Saffron and Foal

Cass patted the side of Lady Justice’s neck, watching the chaos around her for a moment. There’d been a storm on the air the night before but for it to have come in this quickly was unusual. From the way the staff and other riders were running around, clearly some kind of damage had been done, and given the fact the storm was still raging meant there was a good chance there’d be more damage done before the end. 

Justice tossed her head to get Cass’s attention. The steady, rift-blind mare was unbothered by the chaos around her but certainly seemed curious as to its nature. 

“Yes, yes… I’ll ask. It wouldn’t do to be a rude guest.” Cass murmured, running a hand along the darker rift mark on the mare’s neck. 

She reached out and managed to snag one of the Applewoods Orchard’s staff, a young man with dark hair who seemed rather harried but without a clear task or goal. “Excuse me, but could you please tell me precisely what's going on?”  

The man looked flustered at being stopped, his words tumbling out rapidly enough it was almost hard to understand him. “The back fence got smashed. We managed to get most of the mares and foals in, but there’s three missing. We need more hands to…” 

Cass cut him off, already nudging Justice towards the mounting block just outside. “Why don’t you go get on better rain gear before racing off to join the rescue efforts. No point more people risking getting hurt in this if you don’t have to. Back fence, you said?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Do you know how many other hands or riders are already out there?” Cass asked, nudging him along with her for the moment. “Or what grounds have already been searched?” 

“No, ma’am. I just finished getting in the last of the horses we could find, so I don’t know anything beyond we couldn’t find three pairs of them.” 

Cass nodded and swung up onto the cremello mare. “Could you grab me a pair of bridles and lead ropes?” 

“Yes, ma’am.” The man took off in the direction of the tack room, scrambling though the other workers who were getting horses settled or getting ready to go out looking. There never seemed to be enough hands when things went sideways. 

Justice stood by, every now and again her ears flicked in the direction of a particularly sharp sound but she was still otherwise calm. It took more than a bad storm or chaos to rattle her, which was a trait Cass figured would come in handy this time around. Locating a mare and foal in a storm like this was going to take a good deal of luck. 

As soon as she had the bridles and ropes in hand, she turned Justice in the direction of the far pasture and set off at a steady pace. While finding the mothers and foals was important, rushing through a major storm with everyone else already racing around was a recipe for disaster. It would prove far too easy for injuries to occur or something to be missed, but it also wasn’t her place to order people about here and so she’d mind her own behavior and let others do as they would. 

Applewood was certainly taking a pounding from the raging storm. Cass pulled Justice to a halt as several smaller branches and leaves just beginning to turn to fall whipped by them, narrowly missing the rift horse. The visibility was low from the force of the rain and the wind, making the fact Justice was blind almost more of an advantage. She was unlikely to spook at the rapid movements around her, and she was one of the surest footed horses Cass had ever ridden, an adaptation to being unable to see the ground. 

The fence of the far pasture had been a pretty, white wooden fence. Now, a large segment of it was scattered across the pasture or simply gone. It looked like a good gust of wind and part of a nearby tree had been the culprit, but the debris had been cleared enough that the exact cause was no longer apparent. 

“Hey!” Cass called, pulling Justice to a halt. “Where do you need me to go search?”

The cremello rift mare tossed their head, the pouring rain having soaked both of them thoroughly. Her long curly tails swished in the rain and wind and was likely sending water flying, not that anyone was likely to tell at this point. 

“We had a mudslide to the north. We need extra hands that way.” Someone called back, though Cass wasn’t entirely certain who given the storm. 

“Mudslide? Delightful…” Cass murmured as she wiped the water away from her face and turned Justice towards the north. 

The mare once again tossed her head, a protest to the water streaking down her sides and face. It wasn’t the mare didn’t like the water but more the sheer amount of it. Cass couldn’t say she blamed her, leaning over and patting the rift-marked mare’s neck. “I’ll owe you an apple or two when we get back.” 

