The impact against the painted male’s hip forces a grunt from Kendry and makes his chest ache. His teeth score the other’s dark back and he allows himself to revel briefly in the success that flushes him as he turns, snorting, to face his opponent under the balding canopy. Kendry paws the loam and tosses his head, ready for the next bout, but the stallion facing him doesn’t retaliate.
Instead he speaks, choosing to try and sway Kendry away from violence with words. His pale ears twist to surveil the surrounding forest, certain the painted stallion is simply biding time to allow the setup of an ambush, and then pin. The perlino snorts again and shakes his great head slowly. “A contradiction,” he rumbles. “You claim to offer aid without discrimination in the same breath you align yourself with the Lagoon. Only one of those can be true. If you would have me believe your aim is peace then deny your brothers and join me against them.”
It is a ripple effect Ruger has begun as Kendry lays out the same terms he was offered in the Thicket to this stallion. It is not a bad tactic to win a war, to turn the tides with words instead of violence. Kendry’s ears lift and swivel again, listening for the approach of the stallion he expects—Ruger—and those he does not. Should this bachelor choose not to accept the terms, Kendry is more than prepared to launch another assault, and he shifts his weight to his hindquarters in preparation of an unfavorable response. |