the little mare hid. but first she ran, scattering from the lagoon in a blind terror. her rust-cream colored legs, spindle thin, were marred with scratches and blunt cuts from the escape. petal was unseeing of all the little wooden stobs and brambles that reached out to grasp at her flesh as she galloped from that dark place. when she reached safety, or so she hoped… she had run as long as she could…. sweat dripped from her heaving sides, ran down the slope of her delicately curved head and from her brow. her eyes were glassy and wide, framed by white lashes darkened by her tears. her body moved in one continuous shudder, even as she tried to stand still. everything ached but worse than any of the pain, was the sound of his voice reverberating in her head. would it ever stop? eventually she grew too weary to stand and the wisp of a mare found refuge at the edge of the meadow… she crept into a dense copse of trees and collapsed, wishing then that she might just die. jabari was gone, she would never find dahlia, things with shamwari were ruined…. and now, after having been traded like a object… her body had been used as one. a vessel for some sick stallion’s lust and madness. it made her ill. the perlino-dun laid on the floor of the earth for some time, a day or more perhaps, caught between fits of sobbing and the blackness of sleep. eventually petal found some shred of herself that hadn’t been ruined. it took all of her strength to cling to it, to pull herself shakily to her legs, which throbbed. fear coursed hotly over her as her blue eyes peered out into the meadow, nervous shivers wracking her body. but she needed food and water if she was to survive, and though she thought she wished to die, it only took time to realize that she would have to carry on, if only for her daughters’ sakes. some months had passed then, her cycle not returning, and petal knew. not only had the cruel beast who had raped her inflicted the initial pain and mental damage, but her body would continue to suffer as well as her mind. fear ruled her, most of the time. petal could only just barely bring herself to leave the small dense thicket to grab a sparse meal and enough water to stay alive. fear and winter both ailed her, her healthy sheen waning into dullness, the curves of her body becoming angular and gaunt despite her growing belly. the fae-like mare likened to a spirit of a different kind… eventually, though, she hoped she would be brave enough to leave this place. to put more distance between her and the lagoon and to return to daphne at least. today, she has tottered to the shoreline, looking out over the dark sea toward luthien. the frail mare is too weak to make the journey now, but her heart lurches with a sickening desire to try it anyway. every sound that reaches her ears causes her to start, every soft touch of the wind turns her small body into a knot of tension. her broken heart yearns to be in the one place that has ever felt like home on these islands, after all this time... her little shelter of tall grass at the prairie's edge. soon, she would risk the trip before it was too late to even try. |