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He looked down the path, and seen only\nthe shadows from the large oak trees and heard the wind sighing through the\nbranches. With a soft whinny, the horse pulled at the reigns.\n\n \"Hey - now stop that!\" Sir Kathis grunted, as he restrained his impatient\nmount, slapping it sharply on the neck. \"You head the lady, its too\ndangerous to go through the forest at night, and I'm inclined to believe\nher. After all, we've sought that Dragon for what, twenty years now? For\ntwenty years, it's always managed to stay one step ahead of us, but I\nsuspect my friend, our journey will soon be at an end. It can run, but it\ncannot hide forever. You may be able to see in the dark, but I can't.\nBesides, I think a night before a warm fire in the shelter of her cottage\nsounds like a dream of heaven, compared to spending it cuddled up beside you\nin a dark grove!\"\n\nWith a pitiful whinny, his horse nudged him again and tried to pull away.\n\n \"I do not know what's gotten into you, but this foolishness will stop this\ninstant, do you understand me? We're staying here tonight, and you'll do as\nyour told. I'm sure a big, strapping stallion like you isn't afraid of a\nlittle Doe? Or are you?\" Sir Kathis unbuckled the straps that bound the\nstallion's heavy plate armor on.\n\n With a grunt, he lifted it off and set it near the cottage wall, then\ncontinued to remove the horses heavy armor and almost as heavy combat\nsaddle. Grateful to be rid of the burdensome weight, the horse whiffled and\nshook itself, and Sir Kathis noted the large dark sweat-marks on the horse's\nbody. Now normally, he wouldn't pay much attention to it, but these\nmarkings were not caused by the armor or saddle and as he ran his hand\nacross the stallion's flanks, he felt it shudder and without warning, the\nstallion reared, his foreleg's pawing wildly at the air as his reins snapped\nand he bolted off into the dark forest.\n\n \"Hey - get back here you useless, ah, the hell's with you. Idiot!\" Sir\nKathis shouted after the Stallion.\n\n Returning inside, he removed his own heavy full plate armour, piling it\nneatly in a corner then he stretched, feeling his aching muscles flex and\nripple beneath the sweaty padded armour he had worn beneath the heavy plate.\nGiving the stew a stir, he walked quietly across to Jessica's bedchambers,\nand then he paused. Even through the solid door, he heard the young\nWhitetail's anguished sobs, and he hesitated, before he knocked politely.\nOnly her sob's answered him and he frowned in concern, then opened the door\nand walked in. Jessica lay in the foetal position in her small, narrow cot,\nclutching her knees tightly to her chest as the tears streaked down her\ncheeks. He moved to her side, then knelt and tenderly touched her shoulder,\nfeeling her flinch at his touch.\n\n \"Go away - \" Jessica wept.\n\n \"Milady, I fear I can not do that. If I have said or done something to\noffend you, I am terribly sorry. I.my manners were not befitting my\nstation, and I should have had more courtesy for you.\"\n\n \"Just.go away and leave me.\" Jessica sniffled. \"What do you care? You're\non some.some grand quest for your.King. What need have you to concern\nyourself with the likes of a lowly peasant, who wishes only to be left alone\nin her woodland home?\"\n\n Sir Kathis recoiled at the bitterness in her voice, but he fought down his\nown anger and gently rolled the Doe onto her back and took her shaking\nhoof-paw in his.\n\n \"Milady, please - I am on a quest, that is true, but my quest is noble and\nwill ensure peace and happiness throughout the lands. I.I know the King\nseems far removed from the sufferance of the common-folk, I see it every\nday. How the Nobility gets fat and rich at the expense of the peasants they\noppress..\"\n\n Jessica whimpered and dabbed at her eyes with her dress hem, then blew her\nnose and stared at him.\n\n \"I do not know your pain,\" Sir Kathis admitted. \"Yet, I do not wish too,\nunless you yourself are free to speak of it. If you are, then I give you my\nword, as a Knight of the Realm, what you say to me will be for our ears\nalone. Think not of me as a Knight of the King, but as.as a..\"\n\n \"A what?\" Jessica sniffled. \"As something I can never be? Are you so blind\nby loyalty and honour that you cannot see beyond the mere shell that I am? I\nonce believed - yes, I once believed in good, justice and honour. I too,\nwas once of the high-born, just like yourself.but it was all taken from me\nin a single night, my mate put to the sword and murdered by some Knight.a\nKnight.much like yourself..