Carthage had seen the storm clouds across the shallow sea earlier that day, giving him time to counsel his herd to take shelter before it hit. It had seemed large even from the large distance across the water between the storm system and the northeastern coast of the Ridge. The storm had made a show of its landfall. Lightning cracked across the sky in jagged streaks. They stretched down so far that Carthage wondered if they might strike the ground. Rolling thunder throttled the air with the force of its percussion.
Carthage wagered that the storm had been raging or an hour or more when something drew his attention. A flash of something hued like gold lit up when the lightning zig-zagged across the dark sky once more. Red irises narrowed upon the shape. He crept forward, camouflaged further in the darkness--his blood-dark body rendered black in the downpour. A bugling call blasted through the sound of the heavy rain. The voice that had been familiar to him once intrigued him, drawing him in. By chance, it only took him a minute or so to reach her: Snapdragon in all her half-drowned, self-righteous glory with a babe on her hip.
His dark ears flicked, spraying rainwater in fat droplets from his head. Dark forelock plastered to the side of his face, Carthage cocked his head slightly as he came closer to the buckskin mare. A quick glance toward the surrounding jungle revealed no sign of Finley, the stallion she'd foolishly chosen those years ago. His crimson eyes returned to her form, a half-smile pulling at his dark lips. "Snapdragon," he said, addressing her with an amused curiosity.
"What brings you by?"