Fright or Flight: Blade pt2

When Blade awoke the next morning, he was met with an unfamiliar world. Light rain trickled down through the thick forest canopy, like a dome held up by the many trees surrounding him. Everything around him was dark and damp. The storm may have passed but the rain remained. He was just glad it wasn’t colder. Cold and wet were a horrible combination.

Shaking off the water that had collected on his coat, Blade considered his next move Ultimately he knew that he wanted to go back. He wanted to return to his humans, where there was a warm dry stall waiting for him, hay, oats and loving pats. He longed for home. But which way was it? He hadn’t exactly had any sense of direction when he ran out there. He’d been terrified, running blindly through the forest. He was lucky he hadn’t tripped on something in the dark. Definitely not the wisest of actions.

“So stupid,” the stallion muttered to himself.

He was lost in the middle of nowhere without anyone to help him. Was Jane worried about him, was she out looking for him. That thought cheered him a little. Jane loved him, of course she’d be looking for him. She wouldn’t leave him out there alone. Now if only he could figure out which way to go to make it easier to find him.

Blade scented the air and tried to listen for any signs of humans. If he found humans, he might be able to find Jane. But from there, he found nothing. He truly was in the middle of nowhere, or out the middle of woop woop as his humans would say. He would have to start walking. With a sigh, he tried to head back the way he thought he came from.

One hoof in front of the other, he moved through the forest in search of anything that looked familiar. He passed by trees, rocks, bushes and more as he went. He even jumped an old log, despite being sure that he didn’t do that the night before. Or did he? It was a bit of a blurr. He wandered on and on, grazing on the little bits of grass growing out of the forest floor as he went. He might not know the way back, but he wasn’t about to let himself starve.

The drizzled rain continued as he walked, the small glimpses that he could see of the sky were nothing but grey and more grey. The mud that had splashed over his legs all the way up to his belly during his mad dash through the thunderstorm, had dripped off during his sleep with help from the light rain, only to be returning as he trudged on. Dark brown mud collected over his hooves and ankles, so much so that you couldn’t even see his front white socks. He hated mud. He was going to enjoy getting hosed down and lovingly groomed after he got back. He vowed that once he was home safe and sound, he would never complain about the farrier touching his hives again, just to be free from this muck.

On his way, Blade stopped by a strange tree. It had obviously been blown over by a previous storm some time ago and had landed against the branches of another tree, but it hadn’t let that stop it. The blown over tree didn’t die, instead it had kept on living. The branches of both trees had grown to be intertwined in an impressive display of weaving colours of bark. The sight was something to behold. He’d never come across anything like it in his whole life. Despite the storm knocking it down, it had kept going. Feeling encouraged by the thought, Blade kept moving. His own storm had been a setback, but he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He would press on and find his way back.

Forging on with renewed hope, the almond stallion looked forward to being back in his stall by nightfall. He couldn’t have gone that far in one night, surely he could make it back in one day. He was smart and resourceful, he could do this.

Morning slowly bled into what Blade presumed must have been midday. He still couldn’t see the sun, but the rain had finally stopped. He must have been getting close.

That’s when he saw something interesting: intertwined branches. Curious, he stepped closer. It was like the trees he’d seen before. What were the chances of seeing two trees that had continued to grow together? Wait… He frowned. What were the chances of that? He trotted around the trees. There in the mud was another set of hoofprints. His hoofprints.

He slammed a hoof on the ground and screamed, “I went in a huge hoofing circle!!”

Nearby a crow sat on a branch and laughed. “Pretty horsey doesn’t know where to go. Guess he’ll be lost forever. Ha ha ha ha!”

Blade snorted. “Why don’t you buzz off and bother someone else?”

“Why go anywhere else? I’ve got all the entertainment right here,” the crow cackled.

He didn’t have time for this! He needed to get back. Jane and even Phoenix would be worried about him.

“Which way to go in all the ways yet none of them will lead you home,” the crow sang in a horrible voice.

“Shut up, bird,” growled the stallion, looking left and right. Snorting, he shook his head, frustrated tears welling up in his eyes. He was well and truly lost.