\"\n\n As her anger began to rise within her, Sir Kathis gasped and turned away,\nhis face paling as her words seared through his mind.\n\n \"You - you were high-born?\" He breathed, as he glanced back at her, a new\nvisible respect for her, as he turned and knelt on one knee, his head bowed\nin obeisance and humility. \"Milady, forgive my brashness, I had no idea, and\nbeg your pardon for the slur on your honour.\"\n\n Jessica sniffled and turned away from him, a choking sob escaping her.\n\"Yes - I was High-born. Both my beloved and myself were. We had it all,\nhonour, glory, riches beyond count, yet we never once gave ourselves to the\nopulence of the human way's, their grand; opulent lifestyle, how they trod\nthose beneath their high and mighty station, so that they could get ahead in\nthe Lord's and Noble's court.. No. We wanted none of their filth, their\nbaseless and decadent lifestyle. It was because of this, that my beloved\nset out to find us a new home. Somewhere far from the crass human's and\ntheir immature, apathetic lifestyle. We found that home - woodland far from\nhere, and it was there, that we made our new home. We turned our backs on\nthe King's, Queens, Noble's and Knights - we left that world behind us, and\nbecame honest, hard working peasants, stripped of our titles, ranks and\nriches.\"\n\n Sir Kathis knelt speechless, letting the openly crying Doe unburden her\nheart.\n\n \"You can not begin to imagine my pain, nor would I expect you too.\" Jessica\ngrowled. \"You are probably so enamoured of your precious King..\"\n\n \"Milady - please, speak with respect for our Lord..\" Sir Kathis grated, his\nanger rising.\n\n \"He is not my Lord, not now - not since it was by his hand, his human hand,\nthat signed the death warrant for my beloved.\" Jessica shot back scathingly,\nturning back to stare into the stunned Knight's eyes. \"Yes - it was by your\nprecious and untouchable King's hand, that signed away the life of my\nbeloved, as if we were but pawns in some chess game he played with those\npathetic, fawning Nobles, who bowed and scraped, grovelling like dog's at\nhis feet.\"\n\n \"I will not listen to such slander against our King!\" Sir Kathis roared, as\nhe leapt to his feet.\n\n \"Sit down!\" Jessica whispered.\n\n Before he knew what was happening, Sir Kathis sat, his body responding\nbefore his brain realised what was happening to him.\n\n \"You've had a glimpse of the fist within this furred glove, Sir Knight.\"\nJessica sniffled. \"Pray not to glimpse my full powers.\"\n\n \"You.how did you - \" He began.\n\n \"Be silent and listen.\" Jessica spoke softly, wiping away her tears with\nher hoof-paws. \"I know this will not be easy for you to hear, but you must.\nIt was by your King's hand, that he signed away the life of my mate. Why\ndid he do it? Simply because my mate and myself refused to bow before him,\nto cower like dog's at his feet, to hang on every word and whim of his\ndesire. We turned out backs on him and his decadent court, we left\neverything behind, and made a new life for ourselves.\"\n\n Jessica sniffled and a convulsive sob shook her.\n\n \"I thought, with all my heart and soul, that at last, we had found the one\nthing that we craved for ourselves. Our freedom. For once in our lives, we\nwere free - free to pursue our lives how we saw fit. It was because of our\ndefiance, your King ordered the assassin to hunt down and murder my mate in\ncold blood.\"\n\n \"I - I can not see how his Majesty would - \" Sir Kathis gasped, his face\npale, voice barely a whisper.\n\n \"You can not see, because you have had the wool pulled over your eyes. You\nand dozens of others like you, all blindly tied up with honour, goodness and\nvirtue. Let me ask this of you - what good is such if it costs you not only\nthe life of the one you love, but your very soul? All the riches in the\nKingdom mean nothing, when you do not have the other half of your soul to\nshare in it. Oh, do not get me wrong, I am not adverse to wealth, indeed -\nI once had more wealth than I knew what to do with, but when I lost my mate,\nI left it all behind me. It meant nothing to me, it still means nothing to\nme, as without him, the one love of my life, the other half of my shattered\nsoul, it is nothing. Tell me Sir Knight, have you ever loved? I mean -\ntruly loved some one? Been willing to die to protect them from harm?\"\n\n Sir Kathis remained silent, his head bowed. Jessica sighed and rolled away\nagain.\n\n \"No - I can sense from your reaction and scent you have not. Then truly,\nyou cannot encompass my grief, my words mean nothing to you. No. I would\nnot wish the pain I bear to be inflicted upon anyone, it is my penance for\nmy crimes, and I must suffer it alone.