I would honestly love you now,
But I would lovingly let you down.
Celestria was dead.
Her pale body lay lifeless in the dirt in front of him, and it's all he can seem to focus on. The shouts from his father sounded miles away, so distant in his muffled ears. It wasn't until the chestnut stallion grabbed ahold of his painted hide with his teeth that Jabari seemingly snapped out of it. He blinked back the salty sheen in his blue eyes and squealed, before his head snapped to look in the direction of his father. His brown ears lay flat against his skull as Shamwari barked his next set of orders at his son. How could he just keep operating as if nothing happened? As if he hadn't just killed this this mare with his own limbs and hooves? Despite all the trouble - and the trauma - Celestria had caused him, Jabari was not prepared to witness the mare's untimely death.
He snorted once, and breathed in deeply. Then he bobbed his head sternly in acknowledgement to his father, not once daring to divert his gaze to the mare's carcass again. The chapter of his life with Celestria was an awful one, and he would be lying if he said he didn't feel relief knowing it was now over. But the way it ended - Jabari was certain it would haunt him for the rest of his life. Just as his own mother's death still crept up on him from time to time.
Shamwari instructed Jabari to round up any Prairie residents who didn't need to be here and bring them back to safety in the Thicket. His white legs pounded against the moist earth of the Forest's floor, as he searched frantically for bodies he recognized. Caesisus was nowhere to be found after the battle with Celestria and Rougaru. His heart lurched in his chest, wondering if Rougaru would go after the pale mare in retaliation for Celestria. He had to find her. But as the canopy opened up and gave way to a small clearing, his eyes focused on the familiar frame of Ruger up ahead.
Jabari was about to call out to the stallion when he watched Ruger advance on someone else - Cullen - and a chill shot down the length of his spine. Jabari witnessed a side of Ruger he'd never seen before. The's stallion's hardened, wolfish gaze was downright menacing. He was out for blood. And so, the son of Shamwari swallowed hard against a lump that persisted in his throat, and he galloped after the black and white stud. He circled wide on Ruger's right side, avoiding his splay of legs and teeth against Cullen, and then shouldered his way in to retaliate with a second wave. Jabari squealed before he launched himself into a rear, his front legs striking out at Cullen's pale form.
While the Lagoon Boss had been mostly cordial to him during his time in the Lagoon, he was still an enemy, today and always.
Stallion | Brienne x Shamwari | Chesnut Overo | 15.2 h| Photo © Carina Mailwald | © Vinyl |
|
|