Warsaw’s cry of pain is the sweetest sound Evren has ever heard - sweeter even than the voices of her own children. Her body is trembling with adrenaline as she pulls her head up to spit out the mouthful of hair she had ripped from his hide, but before she can go in for another blow, Warsaw is slipping away like a slimy little eel and then the breath is ripped from Evren’s lungs as a body collides with hers with the force of a freight train.
With no breath left even to scream, Evren silently stumbles and nearly falls into the space Warsaw had stood a moment ago, her hooves scrabbling for purchase on the wet sand. Yet the horse that had collided with her is still pressing in on her, and just as Evren manages to catch her balance she becomes aware of bared teeth closing in on her, bared teeth framed by a mane gleaming liquid silver in the moonlight. With her breath still frozen in her aching chest, Evren spins away awkwardly in a blind attempt to avoid the bite, and she manages, almost - as her front legs buckle beneath her, sending her into another half-fall in the sand, she feels the sting of a chunk of mane being ripped from her neck.
She collects her legs beneath her as quickly as she can, the electric fear that she is about to be trampled and killed causing her to spook a few strides away where she can safely ogle her attacker. Thankfully, he is now occupied by two other horses, one of whom - she notices with a jolt - is her sister, but she has no time to process this before Persephone is in her line of vision, dark eyes meeting hers, her mouth uttering words that take a moment for Evren to understand. She looks around in confusion - for the assault had briefly shaken Warsaw out of her mind - but then remembers how he had slipped away into the night like the coward he is.
Numbly, Evren offers Persephone a silent nod, and as the lead mare of the forest disappears in hot pursuit of Warsaw, Evren looks back at the scent of battle before her. It a mess: bodies are colliding everywhere, and the moonlight casts everyone in a silver light, making individuals practically indistinguishable. Evren sucks in a breath that makes her ribcage stab with pain, then looks in the direction Persephone had gone. She knows what she must do; there’s no question about it.
She follows.
10; mutt; bay tobiano; 15.3hh |
