To The Princess Bound Read Free

stop him.  He still remembered his brother in the middle of the night, running up the road in his underwear to cut him down.
    Softly, Dragomir said into her fur, “All right.  But this will be the last.  One last healing before I go.”  Then…peace.  No more nightmares.  No more loneliness. 
    When he received no Sign that Life would try to intervene again, Dragomir took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness into his core.  The crystalline roar that followed left his body flooding with energy, pouring out his ramas and through his gi lines, setting his whole essence abuzz.  Immediately, he drew that energy outward, sinking his mind into the horse’s stomach-rama.
    Immediately, the filly jerked and lifted her head high, eyes beginning to show white.
    “Shhh,” Dragomir whispered, eyes still closed.  “Easy.”  He gently rubbed his hand against the filly’s side as he infused her au with a rush of calm from his heart-rama.  “You’ll be fine, girl.  Just another minute or two.”
    The horse snorted in alarm as Dragomir began pumping energy into the lines of gi running along her intestines, forcing the lines back into place, spasming the muscles, loosening her bowels.  Yet, despite the horrible feeling roiling through her insides—and the sudden fear rolling off of her—she held absolutely still under his touch.
    “It’s working, girl,” Dragomir murmured, still in trance.  “Just hold on.”  He watched as the blockage of dead worms began to spasm and squish as the intestines there clenched, then followed the mass with his eyes as it began to move through the horse’s system, jerky at first, but then with increasing rapidity, like mud being squeezed down a sausage wrapping.  “Almost done…”
    With an indignant whinny, the horse lifted her tail and let out a long string of nuggets that became more and more runny as her bowels continued to release, eventually becoming a watery green slurry.  A few moments later, the clump of worms slid free and spattered to the ground, a white mass of dead, rotting parasites about three times the size of Dragomir’s fist.
    The filly, for her part, was standing with her legs splayed, head low, panting.
    “I know,” Dragomir said, dropping to rub the animal behind the ears.  “That felt real bad.  But you’ll get better.” 
    You’ll get better, Meggie…   Immediately, Dragomir stiffened at the memory that followed.  He ducked his head to the horse’s neck and closed his eyes, tears threatening again.  She hadn’t gotten better.  She had died, in his arms, and all his precious Emp powers that everyone loved so much hadn’t even made her lifeless body twitch, after the Praetorian had shot her in the face.
    “You’ll get better,” Dragomir whispered, once again seeing the scene.  Beneath his grip, the gray started tugging at grass.
    Two hours later, when Brigamond and his two sons returned with the items Dragomir had specified, Dragomir was still squatting in the yard, staring down at the reins in his fist as the filly cropped the tufts of grass nearby.
    “What did you do?” the old man bellowed, before the three Borers were even within comfortable earshot.
    “Nothing,” Dragomir said, waiting until they came close enough to explain.  He stood and handed Brigamond back the reins—and his purse.  “Poor thing just took the biggest dump I’ve ever seen over there.”  He gestured.  “Think she got whatever it was out of her system, though.” 
    Brigamond frowned at the horse, then at Dragomir, but made no move to take the items he was being given.  “You didn’t do anything?”
     Dragomir shook his head.  “Sorry I couldn’t help.” 
    Brigamond frowned at the horse, then at Dragomir, then reluctantly took the purse back.  Squatting over by the gigantic horse-patty, one of the two Borer boys cried, “Holy crap, Dad, it was full of worms!”  He lifted a clump of them with a stick and they clung in