Zevulun had given Jasper no time to argue against his plan to charge westward and check for anyone left behind. There hadn’t really been a chance to, considering the chaos that had descended so quickly onto the Prairie, but even if there had been, Zevulun would not have heard it. This was his responsibility as a leader. He had to run into the dangerous areas to make certain everyone who counted on him was safe. The Prairie was full of his children of varying ages, of his beloveds, and of those he had promised safety and sanctuary to when they decided to call the Prairie their home. Despite the inevitable possibility, Zevulun would never forgive himself if he did not get to someone in time to lead them from the destructive storm ravaging their home.

It was as he surged forward that he heard the frightful cries and felt his heart lurch into his throat. Zevulun scrambled to a stop to change lead, scarred back limb burning with pain he didn’t quite feel on account of the adrenaline coursing hot through his veins. He’d struggle to even walk the next few days, but that didn’t matter now. All that mattered was getting to his loved ones as quickly as possible.

He had recognized the first cry as Aurélie. Fear should never touch her pretty, light vocals. It practically broke him in two to hear her, and when it was shortly followed by Hael’s cry, his heartbreak doubled. Zevulun called out with a ravaged bellow, letting them know he was coming; that he would do everything he could to see them safe.

The pale stallion charged through the great hunks of falling ice, little knicks on his skin already from where the larger pieces had pelted him. A particularly large one smacked his neck and made him swerve and kick out by instinct, but nothing could deter him from the path he was on. “Aurélie!” He shouted her name with all the panicked need he felt to see her safe as he charged onto the scene where Hael was turning about to get them toward a safer direction. He made his way to Aurélie’s side, hoping he might act as even a slightest blockade against some of the elements as they went for safer shores. Zevulun would take every piece of hail that would otherwise batter into her; he would be pulled back and away by the increasing strength of the wind as the funneling clouds formed behind them… anything and everything, he would rather himself go than Aurélie. “I’ve got you,” he managed to say above the wind (or he hoped it was loud enough while not shouting at her), “Let’s get to Hael.” He pushed at her shoulder to guide her off in the direction their daughter was.

He wasn’t sure where their son was, but there wasn’t time to stop and look around for him, as much as that broke him to realize. Right now, Aurélie was his priority, especially when he noticed a particularly ugly mark across her poll that made his stomach drop.