18351003 06:00:00

18351003 06:00:00

Daron's body stood motionless in numbed silence as he watched the embers of the house and barn glow. It wasn't long after the fire began that he felt courageous enough to slowly approach the premises, as he didn't hear the men anywhere nearby. Jesse withdrew from his concealment within the woods and joined him shortly thereafter. The vandals didn't take the time to enclose the barn or the coops, so all of the animals were able to flee from the conflagration without injury. The crackling of the burning wood was all to be heard around them, until a soft hissing began to emit from the burnt wood. The morning's sunrise didn't pierce through the dense gray clouds hanging overhead, and drops of rain now began to fall upon the scene. Neither Daron nor Jesse made any attempt to find any sort of cover from it, as much from paralysis in spectating the horror as from lack of any place they could immediately go to do so. Daron remained still and let the rain melt the dirt over his face and body for some time before he finally began to walk. He took a route to pace around the house, as if he needed to verify that the entirety of the house was indeed consumed by the fire.
The surprise came when he turned around the corner of the house and was able to see past the other side for the first time since he had retreated in the night. In the distance, standing idly by a tree at the edge of the of the road leading North, stood a horse. It had a mostly white coat with patched of brown hair speckled on the bridge of its nose. It still had a bridle attached to its torso. Daron immediately recognized the horse as one of the animals which was kept in the barn. When Daron realized this, an addled smile gave way to a nearly delirious grin and a sputtered laugh.
"He didn't run. He stayed. He stayed. He didn't run." Daron briskly took Jesse by the wrist and began walking towards the horse - slowly at first, but gaining in speed as he became closer until he ran at full stride until he was within arms length of the horse. Jesse had to skip and jump to keep from being dragged in his wake. Daron held a hand out nervously to the horse's nose, and rubbed the side of its face in broad strokes when it brushed against his hand in response. Daron now cackled in glee.
"He stayed! You see, boy! You see! He stayed! We still got him!" Out of exhaustion, Jesse did little more than reach his hands to the top of the horse's side and leaned against it, as if he was trying to hug the creature. Daron became nearly incoherent in his jubilation.
 "He stayed, boy. He - the hell is your name, anywho." Daron fumbled at the tags in the middle of the horse's brace until a small circle of engraved brass fell into his fingers. The tag bore the word "RANDALL". "Randy. Randy the God Bless'd Horse. Randy Our Horse. He's here. He stayed. Oh, thank heavens."