A Tale To Tell - In Search Of Myself (Hallow pt 7)

We continued walking down endless halls. Iron bars on either side made up stalls for the mutated horses. I was much more careful to stay in the center of the hall, even though that really didn’t give me much space. I didn’t let myself underestimate what these horses could do anymore and I kept my eyes open and alert as we went.
Apparently I wasn’t moving fast enough though. It was quite often that I would get a jolt in the rump, followed by laughter from the guards as they played around with me. Just to frighten me, they would introduce me to the horses as we went, telling me what they could do and why I should avoid them. Pretty much, it was to be noted that all of the horses should be avoided.
Eventually they grew tired of scarring me and went quiet. In truth, the silence was even more frightening then their echoing laughter; even more unnerving then the way they talked at the same time or when one would finish the other’s sentence. I seriously do not know how many halls we walked. I felt like we were going in circles. Of course, it wasn’t outside the guards’ game to walk me through every single hall before taking me to mine.
After a while I grew quite. I didn’t say a word and I didn’t react to anything they said. I stopped jumping every time a rouge horse leapt into the bars and I no longer flinched when Collin pocked me with his horn. This must have been what they were waiting for, because Cade suddenly broke the thickening silence. “Your room’s right at the end of this hall.” I heard one of them giggle, but I still don’t know who or why.
I wasn’t paying attention to the horses in the stalls, I was just looking forward to getting to mine so I could finally rest. When I heard the rattle of chains though, I glanced up to see what had caused it. I was surprised to see that one of the horses was not only locked into his stall, but he was chained down too. Shackles held each leg down and one held his muzzle.
I didn’t understand why he was chained like this. He was young, probably only 3 or 4. He wasn’t all that big and the way he stood there, not moving, hardly even breathing, made him hardly seem threatening. He was a pure black color, not a single marking on him. He had two horns on his nose, and one long one on his head. There were spikes on his shoulders as well as on his legs. One thing that I noticed about him that had not been like the others was that he had a white brand on his neck that read ‘Hallow War I.’
His eyes were closed, but when I stopped he looked up and I gasped. I was used to seeing those eyes. The red, snake-like eyes seemed to be a favorite trait of this place as almost every horse had them. What sent caught me so off guard though was the way he looked at me. His eyes weren’t hard and empty as many of the others had been, and they weren’t fierce and deadly either. Instead they were soft – kind even – as he watched me. I could see something in his expression that I had not seen in any of the others: sympathy. He knew what hell I had gone through so far, and he knew what was yet to come.
Collin’s horn sent another shock of electricity through my body and I jumped forward. Just as he did though, the stallion’s expression changed. As if someone had flipped the switch, he pulled up against the chains and bared his teeth. His once soft eyes were hard and filled with rage. Every muscle was tight and he snarled menacingly at the guards.
“Think you’re so tough?” Collin said as the guards strode boldly to his door. The two laughed in unison before Cade flung his head and one of his needle-like teeth stuck into the stallion’s shoulder. Amazingly enough, the stallion didn’t fall right away as the last one had. He stood there, growling at the two with murder in his eyes. I began to wonder if the stuff would even work on him when he finally knelt to the ground, gracefully laying down and falling asleep.
“That’ll show you. You basterd!” Cade growled before they turned around and roughly herded me back down the stall. I am sure that the reason he was so upset was that it took so long for his poison to take effect. I was later to learn that Cade’s poison always knocked the victim out on contact, and it always lasted at least a day. Always – except for on the black stallion, who woke only an hour later.