Chapter 103

Ashlynn POV

We sat in my office, going over the extensive list of findings at the dungeon laboratory. I felt a great deal of unease with each new finding and I could see the stress on my Uncles face, with each thing I explained to him. Cody was slightly green and I'm sure it had a lot to do with him having a young son. He kept shaking his head and asking how someone could do such a thing to babies. I obviously had no answer for him except that they were evil. A loud knock at the door had us all jumping out of our seats, we were so absorbed. "Ashlynn, it's Garrett," hollered from the other side of my door.

I put a ledger on top of the copies, effectively hiding the information from wandering eyes. I called Garrett in to the office, as my Uncle took his seat again. His attempts to look like this was a casual visit was likely ruined by the fact that Cody was also in the room. "I apologize Alpha," Garrett said as he barred his neck. "We have a situation and I need Ashlynn."

"What is it?" I asked, noticing his disheveled appearance and the blood on his coveralls.

"One of the horses is in labor, the colt is breach. I need your help." He didn't need to say more. I gave a pointed look to my Uncle, grabbed my coveralls off the hook behind my desk, dressing as quickly as I could. It never took much, just pulled them up over my scrubs and stepped into my boots. I was out the door before my Uncle or Cody were even out of their seats.

"Do you need my help Ash?" Cody called from behind me.

"No, we have this. Garrett is going to grab one of the other techs. I might need supplies though, I will let you know," I said over my shoulder as I followed Garrett to the barn.

"How long?" I asked.

"A few hours," he replied. He often knew what I meant without me elaborating because of our time working together in such a close environment. "I was trying to turn the foal myself but I'm not quite as good as you are at it."

"I have had more training, that's all," I told him. "Let's get this mama and her baby safe."

We approached the stall where the mare lay on the ground on her side, obviously worn out from the hours of her labor. I knelt slowly beside her, placing my palm against her neck. "We got you girl," I whispered. I slowly walked my hands down to her abdomen, as Garrett prepared himself to hold her head down.

"Do you want to sedate her a little?" Garrett asked.

"Not yet, let me see how she is first." I ran my hands along her stomach, pressing to feel the foals shape. I pulled latex gloves from my pocket and pulled them on. I gently probed my hand and then my arm into her birth canal until I reached the placental sack. There was a leg pushing against my palm right away. "She's so close, I'm going to just have to push this baby hard and pray. We need more help though." I told him this about the same time Cody walked in.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"I need morphine and at least two more strong sets of hands to keep her down. Can you run and ask Jared to fetch the morphine from the lock box? Then come back with him to help hold this ol' girl down?" I asked.

"You got it," he rushed out of the barn, wasting no time. Less than two minutes later, Jared and Cody ran in together.

I had moved my hands back to the horses' flank, massaging and murmuring quietly to her. Jared kneeled beside me and asked for a dose to administer. I gave him instructions and waited for the morphine to take effect. We wouldn't have long. It was a low dose and would wear off quickly. "Cody, lay across her shoulders if you don't mind. Garrett will hold her head. Jared, I need you down here near me."

Everyone moved into place and I reached an arm into the horse's canal. Instructing Jared where to push on her abdomen, I pushed with one free hand. I was trying to press her to relax and let the placenta pull back into her uterus slightly. Once I thought she was ready, I used my hand that was inside her canal to turn from the inside. It was not an easy task to turn a foal in the middle of labor, as the uterus would contract in the middle of it. We had to wait for a contraction and then, as soon as it was finished, turn the foal. It took two attempts and I nearly got kicked as the mare tried to stand to get us off of her. Fortunately, we were all unusually strong, and I was well-trained in this.

I quickly moved and motioned for everyone else to release the mare and get out of her way, as she bolted unsteadily back to her feet. She pranced a little and snorted, but she was to worn out to do much else. Carefully, I walked to her side and rubbed her abdomen. I encouraged her quietly, while pushing with a backward motion. "I see the front legs," Garrett called out. "There's her head." In the interest of her exhaustion, I moved behind the mare and reached inside with both hands, assisting as she pushed out her baby. As soon as the foal dropped, I tore the water sack and stepped back so the mare could do her job, cleaning her foal and removing the mucus from the foal's nostrils so she could breathe.

"We have a filly," I announced. "Garrett, what was her gestational time?"

"She was 340 days," he announced. Typically, fillys' were anywhere from 320 up to 343 days, while colts were slightly longer. We could have determined the filly's sex based on the time, but I always did an ultrasound anyway. We knew it was a filly, but sometimes we get it wrong. I was happy that I had gotten in right. I felt more confident in my skills every day.

"Nice work everyone," I said as I removed my bloody coveralls. I glanced over at Cody, who stood staring at the mare and her baby in wonder. "It never gets old, does it?" I asked him

"No. It never does. The miracle of all this has me further perplexed why anyone would do what they did in that dungeon," Cody admitted. I gave him a warning glance, because Garrett and Jared stood nearby, cleaning the stall and putting fresh grass on the floor so the foal would have a soft bed. Cody noted my look and mouthed, sorry. I motioned for him to walk outside with me.

"Cody, we have to be very careful talking about what we found. It's all going to come out in due time, but we have visitors and the walls have ears."

"Indeed." Cody gave me a nod and walked off towards his house, no doubt to get some comfort from seeing his mate and child.