On the road from Drandmir to ShadowMist
8/26/2002 2:02:00 PM
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As Dawn began to caress the face of the sky with delicate, rose-tipped
fingers, a raven-maned apparition made her way swiftly with a silent
catlike tread from tent to corral, invisible as wind within the
shadows. Confined within the corral constructed of nothing more than
thin wooden posts and slender silken line, a herd of small but mighty
Lovara hotbloods were placidly breaking their fast, grazing
contentedly upon the tender green grass with its dewdrop mantle. Two
battle mares, Jezebel and Mirage, stood silent sentinel untethered
next to the corral, keeping watchful eyes and ears over the herd
within - midnight and the moon, side by side.
To even the most unexperienced eye, the coralled horses were more
refined than the two battle mares, and slightly smaller. More
experienced eyes would also note the extreme tall carriage and
flashier, more lofty movements, the heads with far more pronounced
dishes (characterized by a bulging Jibah at the foreheads) and fine,
tapered muzzles with velvety soft mouths. The coralled horses were
longer in the back with a slight saddle-back appearance, tails set
high upon the hindquarters and carried completely upright, streaming
like proud banners behind them. They were very deep in the barrel and
forehand with broad forearms and a serpentine, swanlike neck. Their
shoulders were very prominent with long withers and very clean boned
straight legs. Without a doubt, the coralled horses were far more
high spirited and flashy. In comparison, Jezebel and Mirage had
the unmistakable looks of enduring athletes and warriors. They were
veritable portraits of power and speed, the epitomy of endurance and
stamina, yet with very quiet dispositions.
Aurora Shena Tale'Sedra stood in the shade of an enormous, venerable
and ancient tree for many long moments, watching the mares with a
loving gaze, before greeting them with a quiet whistle. Jezebel and
Mirage returned the greeting with soft nickers, and the herd in the
coral called with louder neighs. Roar approached Jezebel and Mirage
first, stroking them lovingly, feeding them bits of apples, carrots
and watermelon, snuggling her cheek against the velvety muzzles,
nuzzling their nostrils, breathing their soft warm breath. Then she
stepped lightly into the corral and repeated the ritual with each of
the herd in turn. Ironically, these horses, while being the worst
culls of her Clan's herd, were vastly superlative to the best of any
other horseflesh in the Combined Realms. The price they would
command at the upcoming event would make a king's ransom seem like
nothing more than a mere pittance.
Roar removed each of them from the corral one by one to work in a
smaller round pen of same construction as the corral. Typically,
horses were worked in a sturdily constructed round pen at the end of
a lunge line -twenty or thirty feet of sturdy rope with a foot of
brutal stud chain at the end - and controlled by a whip. Although
Roar had these tools, she left them in a neat pile outside the round
pen, eschewing their use except when they were absolutely necessary,
an instance she found very rare indeed. "Keep It Simple, Stupid",
KISS for short, was her preferred method, in all things. In turn,
each horse was led into the round pen, halter removed, releasing it
move about with complete freedom. Roar stood in the center of the
pen, a simple silken lead rope coiled around her shoulder. Rather
than just being put through their paces, every one of them in turn
danced beautifully with her, being lead purely through eye contact
and an almost imperceptible body language. It never failed to
amaze audiences at these events, who were accustomed to seeing horses
just barely contained by enormous structures of the sturdiest metals
and woods, and just barely controlled by voice, rope, whip and chain.
Of them all, a gorgeous stallion with a silver coat and golden mane
and tail was by far the flashiest and most high spirited; high
spirited to the point of being insanely high strung and crazy-
nervous, in Roar's opinion. However, she knew from years of
experience that those were the exact qualities desired most by
vainglorious royalty and which compelled them to part with enormous
sums. While not nearly as flashy or high spirited, the gray dapple
stallion was Roar's personal favorite out of this particular
herd, a mount she would have chosen for herself or a loved one. He
was everything the pretty boy was not - calm, quiet, willing,
intelligent, a gentle soul with large, soft eyes set well apart, a
small tapered muzzle, and alert ears. These two stallions received
extra attention, as Roar patiently encouraged them through flying
changes and taught them piaffe, levade, pirhouette, courbette, and
capriole. (The piaffe lends itself as a spring for sudden advance;
the levade, a highly collected half-halt for reaching down with a
slash of the sword or an evasion tactic. The pirhouette can be used
to wheel away from or towards the enemy. The courbette, which towers
a horse high into the air, easily disperses foot soldiers. The
capriole, a giant leap into the air, is an effective means of
escape over the heads of the infantry. Flying changes are an absolute
necessity to keep the horse handy and mobile in the battlefield.)
When she was satisfied with the morning's work, she left Jezebel and
Mirage to guard the herd, and returned to her tent to feed her macaw,
Arthur, and to break her own fast. By the end of today's travel, she
would reach ShadowMist. Overwhelming curiosity worse than any cat's
drew her to the tortured kingdom, with its reputation for wild magic
and strange creatures.
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