Meadow

Blunt teeth sank into Faolain’s crest, hauling her light frame backward. She hadn’t thought either mare had heard her, but she reacted quickly, pivoting on her hind legs to break Maraigh’s grip and then rearing up. She noticed as she hovered for a split second that the speckled mare was standing still, watching, apparently forgotten by the ferocious black mare as she tore into Faolain. Her eyes only brushed over the mare for the briefest instance before they slid back to the hairless one, the snake, and Faolain’s sharp little hooves fell, seeking to dig themselves into the chest of the other with all of Faolain’s admittedly meager weight behind them.

The slender black mare didn’t make any sound aside from the occasional grunt as the two raven-furred combatants threw themselves at each other. When all four of Faolain’s hooves found soil once again, she wound around the other mare in a tight circle, hoping to spin her off balance, but her plan was interrupted by the grulla. Faolain had not heard what Maraigh had said to provoke such a reaction, but she had not expected the pregnant mare to join the fray, and her attack not only shocked Faolain but found her as well. A hind hoof clipped the desert mare in the jaw, sending white sparks through her vision and the taste of iron through her mouth. She shook her head, dismissing the sparks and the pain and clearing her vision of the blurriness the kick had brought. She knew it was an accident, and Faolain by nature rarely felt anger, but she flattened her ears at the grulla as she exited the fray. Don’t do that again, her expression read, though she was sure the pregnant mare did not see on her way out.

Faolain turned her gaze back to Maraigh and promptly forgot about Koala. Her breath billowed out in clouds into the cold air, and steam was beginning to rise from her back. She buried her ears in her short mane and pawed, waiting for Maraigh’s next move, if she had one. She was ready.

FAOLAIN