Conquistador did not witness the dark girl's approach - his senses were held captive by images of the violence that had torn apart his life. Sand swirling through the air like a cloud of ash. Blood clinging to Rade's coat like beads of sweat. The two stallions rearing in unison, their bodies clashing in a tangle of limbs and teeth. The shrill scream of panic that had punctuated the staccato drumming of hooves in the instant before Debonaire was brought to his knees. And then the sickening crunch that abruptly ended their struggle - the sound of his father's skull breaking beneath his brother's hooves.

The feather-soft brush of lips across his cheek - Rade's silent gesture of farewell.

Jerking his head back from the unexpected touch, the palomino found himself studied the stranger with cautious, guarded eyes. It was like staring down his shadow - Conquistador could see his frailty mirrored in the filly's delicate form, and his grief reflected in her solemn dark eyes. The silence stretched on until it could have spanned an eternity, but the stallion subdued the curiosity that threatened to consume him. He had not spoken since the instant that preceded Debonaire's death, when the words he'd screamed were strangled as they tried to escape his bloodless lips.

To this day, he still wondered whether it was Rade or Debonaire whom he'd been seeking to save.

It was the sea that finally interrupted his introspection - the tide had risen so that the waves now broke over his golden body. Sputtering at the salt water he had inhaled, Conquistador edged up the beach until he was beyond the tides' reach, glancing invitingly at the black filly who still hovered nearby. There was enough space for her to curl up in the hollow of his body, if she wished. Conquistador had not shared such closeness with another creature since his reunion with Rade - he had been taught that intimacy only invited weakness - but a small part of him still hungered for the affection and acceptance of another.