Sands of Time (Hellsing•AU)

Bites & Kicks & Horse Shoes (30)

(Long chapter)

Vlad woke from a great night's sleep. He saw wine by his table and some food that wouldn't spoil, if left out too long. A set of clothes was laid out on the couch and his armor sitting in a high back chair, with his knight arming sword propped up.

It had to have been Ylva.

His brows furrowed, why had he not heard her get up? Let alone have all his gear prepared for him to only dress.

Where was she now?

He dressed himself and headed down to the stables.  There she was, in a long tunic, made of blue with old leather boots on. Ylva should have been in a corset and skirts but Vlad knew it would slow her down at best and at worst, get her hurt not able to move fast enough, to get out of the way of the horse, turning in a stall quickly.

He inspected his personal horses. He had two warhorses (the price of small kingdoms some say), two battle hardened riding horses and a hacking horse.

(Author's note: British call them Hacks, as large pony crosses with a horse breed. My pony-thoroughbred grew to be 15.1 hands)

If Ylva was to go riding with him, this would be the horse she rode. The stalls were cleaned already and new straw. The hay mangers filled the right proportions of hay and plenty of water.

He headed down the line, each horse was groomed. Vlad opened one the stall doors and went to inspect the horse's feet. He squeezed on the spot between the ankle bone and where the hoof connects. The horse shifted its weight and lifted the near front leg up. The hoof was picked out clean.

Hmmm but did she clean the back ones? Hind feet could be tricky, as the horse could kick you lose and get tossed. They could pull the back leg up and knee cap you.

He had just set the hind leg down when he saw the boards of the stall move, the wall bang and rattle. Vlad knew that sound, someone had just been pressed against the wall and drugged down it.

That's when he heard in broken Romanian,"knock it off!"  More scuffling in the stall and then,"Put it down, put it down, no kicking you!"

He quietly stepped out and latched the stall door. It came from the stable of the "green" broken horse. He listened back from the door and heard...

"At at at, no biting either!"

The Prince finally poked his head in, to see the young horse in a corner while the woman finished cleaning the stall. She stood positioned, so the handle of the fork could be used, to press the horse back in the corner.

Vlad cleared his throat and said sternly, "You are not hitting my new horse are you? That will get your arms and legs broken, for such an offense and I would hate to have to do that..."

"No, at best it makes the horse get spooked easily and the worst, serious injury. My lord has spent plenty of good money for this animal," Ylva responded.

She stood up and dragged the 'muck' bucket, with the pitchfork out the door then latched it. Many a good horse got in trouble, due to a pitchfork in the stall or the door not latched completely.  He couldn't help but smirk, she was filthy from head to boots. Her hair was sweat soaked and her clothes covered in dirt (cleaning hooves), hair seeds covered her tunic, at about the waist line and her pants soaked, from water splashing when hauling it.

Ylva took in a deep breath and spoke, "Does my work meet up to your standards, My lord?"

The Prince almost let slip a sexual connotation to her question but then answered, "Most indeed stable wench."

There it was, the frowning defiant look in her eyes but she said nothing. No even a sigh.  At least she could hold her tongue when need be. 

"Your lord is this the horse you spoke of?"