Her description was off.

Ceolwulf had been told by his mother that the lagoon was damp and dingy and stank of rotten leaves and mouldy wood. She had been so assaulted and offended by the place that she took flight as soon as the bachelor Floyd won her from his father, Styrke. Solveig was smart enough to flee the islands altogether so that they could not track her down. Sure that left her alone and pregnant, but Solveig was a resourceful mare; she could take care of herself and her child.

The lagoon didn’t look, or smell, so bad.

Coelwulf couldn’t see the problem. Fresh green shoots sprouted from the earth and although there was swamp land that surrounded the large lagoon, its skink was not over powering. In fact, there was a sweet, spring fragrance in the air. To Ceolwulf, that was more off putting than his expectations. Just another lie his mother spun.

So why was he here?

It certainly had nothing to do with family or some kind of inherent attachment to the island on which he was conceived. Sure, there was some curiosity there but that was not the reason. His reasons were far more mundane and perhaps disappointing than that. He’d branched out on his own long ago and his wanderings brought him to the edge of the mainland. He might have gone elsewhere but he overheard mentions of the islands and thought, hey, what the hell? It did not live up to anything he expected but he had nowhere better to go.

A fine reason to stay.

Coelwulf’s movements through the lagoon were silent and precise. He was not looking to draw attention to himself, not until he had scoped the place out and deemed it suitable – and even then he had no plans to announce his presence. It seemed fate had other ideas though and he emerged from the trees to a golden stallion looking into a pool of stale, green water. Ceolwulf snorted, ears leaning close to the tangle of black strands that was his mane. ”You won’t find much of interest in there” he stated flatly, indicating the pool as he stalked by.