important, what we were going to do about it was.
I collapsed onto my knees by his head, gritting my teeth against the pain in my knee. I knew he was dead. There was no way a horse could survive that many injuries, even one as strong as Cobalt. Not to mention that I doubted we could even get him to a vet.
I felt tears running down my cheeks. I heard Adrian coming toward me, and tried to tell him to stay away, but my breath got caught in my throat. All I could manage was a half-sob.
Adrian sat down next to me. He put an arm around my shoulder in a brotherly half-hug and said softly, “Jazz, he’s still alive.”
At first what he said didn’t register, but after a moment I looked up. “What?” I croaked.
“Look, he’s breathing. And he’s still bleeding,” his tone was still soft, but a little more urgent.
I realized he was right. I hadn’t looked at his chest long enough to see that it was slowly rising and falling. “Adrian, you’re ri—” I broke off. Cobalt had opened his eyes and has staring right at me. A small sliver of fear grew in my chest, but was quickly trumped by relief.
Cobalt snorted loudly and his eyes widened, whether it was from fear, surprise or anger I wasn’t sure. He tried to jerk his head out of my hands but didn’t seem to have enough strength. “Adrian, go get Mom and Dad,” I said frantically yet hushed, trying not to scare Cobalt. I even surprised myself by saying “Mom and Dad” and I could tell Adrian was too, but he said nothing and got up to get them.
I stroked his head gently, avoiding any spots where I suspected injuries might be, and spoke softly. I heard Adrian jogging quickly to the fence and climbing over.
Cobalt tried to struggle more, but failed. “Shh, calm down boy, the more you struggle, the more it’s going to hurt,” I warned him. “Just stay still and wait for Sarah, okay?”
Why am I talking to a horse? I wondered, but Cobalt seemed to understand me. He relaxed his head and began to breathe deeply yet shakily, but his eyes continued to focus on me intently.
“What did this to you?” I wondered aloud, my thoughts back on the abnormally large claw marks. It no longer felt weird to talk to him, natural almost.
“Cats. Striped. Huge. Too many to fight—”
I glanced around. The voice sounded like the person who spoke was right next to me. It had sounded deep and strained, like that of someone trying to hold up a car… or someone who’d just been hurt badly. I quickly realized that the voice had been in my head. But it sounded so close… I refused to think about it and concentrated on keeping Cobalt calm. His breath was beginning to sound more labored. Josh had better get her soon, I thought anxiously.
I thought about what had said, and immediately decided it didn’t make sense, all the more proof that it had been in my head. The cat had definitely been big, but if they were striped then they must have been tigers, and there were no wild tigers in Utah. Not to mention that tigers are lone hunters so there wouldn’t have been more than one or two, which wouldn’t have bothered a sixteen-hand horse, especially one with Cobalt’s temperament…would they? Well, Cobalt’s pen was the farthest back of all the others, and fairly close to a forest, and he was all alone. And why suddenly leave when he was already hurt really bad?
A few minutes passed and Cobalt had allowed his eyes to close a few moments ago. I thought about keeping him from relaxing for fear he’d fall asleep, but decided he should be allowed to relax while he still could. I was afraid that he wouldn’t last much longer, that Josh would be too late, that by the time he got here Cobalt would already be—
I heard the distant roar of an engine, and the faint clanking of a horse trailer. Finally¸ I though with tremendous relief.
In just a few moments the pickup truck had pulled up alongside the pen, just barely five feet from the side.
Sarah jumped out of the passenger side door even before the engine had been turned off. Josh called after her, but she had already climbed the fence and reached me.
She did almost the exact same thing I had a when I had first seen Cobalt; she stared at the wounds in shock, and then knelt beside me. “Oh my gosh,” she gasped. “What could have done this?” She paused for a moment, and then put something in my hands. “Here, put this on him, it’ll help when the vet gets here.”
Sarah had a Master’s degree in animal science and had quite a few years of vet school; she was qualified to be a veterinarian, a really good one too, but she instead used her education to take care of her own animals. The only time a vet was ever called was when we didn’t have the right equipment or resources for the animal to get better here. It usually went that they would call a vet and Sarah would do her best to heal the animal until the vet got there, which was what they were most likely going to do this time too.
I looked into my hand: it was a rope halter. I nodded slightly and untied the knot on the rope halter so I could put it on him.
I slowly lifted his nose up, and brought the halter closer. His eyes snapped open as soon as I moved his head. He caught sight of the rope halter and jerked back, barely managing to move his head a few inches, stopping as soon as the movement required using the muscles in his neck.
Sarah went around to the other side of his head helped me lift it up and steadied it at the same time. Cobalt snorted in pain as his neck was moved, but Sarah was persuasive and kept him calm.
Luckily there were no injuries on his head except a small claw mark at the end of his nose which the rope halter wouldn’t aggravate.
It was a bit difficult to get the rope halter on and tied with the position he was in, not to mention my left arm was in a cast, so it took a little while, but I managed eventually. And Cobalt stayed surprisingly calm, only protesting when we moved his neck too much.
By now Josh had come in, leaving Adrian to get some medical supplies from the bed of the truck.
Josh gaped at Cobalt’s wounds much like Sarah and I both had. But instead of coming to kneel by Cobalt’s head he crouched down by his hindquarters to examine the injuries.
“Will he be okay?” I asked tentatively, fearing what the answer would be.
Sarah answered softly. “I don’t know, honey. It’s not looking good but we’re going to do the best we can. I’ve had situations like this before; it takes quite a strong horse to pull through, and knowing Cobalt, he’s got a better chance than any other horse.”
Her words made me feel better, but I still felt a nagging fear that the injuries were too bad and he wouldn’t even make through the night.
Josh reach out to the wounds, not quite touching them, perhaps measuring them. He shook his head in disbelief. “What could have done this?” he asked, looking up at me.
I shook my head, “I don’t know, some sort of cat; they were big, and striped like a tiger, but there were a lot of them.” I said these things immediately, not even pausing to think. For some reason I rusted the voice’s words despite the irrationality of them.
Josh’s nodded. “There was a private breeding facility not too far away from here called Liger Town that cross-bred lion and tigers and called them Ligers; they got really big and it’s possible that they would have hunted in prides. The place was shut down years ago when a lot of them escaped, but some people think that some might have gotten away and are still out there. A rancher on the news this morning claimed some of his cattle had been attacked by something way bigger than a mountain lion. If anything would be able to do this to Cobalt, it would be those.” He paused for a moment and his eyes widened. “Wait—you saw them? They could have attacked you too!”
“No, I didn’t see them; they were gone when I got here,” I assured him quickly, then thought that, perhaps, that wasn’t the smartest thing I could have said.
His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. “But then, how did you know what they looked like?”
I was afraid he would ask that. Why couldn’t I just keep my mouth shut for once? “I….” How exactly was I supposed to answer that?
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoy the next chapter! I have a lot more planned for these characters than I did before, so there’ll probably be more chapters than I originally intended.