They stood shoulder to shoulder, the boy and the man, filling the emptiness they'd found in the heart of the Lagoon with each other. Filling its silence with unspoken words, and the rhythmic thrumming of their hearts. But the comfort and completion they had always found in one another was gone, grasp as they might for those moments of easy laughter they'd once shared.
Conquistador could feel the warmth of the blood that pulsed beneath Rade's skin, but his brother had become as distant as the latent stars. It was a different man who stood beside him in the same white-dusted coat, a stranger with eyes as hard as the crust of frozen earth beneath their hooves. In Conquistador's absence, Rade had reshouldered his mantle as leader of the Lagoon, and there was no place in his world for the weakness of love. "You promised you'd be there if I needed you," the younger stallion said haltingly - the first words either of them had spoken in so long that his voice was rough, rusty. But you're not, Conquistador left unsaid. Are you still in there, brother, buried beside the burden of your grief? Will you ever return to me?
The loss of the only family he had left loomed before him, and a shiver traveled down Conquistador's spine.
Rade rolled a golden eye to glance at his brother, and for a moment his expression may have softened. But if it had been there, it was gone by the next breath he drew, and there was no evidence of any such affection in his voice. "I said I'd be here. I belong in the Lagoon, and it belongs to me. You would have me abandon my brothers, and for what? To help you rebuild your perfect little family in Paradise?" The bachelor king snorted sardonically, and his gaze flicked forward again. "They're gone, kid, and even if they come back, it won't be the same as it was. You'd be better off building yourself a new one."
A fire burned in Conquistador's throat, and it was a few moments before he recognized it as impending tears. I won't let him see me cry, the young palomino vowed, pressing his lips together in a thin line. But the flames continued until they consumed his lungs, and such was his pain that Conquistador lashed out desperately, seeking to push even a fraction of it onto his brother. "What, like you did?" He spat, the burn in his throat imbibing his voice with venom. "Should I trade away my heart for a half-dozen brothers who would stab me in the back just as gladly as yours? Or trade the woman who raised me as if I was her own son for - for what, Rade? How did you measure the worth of a mare who was like a mother to you?"
"The same way I measure the worth of any woman. In sons." Rade replied indifferently, his gaze still focused on the distant forest. He could feel Conquistador's muscles tauten as the truth sank in, but the threat of attack did not concern him as much as the sight of an intruder entering the Lagoon. Rade stiffened, snapping his teeth in warning when Conquistador started to speak, and they watched in silence as the spotted man strode boldly into the heart of the bachelors' home. As he drew to a stop, Rade lurched forward, his ears disappearing beneath the ivory sea of his mane.
Conquistador had never seen his brother act with such single-minded purpose, the control of every muscle and sinew in his body surrendered to instinct. Struggling to follow on limbs that felt leaden, the young stallion's lungs and heart screamed in his chest. He tried to call out to Rade, to stop him before he threw himself at the larger - and stronger - stallion. But the wind stole the words from his lips, stringing them out behind him. With a wrenching effort, Conquistador surged forward, and his blunt teeth closed on the base of his brother's tail.
The roan stallion stopped so suddenly that Conquistador slammed into him, forcing the breath from his lungs in a harsh grunt. He didn't have time to fill them again before one of Rade's hind legs lifted, didn't have time to sidestep the cow-kick that connected with his left knee. The tawny palomino's leg crumpled beneath him, and he was forced to his knees, watching helplessly as his brother closed the remaining distance between himself and the spotted stranger.
RADE & CONQUISTADOR
children of the great empire |