It had been the weather that had drawn him out, or so he thought. The warm wetness of a spring shower had darkened his coat, made the blood red markings of his face and throat look far more fresh than they were. The rain made him edgy, the pressure of the shifting clouds an invisible weight on his spine. He could look toward the far off horizon where thunder rolled occasionally, and think of the last time he had seen his mother. She had been thunder and lightning and little else by then.
With the rain came restlessness. An itching need to move that he succumbed to with little resistance. What was the point in delaying relief? Besides, it was too long since he'd ventured out from kingdom walls, a structure he had yet to acclimate to. So long he'd wandered on his own, it was some days a fight to remember that he needn't wander any longer.
The grey drizzle persisted as he walked. When the staggered trees seemed so suddenly to converge over his head in a patchwork canopy, his body dripped with the moisture he'd collected. The rustle of leaf and needle underfoot seemed quieter beneath the patter of drops on the forest, his motions ghost-like in their passing. How often was it he felt like a ghost; silent, watchful, the impression of a horse that was and would like to be again.
That his thoughts dwelled on spirits seemed prophetic when in the next moments it was a pale figure that loomed in the dark. He was not as careful as he should have been, let a hoof come down on a brittle stick that cracked sharply in the gloom. A startled snort and a few hurried steps ensured that if the twig hadn't given him away, he was surely known now. The stranger's voice came low but clear through the spatter of droplets against the loam, and the sunset maned stallion found himself cautiously obeying their command.
"Fine weather we're having." He rasped, in a tone flat as milk. He stood near enough now to be polite, just out of the elder's reach. There was something timeless about this fellow, in the bleached nature of his coat and the lifetime of crosshatched scars that scattered through it. Raul had long since grown into himself, a burly stallion who favored his rugged father in build. Perhaps that made it easier to recognize that this ghost he had come across was far older still.
@[Larva]
With the rain came restlessness. An itching need to move that he succumbed to with little resistance. What was the point in delaying relief? Besides, it was too long since he'd ventured out from kingdom walls, a structure he had yet to acclimate to. So long he'd wandered on his own, it was some days a fight to remember that he needn't wander any longer.
The grey drizzle persisted as he walked. When the staggered trees seemed so suddenly to converge over his head in a patchwork canopy, his body dripped with the moisture he'd collected. The rustle of leaf and needle underfoot seemed quieter beneath the patter of drops on the forest, his motions ghost-like in their passing. How often was it he felt like a ghost; silent, watchful, the impression of a horse that was and would like to be again.
That his thoughts dwelled on spirits seemed prophetic when in the next moments it was a pale figure that loomed in the dark. He was not as careful as he should have been, let a hoof come down on a brittle stick that cracked sharply in the gloom. A startled snort and a few hurried steps ensured that if the twig hadn't given him away, he was surely known now. The stranger's voice came low but clear through the spatter of droplets against the loam, and the sunset maned stallion found himself cautiously obeying their command.
"Fine weather we're having." He rasped, in a tone flat as milk. He stood near enough now to be polite, just out of the elder's reach. There was something timeless about this fellow, in the bleached nature of his coat and the lifetime of crosshatched scars that scattered through it. Raul had long since grown into himself, a burly stallion who favored his rugged father in build. Perhaps that made it easier to recognize that this ghost he had come across was far older still.
@[Larva]