\"\n\n Dismissed, Sir Kathis stared at the back of the sobbing doe for a few\nmoments, then his head bowed, brow furrowed as thoughts and feelings surged\nthrough his mind, he quietly walked back out into the main room and slumped\ndown into a chair, where he stared vacantly into the fire, thinking on that\nwhich Jessica had told him, weighing his own beliefs against all that she\nhad said.\n\n He did not notice as the Doe's bedchamber door opened silently, and Jessica\nstood in the doorway, facing the back of the troubled Knight. Her hoof-paws\nraised and from them fell pale, smooth sand that trickled through her\nfingers, as she whispered softly, her other paw weaving in an intricate\npattern. Her eyes were fixed on Sir Kathis as she intoned the spell, but\nsomething reflected the dying firelight off her muzzle; her eyes had changed\nfrom deep woodland brown, to bright, metallic silver, like twin pools of\nliquefied mercury.\n\n Sir Kathis blinked, then his body went limp and his head slumped onto his\nchest and he slept, overcome by the spell that had been cast over him.\nJessica lowered her paws and sighed softly, then brushed past him and\nslipped out into the darkness.\n\n\n*\n\n\n Outside, Jessica stared up into the glittering heavens and she sighed, then\nraised her paws and began to chant in a low, wavering voice. All around\nher, the trees sighed and murmured amongst themselves, as a coldness swept\nover the clearing in which her cottage lay. Here and there, eldritch\nvapours materialised and danced like capricious ghosts, blending and\nswirling through the glade, as the fog rose in their silent footsteps, and\nwithin moments, blanketed the grove in a thick, pea soup.\n\n In the centre of the fog, Jessica stood, head bowed as she shuddered and\nthen looked up, and moved purposefully through the fog, which parted\nmagically before her, then closed behind her again, seemingly swallowing the\nyoung Doe into it's icy embrace.\n\n\n*\n\n\n Sir Kathis' stallion reared and snorted, its ears flat, nostrils flared and\neyes rolling as it watched the fog swirled and eddied amongst the trees,\nbarely seen ghostly forms dancing and weaving through the trees as they\nherded the stallion further and further away from the cottage and his\nmaster. At last, the Stallion found himself backed into a dead end, a fatal\nprecipice at his back, nothing but small, scraggly trees and the\nimpenetrable fog before him. Cackling and whispering, the eldritch forms\nformed a semi-circle before the stallion, and he whinnied in panic, tossing\nhis proud head and pawing in terror at the ground, his entire body shaking\nwith his dread and trepidation. He'd bravely fought Dragon's, he'd seen more\nwars and skirmishes than was his want, but never in his life, had the\nstallion ever felt such terror. This was beyond his capabilities to\ncomprehend - and it was this fear that even now, paralysed him with\nindecision.\n\n\n*\n\n\n From out of the swirling mists, Jessica strode purposefully - appearing as\nif a ghost herself. Angrily, the Stallion's ears pasted flat and he snorted\nwarningly, but Jessica showed no fear as she approached the stallion. If\nanything, a look of sadness was in her eyes, which turned the stallion's\nblood to ice water in his veins. He reared, snorted and pawed at the air,\nwarning her away, but Jessica only sighed, then stopped a bare handful of\npaces away.\n\n\n \"I am sorry,\" Jessica sniffled, as she clasped her paws before her and\nlooked into the eyes of the Stallion. \"You know why I must do what I must,\nI wish it had never come to this, but I can not allow you to divulge my\nsecret. Please, do not struggle, I do not wish to make this any more\npainful than it will already be, yet I will try to make it quick. You are a\nproud, brave and noble creature, your only mistake, was coming to my forest,\nbut I do not blame you.but now you know of me, and I can not allow you to\nleave. I am so sorry..\"\n\n She raised her hoof-paws to the sky and the fog swirled in around both her\nand stallion..\n\n\n*\n\n\n There was an equine's shriek of mortal terror, followed by a sickening\ncrunching of breaking bones and the skittering of hooves on stone followed a\nmoment later by a heavy silence.\n\n\n*\n\n\n As the fog swirled and parted, it revealed the gravel spattered with blood,\nthe loamy soil torn and ravaged, small shrubs broken and bent - but there\nwas no sign of the Doe, or of the brave stallion..\n\n\nTo Be Continued.\n\n", "writing_bbcode_parsed": "
Fire and Ice II
Chapter II - A Thorn Amongst The Roses
© Cederwyn Whitefurr (Aka: Anthony Wain)
July 2003.
All Rights Reserved.

