The Balinor Chronicles
Chapter Four: Tarnished Air
This Chapter is dedicated to horsefeathers75.
Not long after the tragic tale of Izquierda and Derecho, or perhaps even at about the same time, another two unicorns fell to the Mare's trap of romance. This time, there were two different herds, two different ranks, and several different places.
Eneusis a younling from the Herd of Hephaestus. His liquid silver mane contrasts with his deep bronze coat and gives the appearance of a dark brown unicorn with a white mane, from a distance. He has bronze hooves and a bronze horn with a piece of tortoiseshell as a gem. It is a nice look overall. He is weaned, playful, and pretends not to miss his dam, even though he does. But Thaya doesn't know that last part; she just knows what he looks like as she hides behind a small outcropping of rock.
Thaya is from the Herd of Aeoleus. She is neither pretty nor graceful and ran away from home as soon as she could. Her pale blue coat is the color of the sky on a hot summer day, and her mane and tail form the clouds, both in color and in fluffiness. Her marble hooves and horn aren't graceful, but they add a certain touch to the lump of turquoise that serves as her jewel. She has been watching the Herd of Hephaestus for a while, but she's still not sure if they'll accept her. Her logic had told her to run to Orcinus, being Aeoleus's twin and all, he ought to take her in, but after the whole Derecho and Izquierda scandal, Thaya doesn't want to go there. So she waits and watches and hopes that no one sees her hiding behind the outcropping of metal-rich stone.
The Herd of Hephaestus lives, like all Herds, in a meadow, but theirs is located at the base of mountain. The resulting rocks mean lots of games for foals and a hiding place for Thaya. Thaya doesn't really care for the mountain, but at least there is a boundary. The meadow of the Herd of Aeoleus just stretches on and on and is rather monotonous. It is also pain to run away from, being so flat, Thaya reflects. At least she got away. After all she was going to have to….
Thaya would love to spend more time reminiscing on the past, but her mind is forced back to the present rather hurriedly by a young foal that comes bounding around looking for one of his companions. He stops in fear at the sight of the blue mare, and then lets out a terrible scream, as if she was hurting him or something. But the scream does its job, and the guard stallions come running over to protect their young from the evil Aeolean unicorn. Eneus is among the guards and is startled by the sight of the blue unicorn. All his life he has grown up around metallics and browns and silvers and bronzes, but this mare is so different, he almost runs into the stallion in front of him.
The stallions are running fast and hard for whoever catches the intruder will be the new favorite of Hephaestus, but they are no match for the mare. She is from the Herd of Aeoleus, after all, and nothing, no matter how hard it tries can beat the wind.
Thaya runs hard and fast and deep into the night, long after the stallions have slowed down for fear of stumbling. Thaya doesn't need eyes to know what lies ahead of her, and she blows along the ground like the autumn wind.
Eneus has drifted to the side of the pack, far out of earshot. When he is certain he isn't being followed, he takes off full speed again, for he fears nothing except losing the blue mare, the mare the color of the sky, the mare who runs like the wind and is probably too far ahead to catch, but Eneus still doesn't want to lose her, so he gallops with reckless abandon.
Thaya is too far ahead to be caught, and she knows that so she slows down to a walk. She is very depressed and doesn't know were to turn. She has lived all her life in a herd and her one hope was that Hephaestus would take her in. But perhaps it was a foolhardy hope and now she has nothing to cling to as she wanders aimlessly on the dark moonless night.
There is one particular math problem that teachers delight in torturing their students with. It goes something like this: If Train A if moving 1 mile an hour and Train B is 25 miles and hour and there are 40 miles in between the two, at what time will Train B overcome Train A? Well, of course, there are no trains in the Valley, but if we compute the problem, then the answer turns out to be: Sometime in the Middle of the Night. (The Middle of the Night is an actual time. It lies right in the area when it is either to late to be out or too early to be up, and if something ever happens during the night, it happens at that time.)
So, a little after midnight, or perhaps a lot before dawn, Eneus, Stallion from Metal, finally caught up with Thaya, Mare from Wind. At first, Eneus didn't approach the beautiful mare. He just watches her, afraid that she would run off again if he came closer. She, completely oblivious to his presence, drops her head to drink from the stream. Her mane falls forward and Eneus is reminded of the long streaky clouds that appear in the sky on fair days. Although she is not as flirty or as graceful as the young fillies in his herd, Eneus feels his heart flutter for this blue mare and wants nothing more than to sidle up and nuzzle her. He nervously takes a step forward and instantly regrets it, for his metal hooves clang on the hard rock of the river bank. The mare starts and almost runs but doesn't. Eneus, who was actually expecting her to run, plows straight into the blue mare and the two of the tumble into the river.
