Kre needed no threats to be encouraged to look after a horse in need. However, he did make note of Barry’s eyes in the moment that he believed the man could just as easily kill him as task him. To have someone so utterly lacking in conscience or remorse that such an act would come as naturally as breathing, well, that was shocking to say the least.
“But you,” Kre whispered to Hireo as he led him down the canyon that cut through and connected Yahaestra’s seemingly endless tunnel-based city, “you seem as normal as any horse I’ve ever had the pleasure to work with. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you were trained as a military stallion.”
Hireo’s response was the usual soft breathy whinny and a nudge from his nose that indicated he was searching for something to snack on. Kre handed over a piece of a carrot and gave the horse a reassuring pat on the neck, “Maybe you just work for him because you don’t know any other life. I can assure you, there are other jobs out there. Noble jobs. Respectable, honorable jobs working with folks that have values and aren’t completely and utterly ruthless.”
“Hey!”
“Huh?” Kre turned to look behind him and saw three figures, two men and a woman, average in almost every way as to be fairly non-descript. In an underground community filled with colorful characters in every shape, size, and background… the fact that these folks were so completely common sent a strange chill down Kre’s spine.
“I stepped in some of your horse’s crap,” one of the men called out. “Mind you clean that up.”
“Oh, I’m terribly sorry sir,” Kre called back, affecting his servant boy attitude. “I can clean that off for you if you allow me.” He pulled the rag from his back pocket and the horse brush from the bag draped across Hireo’s rump.
“Relax kid,” the other man said, stepping in front of his friend. “He didn’t get any on his boot. He’s just annoyed that it came close.” He turned and smacked his buddy on the arm and hissed, “Stop causing trouble.”
The woman with the two of them said nothing. She simply turned and started walking away and the two men shrugged and started to follow. The first man, the one that had nearly stepped in manure, looked back and waved a hand at Kre as he called out, “Your lucky day.” He gestured to his eyeballs with two fingers and then pointed at Kre in the time-honored manner of a non-verbal threat.
“Crazy people around here,” Kre whispered to Hireo. “Crazy, crazy people.”
He made it the rest of the way to the farrier without too much trouble, and just eyeing the half-drunk man and his small cart of a shop told Kre all he needed to know about the quality of his work. Barry was right to keep Hireo away from the man.
“Wassit?” the farrier asked, his words incomprehensible as fogged up as his head was.
“Master Joseth asked me to shoe his horse and said that you could provide me with the supplies, but that I was not to bother you with the work itself since it was my fault that the shoe was lost in the first place.”
The man coughed a laugh and waved a hand at his cart. “Hep sef,” he spat.
Despite the poor quality of tools, the work didn’t take long. Kre had prepped the hoof well enough the night before and he found enough good nails in the bin of assorted metal shards to make it a good enough job that even his father would grunt a grudging agreement.
“Thank you, sir,” Kre said, leaving some coins on the cart. It was a gross overpayment for the supplies, but Kre wanted to ensure that there would be no cause for trouble from the farrier.
“All right boy,” he said to Hireo. “Let’s get you back in the stables.”