This seemed to placate the mare, who set off towards the mudslide at a steady pace, picking their way through the mud and uneven terrain with little difficulty. Their lack of reliance on sight was a gift given the sheet of rain in front of them. 

Even in the storm the mudslide wasn’t hard to find. People and horses moved about creating shadows and movement visible in the flashes of the lightning. As Cass approached, Justice steady and calm beneath her, one of the people waved and pointed towards the far end of the mudslide. “That way! We need more people that way!” could be heard just above the storms. 

Cass waved acknowledgement and turned Justice in that direction, trusting the mare’s surefootedness more than her own sight at this point, and Justice didn’t disappoint. Several times the horse’s uncanny ability to read the terrain without seeing it saved them from larger rocks or sudden dips in the muddied path. 

Several yards from where most of the searchers were located, Justice balked, pulling in a direction that would take them towards a different part of the trail. 

“Justice, the rest are that way.” Cass said, trying to redirect the mare, thinking the cremello mare may have gotten disoriented in all the commotion. 

Rather than turn, Justice stamped her rift marked front leg and once again pulled in the opposite direction, this time letting out an annoyed sounding whinny. The mare’s ears turned frantically in that direction. 

Cass readjusted her seat on the horse, brushing soaking wet hair out of her eyes as she allowed the mare to pick the direction. It was abundantly clear to Cass that Justice wasn’t disoriented, she’d heard something, and the demonkin had learned long ago to trust Justice’s instincts. 

The mare lead them down a sidepath that could easily be missed in the rain and as they approached a gaping ravine just visible in a flash of lighting stopped, pawing frantically at the ground and tossing her head in the direction of the crag. 

At first Cass wasn’t sure what Justice was so worked up about, but then she heard the faint, frantic scream of a horse from somewhere in the ravine. “You heard them from all the way back there, didn’t you?” The demonkin asked as she dismounted and started leading Justice towards the steep ravine, relying on the flashes of lightning to see where her feet were going. 

The ravine was deep enough to be treacherous, but not so bad as to be unnavigable if one was careful. Though getting a mare and foal up it was going to prove tricky, particularly if either or both were injured or panicked. 

Justice followed Cass down, moving slowly on the terrain, even the steady mare cautious amongst the rivulets of water running rapidly down the sides. Flooding was rapidly becoming a real risk, and it was a minor miracle it wasn’t already an issue given the amount of rain still falling. 

As they reached the bottom, Cass found herself standing in at least three inches of water, her feet soaking through quickly. Justice gave an annoyed snort, splashing at the water before pulling Cass in the direction the sound of the other horses had been coming from. Now that they were down there, the wind at least was less, the sides of the ravine sheltering them and making it easier to follow the sounds of what Cass was now certain was two different horses. 

A bright flash of lightning lit the area revealing one of the missing mares and foals. The mare was a striking walnut primitive dun with a long rapunzel tail colored through with white hair. The foal, pacing frantically alongside its mother, was an almond color with a white splash across its back legs and rear and dark primitive dun markings on its legs. 

As Cass and Justice approached, navigating the wet and rocky terrain of the ravine, it became readily apparent why the mare and foal were making no effort to get out of the ravine. The long hairs of the mare’s tail were tangled into a thorny bush, a situation likely made worse by the mare's own efforts to get free. 

Cass carefully approached the frightened mare, nearly wiping out on a loose rock. The mare pulled back, too frightened to recognize a friend at the moment. The foal danced alongside, nipping at Cass as if trying to defend its mother. 

“Oh… easy there.” Cass murmured, watching both her footing and the frantic mare. “I just want to get you out of here.” 

Justice, much to Cass’s alarm, started following up along the path. 

“No, go back. It's not…” but by the time the words had left her mouth, the blind mare was already alongside her. 

The cremello mare reached out to the frightened walnut mare, gently touching nose to nose and giving a soft snicker. It took a moment, but soon Saffron… that was the mare’s name, Cass remembered it now… calmed down, occasionally touching noses with Justice as if seeking comfort. The foal, seeing their mother calm down, settled at least a little as well. 

