The mare turned and fled before me, evading my teeth with its swiftness. Good. I kept my head lowered and followed it, ready to snake my jaws toward its hocks should it slow down as I herded it toward the beach of the Crossing. It spoke again and I reached to deliver a pinching reprimand, but it put on a burst of speed. I raised my head and held it level with my shoulders as I considered the mare. It was smart, smarter than the Gold who had talked and talked and talked and quaked uselessly when I punished it, but stupider than the Black who had learned within minutes that it was better to speak my language than its own. Still, the spotted mare had potential.

When it spoke again, I ignored it, but I did not lower my head toward its heels as I jogged after it. It had cooperated so far and I expected it would continue to do so as we reached the shore of the island. The swim from the Crossing to Luthien would not take long, and I wasted no time in getting the mare into the water and heading for my birth island. I had never seen it from this angle, heading toward it instead of away, and the thick greenery that composed what would become my territory looked black in the night. Dawn would prove the forest was still alive, but for now I worked my way through the inky darkness of the ocean and kept the mare in sight until we reached Luthien.

I surged onto the small beach as water sluiced off my back and felt a deep satisfaction as my hooves thudded across the wet sand. I had done it. Trotting in a wide circle, I moved to collect the blanketed mare and drove it toward the thick stand of trees that reached almost to the shore. As long as the mare did not test me, I did not reach for it with my teeth. Most of my attention was on the forest we entered and the memories I had left behind. I recognized the copse of trees where I had seen a mare defy the tyrant, and further in the wide grove where my father had tried to kill me the day I was born.

Ears pinned and head raised, I tried to identify the scents that had soaked into the loam as I pushed further into the woods. Few were fresh, and none stank of stallion. I lifted my ears and let my head rest at a natural level as I moved up to walk near the black mare rather than behind it. I was not exhausted from the swim, but my nerves thrummed uncomfortably within me. I could feel myself trembling and I halted, cocking one hind hoof onto its tip and looking around to see if I recognized where we stopped. Satisfied that I would not be distracted by any potent memories, I flicked an ear toward the black mare and swiveled the other toward the soft sounds of nocturnal life. Morning would be soon enough to explore the Forest and ferret out any lingering inhabitants, but for now I would keep watch over my herd, small as it was.