WE FLY WITH KINGS TONIGHT AND COME DOWN
Days and nights she had travelled, tracking the Forsaken Prince, following him to land’s end. All others had fallen away now, had gone slinking back home like the cowards they were. But not Naz. She would do as her King had commanded her, and to him she would be loyal even unto death. So, when faced with the ocean, never having laid eyes upon a body of water so large, Naz had paced the shoreline, watching and waiting. When the water was calm, and the moon a thin sickle high above her, in the bright blue sky, the black and white Marwari waded into the deep, and, head raised high, ears bowed gracefully in the wind, she forged a path through the salt water sea.
The Hunt was never over. Not for Naz.
Hooves bit deeply into the soft sand when she made landfall again, the muscles in her legs burning in a way they never had before. Every obstacle she overcame made her stronger, and every unknown gave her a chance to learn and become wise. A great mountain towered before her, and Naz stopped to admire the monolith’s grandeur. In life, there were places and individuals who commanded attention by their very existence and for all her life, Naz had fought to exude such a presence. But then she had always been set apart, ever since her King had taken her in as a weanling, when her own people had left her for dead. A child of the Enemy, and yet never once had her King held that against her. Very few others looked upon her without caution, as if waiting for her to betray them, because the shape of her ears and the flatness of her inky coat marked her as one who would never truly Belong. And betray them she would, if it ever came to a choice between her own life and theirs’. She’d turn on them without hesitation or regret. But her King? Never.
It was because of a stranger that she had life and purpose. Not even among her King’s own people had she found one as worthy of her loyalty as he. What and who awaited her upon these isles was a mystery, but Naz would take measure of all she met. Her King was akin to the very sun in the sky, and even as she walked in shadow cast by the mountain, she felt he was with her, always.
Naz followed the spine of hills to the south, alert to her surroundings, keen eyes tracking the movements of strangers in the distance. None caught her interest, so she continued picking her way further inland. The strangest sound eventually pulled her from her course, and she followed the rushing that was not unlike the windstorms that plagued the desert plains. It was not wind, but water, tumbling down a rocky face. Naz was in awe – never had she beheld anything like this before. The Marwari mare stared, white face moistened by the misty spray, that settled upon her dark mane. One delicately curved ear flicked and she turned sharply at the sound of a stranger approaching, fixed her strange eyes upon him – one dark as the earth beneath her hooves, the other as blue and clear as the sky above.
The Marwari mare moved not a muscle, just seemed to take the stallion in, committing his scent that drifted towards her on the moist air, as well as the elegant lines of his body and the exquisite coloring of his hide to memory. The only thing she lacked was the rumble of his voice. Without saying anything to him, a strange quality to the sound of the rushing water commanded her attention. The roar of the falls echoed in her sleek ears, so subtly, so easily covered by the rushing water that she had missed it, first. Naz entered the pool, picked her way carefully and stood before the curtain of water. She looked behind, for she had not forgotten about the handsome stranger, not at all. But Naz sought knowledge, and the thrill of discovery sang the same tune as the blood that rushed to her heart.
Eyes met once more, and then Naz turned and bowed her head as she stepped through the silvery veil. Beyond was a small cavern, and her hooves clattered loudly upon the stone beneath her. She would take the measure of the male here, within this hidden space. The air felt alive, and though the roar of the water fall would make conversation difficult, if any conversation was to be had, Naz would most assuredly seek the stallion’s company later (if only to hear the timbre of his voice), but first she would linger here. Whether or not the stallion followed was yet to be seen, but Naz shivered in delight at the coolness of the air, and for this brief moment in time, there was no sun shining down upon her, nor the Hunt, nor any King.
Naz was alone, and she had entered a new world filled with wonder. And yet, even as she marvelled at the beauty of the waterfall from within its hidden cave, and was drawn to the foreign-ness of it, Naz was a creature of reason. (She shifted to the back of the little cavern and waited.) Nothing the black and white Marwari ever did was without intent.
N A Z
with an empire of our own
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