Sleep was not something Taytim had much of ever since Taika had been born. The filly had kept the mare running since day one. This had been one night she had been calm and quiet, promising to behave with Adelheid. The young mare had hoped for once the filly would have had obeyed, or that the Friesian’s slightly calmer demeanor would have held them both back at least a little bit. It had been too much to hope for and worry had kept Taytim awake to the point where she had set out in the night to find her foal, and her foal’s friend, almost just to be an over-watchful mother. She had looked in the places they had often bedded down in the midsts of the Peak herd. With each failure at finding the child Taytim’s panic escalated. Soon she was pounding up the trails in a frantic search. Halfway up the mountain she heard the shouts and the screams. The mare raced up path and skittered to a halt beside the cliff and her daughter just after the other mares had arrived. Ears pinned flat to her skull she planted herself between the stallions and the shaking child. Wordless in emotions of fear and fury she had never felt before, she nuzzled Taika to make sure the girl was unharmed save for her bleeding knees. Once Taytim was as comforted as Taika was, she turned her angry face back to the stallion and narrowed her eyes at the desert horses before her.
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As soon as she saw Geirdriful Taika felt as though the world would be right again. She knew the warrior, the star-blessed Valkyrie, would keep them safe from the stallions who had come to the Peak. Once Taytim came onto the cliff she glued herself to her mother’s side, watching from behind the chocolate body. Usually far more eager to get into trouble, she needed to take another minute to catch her breath, recover from her near fall off the cliff, to restabilize herself herself on her feet.
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While everyone else around them seemed to take control of the situation one way or another, Adelheid continued to stand where she had been. Even when her mother had come to their rescue the filly was confused. She touched her mother’s nose briefly, more of a brush than anything before stepping forward, her ears pinned, though not as tight to her skull as Geirdriful’s or Taytim’s.
“They are trinkets of the Peak! Adelheid insisted in her young voice as though this were the obvious answer. It did not matter that these men were close to their doom at the hooves of the warrior, brothers of the pirate, or innocent stallions who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. She had claimed them.
Yes! Taika chimed in, jumping forward now having recovered from her shock. They invaded the Peak! Intruding on our home! We found them and stopped them. The varnished girl stepped to stand tall by her taller friend. They belong to us
Both girls snorted at their respective guardians, settling the matter.
Adelheid
Filly : Friesian Mutt : Black Splash : Inka&Valentine |