Common

Iris had slept fretfully through the night, waking often to ascertain herself that her sister was nearby. Though they had spent most of the spring in one another’s company, it was still difficult for the deep brown mare to believe that she was truly home. A small part of her feared to wake up back amongst the unfamiliar moors of the mainland, with the dark figure of her captor standing vigil nearby. And on this particular night - when the dark hue of the sky was indiscernible from the shadows - Iris even though she heard her mother’s voice, softly weeping. The sharp jab of pain that pierced her chest was like a wakening. She and Eve had spent too much time pretending that they were young again, shirking the responsibilities that they held to the rest of their family. They needed to return to the Prairie for their mother’s sake - and for Eve’s. She needed Lilika’s support now more than anything.

The sky was already pinkening by the time that the lacy-blanketed mare finally dozed where she stood. Her ears slumped gradually from their erect and alert position until they came to rest at half-mast, forming a shallow curved “u” with the top of her head. The steady rhythm of her breaths slowly deepened as well, blowing gently between dark lips that were slightly parted. Having sunk thus beneath the calm waters of true slumber, Iris did not notice when her younger sibling began to stir. She was deaf to the soft sounds of Eve’s struggles, blind to the sight of the other mare wandering off.

When Iris awoke, the sun had completed the steepest part of its steady climb, resting just above the tops of the young trees. Somehow - even before she opened her eyes - the brown mare knew that something was wrong, terribly wrong. Perhaps it was the resounding silence that pressed in upon her, absent of the sound of Eve’s breaths, of her voice. Or maybe it was the tenuous, inexplicable bond that they shared, and which had been reborn in the days they’d spent together. Either way, the spotted mare felt a cold fear coursing through her veins as soon as she recognized her sister’s absence, numbing her limbs even as they began to move. And was that her voice, calling out her Eve’s name? Iris didn’t know, but she knew that she had to find her.

If she didn’t, the world that they’d worked so hard to rebuild would come crumbling back down around them.

As she drew near the end of the scent-trail that the other mare had left in her wake, Iris caught the sharp-copper scent of blood in the air, and froze. The foul-tasting breath choked her, but as quickly as she expelled it from her heaving chest, the next draft of air only tasted the same. Somehow, the blanketed woman found the courage to continue moving forward, though her legs were now completely devoid of both feeling and control. Like the limbs of a puppet, they were pulled along by invisible strings, and she followed unwillingly in their wake - terrified of what she would find in the clearing ahead. Steeling her pounding heart for the worst, Iris stepped out into the sunlight.

And it was not as she’d imagined. No, somehow, it was worse than any nightmare she could have conjured - worse than the nightmare that she had lived. Iris watched in silent horror as a pale stallion dragged a small, still body that could only be her niece into a hole. She watched as the dirt was shifted over the small red form, and she couldn’t move. It wasn’t until the stranger began herding Eve away that her paralysis fractured, the emotions escaping from her in a soft groan. Iris ran first to the grave, her panicked thoughts insisting that she needed to dig, that the child would suffocate, that there wasn’t much time to save her.

It was only after she’d clawed her first furrow in the earth that the mahogany-brown mare realized that if there was any hope remaining, Eve would be beside her. That her sister would have torn down the Peak itself to save her child, Iris did not doubt. Turning suddenly in the direction that the pair had gone, she began to move again, to race through the trees that had swallowed the pair. As distraught as she was, Iris stumbled often, and once even fell heavily, her teeth clicking shut on her tongue from the impact. But even as the taste of blood flooded her mouth, she scrambled upright again, running faster, running blindly with the blur of tears in her eyes, and calling out for the sister who was already gone.