He took her hardened gaze as a challenge and immediately lowered his eyes. Her words resonated in him. My home does not exist. Try as he might to suppress it, a memory jolted through him like lightning, leaving him breathless. Reality melted away and his matka’s voice - her scream, cut short by a sudden blow - echoed in his mind. Kune squeezed his eyes tightly shut and sucked in a sharp breath. His blood roared in his ears.
My home… does not… exist...
Kune’s heart began to hammer. His breathing became sharp and labored. When his eyes flew open, they were wild and glassy with fear, and seemed to stare through Bozena rather than directly at her. A little rational voice in the corner of his brain reminded him that he was being impolite, that he had not introduced himself, that this was not how a Strážce acted, that he must get a grip on himself and not let the past overwhelm him… Yet the past was a monster, and he was helpless against its wrath.
The stallion shook his head violently and gritted his teeth, and then his legs began moving of their own accord, carrying him backwards through the brush and away from the mare. He had to get away - the world was closing in around him, strangling him and battering him with physical pain. Twigs and branches snapped underfoot and scraped violently at his sides like the enemies in his brain, feeding his panic and causing him to balk sideways, straight into a tree.
The force of the impact knocked the breath from his lungs and pushed him backwards, entangling his legs amongst themselves and sending him onto his backside in the leaf litter. Kune sat upright like a dog, making no move to right himself, and a little life returned to his dark eyes. Trembling, he side-eyed the mare who was now a short distance away, then hung his head so his tangled mane hid his face.
|