Snowswept Loner

[yaruka]

Thambaroo caught up to Mullara just as she propped to a sudden halt. Being heavier he was not quite as fast or nimble while running through the snowgums but he too had enjoyed the chase. She called him softly and he trotted over to her with his ears pricked forward. He rested his head briefly on her neck then raised it to look at what the dun mare had found. Another hidden valley, but this one was much larger than his own and by the looks of it, inpenetrable. In fact, it reminded him of the likes of the legendary Thowra's secret hide out. Excitedly he looked at Mullara "I wonder if there is a way down?" he said, feeling as though he were a young colt again, a young colt ready for adventure. His body tingled with excitement as he contemplated the fun and the security the two of them might have if they could find an entrance to this hidden flat.

[Corowa]

Mullara backed away from that high edge, the sheer wall of rock dropping down into the gully below . “I might know of one,” the mare said, trotting to where the hop scrub and heather grew at its thickest. Picking her way carefully over the shaley rocks, nerves tingling, the mare shied sharply when a flock of gang gangs shrieked from the gully below. With a shrill scream of fear, Mullara disappeared over the shelf of rock and slipping and rolling, the mare slid down the precipitous gully. Faster and faster the dun brumby mare slid. Digging in her hooves she tried to keep upright, but there was ice beneath the snowgrass, and discs of it flew from her hooves. Then she leapt from beneath that high ledge, gathered her legs under her and vanished over the edge. There was a sickening jolt when she didn’t land squarely on the thin rim of rock, and then there was snowgrass, wet springy snowgrass underfoot.

Shaking all over, Mullara caught her breath, gingerly tried each leg as she trotted further down the flat and her call echoed round that hidden flat. Thambaroo, the mare called again, and this time, she threw her call over those high steep cliffs, and it was the call of a horse to its mate.

OOC: lol, i'm such a drama llama

[yaruka]

OOC:lol drama llama
Thambaroo stepped after Mullara as the mare searched for a way down the cliff. He nickered to her to be careful, watching with some concern as she made her way down a narrow path. He followed her, carefully placing each hoof on a firm tussock of grass. Just then a flock of gang gangs flew up and Thambaroo tossed his head in surprise. When he looked ahead again he saw Mullara disappear over the edge. With a cry of horror he bounded forward, forgetting all sense of caution for himself. He heard her hit the bottom with a sickening thud. Shaking, he peered over, searching desperately for his mate but worried about what sight might greet his eyes. He whinnied desperately, voice tremulous. Just then her call met his ears and his breath caught in his throat with relief. She was alive!
“Are you ok?” he whinnied anxiously, pacing on the tiny ledge. How was he going to get down there?

[Corowa]

Mullara whinnied frantically, and really started to run. Galloping over the snowgrass, the mare slackened her speed where the snowgrass merged with thick bush. A ghostly forest of Alpine Ash surrounded her, and Mullara threaded through those tall, slender trunks. Further in the candle heath and wattle made a living tunnel, and the mare jumped when a thin curtain of old-man’s moss touched her trembling ears. Here the wattle thickened and the mare sneezed, backing hastily out of that swirling yellow blossom. Beneath the wattle was a half-hidden trail, leading up the steep and shaley spur, an old brumby track.

Blowing noisily through her nostrils, the mare picked her way carefully up the steep path, her legs tangling in the fallen branches, half-stumbling, half-falling and all the while moving steadily upwards. Slowly, slowly Mullara crept, remembering that terrible sensation of flying through the air. Rain fell in a misty drizzle, and sweat broke out behind her ears as she struggled on up the steep spur of rock. Digging her hooves into rough clumps of snowgrass, the mare moved upwards, back and forth, the path growing steeper each time.

Then that great steep spur gave way to a shallow grassy basin, and the mare gave a rasping neigh, breath sobbing, shaking all over. “Thambaroo,” she whinnied, stretching out her neck to coax the gentle white stallion to follow. “I have found the way down.”

[yaruka]

Thambaroo spun around in surpise and delight when he heard Mullara's voice from somewhere to the right. He hurried over to her, nuzzling her anxiously all over head and behind her ears, nickering all the while in a mixture of relief and reassurance. I have found the way down," said the dun mare and Thambaroo felt some of his previous excitement return. If they could make a home and hiding place in that valley what a release that would be.... "Are you go to back down?" he asked.


OOC: not the best post, sorry!

[Corowa]

Mullara returned Thambaroo’s anxious snuffling with a gentle nuzzle. “Do not be so worried,” she said. If there was a brumby drive the entrance to the flat was hidden, and surely the men would be after those elusive silver brumbies, whose cunning and swiftness were known by man and horse alike. Yet Mullara trembled, thinking of that rough, narrow brumby track, winding its way down the steeply dropping hillside to the grassy flat below.

“I shall return, and you with me,” Mullara said, giving the stallion a swift nip. “This is the only way to higher country and the only way to the hidden flat. Man will not find us there.” With that the mare threaded through the hop scrub and dense heather, each hoof placed with care, and behind her the silver-white ghost of a stallion followed.

OOC: We’ll make this the last post in this thread so that I can post with Mullara/Yaraan. I just put Tham as following to tie it up neatly.