Wordcount: 329 words
Rating/Warnings: PG
Summary:

Previous | Index | Next

~*~*~*~*~

The Hidden Storm

Wendy got back to camp just as the fight was winding down. Riley, Moonstar and the Black were crowded around the back of the red-white wagon, the grey-green bodies of something half-scales and half-fur littered the ground in front of them. Wendy tried not to look at the bodies, or at the horses’ hooves. Instead she kept her eyes on Riley’s face, waving as soon as she was within sight, trying to catch the child’s attention.

“Wendy!” With a bound Riley was down, out of the wagon and running across the gory clearing. Sobbing, the girl flung herself into Wendy’s arms, and she swung the child up into a hip carry, heading towards the red-white wagon and the survivors slowly emerging from its protection.

“You knew this was going to happen,” this time she didn’t bother hiding the fact she was talking to the unicorn. “You knew this was going to happen and you didn’t tell me.”

“I knew something was going to happen, I didn’t know it would be rockdogs.” The unicorn stepped away from the wagon, favoring his right foreleg. “There was no point in telling you, what could you have done?”

And the answer was nothing, but she could have at least been there. “Why didn’t you warn anyone?”

“I did.” Moonstar snapped at her, ears pinned back. “Over and over and over. I’m a horse, what did you expect them to do? They treat me like an animal, a thing and I am no THING.” And that ancient thunder was back, drowning out the world around them, sending people scrambling back into the wagon even as the Black lunged forward, throwing himself between the unicorn and Riley.

For a heartbeat they stood there, the smell of lightning and rain rolling over the campsite as the two stallions glared at each other. Then it passed, and Moonstar was a horse again, tired and bloody and limping away from the wagon, ears pinned back and stonily silent.

~*~*~*~*~

Previous | Index | Next