Nentarli [COMPLETE]

~ Thirteen ~

I spun around to see who it was and Blaike was standing there looking alarmed. I glared at him, my arm still in his hand and I pulled it back with a scowl.

"What did you do that for?! You scared the life out of me!" I rubbed my arm where he had grabbed it, still scowling at him.

"I am sorry but it is better than having a chunk of your arm ripped off," he replied.

He did sound apologetic but he kept glancing at the horse, who just stood watching us.

I shook my head, "What are you talking about? I was stroking a horse, not a lion."

"She let you stroke her?" He seemed confused and I creased my brow, peering over at the horse and then back to him, in case we were seeing something completely different.

"She was just sniffing my hand and then she offered her neck to me. I was about to stroke her when you rudely pulled my hand away." His brows knitted together and I frowned, I couldn't understand his confusion. "Why? What have I done now?"

Why was he reacting like that over a horse?

After a minute he composed his face and gestured for me to move back. "Here, I will show you."

He took a step forward and reached his hand toward the horse, she watched his hand for a second and he snatched it back an instant before she lunged. That's when I saw the reason for his strange reaction, where most horses had flat, straight teeth, this one had sharp incisors and long canines.

I tried to blink away the image as I stumbled back, looking from the horse that was watching us like nothing had happened, to Blaike who seemed to find this perfectly normal.

"Are all the horses here like... that?" I heard the nervousness in my voice and tried to calm it down. How could something so calm and gentle, have teeth and reflexes like that?

Blaike shook his head and backed away from the stall to stand next to me.

"No not all of them, it is just the females when they have just foaled, the teeth grow during pregnancy and they use them to protect their young. They become extremely temperamental and almost vicious too, the only thing I do not understand is why she didn't react that way with you."

He looked down at my face and I met his gaze for a moment, not understanding it myself. I looked over at the horse, she'd clearly gotten bored with us and gone back to standing with her foal, who was still eating happily.

"I don't know, it's your world, maybe they just know an animal lover when they sense one," I shrugged, it was the only answer I could think of.

Blaike didn't seem convinced, "That cannot be it, even their owners and handlers have to put a muzzle on their mouths when putting food out or tending to them."

I stared at him in surprise, how could that be? She had been perfectly content and friendly with me. I was about to ask what he thought might be the reason when Kaleb shouted Blaike and he ran off. I took one last look at the horses in the stall then followed, I wasn't as curious about the other animals after what had just happened. I reached Emy and immediately sensed that the tension in the barn had risen; all three of the guys were scowling out of the window.

I whispered to Emy, "What is it?"

"Kaleb saw someone out there, that's all he said before shouting Blaike, I hope it's not those Scavengers, I've only just got dry and it still hasn't stopped raining."

I could see the rain pouring outside of the window, but at least the thunder had quietened now, and I hadn't seen a flash for a while which must have meant the storm had passed.