wear it like armor Posted on January 21, 2015 at 05:00:14 AM by Bastian
bastian
Dögun was correct in his guess that the boy was nearby - Bastian was never far from the sea these days. But what the Pony King assumed to be wariness was actually wistfulness - he watched less for the safety of his home and herd, and more for the return of his mother. It had been nearly three seasons since the white mare had disappeared, but the young stallion stood vigil from sunrise until sunset, sustained by the naive certainty only a child possessed. Silver would be back, and he would be the first to greet the old woman, tucking his chin into the crook of her withers in the equine equivalent of a hug. Staying close to her side as he had always done, ready to lend his strength when her aging body faltered.
But it was Sigrun who returned first.
Bastian had been quite young when the grulla woman had still lived among the Bay herd, and his memories of her had faded over the year since she was taken. It was by scent more than sight that he recognized her as one of Dögun's wayward women. Perhaps he should have raced to welcome her, and exult in her return to the Bay, but something about the roan stallion who accompanied her made the draft-blooded boy uneasy. There was a hard cast to features that would have otherwise been considered soft and effeminate, and a coldness in those strange yellow eyes. Somehow, instinctively, Bastian sensed that this man was dangerous, and kept his distance.
But his young ears could not help but to catch snatches of the conversation that began once Dögun arrived, aided by the breeze that had first borne Sigrun's scent to him. Many of their words were too softly-spoken to survive the distance, but Bastian was certain that he heard the palomino say something about a cost, the Lagoon, and a son for a single mare. The small grullo seemed to tense, and the bay colt braced himself to intervene, if the talk should turn to violence. His ears swiveled toward the pair, straining to separate words from wind. The stranger seemed to be answering some question that the Pony King had asked, saying that someone must be healthy. Bastian's eyes followed both stallions' to the sight of Freya standing far away from them, and was confused. They couldn't be talking about Dögun's queen; Dögun would never give her up willingly.
Then he heard the golden bachelor speak again, and he understood.
He need not even be of your own blood. Many stallions find the Lagoon a...convenient place to send their women's bastards.
Though Silver had never told him who his sire was, Bastian understood that it wasn't Dögun. But the grullo Icelandic had raised him like a son regardless, and the boy loved him like the father he had never known. So when he heard the Pony King's response, his heart felt so brittle that it might have shattered into a thousand slivers, each one cutting him up from the inside. I have such a colt. The Lagoon was trading Sigrun for one of Dögun's sons - and Bastian, who did not bear the blood of the Bay's king in his veins, was the most coldly logical choice.
After all, who else could go in his place?
The boy was moving forward before the grullo called to him, though his limbs felt as if they'd turned to rubber. He couldn't let Dögun consider the only other option - sending his trueborn son in Bastian's stead. He couldn't bear the thought of Bjorn being led away to the Lagoon by this cold-eyed stranger. He'd heard Silver's stories about Greyson so often that they were woven into the fabric of his dreams, and if he'd held on to one ideal from the man his mother had once loved, it was this: the strong must protect the weak. He would offer himself up freely if it meant that Bjorn would remain in the Bay with his father.
"I will go, Dögun," the boy began, meeting the small stallion's gaze. "I - I heard what you said about a son for a mare," he explained, his gaze sliding sideways to the Lagoon's king, though he could not bring himself to stare into those emotionless amber eyes directly. "And I'll go, if that means Sigrun can stay. The Bay is her home. She belongs here."