The red mare grazes slowly across the flat grassland, ears flicking periodically, head rising to check on me and ensure I am not an unreasonable distance away. I have found a cluster of rocks that are more or less larger than me and occupy myself with them, taking great delight in bouncing around and between them, ducking out of sight before popping up momentarily on the other side of a boulder. The dust makes me sneeze. Off to my right is a huge rock wall, solid and silent, and I pause in my play to stare at it.
We are so far inland I can’t hear FatherSound, and I am sulky. It has been days since we traveled away from the soft sands and ravenous water and settled in this grassy, boring plain. There is nothing to do. The wind touches everything but even the sounds of the birds from the lush forests don’t carry out this far. It’s just wind and sunlight and this little pile of rocks.
The rock wall would be impressive if it moved or made sound, but it is silent and still as only stone can be. I strike one small hoof against the rocks near me and hear the red mare’s chewing cease, the low grunt she emits as she checks on me. I don’t look her way. She can see me, else she’d whistle or come stomping over to find me and reprimand me with a bite.
She’s all teeth, the red mare. Even when she speaks her voice is full of edges so sharp they could cut my ears if I listened too closely. I turn my head, just a little, to make sure she’s not sneaking up on me, but she’s exactly where I left her browsing like some tall copper cow. She is so boring. I exhale loudly, an exasperated sigh I want her to hear, but she barely twists an ear toward me. I sigh again, more to myself this time, and shake out my entire body before leaping back into my game. Up and down, around and out, then something new as I leap on top of one. I can see the whole world from up here—
“Shararat!”
I swivel my head to see the red mare glaring up at me. No doubt she’s mad about having to crane her neck in a way she isn’t used to. The thought makes me snicker, and her scowl grows.
“Be quiet. A warrior does not make unnecessary noise— you are louder than all the birds on this island, and they are many.”
Blah, blah, blah. She keeps talking as I look up at the big stone wall. If I could make my way to the top of that, I know I could see even more than I already do now. My eyes track the face of the wall, looking for paths too small and too far away to pick out as I start planning my next adventure. It’s getting harder to sneak away from her at night, but I miss FatherSound and I just know if I can get up on top of that cliff I’ll be able to see him again. Then I can go back to where I belong. |