The Balinor Chronicles: The Celestial Herd
Chapter 14: The Gathering Storm
This chapter is dedicated to the victims of all hurricanes, especially Katrina and the upcoming Ophelia.
In the time after the mixing, yet before the great wars to come, a new generation of unicorns emerged. These were the unicorns who knew no other life than that of rainbow herd. Among these were the Storms.
The Storms were a throwback to old days, created by one who hated the single herd, and joined by those who knew not what the split Valley had been like. The Storms resembled a miniature herd in all but one way: as all offspring of wind or water, the Storms ranged in color from pale blue to almost black, from brilliant hues to almost gray shades. Despite this mixed heritage, the Storms viewed themselves of blood as pure as the Elementals themselves. They scorned those who refused to join them and spent much of their time away from the Herd in the Valley. Inside their own mini-herd, they had their own leader, Boreas, a large water stallion with very little true Orcinus blood. He was a strict totalitarian leader, yet all yearned to follow him.
The formation of the Storms rocked the leaders of the Valley. Even those who did not see where this path would lead were frightened at the sudden separation. Those who did see what the formation of the Storms meant would have wept if they had time. As it was, they did not, for after the Storms, soon the Bonfires, the Surfs, the Ores, and the Comets all wanted to separate themselves. The leaders of the Herd worked tirelessly to prevent this from happening, but sadly, they did not always succeed.
The reason they wept was thus: The Herd, so newly forged, had already broken. Would it fracture more?
olo
Boreas himself had a young, sprightly filly, Avrinna. Avrinna was young, careful, and innocent enough to think that the Storms were just a game.
Boreas' second-in-command was much younger than the ornery leader himself. He was a wind stallion by the name of Zephyr, and his coat was one of the grayer hues of the Storms. He and his best friend, Skwall, had been members of the Storms since they had been allowed to wander by themselves. Boreas had all but adopted Zephyr, and treated him like his own son.
Time passed, as Time is wont to do. Avrinna turned into a beautiful young mare while Zephyr became a charmer. As fate's favorite game is love, the two grew in each other sight. At first they fooled around with their love. Then they held trysts in the dark of night. It was in one of these night meetings that they were observed by one of Boreas' advisors. Although this unicorn (his name, may you mark it, is Lotaringe) was unable to see who she was with, he was confident that the mare was none other than Avrinna. Lotaringe fled before he was noticed and reported, naturally, to Boreas. Boreas managed to control his temper, although he confronted his daughter upon her return. He demanded to know whom she had met. Avrinna kept her silence, but feared her father would soon discover her lover. Afraid she was being followed, Avrinna sent the ever faithful Skwall to warn Zephyr. Zephyr, fearful of Boreas' wrath, fled and hid deep in the mountains, far from Boreas' long reach. He fleeing only served to confirm the leader's suspicions.
Time passed still, as Time is loath to stop. Avrinna, despite Boreas' wishes, would choose not other for a mate, adamant that her heart was broken. Boreas himself was no longer young. Fearful that he would not see his line continue, Boreas finally, at long last, consented to Avrinna's choice of mate.
Avrinna, needless to say, was overjoyed.
She begged Skwall, the only one who knew Zephyr's exact location to find him and bring him back. "Skwall," she called, "tell Zephyr father said 'yes.' Tell him he said 'yes!'"
Skwall was well-known as the fastest unicorn in the Valley, and would have run to the moon if the lady had asked. Skwall ran hard all night, and by dawn, had reached Zephyr's mountain hideaway. Skwall eagerly conveyed his message, and Zephyr set out for the Storms, Skwall running eagerly at his side.
However, Zephyr was large and muscular, and as any sprinter knows, muscle adds time. So the stallion, fearing was much slower than his fast-as-the-wind counterpart. As he traveled, he began to fear an irrational thought; one that Avrinna would stop waiting for him. Therefore, Zephyr implored Skwall to run ahead, and the wind stallion obliged. Skwall ran over the mountains, across the Valley, and through the woods. When he reached the Storms, his flanks heaved, his breath grated harshly, and his grayish blue coat was white with lather. He found Avrinna fretting over Zephyr, oh, what if he found someone else, what if wasn't true, what if and what if and all those other little worries and fears that eat away at you. Skwall found Avrinna, reassured her, and delivered his message.
And Skwall's heart, as big and loyal as it was, gave out.
Avrinna and Zephyr lived long and happy enough lives with the rest of their herd. Still today they gallop across the sky, hooves clattering and scraping on the stone of mountains that once bought them time. Sometimes, in memory of the friend who brought them together, Zephyr and Avrinna run fast, coming in and out in a flash of lightning. Indeed, as storm that comes quickly, stays hard, and leaves just as fast is called a squall.
As for Skwall himself, perhaps he is remembered better than the lovers. As a reward for his loyalty, the Supreme Ruler gave him wings, so that Skwall would never be forced to run along the ground. Still now and forevermore, Skwall runs among the stars.
AN: I am terribly, awfully, dreadfully, appallingly, gallingly, remorsely, exasperatingly, horrifically, insertadjectiverhere-ly sorry for the time that will be occurring between chapters. I assure you, I will not stop. Don't be fooled by the Gaps (pun intended) caused by my intense load of schoolwork. In the meantime, you could check out my poems, written about various topics of Balinor. If you like those, I have some more poems on fiction press .com (the link to my homepage). I also have Eragon poems published on check the profile. If poetry's not your thing, why not try my Harry Potter story? If you like that, check out the Adventures of Stuart Door on Fiction Press, once again seeing the link in my homepage. If you really don't care for that either, I guess you'll just have to twiddle your thumbs until I post the next chapter.