Snorting, the desert mare flicked an ear behind them. It did not strike her as unusual that the fallen mare had neighed, and she ignored the sound of a horse desperate not to be alone in the desert heat. "Use your nose,” she told the bay girl. "Can’t you smell the wound? Remaining near that horse would be stupid, for it will soon attract scavengers. I have no wish to provoke a predator." Tossing her head, she increased her pace to a more natural walk once she was sure the blind girl would not fall behind. The gentle bump of the girl’s muzzle against her hip provided an interesting contrast to the tempo of her hooves.
El Aran did not recognize either of the girl’s parent’s names. "Where are you from, Quinta? And how is it you came to be here?" There was no malice in her tone. She needed information. It was possibly that the bay mare was here to join the herd, but the seer was not so sure that was the case.
Behind them, sounds of a horse struggling reached her back-turned ear. El Aran continued to walk: by now, the pair of them had put substantial distance between themselves and the injured mare. But her words carried, and the black mare did stop to turn her head and look back. Impossibly, the mare was standing even though the wound in her leg was large and oozing. The sick smell of pus pervaded the air, carried to the lead mare by the wind. She closed her nostrils against it and flattened her ears. The cremello mare must have been injured in the mind as well to be grinning so stupidly when she was essentially lamed. Snorting, El Aran faced forward and continued on toward the main oasis with her blind companion.
Aşk's eighth eye
♥ Uforia
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