Stones and bones

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The spindly little filly could hardly scramble quickly enough away from the black stallion as he pulls her onto the shore. He is gentle with her, but Kæja takes no notice; the damage has been done. Exhausted, she spends every last shred of energy tearing off into the woods, and soon enough into the arms of her mother.

The weeks that follow are tense. Kæja does not sleep easily now that she is home. Every night has her waking every hour, expecting her silent sire to sweep her into the sea again while her mother sleeps.

The days are no better. Kæja sees him, sometimes, through the trees, watching her and her mother. He never comes close, but whenever the little filly spots him, she hides behind Mae’s legs until the shadow in the trees quietly retreats. She does not understand what happened on Salem; she does not even understand that it was Salem her father brought her to. She only knows that it was very bad, and sometimes, she can feel Fell’s teeth enclosing her ears, muffling the sounds of the world around her, his hot breath ruffling the fine fluff of her mane.

It gets better with time. Kæja is still skittish, but sometimes she does not run from Fell in the woods, though he still keeps his distance. Her mother is never far, and he hasn’t touched her again, so the fear begins to give way to a kind of irritation. Anger, even, some days.

They are never far from the herd. As Mae meanders along the stream, Kæja chases snowflakes close by, hardly out of sight. She can hear the sounds of the herd moving about through the trees, and when she looks up, she can see him. He has something in his mouth, but Kæja doesn’t care. She pins her fuzzy ears against her neck and lets loose an angry squeal, stamping one small hoof into the snow. It doesn’t make a sound, but she can see the hooked ears flick back, and Fell turns back to the herd, his expression heavy with some emotion Kæja doesn’t care to understand.

Triumphant, the little filly bounds back to her mother, tripping and tumbling into the snow at her feet with an “oof.”

Kæja