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Post by Corowa on Nov 26, 2009 10:23:47 GMT
The bay grazed on the shoulder of one snowgrass slope. The stallion wasn’t particularly bothered by stockmen, having seen only one or two, both more interested in their cattle than the bay brumby stallion. There were few mobs of brumbies to the south of the Bogong, and Yallaban recognised each of these by sight. The stallions were young, no more than two or three-year-olds, and their fillies heavily built and stupid.
Yallaban snorted, and raised his head with ears pointed and nostrils flared wide. From the stretch of snowgums to another four miles towards the Snowy Mountains, was his bimble, and he remembered how he had taken it from that bad-tempered grey stallion. The grazing was poor, the land dropping sharply over rough hills of sheer rock, but this was his country and no stockman could better him over it.
Even so, the stallion found himself filled with longing for companionship. In the hut down by the Long Plain, he had seen a handsome black mare in the stockyards, but the high fences had terrified him and even though she had whinnied and whinnied, he had left her behind. There had been two dun fillies, daughters of the grey stallion, handsome enough, and so alike it was only by smell could he tell them apart.
Head up, Yallaban instantly stood on the alert. He cleared his nostrils with a loud snort, and stamped his foot impatiently. Something had startled him, but the stallion could see nothing in the one hundred yards or so of snowgrass slope. In his mind, he thought that it was the two duns, returned to him even though they had been captured in the brumby drive. Yallaban tensed, his head held high and ready to run. Perhaps it had just been something from further north-west, the distant sound of the stockwhip or shout of a man’s voice he had heard.
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Post by ^Firestorm^ on Nov 27, 2009 6:46:48 GMT
Gem entered the clearing slowly, her small hooves barely making a sound on the heavily packed brown earth. She swished her tail curiously, and cocked her ears, trying to detect the sound of any others. She heard none. Gem then lowered her nose to the ground and sniffed at it warily. She smelled other hooves that had passed by, very recently. To that, she let out a piercing whinny. You see, she was on a hunt. A hunt to find a new family.
Gem turned her bright blue eyes to the surrounding trees, waiting... She knew there was bound to be another herd out there. Her reddish hide burned brightly in the noonday sun, like fire.
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Post by Corowa on Nov 27, 2009 8:13:21 GMT
Yallaban stood a moment longer, and with a snort, dropped his head and started to graze once more. Just then, a loud whinny rang out, and he stood alert, listening. The stallion raised his head and turned with sharply pricked ears as he considered the call. His nostrils vibrated, and his excitement increased when he realised it was not one of those plain grey fillies that had called to him.
With a shrill squeal of excitement, the stallion started off at a long springing trot. His nostrils flared, and he carried his head high, his nose pointed in the air. Then just as suddenly, Yallaban put his head down and bucked. There was a ring of white around his eyes, and he was close to bursting with the excitement of meeting another horse -- a mare!
The stallion pushed on downwards, through a narrow band of snowgums, down over the rough rampart, the rock nearly perpendicular in places. Just when the rock became steeper, the stallion halted. The mare stood in a grassy basin below him, sheltered by this great rampant of rock. He whinnied, and his whole body quivered. She was a handsome mare, her coat a rich brown, smooth and glossy.
Yallaban promptly climbed down the side of the sharp incline. The stallion hesitated at the bottom of the hill, and then he slowly advanced. He stretched out his nose to the mare and blew softly through his nostrils in greeting. “I’m Yallaban,” he said proudly. “What brings you so far south of the Bogong?”
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Post by ^Firestorm^ on Nov 27, 2009 10:48:59 GMT
Gem stood before the stallion, her blue eyes gleaming and golden coat burning in the light. She looked at the unknown stallion a bit warily at first, but in the end she nickered and stepped forth to greet him.
"My name is Gem, Blue Gem. As for why I am here, I am here in search of a new family. Ever since my past herd was killed off, I have been wandering alone. I only wish for a herd that will treat me kindly."
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Post by Corowa on Nov 28, 2009 9:35:09 GMT
Yallaban stood and looked the mare over, his head higher than usual and nostrils spread. The mare baulked, until with a nicker, she went to him. The stallion pricked his ears forwards, and shoved her gently with his nose. “I lead no mob of mares,” he said sadly. “The two dun fillies I had run with were both captured in by stockmen in the brumby drive. I was driven alongside them into the stockyards, but somehow in the confusion I cleared the fence and escaped.”
He remembered the sharp crack of the stockwhips and the shouts of the stockmen when he had gathered himself to make the impossible leap. There had been such an irresistible force at work within him, the knowledge he would have to leave those two fillies if he were to escape. The longing for freedom had been so strong, the stallion would have run until his last breath rather than be captured.
“You are welcome to remain and graze with me,” he offered shyly. The young stallions with their grey fillies would be undoubtedly jealous, and Yallaban thought it was time he chased those impertinent colts from his bimble. There was plenty of good grass for a small mob of brumbies, and the thought of other mares, perhaps two duns like the ones he had once run with, filled him with desperate longing.
