Arthur rode on into the frigid night air for what felt like ages, with only a low burning lamp to guide his path. "Damn, it's cold." He shivered, rubbing his arms to try and keep warm. "Taima, how you doin' there, girl?" He leaned over and lightly scratched the mare's neck only to get a light nicker and huff in response. "I know I'm cold too." He patted her neck gently and fed her a carrot from his satchel. "There you go, girl." He looked up from feeding her to see shadows of what looked like buildings in the distance. "Well, I'll be damned...we mighta found ourselves a place!" He spurred her forward again. "C'mon girl, jus' a little farther."
Buildings slowly came into view, but it wasn't anything to jump for joy over. It was an abandoned mining town by the looks of it, shacks with collapsed roofs, broken windows, and splintered walls. Arthur sighed in a disappointed fashion as he dismounted the mare. "Might as well take a look, I guess." He noticed a barn to his immediate right and grabbed Taima's reins from over her head and led her to the doors. "Let's get you inside so you can rest, girl." He struggled with the doors that were buried slightly in the snow but managed to get them open. He lifted his lantern and cautiously stepped inside, leading Taima behind him only to come to a sudden halt at what he saw once inside.
The barn was dark and empty except for a large, black Friesian Stallion. His eyes were as black as coals, yet shiny like an onyx stone. The stallion spooked, reared, and trumpeted, his hooves flashing a silver color. "Woah, Woah, easy!" Arthur called out, lifting his hands in a surrendering motion. "Hold up easy eas- boy! Good boy! Now, now shhh." The stallion snorted and threw its head, pawing at the ground in agitation. "That's it… easy now…" Arthur slowly led Taima into the barn and shut the door gently behind her before slowly approaching the spooked stallion with caution. "Easy there...shh shh...good boy." Arthur's voice was low and soothing as he tried to calm the beast while he looked him over.
The black stallion was surprisingly well fed by the looks of things, "Who's takin' care of you up here, huh?" He approached slowly, pausing each time the horse jerked or snorted, to calm it until he was within arms reach of him. "There you go...good boy, shhh, I ain't gonna hurt ya.." Arthur reached out and gently patted the beast's neck. "There now, see, I ain't that scary, right?" The Friesian looked down at the man, a gleam in its eye. It stood at around 17 hands high, about the size of most of the Shire horses that Arthur had seen. "You're a big one, ain't ya?" Arthur looked around but didn't see any saddle or hay to ride or feed the brute. "Where did you come from…"
A small sound made Arthur jerk his head to the side, right behind the horse. "What the hell…" He moved to look closer, and the stallion spooked again. "Hey now! Woah Woah!" The stallion turned its head and snapped at him aggressively, almost like an angry dog. "Hey!" That's when he got a good look at its teeth and he stumbled backward into the stall. The stallion's teeth were a pristine white, but pointed and sharp like daggers. The beast reared again, his once coal-black eyes now turning a sharp moonstone white. "Jesus what the hell are you?!" Taima spooked and bolted out of the barn doors and into the blinding white of the storm. "Goddammit!" Arthur stumbled to his feet and drew his sawed-off shotgun from its holster on his right hip and pointed it straight at the insane and monstrous stallion's head.
He was about to pull the trigger when a small whimpering sound, the one he had heard earlier, stopped him. He turned back to where he had fallen and saw something move from under a thin blanket. He moved slowly, keeping his gun trained on the stallion, and peeled back the blanket. "Holy shit…"
There was a girl, no older than twenty-two laying on the ground shivering.
"Miss, are you alright?" No response "Miss?" Arthur called out a little louder which seemed to startle the girl and she sat up and quickly scooted away. "Hey calm down...I ain't here to hurt ya…" Her large doe-like eyes were trained on his gun. Arthur noticed and slowly holstered it holding out his hands again in surrender. "Are you hurt?" The girl shook her head and Arthur noticed something strange.
Her hair was short, shorter than Dutch's even, and her clothes were strange, to say the least. She wasn't wearing a dress or a skirt like most women did, she was in jeans and some sort of black jacket, was it leather?
"You from around here?"
Again she shook her head.
"You don't talk much do ya." It was a statement
"N-No, sir…" Arthur blinked, her accent was strange, similar to his but different somehow.
"Alright then where are you from?" She didn't answer him, instead she was staring at him like she had seen a ghost...like she knew him. "This your horse?" Arthur gestured with his head over to the black stallion and she nodded "Alright, well, what the hell is wrong with it? The damn thing tried to bite me, its teeth are messed up too, where'd you get that beast?" The girl swallowed and slowly stood up hugging herself either out of fear, to keep herself warm, or both.
"H-He came to me...saved me." Arthur looked between her and the horse.
"It saved you?"
She nodded "W-Wolves."
He sighed. "Listen, kid, no horse goes up against a pack of wolves, they're scared to death of 'em'." He grabbed the blanket off the floor and wrapped it around her shoulders "Let's get you outta here and figure out where you came from later, sound good?"
She nodded and reached down picking up a black bag and pulling it over her shoulders. Arthur looked at her for a second before speaking "What's your name kid?"
The girl shivered once more "H-Heather."
Arthur nodded over to the stallion "and your horse, what's his name?"
She swallowed "Reaver."