36
You continue along the avenue until you reach the city’s north wall. Here you stop to read a proclamation that has been nailed to the door of a coaching inn and stables. It states that a curfew is in force in Rhem, and anyone found on the streets an hour after nightfall will be arrested by the city watch.
You are about to leave when you overhear the owner of the stables talking to one of his stable-hands. The boy is holding the reins of an aged horse that is severely lame in one leg, and the owner is telling him that he can no longer afford to stable the sick old mare.
‘She’ll have to go,’ says the owner, shaking his head. ‘She’s worthless to me now she’s not earning her keep.’
Tears are streaming down the young boy’s face. Clearly he loves the old horse and is heartbroken at the prospect of her being destroyed. Boldly you approach the owner and propose a deal.
‘Sir, if I am able to cure this lame mare,’ you say, stroking the horse’s velvety nose, ‘then will you allow me to keep her?’
‘Ha, ha, ha, so you think you can work miracles, do you?’ chuckles the owner. ‘Very well then, stranger. If you can cure her—you can keep her.’
Gently you settle the mare and run your hands down her lame foreleg. Using your Magnakai Disciplines of Curing and Animal Control, you slowly ease her worn-out joints and mend her cracked bones. Within minutes she is as agile as a newborn foal.
‘Well I be a storgh’s uncle!’ gasps the owner, amazed by the sudden transformation. ‘So, stranger, you can work miracles after all! The horse is yours!’
You climb upon the mare’s back and wave farewell to the owner and the stable-boy, who is now crying tears of joy.
‘If ever you’re looking for work,’ says the owner, as you turn the horse to leave, ‘then there’ll always be a job for you here!’