 Sir Kathis stood beside his trembling mount, and then stroked its neck
soothingly as he sighed.

 "Now you big oaf, what's gone and gotten you so upset?" He admonished his
loyal mount of many years.

With a whiffling snort, the horse nudged him and flicked its head back
towards the now dark forest path.  He looked down the path, and seen only
the shadows from the large oak trees and heard the wind sighing through the
branches.  With a soft whinny, the horse pulled at the reigns.

 "Hey - now stop that!" Sir Kathis grunted, as he restrained his impatient
mount, slapping it sharply on the neck.  "You head the lady, its too
dangerous to go through the forest at night, and I'm inclined to believe
her.  After all, we've sought that Dragon for what, twenty years now? For
twenty years, it's always managed to stay one step ahead of us, but I
suspect my friend, our journey will soon be at an end.  It can run, but it
cannot hide forever.  You may be able to see in the dark, but I can't.
Besides, I think a night before a warm fire in the shelter of her cottage
sounds like a dream of heaven, compared to spending it cuddled up beside you
in a dark grove!"

With a pitiful whinny, his horse nudged him again and tried to pull away.

 "I do not know what's gotten into you, but this foolishness will stop this
instant, do you understand me? We're staying here tonight, and you'll do as
your told.  I'm sure a big, strapping stallion like you isn't afraid of a
little Doe? Or are you?"  Sir Kathis unbuckled the straps that bound the
stallion's heavy plate armor on.

 With a grunt, he lifted it off and set it near the cottage wall, then
continued to remove the horses heavy armor and almost as heavy combat
saddle.  Grateful to be rid of the burdensome weight, the horse whiffled and
shook itself, and Sir Kathis noted the large dark sweat-marks on the horse's
body.  Now normally, he wouldn't pay much attention to it, but these
markings were not caused by the armor or saddle and as he ran his hand
across the stallion's flanks, he felt it shudder and without warning, the
stallion reared, his foreleg's pawing wildly at the air as his reins snapped
and he bolted off into the dark forest.

 "Hey - get back here you useless, ah, the hell's with you.  Idiot!" Sir
Kathis shouted after the Stallion.

 Returning inside, he removed his own heavy full plate armour, piling it
neatly in a corner then he stretched, feeling his aching muscles flex and
ripple beneath the sweaty padded armour he had worn beneath the heavy plate.
Giving the stew a stir, he walked quietly across to Jessica's bedchambers,
and then he paused.  Even through the solid door, he heard the young
Whitetail's anguished sobs, and he hesitated, before he knocked politely.
Only her sob's answered him and he frowned in concern, then opened the door
and walked in.  Jessica lay in the foetal position in her small, narrow cot,
clutching her knees tightly to her chest as the tears streaked down her
cheeks. He moved to her side, then knelt and tenderly touched her shoulder,
feeling her flinch at his touch.

 "Go away - " Jessica wept.

 "Milady, I fear I can not do that.  If I have said or done something to
offend you, I am terribly sorry.  I.my manners were not befitting my
station, and I should have had more courtesy for you."

 "Just.go away and leave me." Jessica sniffled.  "What do you care? You're
on some.some grand quest for your.King.  What need have you to concern
yourself with the likes of a lowly peasant, who wishes only to be left alone
in her woodland home?"

 Sir Kathis recoiled at the bitterness in her voice, but he fought down his
own anger and gently rolled the Doe onto her back and took her shaking
hoof-paw in his.

 "Milady, please - I am on a quest, that is true, but my quest is noble and
will ensure peace and happiness throughout the lands.  I.I know the King
seems far removed from the sufferance of the common-folk, I see it every
day.  How the Nobility gets fat and rich at the expense of the peasants they
oppress.."

 Jessica whimpered and dabbed at her eyes with her dress hem, then blew her
nose and stared at him.