The current isn't strong, nor is the water deep, so the two stand there, drenched in cold water and shivering in the dark of the moonless night. The silence is broken by the harsh sarcasm of Thaya's voice, "Smooth, Genius."
"Actually, I'm more of a shaggy dunce."
Thaya just stares at the dripping stallion.
"It's supposed to be a joke…although not a very funny one, I guess…" Eneus trails off, unsure of what to do now that he has finally caught up to the mare.
Thaya shakes her head and clambers out of the water, and Eneus follows close behind. Thaya can't believe it, but she almost feels something for this stallion who chased her all the way from the base of the mountain, all the way to the river… Once again her train of thought is broken but this time it by the realization that she is halfway back to Aeoleus's Herd, and must leave, now.
Eneus sees that concern on her face and asks what's wrong.
"I ran away, and I'm not going back," Thaya replies, "If I do, I have to mate with Aeoleus."
Eneus stares at her incredulously. "I don't know much about the Aeoleans," he acknowledges, "but all the young mares in my herd are clamoring to mate with Hephaestus."
"Yeah, I would too," Thaya admits, "But he's so…. Old. It's disgusting, I mean, I'm just a yearling, and he's hundreds of years old, and he wants me to mate with him and I don't even know him and it's just wrong." Thaya pauses for a moment. "But I just don't know where to go now. I can't go back, your herd doesn't seem very receptive, and I just don't think that Oricinus would be a very good idea."
"What about Terrenus?"
"He's all the way on the other side of Orcinus. I'd never get there before being caught."
"You could take the long way, circling around the Valley."
"Wind doesn't stand a chance in the mountains. We need flat spaces to get up to speed."
Any further conversation is cut off by a sudden gust of wind that blows manes, tails and grass everywhere. Looking off into the distance, Eneus can see a massive stallion running hard in the direction of his home Herd. Thaya says one word.
"Aeoleus."
"I didn't realize that a unicorn could run that fast."
"Wind Lord, remember?"
"Oh, right. Now what?"
"I don't know." Thaya panics, "I'm toast once he finds out that I came this way."
Eneus's eyes go wide. You can almost see the candle above his head. "The mountains. You said it yourself. The wind doesn't stand a chance in the mountains. It'll take him ages to find us, plus we have hundreds of cave to hide in. Come on!"
Thaya takes off after Eneus, slightly surprised that her 'I' has become Eneus's 'we,' and is even more surprised that she doesn't really care. Just as the sun clears the tree line, they reach the base of the mountains. By high noon they are roaming the range, when they come upon a crystal clear, perfectly round pool of water in the middle of a meadow. Thaya speaks first.
"Eneus, what is this place?"
He hesitates before giving an answer. He eyes the small trickle of water that goes into the pool, and the slightly larger stream coming out that falls down a waterfall. "I think," He says, "that this is the start of the river."
"Eneus, this place doesn't fell right. Let's leave."
The stallion doesn't budge, but stares into the water as if hypnotized. "Eneus, please." Thaya is almost pleading now; she wants so desperately to leave. Eneus still doesn't move. Thaya nuzzles him and catches sight of the image in the water.
It is a young filly, a piebald of many different colors. She had brilliant red-orange and a pale green mixed in with a sort of dark, mottled silver. She prances about, running here and there. She pauses, as if being called and then runs over to the mare who must be her mother. Thaya gasps. The dam is blue, with a white mane and tail.
Another unicorn trots into view. He is bronze, with a silver mane. He nuzzles the mare, who Thaya knows must be herself, and all three turn and seem to stare at Thaya and Eneus.
A breeze disturbs the clearing. It gets stronger and stronger until it is a full-blown gale, and the duo know that Aeoleus is coming. They hear hooves approaching. A unicorn breaks into the clearing. And then Eneus and Thaya plunge into the water, and they go to the place where Aeoleus cannot follow.
In short while, Thaya is with foal. It is a filly, a piebald one. Thaya names her Rouille, and she is, in fact, the filly from the water. Her copper hooves and horn oxide green in the rain, her metallic coat rusts red. Her jewel of pure silver tarnishes in the air.
In the years to come, Thaya is still not sure why they went into the water. Eneus comforts her, saying that Aeoleus was right behind them. Perhaps he is right. But until her death, Thaya is firmly convinced that the unicorn behind them was white.