Whether out of a polite manner or merely hoping to keep from offending the Desert King, the tawny-colored mare does not outright rebuke his intrusion. Her displeasure at his presence is clear enough, evident in the backward turn of her raven-tipped ears and the rapid switching of her obsidian tail. However, the golden mare does not bare her teeth at him like Mother often did when his pestering got the best of her limited patience.

The smug grin widens across his ashen lips as the young stallion tosses his head and quickens his pace to prevent the lithe mare from leaving him behind. It is only when they round the path between the dunes of sand that Cahyr realizes how far from the rest of the herd they have come. Sunlight glitters brightly off the surface of the blue-green ocean, the foam-flecked waves stretching far past the shallow waters that surround the island. Gray and white gulls proclaim their defiance, their wings lifting them from the shoreline to hover high above the duo.

The boy’s gait falters. Cream-colored ears pitch forward atop his skull as his eyes dance with first confusion, and then understanding.

She was trying to escape!

Paper-thin nostrils flare as betrayal flashes in his blue-green eyes. Giving his head another toss, the boy lunges forward in an attempt to overtake the golden woman, anger rising in his tone. ”You’re trying to escape! I won’t let you!” he barks, snaking his head forward to let his blunt teeth snap at the woman. When father sees that he has returned a wayward straggler to the herd, he is going to be so proud of him!

Adrenaline courses through his veins as the youth lifts his head now with authority, a renewed sense of purpose weighing each heavily placed step as he fights to get the upper hand.

CAHYR

firebringer son of the Desert sands