fearghas

Her grief is louder than anything else in the Lagoon and his heart breaks for the broken alabaster mare, even as he struggles to see anything he can do to fix it. The recognition in her eyes offers him some hope, but it is as short-lived as his name on her tongue.

Fearghas. Before Feargha's gaze can even raise to meet the speaker, he knows who he must face. Had feared that it would come to this the moment that he dared to step within the Lagoon's borders. And yet, the cold hostility of it still took him by surprise. It was as if the months they'd spent together as brothers, as mentor and student, had all never existed.

The man that stood in front of him now was no longer the same creature that Fearghas had sworn brotherhood to so many years ago. What stood before him now was the King of liars and thieves, rapists and murders. Rade had well and truly become King of the shit pile.

"As usual Rade, ye are mistaken," he begins, his gaze cutting back to Tuari as she stumbles toward him. Her frailty is unmistakable and Fearghas begs with his eyes for the roan to just look at her, to see her suffering and give a damn for once. He twitches in her direction, yearning to step across the damnable mud and cradle her, unable to ignore the pain on her face. But he stills as the sound of thundering hooves mark the approach of another, and he stares with undisguised loathing as the reddish stallion makes his approach. Fearghas would have disliked him anyway for the nasty expression he wore - but it was the way that Tuari flinched away from him that sealed his hatred.

He will never be my brother. The overo snarls and Fearghas chuckles darkly in response. Fearghas' mottled ears pin backwards, and his gaze raises to his old friend. Despite the quiver that runs through his body, Fearghas knows that he cannot stand idly by. If it comes to violence he knows that he will stand no chance, but then again, what better way to go out than to do so fighting for good?

Rade's words circle in his mind, repeating on an endless loop. He wanted to snarl his denial with all of the hate that bristled in his chest, but he couldn't. That would still leave Tuari here, helpless. And even if it meant his own demise, he knew that he could not live with himself if he consigned her to that fate without at least trying to help her.

"I didna come ter steal from ye, although I'd hardly consider her a theft worth riskin now." He hates the words as he says them, the cruelty in his own voice abhorrent to his own ears. And yet it is the only thing he can think of to save her from them. "Can ye not see how skinny she is? And she doesna even want the wean ye lot forced on 'er." He sputters, desperately attempting to harden his voice and keep it there. "Ye might as well let 'er go. An see her safely beyond his hands," the spotted boy snarled as he stared at Torsten, making it clear who he meant.

"I'd come back fer that. Ye can even keep me as a trinket, if'n that would make you happy." Heart racing, Fearghas locks his gaze onto Rade, desperate to see any sort of agreement in those brown eyes. He may have condemned his brother for his choices on the shore of the Savanna, but it was now that they would see if he had been right.

stallion . 5 years . 16.1 hands . smoky black blanket . loveinspired . credit