Page 54 of Changelings
She staggered and fell onto her hands and knees, the pain blinding her. Shadow’s frantic barking rattled inside her skull, and she reached out to push him back, away from the path.
The sickening sound of springs loosing echoed down the path, and Imogen nearly vomited. The goats cried and scrambled, at least three of them caught by traps. Others ran into the woods blindly, frightened and frantic.
Through her pain and tears, Imogen tried to whistle. Her lips were too dry, her saliva too thick. She sputtered onto the ground again and again before a small sound passed between her lips. Imogen pushed at Shadow.
“Gather,” she told him, “gather the herd.”
They had to be brought out of the woods before wolves or worse found an easy meal.
Shadow whined and licked her face before setting off, a black blur across the red and yellow ground.
Clenching her teeth, Imogen flipped herself over to sit. With numb fingers, she groped for the mechanism to release the teeth. The moments slipped by agonizingly slow as she desperately worked the teeth free, the groans of her wounded animals worse than her own pain.
The trap finally opened with aclick, the teeth bringing a gush of blood. Ripping off her scarf, she tied it tightly around her leg in a tourniquet.
Sparing only enough time to wipe her bloodied hands on her cloak, she set to work on the trap around Chestnut’s leg. With horror, she realized the release was broken. Old—or tampered with?
Chestnut’s quick, shallow breaths puffed against Imogen’sclammy cheek.
“It’s all right, you’re all right,” she crooned, as much to Chestnut as herself. “We’re going to be all right.”
Her slick, shaking fingers couldn’t grasp the mechanism tight enough, and so she was left with no other option than brute force. Digging her nails between the teeth, Imogen pulled with all her might.
Nails broke, skin ripped, but she opened it just enough for Chestnut to pull her leg out.
Imogen threw the used trap down in disgust.
It took even more work to free the goats. All the mechanisms had been broken, allowing for setting but not releasing. Her hands were shredded by the time the last of the goats was freed, but between her panic and the cold, she hardly felt it.
Using her walking stick to shove the traps she could find into a pile, she helped Chestnut to her feet.
“Home!” she cried. “Let’s go home!”
The goats shivered and lurched forward.
Imogen led the way as fast as she could hobble, sweeping her stick across their path to clear it. Chestnut and the goats followed, and from the forest, more goats began to return to them. Shadow herded more from the underbrush, darting away again to find stragglers.
She didn’t stop, kept the herd going even as her leg pulsed in agony. By the time they made it back to her meadow, all but two goats had rejoined them.
She and Shadow herded everyone into the pen.
There wasn’t time for relief.
With what daylight remained, Imogen set to work. Sparing only enough time for herself to replace her scarf with a thinner, tighter tourniquet, she boiled water, mixed a healing poultice with willow bark, and gathered everything she needed.
One by one, she treated the goats. They were skittish, even ofher, and it took effort to keep each patient still long enough to cleanse their wound, administer the poultice, and bind it.
Of the wounded animals, only one goat had broken its leg. She didn’t know if it could heal well, but still she cleansed and wrapped it with a splint.
When it was Chestnut’s turn, the donkey rested her head on Imogen’s shoulder.
“Don’t go s-soft on me,” Imogen muttered, blinking back more tears.
Chestnut put up much less of a struggle than the goats, and when she was bandaged, the donkey hobbled into her own stall to lay down.
Everyone could do with fresh straw, especially with so many wounds, but Imogen recognized there wasn’t enough strength left in her for that.
She herself staggered back to the cottage, Shadow anxiously winding around her legs. After setting a fire in the fireplace, she boiled more water for willow bark tea. As she waited for it, she peeled off her outer layers and used the last of the soap and poultice on herself.