 "I do not know your pain," Sir Kathis admitted.  "Yet, I do not wish too,
unless you yourself are free to speak of it.  If you are, then I give you my
word, as a Knight of the Realm, what you say to me will be for our ears
alone. Think not of me as a Knight of the King, but as.as a.."

 "A what?" Jessica sniffled.  "As something I can never be? Are you so blind
by loyalty and honour that you cannot see beyond the mere shell that I am? I
once believed - yes, I once believed in good, justice and honour.  I too,
was once of the high-born, just like yourself.but it was all taken from me
in a single night, my mate put to the sword and murdered by some Knight.a
Knight.much like yourself.."

 As her anger began to rise within her, Sir Kathis gasped and turned away,
his face paling as her words seared through his mind.

 "You - you were high-born?"  He breathed, as he glanced back at her, a new
visible respect for her, as he turned and knelt on one knee, his head bowed
in obeisance and humility. "Milady, forgive my brashness, I had no idea, and
beg your pardon for the slur on your honour."

 Jessica sniffled and turned away from him, a choking sob escaping her.
"Yes - I was High-born.  Both my beloved and myself were.  We had it all,
honour, glory, riches beyond count, yet we never once gave ourselves to the
opulence of the human way's, their grand; opulent lifestyle, how they trod
those beneath their high and mighty station, so that they could get ahead in
the Lord's and Noble's court..  No.  We wanted none of their filth, their
baseless and decadent lifestyle.  It was because of this, that my beloved
set out to find us a new home.  Somewhere far from the crass human's and
their immature, apathetic lifestyle.  We found that home - woodland far from
here, and it was there, that we made our new home.  We turned our backs on
the King's, Queens, Noble's and Knights - we left that world behind us, and
became honest, hard working peasants, stripped of our titles, ranks and
riches."

 Sir Kathis knelt speechless, letting the openly crying Doe unburden her
heart.

 "You can not begin to imagine my pain, nor would I expect you too." Jessica
growled.  "You are probably so enamoured of your precious King.."

 "Milady - please, speak with respect for our Lord.." Sir Kathis grated, his
anger rising.

 "He is not my Lord, not now - not since it was by his hand, his human hand,
that signed the death warrant for my beloved." Jessica shot back scathingly,
turning back to stare into the stunned Knight's eyes.  "Yes - it was by your
precious and untouchable King's hand, that signed away the life of my
beloved, as if we were but pawns in some chess game he played with those
pathetic, fawning Nobles, who bowed and scraped, grovelling like dog's at
his feet."

 "I will not listen to such slander against our King!" Sir Kathis roared, as
he leapt to his feet.

 "Sit down!" Jessica whispered.

 Before he knew what was happening, Sir Kathis sat, his body responding
before his brain realised what was happening to him.

 "You've had a glimpse of the fist within this furred glove, Sir Knight."
Jessica sniffled.  "Pray not to glimpse my full powers."

 "You.how did you - " He began.

 "Be silent and listen." Jessica spoke softly, wiping away her tears with
her hoof-paws.  "I know this will not be easy for you to hear, but you must.
It was by your King's hand, that he signed away the life of my mate.  Why
did he do it? Simply because my mate and myself refused to bow before him,
to cower like dog's at his feet, to hang on every word and whim of his
desire.  We turned out backs on him and his decadent court, we left
everything behind, and made a new life for ourselves."

 Jessica sniffled and a convulsive sob shook her.

 "I thought, with all my heart and soul, that at last, we had found the one
thing that we craved for ourselves.  Our freedom.  For once in our lives, we
were free - free to pursue our lives how we saw fit.  It was because of our
defiance, your King ordered the assassin to hunt down and murder my mate in
cold blood."

 "I - I can not see how his Majesty would - " Sir Kathis gasped, his face
pale, voice barely a whisper.

 "You can not see, because you have had the wool pulled over your eyes.  You
and dozens of others like you, all blindly tied up with honour, goodness and
virtue.  Let me ask this of you - what good is such if it costs you not only
the life of the one you love, but your very soul?  All the riches in the
Kingdom mean nothing, when you do not have the other half of your soul to
share in it.  Oh, do not get me wrong, I am not adverse to wealth, indeed -
I once had more wealth than I knew what to do with, but when I lost my mate,
I left it all behind me.  It meant nothing to me, it still means nothing to
me, as without him, the one love of my life, the other half of my shattered
soul, it is nothing.  Tell me Sir Knight, have you ever loved? I mean -
truly loved some one? Been willing to die to protect them from harm?"

