Looking at the stallion, Emily still couldn’t believe her eyes. Even touching him didn’t seem to help. It was just so hard to accept that the real Pegasus was actually here in New York City, standing beside her on the roof of her apartment building.
But as the sun started to rise, she was finally able to see him clearly. The rain had washed most of the mud away, and returned his colour to white. Walking around his side, she saw his left wing was hanging at an odd angle. Without knowing anything about horses, or birds for that matter, she immediately knew the wing was badly broken.
Further down his back, she was shocked to discover a terrible burn she hadn’t noticed before. She could see the singed hair and open, weeping wound.
‘Were you struck by lightning?’
Pegasus turned his head back to her. As Emily looked into his dark, intelligent eyes, she felt perhaps he could understand her. But he gave no response.
‘Well, it must have been the lightning, considering how bad it was last night.’ She sighed before she continued, ‘You poor thing, that must have really hurt.’
As the light increased, further inspection of the horse’s body revealed that what Emily had first thought was simply mud from the rose patch covering his body, turned out to be blood. A lot of it. Working her way around the stallion, Emily quickly discovered that most of Pegasus’s wounds were not caused by the lightning strike or thorn cuts from the rose bushes.
‘You’ve been in a fight!’ she cried as she inspected deep gashes cutting into the stallion’s back and legs. ‘With who? Who’d want to hurt you?’
Pegasus gave no answer. Instead, he opened his unbroken wing, inviting her to peer beneath. As Emily did, she gasped. Hidden under the fold of the wing was the exposed end of a broken spear. The other end went deep into Pegasus’s rear flank.
‘You’ve been stabbed!’
With trembling hands, Emily felt around the spear wound.
‘It goes in so deep,’ she said. ‘I have to do something. Maybe call a vet.’
Pegasus whinnied and shook his head wildly. Emily didn’t need to speak his language to know he didn’t want her contacting anyone else.
‘But you’re hurt!’ she insisted. ‘And I don’t know what to do to help you.’
Once again, Pegasus snorted, pawed the tarmac roof and shook his head. He then turned back to her and nuzzled her hand. Emily stroked his soft muzzle and rested her forehead against him. It had been an endless night and exhaustion was taking hold.
‘You need help, Pegasus,’ she said softly. ‘More help than I can give you.’
To the east, the sun finally climbed over the top of a tall building. It shone golden light on the rooftop garden and felt wonderful on Emily’s tired face. It also made her realize that anyone in a building taller than hers would now be able to see Pegasus on the roof.
‘We’ve got to get you under cover,’ she warned. ‘If anyone sees you, they might call someone who’ll take you away.’
Pegasus quickly shook his head, snorted and started pawing the tarmac roof with his sharp hoof again.
‘Don’t worry. I won’t let that happen,’ Emily promised. ‘We’ll just have to find somewhere to hide you until that wing heals.’
Her first thought had been to take Pegasus down to her apartment. Then her father could come and help figure things out. But that thought was quickly dismissed. Even though the freight elevator made it up to the roof, it wasn’t working with the power off. The stairs were not an option either. If she were to hide Pegasus, it would have to be up here.
Then her eyes landed on her mother’s large garden shed. ‘That will have to do. I know it’s probably not what you are used to, but for now, it’s all we’ve got.’
With Pegasus patiently watching, Emily quickly emptied the shed of all the garden furniture and potting supplies. When she finished, she was surprised by how much room there was inside.
‘Well, it’s not fancy,’ she said as brushed dirt off her hands and invited Pegasus in. ‘But at least it will keep you hidden until we figure this out. Is that all right with you?’
Pegasus stepped forward and entered the shed.
With the immediate problem solved, Emily put her hands on her hips and looked at the stallion. ‘Next, we should get those wounds of yours cleaned. We can’t let them get infected. So if you stay here, I’ll go down to my apartment and get some water and clean cloths.’
As she drew away, the stallion began to follow her. Emily shook her head and smiled. ‘You have to stay here, Pegasus. You won’t make it down the stairs and the elevator isn’t working. I promise I’ll be right back.’
Back in her apartment, Emily raced into the bathroom. She caught sight of her reflection in the mirror and received quite a shock. She was a mess. Rose leaves and petals were tangled in her hair and her face and arms were covered in dried mud and blood from the thorns. But most shocking of all was the huge black eye. As she prodded the tender area, she found the entire right side of her face was bruised and painfully swollen from where Pegasus’s wing had struck her.