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Post by ^Firestorm^ on Nov 28, 2009 17:44:43 GMT
Gem gazed at the young stallion happily and went to stand by his side. She nuzzled his shoulder with her nose in thanks, then went to graze. And for the first time in years, she was able to graze without worry. Her pretty blue eyes brightened in joy.
Though she tried to stop the thought from crossing through her head, Gem wondered how long her stay would be welcomed before the stallion would find another mare and try to drive Gem off their land. Her heart ached once again with longing for a permanent home, a permanent valley, that she could call her own for more than a few days.
And with that, she knew. Gem would rather breath her last breathe than have to travel once again as a loner.
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Post by Corowa on Nov 28, 2009 22:09:19 GMT
Yallaban could barely believe what he had heard. To have a mare of his own, the thought made him stand still in surprise. He longed to send his trumpeting neigh over the mountains, to challenge even the mightiest of the Cascade stallions to find a more beautiful mare within their herds. He could still feel the warmth of the mare’s touch, and the sight of her grazing so peacefully beside him made him quiver with the rightness of it all. The stallion grazed nearer to the mare, and stood so their noses touched through the snowgrass. He snorted, and with ears pointed, lifted his head and looked about. Yallaban did not often graze here, so near to the Bogong, and there was usually better grazing further south. “Would you like to see more of my bimble?” he asked suddenly. “If you’re to stay here with me, I could show you where the good snowgrass grows and where to find shelter in the winter storms.”
There was a particularly sheltered and grassy basin, the stallion intended to show the mare. Those two young stallions stayed away from it, and stockmen could not easily find it. He hoped the mare would be content with him. Yallaban had not run with mares for so long, the stallion had forgotten the responsibility of them. It would be his responsibility to find grass, and shelter, to chase off other stallions and watch over their foals.
The greatness of such thoughts shook him, and with a sudden sense of protectiveness, he grazed his way to the front of the mare and stood with nostrils flared. Yallaban realised he would have to fight the two bay stallions soon, but they just young colts and he was much more experienced. They could take their fillies. With such a handsome mare at his side, Yallaban was more interested in her companionship, than that of the four greys.
The stallion squealed sharply, and then swung round to nip at the mare’s heels in the pretence of driving. Yallaban started forwards so she could follow. “Come on then,” he said impatiently. “There’s so much I have to show you!”
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Post by yaruka on Nov 29, 2009 0:44:59 GMT
The stallion and his new mare were watched by more eyes than Yallaban had given credit. Just behind where they now stood the brush concealed a shadowy filly, lightly coloured eyes wide with attentiveness as she took in the other horses' exchange. Imber longed to join in their happy state but the filly was paralysed with shyness and fear, so strongly so that she could not bring herself to step from her cover. Sighing, she had just turned to leave when the stallion's squeal startled her and she broke from her normally silent gait, stepping loudly on a branch so that it snapped with an echo that seemed doubly loud in the peaceful setting of the clearing. Frozen, the filly waited, hardly daring to breathe as she wondered what that tall stallion would do. Recollections of the big black brute who had taken her mother from her flew through her mind as she stood there, breathing suddenly heavier so that she could not make herself silent for all the world.
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Post by ^Firestorm^ on Nov 29, 2009 0:52:50 GMT
Gem lifted her head and and took off ahead, squealing excitedly. She looked back at Yallaban and kicked up her heels, daring him to chase her. "Come on, then!" she nickered.
Gem was heading towards the trees when she heard the steps of another hiding behind them. She slid to a stop and raised her nose to the air, smelling it. Gem cocked her ears curiously when she smelled a filly. She nicked in greeting to the filly, welcoming her out into the open. "Come on out, young one! We do not intend any harm towards you."
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Post by Corowa on Nov 30, 2009 2:39:06 GMT
The mare responded immediately. She shot away at a hard run and showed him a clean pair of heels. The stallion galloped after, and the two horses stretched out like racehorses, Yallaban gaining with extraordinary ease.
The stallion and mare halted together. Yallaban swung around, and strained his nostrils, his ears suddenly pricked forwards. Just then, he caught the unmistakable scent of another horse, and in that same instant, his own mare, Gem, nickered. The stallion stood with head up for a moment, and then moved into action.
Yallaban turned his head towards the chestnut mare and nipped her gently, told her not to make so much noise while he was still so uncertain. The stallion scanned the snowgums for any sign of movement, and all the time he moved his head from left to right as he searched for the mare. Then with a loud snort, he trotted forth to meet her.
The mare was a sleek and handsome black, and the stallion watched her with the most earnest of expressions. She was quite young, perhaps only two-years-old. For one long moment, neither horse moved, and then convinced there were no horses nearer then the grassy flats some miles north, Yallaban eagerly approached the young mare.
She stood tense, with head nervously up and eyes wild. Yallaban took one more step forward, and then suddenly stopped. The stallion was experienced enough to know not to crowd her. “Come and join us,” he kindly said. “There is only my mare and I, and there surely isn’t much snowgrass for you to graze on in here!”
OOC: Ok so the post order goes, Corowa, Yaruka and then you Firestorm.
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