In truth, it is inevitable that the shadow pursuing him will fall across him, and as the stallion draws alongside and cries out (the heart within the yearling’s breast leaps at the sound of his mother tongue and Kuráž gasps with pain that’s mingled with hope), Kuráž stumbles to a halt, and veers aside, prancing away to put a meagre amount of distance between them. A trembling takes hold of his legs from the exertion of the run, and he stands in silence a few moments, trying to catch his breath.
“Drž se dál!" he warns with ears turned back and a steely glint in his eye, but when his gaze settles on the stranger’s face, he wavers. His heart trembles and he amends himself with softened words, still cautious but no longer fierce in his own defense.
“Nepřibližuj se .”
Careful to maintain a comfortable distance between them (though Kuráž is no fool, nor has he ever been a carefree colt, he knows there will be no outrunning this ebony male), the ink-dark colt speckled with tiny grey flecks seeks to understand this stallion who is before strange and familiar to him all at once. There is still too great a distance between him and the mountain where his protector resides for him to seek her aid if this chance encounter turns foul, but the longer he stands in the presence of this one who shares his blood, the initial fear he felt steadily dissipates.
Of course, it is just a feeling, and he may very well be mistaken, so he doesn’t trust it quite yet, but… There certainly was no denying the way he was indeed drawn. Though still young in the eyes of many, Kuráž had already learned a great many truths of the world, and the one of greatest import to him thus far was that blood sang to blood, and there was an undeniable reverence to be found in those that were kin to him, even if there was no blood relation.
His first thought, once he gets over the shock of it all, is of Bozena. Does she know of this stallion, of his presence on the island? A Shadow living in the one cast by the mountain, stretching across the grasses of the meadow. (Young as he is) Kuráž knows a little of how Bozena and those who are as sisters to her – those she fights for and sheds her own blood to protect – have suffered at the hands of stallions, and though his heart tells him there is no reason to believe this stallion would bring harm to one so much like him, the colt deems it unwise to lead a stranger back to his sanctuary.
And so, he seeks to learn, his mind turning restlessly in his head as it searches to determine what path he should take from here, and how he might bring them together.
“ Odkud jsi přišel?” The question is offered lightly, with a tilt of his head meant to indicate apprehension and uncertainty. And then, a question perhaps a little more pointed, the answer of which was considerably more important.
“ Proč jsi sám?”
