Horses were not creatures Fenn had any particular experience with. They certainly were not creatures he had experience in smuggling around; his typical style of thievery was petty pickpocketry and frequent fleeing. Yet, after his tavern chat with Jake, he came to the decision to partake in his heisting anyway. For one, that merchant sounded like he needed a sound ego-thrashing. For another, new experiences kept the boy on his toes, and he couldn’t refuse the promise of gold.
Fenn oogled at the equines from up-close, marveling at their torchlit coats and slender frames. Jake seemed to know what he was doing in as he inspected each one for… well, whatever one judged horse quality by.
Daugi oogled them too, but it was less in awe as it was in hunger. Drool dribbled out from between her teeth whenever she poked her head through the narrow of the doorway. This worried Fenn a little. Normally, she knew better than to hunt domestic animals and other mounts. Though, in a setting such as this, absent of marketplace crowds or the owners and protectors of the mounts themselves, she was a little bolder. Stay, Fenn told her through a stern pat on the head, nudging her nose down toward the ground. Sit.
She snuffled the air excitedly and plomped her butt down on the cold grass, peering in at the proceedings with a thumping tail.
Quickly, Jake selected a pair of horses and began leading them out with muted clicks of his tongue. Fenn watched carefully made a mental note to himself; horses had to be stolen gently. “Okay, open the door!” their fellow thief called back to them in hushed tones. With a confirming salute, Fenn grabbed one creaking door by the end and slowly dragged it all the way open, enough for Jake and his pilfered ponies to pass through.
As the horses went past, Daugi eyed them sharply, her nostrils flaring as she leaned in their direction. In turn, they eyed her with quivering unease. Jake calmed them with gentle stroking and hushed reassurances, bringing them out into the moonlight of the pasture. Almost there!
Fenn bounced on his toes excitedly and glanced over at his mount. What he saw soundly prevented his imminent victory dance.
That slight wiggle of her hindquarters, the way she crouched down at her fore; the direwolf was definitely setting to to strike. She seemed to be waiting until they were at proper pouncing distance. Fuck! Bad dog! Immediately, Fenn sprung into action. Mauling a wild deer was one thing, but disrupting something like this was another! The tiny boy unthinkingly grabbed onto his beast’s tail, only to be whisked off his feet by the force of her leap. Yoink!
Daugi’s lunge missed the grey gelding’s hindquarters by a bare inch, likely thanks to the sudden weight of the small child clinging to her tail. The horses spooked and screamed at the sudden movement from behind. The whites of their eyes rolled into view as they crashed past Jake and away from the direwolf.
This was not going to go well.
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