The Prince and His Slave [REWRITTEN]

Chapter 3 - [Recovery]

– Arius –

It took me two days to be able to move without Chione yelling at me. Before this, the only time she ever left me alone was when she had to run off on her own to tend to some villager, or when I needed to relieve myself.

In the two days that I had been there, she had no visitors over. She spent most of her time alone, making me wonder whether or not she had any friends.

On the third day, Chione had run off to help an elderly villager who had fallen and left me alone. So I took this as a chance to move around.

Biba, who she had left in charge despite him being a dog, barked at me in horror as I stood up, wincing.

I tried to ignore the dog, but its barking was so noisy. So I held my finger at my lips. "Silence, mutt," I hissed. "I need to see my horse." It had been three days and I hadn't gotten a chance to see my horse. As Chione had said, Neshny was deserving of a thanks after he too played a role in saving my life.

Surprisingly enough, the dog did shut up after I said that. Maybe it was smarter than I had anticipated.

When I pushed aside the curtain and stepped outside of the tiny home, I was a little surprised. Her home was a good distance away from the rest of the village and up on slightly higher ground. Plus, it was very bright outside. But it felt nice to feel the warm sunrays on my skin since it had been some time.

Initially, I hadn't seen Neshny near by, but after looking around for a moment I could hear him trotting towards me. When I turned around Neshny was already right behind me. He had clearly been all cleaned up and all of his gear had been completely removed.

He nodded his head up and down before I grabbed his face in my hands and stroked his forehead. "Hey, Neshny."

The horse rubbed his nose against me while I thanked him for saving my life. He seemed pleased to see that I was okay, just as I was pleased to see that he was okay.

Neshny was a good horse. He was a gift to me from my father when I was very young, and though Neshny was a bit of a coward, he was still a good horse. He was still very young, only ten years of age, so I didn't blame him for being so cowardly. Besides, he was no warhorse. He never liked the sight of blood and even the sight of fighting and loud voices often worried him.

"What are you doing?!" I heard Chione's shocked voice shout from behind me.

When I turned around, I saw her rushing towards me, another pretty girl with large brown eyes following closely behind her.

"Your injuries haven't healed! You can't be running around."

"I'm not running around," I corrected. "I just wanted to see my horse."

Chione hesitated, but rolled her eyes before grabbing my arm and pulling me back towards the house. "Come on," she said. "I need to change your bandages."

She was fast with her hands. In a matter of minutes she had replaced my bandages and had started to do some cooking.

Her friend with the large brown eyes stayed outside while Chione replaced my bandages, I assumed she was playing with the dog since I could hear its excited barks.

After another short while, the girl walked in with a big grin on her face. "Hi there," she smiled. "I'm glad you are well."

I nodded my head. Just by her smile and the pitch of her voice, I could already tell that she was probably a very nice girl.