Watching from the Shadows: Chapter 16

It had felt like a millennia since everything had changed.. since everything had gone wrong.

After the death of Casmir Evadne had taken charge of the herd alone, and had lead it for several long years, and even refused to back down when arthritis had sunked into her old bones, old age had hit her hard and it wasn't any longer than a year before she had become very sick, but still refused to retire.. no matter how much her two foals, who were no longer foals, begged her to.

She had always tried her hardest to ignore her sickness and age, continued to try and hide it from her fellow herd mates, even though they all knew and all tried to take it easy on her, but she still led them well despite all her health issues.

She passed the last few months before the cold season came.

Of course she would always be missed, missed and loved and remembered. Both Brisa and Lares, and probably the rest of the herd, didn't think she would have made it through winter.

Brisa had taken charge of lead mare since the passing of her mother. She had offered the role of lead stallion to her brother, but Lares had refused and said that spot should be left for the 'special someone' as he had put it, before shooting his sister a teasing look.

The young mare had never understood what he had meant, but then a few years later she had fallen for a lone stallion, he had no herd or group to reside to, and he would meet with Brisa every night for as long as she felt she could leave the herd alone for.

It wasn't long before she had offered the loner, named Cherokee, a place among the herd.. beside her, and he didn't hesitate in accepting the offer.

He was introduced to the herd the day of his joining, and the herd happily accepted him as their leader alongside Brisa, and seemed to feel overjoyed that the herd was finally healing after so many haunting and devastating years since the birth of Teival.

They had several new members of the herd since Brisa's reign had taken ahold.

It included two young mares, younger than Brisa, they had both joined from the outside, they had left their old herd to start their own life elsewhere, claimed they wanted to see more of the world, but turned out the life of loners just hadn't suited them.. and had seeked out a new herd to join.

The other two?

Brisa let out a small smile as she walked through the herd, it was late and all were preparing to lie down for the night. She came to a halt at the two bundles who were curled up in the middle of the throng.

The young mare smiled proudly at the two young foals.. her foals, the two sons of her and Cherokee and the future leaders of the herd.. Traveen herd was finally going to have a strong line of leaders, who would lead the proud herd through the years to come.

The mare lifted her head from nuzzling the two to look up at the hill, the silhouette of her mate standing up at the top brought another smile to her face as she trotted up to him, the both of them butting heads affectionately and rubbing against one another.

Brisa couldn't be any happier, the dark times had past, and though she knew that more hard times were to come, right now she was going to enjoy life with her new family and proudly lead and protect her herd with her life, and make her mother and all other past Traveen members proud.

Of course what had happened was never going to be forgotten.. all that Teival had done would never be brushed under the dirt and forgotten, no horse alive at this time would forget the winged horse who had brought nothing but darkness and terror to Traveen.. He had taken so many lives..

Eris..

Ceres..

Casmir..

Possibly more than that, especially if he had never been stopped.. It was the bite of a snake, one of the most feared creatures of the herd, who ended his reign of terror..

Who would have thought it? A highly venomous animal, an animal looked upon as a demon and something parents taught young to fear.. saved the day..

Brisa would never understand the relationship Teival and Shetani had, she would never know how the two came across each other and why they ended up becoming companions to the other..




The lead mare came up beside Cherokee's side, overlooking the herd who were starting to lie down with one another, some already asleep.

Teival would never be forgotten, nor would Shetani, and Brisa didn't plan on forgetting them, their stories would be told down to every generation, the two individuals will become history, but she wouldn't tell of them in fear.. But quite the opposite..

No matter how much wrong Teival had done she would never look down on him like a vile criminal, but more of a scared, terrified horse who's life had been carved by his father's cruelty, by the bullying of the other foals and neglectful behavior from the other horses..




Turned a once innocent foal, into a revengeful villain.