Prompt Post 3
Welcome to norsekink .
Keep up the awesome, folks.
Announcement: All new and continuing fills for Round 3 should be posted in the Overflow Post.
THIS ROUND IS CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
( Rules )
Keep up the awesome, folks.
Announcement: All new and continuing fills for Round 3 should be posted in the Overflow Post.
THIS ROUND IS CLOSED TO NEW PROMPTS.
( Rules )
Labor
Svigg cursed as the mare whinnied loudly, and tried to buck away from him. He glanced under her tail, staring at the now gaping opening, and rubbed a soothing hand against her flank.
“Steady girl. It'll be over soon.” he promised softly, but she only bucked again, another gush of blood bursting over his hand.
The stallion neighed softly, and nuzzled at the mare's neck, nipping at her hair. She lifted her head weakly, and turned to face him, eyes glistening in pain.
“It'll be over soon.” Svigg promised again, watching as another contraction rippled through her abdomen.
*~*
The pair appeared suddenly, as if the wind itself blew them over. The stallion was magnificent - large and powerful, and his every move brought to mind images of unstoppable strength.
The mare was beautiful, simply put. Her coat was a shining black, and her eyes green as priceless rubies Svigg sometimes saw adorning Ladies. She walked with an enrapturing grace, even though she was heavily pregnant.
They appeared suddenly; just walked out of the forest one day. And because they were so mind-stopping gorgeous, they were nearly immediately whisked away to the Royal Stables.
*~*
Another spasm, and the mare shuddered as more blood started going out of her opening. She lay on her side, visibly straining for each breath; her mate was horribly agitated, stomping his large hooves and whinnying each time the mare bucked from the pain.
The birth was difficult, and Svigg just didn't know why. Sure, the pregnancy had been hard on her, everyone could see that, but Svigg had been assured it was just because it was probably her first one. He knew from experience first births were difficult because the mares were confused, and weren't sure what was happening or what to do. But in the end all the mares he had assisted during labor had managed, they had all delivered healthy foals.
Not this one. He could see a little bit of the head, but the baby was just not coming out. The mare was exhausted and in obvious agony, she just didn't have the strength to carry on.
Svigg would have to help her.
*~*
Everyone adored the horses, from the moment they first saw them. The pair was beautiful, so how could they not? But when the Prince and the Warrior 3 decided to ride them, it got out a little out of hand.
The male allowed himself to be saddled, but any attempt to actually get into the saddle were brutally denied. Sometimes he kicked, sometimes he bucked wildly, and on one memorable occasion he just tipped over onto the would-be rider.
The mare didn't much react to attempts to saddle her (they weren't going to ride her while she was pregnant, but prince Thor had wanted to see if they could). If anyone so far as came close to her, the stallion attacked. There wasn't really any other way to describe it. He just charged at the unfortunate holding a saddle, and more often than not caused serious injury.
He was protecting his mate, after all.
*~*
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He was probably getting hysterical if he thought she actually nodded at him.
Svigg took another deep breath, and closed his eyes briefly. Then he moved himself into position by her tail, lifting it out of the way. With the other hand, he reached towards her opening and into it.
The mare screamed, and probably would have started thrashing from the pain. But the stallion pressed his head against hers, pushing it down to the floor. One of his front legs went across her front, restraining her, steadying her.
Svigg tried to ignore everything, though, and concentrated on the foal he could feel against his arm. He tried to find a good spot to grasp, maybe a foreleg, then he could just pull it ou-
Wait... what the hell-?
*~*
After a while, attempting to ride any of the pair were declared stupid and ill-advised. Despite that, Odin himself decreed that the pair was to stay and be taken care of to the best of the stable hands' abilities.
So the two would spend their days in the fields. They would walk leisurely around the perimeter, the mare's steps slowing with each day her pregnancy progressed. Sometimes, they opened the gates, and walked over to the forest, but they always returned by the end of the day. One time, the pair had wandered into Idunn's garden, and the stallion had carefully picked the apples right of the trees and gave them to his mare.
Svigg marveled at their behavior. They were very intelligent, and sometimes seemed almost human. But they were still horses, right?
*~*
With one last pull, something seemed to give inside the mare. The foal rushed out of her body with a burst of blood and fluid, and ended up in Svigg's lap. The stallion immediately moved closer, nosing at the little head, and picking off the membrane covering the newborn colt. The mare panted heavily, but she managed to lift herself up enough to see her new baby. She whinnied softly, insistingly, and the stallion urged the little one to try out his new legs. When the little colt eventually managed to sort which limb went where, the stallion bumped his head against the little flank, encouraging the colt to step forward, towards its mother.
And Svigg? Svigg just stared in open-mouthed disbelief. Why? Because the cold had eight legs. Eight. He counted them!
That certainly explains why the birth was so difficult.
*~*
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The healer came and went, and Svigg opened the back gate so the family could go out into the field. The mare walked gingerly, still obviously sore even despite the healer's work, but she kept staring at her foal.The stallion watched it too, though he stayed near his mate, pressing their sides together to help steady her. The eight-legged colt was ahead, moving clumsily from rocks to tree stumps and tripping over when he tried to catch a butterfly.
The sight was heart-warming, Svigg decided.
*~*
As suddenly as they appeared, they disappeared. Svigg woke up one day, and they were just gone - both the stallion and the mare. They had stayed after the birth, and Svigg had been foolish enough to believe they would decide to stay here, where they were taken care off and wanted for nothing. But in the end, they were wild things, weren't they? Thus they disappeared back into the forest, leaving no sign of where they could have gone.
The disturbing thing was, the one thing they did leave behind was their baby. The eight-legged colt was still in his stall, staring at Svigg with eyes as green as its mother's. And Svigg could only scratch behind its ear, and apologized for its parents' abandonment.
Thankfully, the little colt wasn't lonely for long. Around the time the pair disappeared, prince Loki returned from his latest trip. He had immediately fallen in love with the odd little colt, and would spend whole days with it - brushing its coat for hours, feeding it the juiciest apples or napping together in the sun. The prince even named the little tyke Sleipnir, and no one dared argue with him about it.
Svigg smiled whenever he saw them together. It was good at least one prince knew his way around horses.
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THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL, BTW.
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