Post by BuckskinSoul on Jul 6, 2006 15:04:21 GMT -5
It was a chilly, misty day when four fates collided
head on.The meadow rang with a mixture of frenzied hoof and paw steps. A large buck, suited with a golden pelt and branch-like antlers, bolted through the wide open space with both fear and determination in his eyes. The great grey wolf had attacked his home- the buck had led him away in this race for life.
The wolf followed closely on the buck's tail- jaws parted in exhilaration, already tasting his hot flesh. The rest of his hunting patrol had given up and gone home when the cluster of deer had spooked. But not he. He was tired of channeling the old and weak. He wanted this feisty buck.
The pair looped and barreled through the meadow, sending groups of grazing horses running off, startled, here and there. For a few moments, the buck had a commendable lead, and he veered around a bend of trees lining the edge of the meadow to almost crash into a grazing black horse.
The horse raised her large head in surprise and annoyance as her lunch was interrupted. Beside her grazing patch was an old heap of Destroyer rubbish- glass and concrete and other unknowables. From the pile came a yowl,
"You alright Blackhoof?"
And soon the white head of a scavenging tom poked out at the top of the mini mountain.
It was at this point the panting wold rounded the bend- blood lust in his golden eyes. The buck stood straight. Cat and horse looked on in shock, horse pawing at the soil, cat lowering its belly.
The wolf knew his lunch was lost when he saw a horse. Bringing down an adult buck was feat enough- but aided by a thousand plus pound horse and a hissing ball of teeth and claw? No way.
The white tom hissed.
"Be gone you mangy beast or taste out fury- this is not your place."
The animals stood awkwardly. What the tom had said was not really true. The wolves had no place. Neither did the cats, horses, or deer. They just wandered in the great question of what freedom really was.
"Oh yeah?"
The silver canine growled in a low, rocky voice, fur bristling.
"Well then whose is it?"
The horse stuck her charcoal head out; being th most contemplative of the foursome, she offered, "It's no one's. It belongs to the Soil and the Sun and the Moon an-"
"Have you been stargazing to long?"
The buck interrupted, having regained his breath, the wind plastering his body in drying sweat.
"The deer live in chaos- moving around like vagabonds. The wolves feed off of us and we have no order to combat them with us!"
He shot a truly venomous glance at the now sitting wolf.
"We are what we are"
The wolf shrugged, still looking hungry.
"And don't tell me the horses live in a perfect society- look at you! Grazing all alone out here by this rubbish- open to predators like HIM and who knows what else!"
At the mention of the sitting canine the buck pointed with a fierce jab at him with his antlers.
"Watch where you swing that thing buddy"
The wolf replied, tilting his head in a manner implying that he was in control.
"Watch where you stick your stinking, blood-stained muzzle, you dog!"
The buck retorted, fury billowing in her dark eye. To call one a dog was a particularly low comment, seeing as the dogs of earth had been dumbed down to sniffing low lives by the destroyers. This was especially crushing to a wolf, seeing as they were distantly related.
The air crackled with tension between prey and predator.
The white tom broke the silence as he slid down the rubbish heap and meowled.
"Well the whole issue here seems to be power, now doesn't it? This can be easily solved. I am Whitefire."
He looked at the other with thoughts crackling in his blue eyes as he waited for the others to offer their names. He had been thinking as wolf and buck chewed each other out.
"Blackhoof to you"
Wickered the mare curiously. She knew Whitefire well, and knew that he had something big in his paws.
"Plato."
Barked the wolf.
"Solark"
Snorted the buck.
"Now then,"
Meowed Whitefire, padding over to sit next to Blackhoof and Solark.
"What if our families had someone to lead them. What if ever wolf, deer, horse and cat were lead by their own idol? Think of the possibilities"
All the animals did.
"Now think of what we could do. We could make this new world of ours a great effort of... freedom."
The words rang from Whitefire's jaws.
He always was one for words
Blackhoof thought.
"But wait"
She neighed
"Then we would be right back to square one!- dictatorship.... war... slavery...."
The words hung heavy and painful on her maw. Her mother had never felt anything like love for her. She had no love left. She had only.. "work".....
The others listened thoughtfully but Whitefire bristled,
"But don't you see? the Destroyers are gone! The destroyers CREATED slavery and all that... we will keep it from coming back! If we don't take charge, someone worse WILL."
Blackhoof listened with doubt lingering in her dark eyes.
Whitefire yowled in exasperation
"It won't happen again because... you will lead the horses! YOU! see? It's foolproof! Each of us will lead our own kind to a glorious new era... to freedom!"
The doubt fled from Blackhoof's eyes to be replaced by fear.
"Me?! Whitefire you must be joking- I'm pregnant and you know it!"
Plato glanced at the mare's swollen belly- he had merely thought her fat. But Plato's previous hunger had been replaced by a new sort that had nothing to do with eating.
Solark cut off Blackfire with one decisive statement.
"We will rally our own. We will precede the Destroyers with a greatness never conceived."
And such was the Great Revelation.[/center]
