PERSEPHONE

A call split the quiet in the forest, dissolving it into the sound of fluttering wings and disgruntles squawks as the birds in the trees were startled from their perches. They would be moving south for the winter soon enough, but for now they were enjoying what peace they had left, and whoever this intruder was they were disturbing their rest – and Persephone’s.

This was the second time that this had happened within the space of a few short weeks. The last time her visitor had been Shamwari, her neighbour, but she did not recognise the call as belonging to his voice – and, besides, she couldn’t think why he would have returned so soon.

And so, Persephone made her way hastily in the call’s direction. The dead twigs that littered the grassy forest floor snapped beneath her striped hooves with a snap, announcing her arrival long before she located the intruder amongst the trees near the edge of the forest.

He was a startlingly white stallion, about the same size as Persephone herself, with curious mismatched eyes that caught her attention. She stood before him, her neck arched, holding his gaze firmly as she surveyed him. Once again, she couldn’t see why someone here to cause trouble would announce themselves so obviously, but she was wary of this stranger intruding on her home anyway.

“Who are you?” she asked simply. “And what business do you have in the Forest?”

all of your demons will wither away

mixed, bay varnish roan blanket, 14.3hh