The Magical Herd

You sit by the spring, not sure where to go next. The longer you sat, the cooler the evening became. Soon a slight mist was rising off the waters bubbling up from the earth. You had no idea how long you had been sitting there, but the rock beneath you had become very, very hard. Just as you were about to get up, you heared the sound out trills, whistles and clicks. Without daring to breath you watch as three Samanayr leave the cover of the woods to play amongst themselves on the other side of the spring.

Finally you had to shift your position, the rock had become just too uncomfortable. You try to do it with the least amount of movement and sound, but you were unsuccessfull. With a shrill whistle, the white stallion in the middle spread his wings aggressively to protect his mares. The striped one turned her hindquarters in your direction, ready to fight. Only the brown and green one seemed more interested than afraid. The stallion spoke first. "You ayre on our teyrritoyry. You cannot take any of us, human!" He moved closer, his sandy mare following him. The third just walked back and forth taking a good look at you. You explain you had no intention of taking them, that you wouldn't even dream of it. The sandy one seemed to accept your story, the brown mare prepared to cross the spring to get closer. But the stallion prevented them. "Why should we believe you?" He questioned. "Because my siyre and I tyrust that human," a familiar voice said.

It was Mark of the Fire Opal. The stallion settled down. "I tyrust yRubies of the Puyrest Ivoyry......so long as he does not come into the teyrritoyry of my Song." FireOpal~Mark nods at the stallions statements. "He says the same thing about you. He tyrusts you so that he decided that I can join youyr Song." The stallion puffs himself up proudly. "Good! I was suyre he would." FireOpal~Mark goes up to nuzzle her stallion. He turns to you next. "I am Unfuyrling of the Blooded Shadow, and these are my mares Dune of the Sunswept Deseyrt and Pine of the Shyrouded Woods." Pine was the curious one. The moment you cross over the spring, she trots up to get a closer look. "You do not look so teyrryfying," casting a sideways glance at her stallion. He glares silently. "You may call me ShroudedWoods~Pine." You knew that was an honour and you thanked her. The stallion sniffed, so FireOpal~Mark nipped him on the shoulder to make him behave. It was obvious that he loved her as he loved the others. He behaved. Dune of the Sunswept Desert then allowed you to use her callname as well. "I am not afyraid of anything, oyr anyone," she added, holding her head high. You ask if they were all from the Song of the Rainbow Hotsprings. You note that the portal had returned after the Amanayr had left. The stallion nods, "All of us, except foyr Mark of the Fire Opal." Ah, so he even referst to his own mares by their formal name. That's probably why he wasn't allowing you to use his. Though his English was perfect aside from his accent, there was a lot in common between the two Sam stallions which share these bordering territories. You ask about his beautiful wings. He spreads them to show them off. "I am a Samanayr-Lamanayr cross. Lamanayr ayre Samanayr with wings basically. And we can inteyrbyreed." By now it was dark. The Song mutually agreed that you could sleep on the soft pine needles and leaves within their territory during the night. That they would be sleeping nearby and would watch over you as well, so long as you returned the favour if you noticed something going on. And so you lay back and feel asleep beneath the trees, staring at the stars between the branches, listening to the lullaby of the wind through the leaves. Statistics Name: Unfurling of the Blooded Shadow Gender: Stallion Parents: Wild Song: Song of the Blood Shadow Name: Pine of the Shrouded Woods Gender: Mare Parents: Wild Song: Song of the Blood Shadow Name: Dune of the Sunswept Desert Gender: Mare Parents: Wild Song: Song of the Blood Shadow February 2001