Silver Flames

Chapter 3

     The next morning I walked into the stables to find the horse on his feet. When we'd gotten back yesterday Nina's mom has stitched the one wound and bandaged the rest. The horse eyed me as I walked in and Oreo neighed in greeting. As I pet Oreo and fed him a treat the horse watched us carefully. "You want some?" I asked walking up to the injured horse holding out a carrot. He eyed it for a moment before taking a bite and retreating the back of the stall. Oreo nudged me from behind hoping for the rest. "I'll get you another one" I told Oreo laughing. I dropped the carrot I was holding in my new horse's feed bucket. Everyone seemed to agree he was mine from the start, maybe because I'd been the first to find him or because he seemed to get along with Oreo. I decided not to ride today because Oreo still had a slight limp and I didn't want to hurt his leg any more then I already had. Nina's mom had checked it quickly once we got back and suggested having him take it easy for a couple days. So I sat in the stable most of the day keeping my two injured horses company. Nina was out with her family today so I spent the day alone with the horses. By late afternoon my new horse seemed to trust me a little more. He backed away whenever somebody came into the barn but stood near the front when we were alone. He still didn't let me touch him but he took carrots from my hand and seemed less nervous around me. I eventually dozed off next to Oreo only to woken up by a voice saying "Hey" and the sound of my nervous horse retreating to the back of his stall. I sat up to see my sister standing there. "Hey My" I replied sleepily. "So this is the horse you mentioned last night" she said pointing at the horse who was still huddled in the back of the stall. "Yeah, still don't know what to name him though" "It'll come to you" she replied "took you a week to name Oreo but he seems pretty happy with his name" Oreo neighed in agreement. "Hope so, I don't just want to call him horse" I said with a laugh. My sat down next to me and we chatted for a bit about horse names but none suited the horse. Eventually it started to get late and My got up to leave. I told her I was gonna stay a little longer. "Don't fall asleep in the stall" she said with a laugh as she left. That was a joke between us because last summer I'd constantly fallen asleep in Oreo's stall for the night. "No promises" I replied laughing. Then I was alone with my horses. My still unnamed horse walked up to the front of the stall again. I fed him a carrot and tried for the third time that day to touch his face. He backed away again just like the first couple times. "It's alright" I whispered to the horse. Oreo nickered quietly encouraging him. The horse stepped forward and put his nose on my hand. He only kept it there for a second but he still had let me touch him which I could tell had taken a lot for him to do. "Good boy" I said quietly to him. "I really wish I knew your name" Then my surprise in a quiet nervous voice the horse said "Silverblaze. My name is Silverblaze"