fenris

The silence that so often pervaded the Lagoon was, Fenris knew, deceptive. Though they might rarely be seen, the forest was home to more than a few men and boys, with a couple trinkets always tucked safely in its center. There were eyes everywhere, though they often passed over the dark bay colt as if there were only shadows wherever he stood. Ears everywhere, though only Felony had answered the pained, plaintive cries of the dying child - and in doing so, had spared his son a horrific death. But though Fenris had survived - though he still breathed, and his body was warm and strong - he did not live. He simply existed, a sullen and solitary creature that wandered the Lagoon without purpose.

Except....

Once, in the long winter that had preceded this spring, he had stumbled upon a lone wolf. When prey was scarce, the packs would inevitably turn on their weakest, driving them out or - if their hunger was great enough - devouring them as they had once attempted to do to the newborn colt. Watching the predator limp to a halt beside the stream and lower its head to take a drink, the scars that raked across the left side of Fenris's face had seemed to burn with a fire that spread through his body, that heated his blood. Before he was aware of it, the yearling had burst from the thicket with a terrible cry, and his hooves had come down on the wolf's skull with as much force as he could muster.

Again. And again. Until what remained no longer resembled the creatures that had once attempted to kill him.

As the adrenaline had ebbed slowly from his body, Fenris had felt it for the first time. Fulfillment. The primitive beast within him - the one that lingered in the hearts of all men - purred in contentment, and he had reentered the forest with the trace of a smile curving his dark lips. But once it had been unearthed, the thirst for blood - for battle - could not be buried again. Though he did not know it yet, Fenris had found his place in the brotherhood. He was destined to become a soldier, destined to serve the Lagoon with his strength. And when the stallion's call shattered the Lagoon's usual silence, a subtle force - a yearning - pulled him toward the clearing where the colts had begun to gather.

Lacking the natural charisma of the roan colt, Fenris's arrival was silent. He did not attempt to draw attention to himself, and stood slightly apart from the others, the scarred half of his face angled away from the group. For all his apparent indifference, though, the dark bay's ears were erect, his single eye alert - he could still feel the stallion's summons singing through his bones, and was eager to begin.

colt / yearling / dark bay / friesian mix / 16 hh