Page 29 of Dragon Her Heels

I’d met angels before, but the one before me somehow seemed a little taller, a little bigger, and a great deal more intimidating than the rest. Rather than allow myself to shrink back, I straightened my back and stood firm.

Lucifer gestured to the horse. “The mare I wanted to loan you is heading off to help nurse another foal in need. This is Zenzi, and she’s willing to nurse; her colt has decided he has a preference for grain, plants, and occasionally blood, and he has turned his nose up to his mother’s milk. Zenzi was bred in hell, descended from several breeds of Earth horses. She’s quite intelligent, understands English well enough, and will teach your colt his manners. She’s one of the few of my hellish horses close enough to Earth horses I can get away with this. Please don’t steal my mare. She’s the nicest one I have. The rest just try to kill me whenever they see me.”

I laughed at the Devil’s pleading tone. “Hello, Zenzi. Thank you for helping. I really appreciate it.”

The bay mare whinnied, bobbed her head, and when the angel gave her line, she introduced herself to the colt, sniffing at him and licking him. The colt struggled against my hold, but a single nip from the mare put an end to his protests.

As the colt hadn’t seemed to come to any harm, I unwound the rope from his rump and directed his head to her teat. The instant the colt realized milk was on offer, he settled in to drink.

“Thank you for bringing her, Lucifer.” I eyed the angel with interest. “Thank you for babysitting Lucifer.”

The angel’s laughter chimed. “You are welcome. My name is Michael, and it is always a pleasure watching my brother dance to someone else’s tune.”

Ah, not an angel, then. An archangel. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Michael. Please don’t usher in the apocalypse in my yard.”

Both the Devil and the archangel chortled at my comment.

Before I had a chance to ask what they found to be funny, Lucifer said, “My daughter made a similar request when she was learning she’s part of the family. Now she does it when she’s irritated at us for posturing. I don’t see what she has against us posturing.”

“The worry of the apocalypse beginning comes to mind.” While the colt nursed, I opened the gate and stood in the way so Alligator Bait wouldn’t get any ideas. My chestnut nuzzled my chest and rubbed against me. “I don’t want to be rude, but I’m going to get them released into the pasture so I can call the vet and sacrifice half my soul trying to get the pullets treated.”

I expected at least one to die overnight, as the poor thing’s foot was already borderline needing amputation for it to have any hope of survival.

Losing some was better than losing all, and I would keep reminding myself of that.

“You require your soul,” Michael informed me in a solemn tone. “What is the matter with your chickens?”

“Bumblefoot,” I complained, stepping away from the gate long enough to claim Zenzi’s lead line and coax her towards the pasture. The colt, determined to continue his meal, followed along. Once I had the pair inside, I removed Zenzi’s halter, rewarded her with a kiss to the nose, and set her loose. Alligator Bait, displaying her complete lack of sense and self-preservation, went to introduce herself to the new horse. Outside of a pair of squeals, the two settled, sniffing each other while the colt went to work filling his belly.

While goat’s milk could serve as a substitute, for a little foal, nothing beat mare’s milk.

I would need the vet to check and make sure the time without a mare nursing him hadn’t done him any harm.

Peace in the pasture and a nursing colt would do for the moment.

“Behave,” I requested of all the horses before locking the gate and waving for the Devil and the archangel to follow me. Once at the truck, I began unloading the pullet boxes, checking to confirm I hadn’t lost any in transit.

While none seemed well, they all lived.

I picked up the dark one I suspected would die overnight, attempted to soothe the poor thing through petting and taking care to not touch its infected feet, and showed the bird to Michael. “The original breeder used a poor shipping setup, and they all ended up infected. Bumblefoot is easy to avoid if you keep their area clean and allow them to have good food and forage space. This one probably won’t make it.”

I pointed at the worst of the infection, sighing over how much pain the poor baby surely suffered through. “Bumblefoot this advanced usually leads to death, and I’ll have this one euthanized once the vet gets here so it’s painless. At best, the whole leg would have to be amputated. The other leg has a high probability of needing to be amputated as well, and a chicken with no legs simply cannot lead a happy life.”

For a being lacking a head, his invisible stare held significant weight. “I questioned why my brother requested, polite for him, mind you, to come help me teleport a horse quite capable of handling his graceless ways. I see. He wished for someone to attend to the innocent, as these birds have done nothing to earn their state. Very well. It is but a minor matter for me but a strenuous one on the vet who would surely be displeased losing even one. You have no intention of butchering them young for their meat when it is at their best.”

He held his hands out for the sick bird, which I gave to him, careful to keep from touching its feet. A golden glow infused the bird, which perked up in his hold. Where the abscesses had once been was healing flesh. Michael adjusted his hold and petted the pullet. “There. This little boy will be an excellent and protective rooster for you down the road, and you will be able to grow your flock as needed.”

I smiled, and mindful of the archangel’s comment on the reason I kept chickens, I said, “I really don’t intend on butchering them young. I don’t mind meat from older birds, and while I will butcher a chicken to spare a neighbor from starving, I won’t unless it’s necessary. It’s nothing some spice and some marinade can’t handle, and most of them will lay eggs.” I spotted the frizzle, who would test my sanity soon enough. I reached into the box and captured the little girl, who would be utterly useless but beloved. “I’ve been warned about this one. She’s going to cost me my sanity, I’m sure. She won’t lay many eggs, and because I’ll appreciate her looks, for she’ll be a pretty chicken I keep for company. She’s not great for meat, either. Then I’ll get her a rooster because I lack sense sometimes.”

Michael returned the pullet to the box, and rather than pick up another chicken, he waved his hand, and golden light surrounded all my new birds and soaked into them. “You were willing to sacrifice to give these birds a chance at a good life, and you were willing to inconvenience yourself for a foal for no reason other than you could. This rebalances the scales sufficiently. I could even state that by having all of them survive, you will sacrifice even more than merely money, for this many chickens will be enough to drive most humans to madness, especially when gathering their eggs in the morning.”

I sighed at the thought of having to wrangle close to a hundred birds and distribute the eggs so they wouldn’t go to waste. “Magic will help with some of it, and elbow grease will handle the rest. It’ll be fine. Thank you for helping. Are you sure there’s nothing I can do to repay you?”

The archangel waved his hand in a dismissive gesture. “You do good work here bringing prosperity to those blessed to know you. It does not hurt that I like chickens. They are delightful little creatures. Try to be patient with my brother. He is an excitable being, and he tends to go overboard more often than not. It is his nature. He could have done this working himself, but I could do their healing without having to bring the true power of holy fire to life. They merely required some warmth to push them along. It helps they are as young as they are, barely classifying as pullets. Really, these are closer to chicks than pullets, only old enough to be certain of their sex.”

I eyed the sky and the clouds rolling in. As the last thing I needed was my pullets becoming chilled, I began the process of moving them into the garage until I could get their new accommodations set up. “Well, I appreciate it. Thank you. Once the weather sours, I’m going to go make some tea and feel sorry for myself.”

Lucifer laughed. “You could ask Yuless to help groom your grain guzzlers on your trip, you know. You’ll have to teach him how to saddle your horse before the race, but honestly, I’ll show up and make sure your tack is in good shape anyway. It would annoy me to lose a minion to an equipment malfunction.”