 Sir Kathis remained silent, his head bowed.  Jessica sighed and rolled away
again.

 "No - I can sense from your reaction and scent you have not.  Then truly,
you cannot encompass my grief, my words mean nothing to you.  No.  I would
not wish the pain I bear to be inflicted upon anyone, it is my penance for
my crimes, and I must suffer it alone."

 Dismissed, Sir Kathis stared at the back of the sobbing doe for a few
moments, then his head bowed, brow furrowed as thoughts and feelings surged
through his mind, he quietly walked back out into the main room and slumped
down into a chair, where he stared vacantly into the fire, thinking on that
which Jessica had told him, weighing his own beliefs against all that she
had said.

 He did not notice as the Doe's bedchamber door opened silently, and Jessica
stood in the doorway, facing the back of the troubled Knight.  Her hoof-paws
raised and from them fell pale, smooth sand that trickled through her
fingers, as she whispered softly, her other paw weaving in an intricate
pattern.  Her eyes were fixed on Sir Kathis as she intoned the spell, but
something reflected the dying firelight off her muzzle; her eyes had changed
from deep woodland brown, to bright, metallic silver, like twin pools of
liquefied mercury.

 Sir Kathis blinked, then his body went limp and his head slumped onto his
chest and he slept, overcome by the spell that had been cast over him.
Jessica lowered her paws and sighed softly, then brushed past him and
slipped out into the darkness.


*


 Outside, Jessica stared up into the glittering heavens and she sighed, then
raised her paws and began to chant in a low, wavering voice.  All around
her, the trees sighed and murmured amongst themselves, as a coldness swept
over the clearing in which her cottage lay.  Here and there, eldritch
vapours materialised and danced like capricious ghosts, blending and
swirling through the glade, as the fog rose in their silent footsteps, and
within moments, blanketed the grove in a thick, pea soup.

 In the centre of the fog, Jessica stood, head bowed as she shuddered and
then looked up, and moved purposefully through the fog, which parted
magically before her, then closed behind her again, seemingly swallowing the
young Doe into it's icy embrace.


*


 Sir Kathis' stallion reared and snorted, its ears flat, nostrils flared and
eyes rolling as it watched the fog swirled and eddied amongst the trees,
barely seen ghostly forms dancing and weaving through the trees as they
herded the stallion further and further away from the cottage and his
master.  At last, the Stallion found himself backed into a dead end, a fatal
precipice at his back, nothing but small, scraggly trees and the
impenetrable fog before him.  Cackling and whispering, the eldritch forms
formed a semi-circle before the stallion, and he whinnied in panic, tossing
his proud head and pawing in terror at the ground, his entire body shaking
with his dread and trepidation. He'd bravely fought Dragon's, he'd seen more
wars and skirmishes than was his want, but never in his life, had the
stallion ever felt such terror.  This was beyond his capabilities to
comprehend - and it was this fear that even now, paralysed him with
indecision.


*


 From out of the swirling mists, Jessica strode purposefully - appearing as
if a ghost herself.  Angrily, the Stallion's ears pasted flat and he snorted
warningly, but Jessica showed no fear as she approached the stallion.  If
anything, a look of sadness was in her eyes, which turned the stallion's
blood to ice water in his veins.  He reared, snorted and pawed at the air,
warning her away, but Jessica only sighed, then stopped a bare handful of
paces away.


 "I am sorry," Jessica sniffled, as she clasped her paws before her and
looked into the eyes of the Stallion.  "You know why I must do what I must,
I wish it had never come to this, but I can not allow you to divulge my
secret.  Please, do not struggle, I do not wish to make this any more
painful than it will already be, yet I will try to make it quick.  You are a
proud, brave and noble creature, your only mistake, was coming to my forest,
but I do not blame you.but now you know of me, and I can not allow you to
leave.  I am so sorry.."

 She raised her hoof-paws to the sky and the fog swirled in around both her
and stallion..


*


 There was an equine's shriek of mortal terror, followed by a sickening
crunching of breaking bones and the skittering of hooves on stone followed a
moment later by a heavy silence.


*


 As the fog swirled and parted, it revealed the gravel spattered with blood,
the loamy soil torn and ravaged, small shrubs broken and bent - but there
was no sign of the Doe, or of the brave stallion..


To Be Continued.

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