Cass quickly slipped the bridles onto both Saffron and the foal, securing them firmly but in a way that could be quickly pulled free. The last thing she needed was to get Saffron free and have the pair bolt. Plus, once free, she wanted to be able to lead them safely out as quickly as possible. This wasn’t a good situation for either of them. 

Another flash of lightning and a low rumble of thunder had Cass scrambling towards where the primitive dun mare’s silver tail was caught. She loved the long rapunzel tails of the Loshenka most of the time, but in moments like this they were something more of a liability. 

The water around her ankles was rising rapidly as Cass pulled the dagger she wore at her hip and started cutting the hair she couldn’t get entirely free. A part of her hated to do it, but it was better a ragged tail than risk getting caught in the rising water. The hair would grow back. 

Justice kept knickering and whinnying softly to Saffron, both their lighter colored coats standing out in the flashes of lightning. The foal danced nervously at times, but it had been secured close enough to its mother that it didn’t fight or try to run, for all she could see the whites of both of their eyes. The only horse that was still calm was Justice. 

As soon as Saffron realized she was free, she tried to run, but the bridle and secured rope did their job, keeping the primitive dun marked mare in place. The foal, who hadn’t been as quick, almost got tangled in the rope, but a quick grab from Cass kept them from that particular problem. 

“Justice, I’m hoping you can keep them calm….” Cass murmured, patting the cremello mare’s neck in thanks before undoing the ties she’d been using to secure the other two. 

She moved up alongside Saffron and carefully stroked the mare’s nose, taking in the gemstone eyes in a flash of lightning. “Okay, you’re gonna have to not run. Otherwise, we’re not going to be able to get you or your foal out of here. I can’t ride Justice, so we’re all going to have to walk. Got that?” 

Saffron tossed their head, pulling back on the rope as she tried to move up the side. 

Cass tightened her grip, pulling back and snagging Justice’s reins as best she could before realizing the blind mare was looking in her direction with the same calm as before, ears twitching as she pawed her foot into the rising water. 

“Well, okay then. You’re probably the most surefooted of us anyway….” 

Justice seemed to take this as a complement, her pale tail swishing visibly in the dark of the storm. 

Justice started to pick her way through the rapidly flooding ravine and back towards where they came down the sharp embankment. Cass followed, attempting to make sure the other two followed in Justice’s footsteps as near as she could manage. 

Saffron did well enough, but it was harder on the foal. The water was higher and  their little legs couldn’t make the same steps. Several times it forced Cass to slow down and help lift or support the foal across particularly hazardous steps, mostly feeling her way across herself. 

“Good girl, Justice,” Cass said as she came up alongside Justice. The mare had stopped abruptly at what was comparatively the easiest slope to potentially climb out of. The water was running down rapidly, but a flash of lightning revealed a narrow path up that should be manageable for all of them. 

Justice snorted and started picking their way up the embankment slowly, each step of her hooves deliberate. Several rocks clattered down,giving Cass more than enough warning that this was going to be harder than it looked, but after giving Justice a bit of a lead, Cass nudged the foal onto the path up first. The smaller horse had more risk of falling, but also less risk of sending a bunch of rocks scattering and knocking those behind down. 

Plus, Saffron was more likely to follow if her foal was up front. Normally she’d have done things the other way around, but it would be easier to find the mare again if she bolted than locate the smaller foal. 

The trail up was as hazardous as anticipated, Cass and the other two horses narrowly avoiding a fall several times as rocks gave way beneath one or the other of them. The only one who didn’t seem to have much of a problem with the trail was Justice.

Justice reached the relatively solid ground above and gave an encouraging whinny, Saffron answering as she nudged the foal the last few yards up onto the solid terrain. 

Cass breathed a sigh of relief as she regarded all three horses. The rain had just started to let up, though from the look of the clouds it was just a temporary break. 

Cass found a steady enough tree stump and used it to mount Justice, looping both the ropes around and setting off back towards Applewood. Saffron and the foal probably needed drying off, a good meal and some rest, and Justice deserved all the treats in the world.