wendigo.
It had been a long time since Wendigo was young. She could hardly remember (perhaps by choice or by the length in time it had been) what it was like to have parents, to have a home. Things that other horses held near and dear to their hearts had escaped the black-and-silver mare. They had been lost to time, as she spent what felt like eons alone in the clutches of winter-monsters. The instinct that drove social horses together was broken in Wendigo.
In the end, it didn’t matter. Everyone faced the void alone, no matter how much they had loved their families or their homes.
It had been several days since the deer in the woods, and the winter storm had faded. The sun had come out and warmed the earth, the accumulated snow melting. Brooks babbled, their voices a roar, as they swelled with the sudden and overwhelming amount of water. Wendigo was standing on the edge of such a stream, watching the water, angry and ravenous as it swept out to sea.
She was so close that one step would have spelled peril for the skinny creature.
The shadow of a horse flashed in the corner of her eye, drawing her attention away from the brook. The brown colt trotted deeper into the meadow, caution thrown to the wind. Wendigo hesitated before turning away from the ledge, uncertain without the cover of snow. Still, she forgot the banks of the brook and her desire for cover quickly enough as she strode to him on tall, thin legs.
He had dropped his head to graze, content.
“So young and brave,’ she murmured, her voice cold and quiet.
“Knowing what lurks on this island, how can you be so sure of yourself?” She’d seen the beast; knew that even though the sun shone brightly that it was here, just around the corner waiting to swallow her up. She could feel its hot breath on the wind that joyously swept through the meadow, so close and eager.
mare | akhal teke x marwari | grey on black tobiano | 1o | 16.3hh | siat-s