Fright or Flight: Blade pt4.1b

Dawn rose over the land bringing with it light and birdsongs. The stallion sighed at the noise. It wasn’t the songs he was used to. He missed home. Stepping out of his makeshift shelter between two trees, Blade stretched his legs and shook out his coat, trying to free himself from the feeling of his sides rubbing against the bark. He glanced down at his knees, they were grazed and still a bit sore, but not too bad. They’d be better if he rested, but he couldn’t rest, not when he still had to find his way back to his humans.

Glancing around, he figured out which way he believed he must have come from the night before and took off in the opposite direction. Rehashing old ground wouldn’t do him any good, even if he was headed the wrong way, it was still better than running around in circles.

He wandered through the forest, the dappled light landing on his light coat, once freshly groomed, now dirty and soiled. He was starting to fear that he would be out there alone forever.

Later that day, the forest finally came to an end. In front of him lay an open meadow, grass going on and on, larger than any paddock. A stream trickled through it one one side and Blade eagerly headed towards that. He hadn’t had a proper drink of water since he’d left.

As he was headed towards the stream, he noticed a small herd of loshenkas. He stopped short. They hadn’t seen him yet since they were all grazing. He didn’t know these horses, were they friendly? Would they try to chase him off? What should he do?

The choice was taken from him as the buckskin stallion lifted his head from grazing and looked in his direction. The other two suddenly lifted their heads as well. They all looked at one another for a while until the classic champagne mare whinnied in greeting and started in his direction. Alarmed, the other two moved to block her way.

Blade wasn’t sure what to make of this small band. Perhaps he should leave now while he still could. If they weren’t all that friendly, he’d be better off getting away before anything happened. He didn’t mean to be trespassing.

The buckskin stallion suddenly lowered his head in defeat. The white mare didn’t exactly look happy either, but the three loshenkas did seem to be moving slowly in his direction. Blade took a step back. They didn’t look hostile, but he was far from home and all that he knew. He wasn’t sure what to think of all this.

“It’s okay, we mean no harm!” called the champagne mare.

“Just don’t try anything,” he caught the white mare grumble under her breath.

The trio stopped some distance away, but close enough to chat, the stallion taking the front with the smaller champagne mare at the back, as if the others were protecting her.

“Hi,” the other stallion greeted. “You on your own out here?”

“Uh, yeah… I’m a little lost right now and trying to find my way home? Or at least back to something familiar?”

“Oh maybe Winter could help you, she knows a lot of places,” offered the champagne mare.

The white mare, presumably Winter, replied, “Yeah, I do. What’re you looking for, blondy?”

“Fox Forest Showgrounds, I was there with my humans but uh, we got separated and I got lost out here.”

Winter snorted, nostrils flaring as she reared up a little. “You’re a human horse! Be gone from us.”

“Woah, hey now,” calmed the buckskin, “The humans aren’t here and he doesn’t mean us any harm.”

“He’s a fool if he wants to go back to them,” she hissed.

Blade snorted, ears pinned back. “Yes, because wanting love and care is so evil, isn’t it? I want to go back to my food and person. I want to go back to the life I’ve always lived. The only life I’ve ever known and the home that I have.”

“I don’t—”

The buckskin cut Winter off, stepping in front of her as he addressed Blade. “Hey, it’s okay. I get it, you want to go home, back to the familiar. We all want that, but sometimes we can’t. Sometimes all we can do is move on. Maybe you could stay with us?”

“Scout,” Winter hissed.

The buckskin ignored her and smiled. “My name’s Scout and this is Wren and Winter. What’s your name?”

“Blade.”

“A weapon, of course,” Winter muttered, rolling her eyes.

“What’s a blade?” Wren asked, leaning her head on Scout’s back to look at Blade.

“Well, it’s a sword,” Blade replied. At her blank look he continued, “A sharp piece of metal.” The look of confusion remained. “Um, it’s shaped like a thick blade of grass that’s made of something stronger than rock.”

“Humans generally use them to hurt other people,” snorted Winter.

“Why would they do that? Do they not like them?” Wren asked.

Winter pawed at the ground. “Sometimes. Like horses they often battle over land, food, females or just because. They use things like weapons to fight.”

“Oh… Does that make you a good fighter, Blade.”

“No,” he snorted. “I don’t fight. I was trained for showjumping. That’s what I was supposed to be doing with my human before the storm the other day.”

“So, Blade, would you like to stick around? I don’t know if we can help you find that forest place you wanted, but we can offer company,” offered Scout.

“And friendship,” added Wren.

Blade thought it over. Scout and Wren seemed friendly enough, but Winter seemed to have beef with him just because he came from the humans. It was tempting to stay, but as Scout said, he might not be able to help him find it. They were wild horses who avoided humans, while he wanted to return to them.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Thanks for the offer, but I need to get back to my human. She’ll be worried about me, I can’t just leave her.”

“I understand,” replied Scout.

“So you’re leaving?” asked Wren with puppy-dog eyes.

“Yeah, I need to keep going.”

“Well, if you’re that determined, head off in that direction,” Winter flicked her head to point. “The human settlement is over that way, maybe you’ll find what you’re looking for.”

Blade smiled. “Thanks.”

Perhaps the wild horses weren’t so bad after all. Still, he needed to return before they thought he was missing forever.

“If you change your mind, we’ll be here for a few days,” said Scout, nudging the mares. “Good luck finding your human!”

“I hope you find them!” called Wren.

“Bye,” muttered Winter, turning to go back to her grazing.

“Thankyou,” Blade called back, feeling more hopeful than he had when he woke up that morning. He had a lead on which way to go, along with fresh water and grass. Today was shaping up to be a good day.