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Post by Tiggs on Jul 10, 2008 11:47:51 GMT
Trekking over the rough ground between Yarraman's valley and here had been hard going, and Nevada felt a little guilty for pushing young Yarran so hard. The other option was to take the connecting valleys, but that would take them past another man's hut. Most of the time it was empty, but Nevada was taking no chances.
Stopping in a small valley, Nevada scouted the length of it before calling his mares into the open. The edges of it were smothered in thick bush, plenty of hiding places. The grazing was ample enough, though the walls of the valley were quite steep and while it would stop shod horses, it would slow down any escape from rival stallions.
Huffing, tail lashing irritably, the stallion dropped his head to graze while things were quiet. No doubt Brael would start calling more attention to herself soon and Nevada had no illusions of keeping her hidden forever. The challengers would come soon, and he'd have to be in good form to fight them off.
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Post by Illu on Jul 10, 2008 12:31:40 GMT
Yarran was definitely tired from the trek. He looked over at Nevada, and when he saw his sire finally slowed down, he gave a relieved sign and plopped to the ground to try and sleep it off.
Brael couldn’t for the life of her tell why the heck Nevada was so agitated lately. She followed him, complaining for the whole trip and cursing her ill luck of being forced over such ground. Her hooves weren’t built for such roughness!
When they finally stopped, she picked the furthest spot to graze, keeping an evil look on him.
--
Of all the places Nevada could have picked for safety, The Brolga’s Country had to be the worst conceived. Of all horses that could have taken to ghosting the area like a malevolent spirit, it had to be Garrong. By luck, good or bad depending on the party, he had caught sight of the small herd and decided to follow, the dead of night hiding his coat and making it disgustingly simple to follow the gleaming white beacon. After all that time searching, this seemed almost too easy.
When the herd finally slowed down, he stopped on the valley walls, pausing to take a good look at the herd. There were two mares of a colour he had never seen before, and although they would make a worthy prize for any horse, much more for one his age, it felt almost like he was rejecting his own ideals if he dared touch them. As for the liver chestnut and the startling looking grey, they were hardly drab specimens themselves, and starting a herd with mares thieved from the very biggest threat to the throne there was seemed a worthy pursuit. He had been on his own for far too long.
Garrong didn’t waste time on posturing, neighing, squealing, any of the usual lead ups to a fight, he was just off and cantering, hooves sounding dully off the springy grass and hoping the darkness around him would confuse Nevada long enough to prolong the element of surprise. Once he was close enough, he made a jump at Nevada’s side, teeth aimed at his withers.
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Post by tingara on Jul 10, 2008 12:58:54 GMT
Of course Baramay had simply nodded and agreed with whatever Brael had complained about along the way; the peace keeper. As soon as they reached the new valley she instantly settled down with Brael for the night. The gentle peace of the night soon exploded around her ears as a black shape launched out of the darkness. Tingara had come for them!
Like the other two Dilali settled quickly in her new home. The trip had made her extremely hungry so she got to the sweet grass quickly. She heard the new stallion move towards Nevada well before she saw him. Like Baramay at first she thought it was Tingara but soon realized the black shape was way too big to be her brother.
"Nevada!" she screamed, rearing with fear.
"It's not Tingara," was all she managed to call before her fear silenced her.
So this was Nevada's new hidey hole; the infamous Brolga's old valley. It was nowhere near as convenient as his valley but, like Tingara, Nevada needed a place to call home for his herd. The black stallion continued slowly over the rocky country the way he had observed the white stallion go. Tingara was at first in no hurry to reach the Brolga's country but picked up his pace when he started to hear angry and fearful neighing coming from up ahead. He galloped up to the edge of the valley ridge, sliding to a stop before he gave himself away but it was revealed that Nevada had something more important than Tingara on his mind.
There was a new stallion in the darkness and it was Dilali's angry screams that Tingara had heard. The new stallion was black like himself, oh no, Nevada would probably mistake the attacker for him. Luckily Dilali was smart and had tried to tell Nevada that it wasn't Tingara. For now Tingara settled himself on the ridge to watch, mainly the Moonfilly whom he'd just spotted.
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Post by yaruka on Jul 10, 2008 21:08:27 GMT
Taworri had arrived at the herd's new destination slightly less tired than the other mares, after all she had been traveling for about two weeks straight and was quite fit. She too, had just dropped her head to graze beside Dilali at the base of the hill when she felt a rush of black air seem to explode past her from the top of the hill. Startled, she flung up her fine head to see a black stallion lunge at Nevada's withers. Her night vision being better than most horses, she was able to tell that the attacker was much heavier set than the black, Tingara, she had seen earlier that day. Dilali reared up beside her in fright, screaming to Nevada, and Taworri's eyes rolled back in panic. Prancing nervously, she thought of young Yarran, who had been sleeping only seconds before on the grass where a fight was now about to take place. In one nimble leap she was at Brael's side "Quickly! Move Yarran!" she called urgently to the other Moon Filly. She was concerned that Brael, being not quite the motherly type, might not think of moving the young colt and the colt was quite likely to freeze in fear and thus be trampled by the angry, screaming stallions.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 11, 2008 14:03:58 GMT
Nevada whipped his head up at the sound of hooves, but he was barely able to turn before the dark stallion hit him. The attack had been a surprise, and Nevada was ill prepared for it. With a bellowing roar, Nevada bucked out at the stallion. Absently he heard Dilali shout. At first, Nevada had thought it was Tingara but it didn't seem particularly like a King to implement a stealth attack. When the day came that Tingara and he would fight, it would be when the sun was high with a challenge ringing in the air.
Nevada braced his legs, hooves digging into the soft ground. If he fell with the first sudden rush of attack, he was going to cause Yarran some damage. Gritting his teeth, Nevada tried his best to keep the momentum of the black horse taking them both into Yarran. The teeth of the other brumby sank into his withers as Nevada called out to his herd. "Stay back!"
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Post by Illu on Jul 11, 2008 14:23:15 GMT
Brael saw Taworri coming, looking at fear at Yarrans direction, and then neighed shrilly at her colt to move. Yarran was way ahead of her, after a second of stunned shock, Taworri’s call got to his head and he was tuning tail and sprinting back to the two moon-fillies for dear life! Immediately he stuck himself between Brael’s legs again, ears back and sweating in horror.
--
Brael herself was inching backwards, her darkness attuned eyed locked onto the ensuing battle. Coward! Attacking them like that! Surely, the beast had no honour! Never mind, Nevada would totally kick his ass like only the future King could! Still, she had better have an escape route handy just in case, obviously whoever-he-was was so blinded by her and Taworri’s beauty he had to sink this low to claim them both for himself! Bastard!
--
Nevada hadn’t really made a counter-attack, which made things easier for Garrong as the white fool did his best to be hero and protect his herd. His grip on his withers felt solid, so he immediately swung his hindquarters around against Nevada’s and started pushing, trying to force him to turn in a circle so he wouldn’t try bucking or something equally hazardous to his hold.
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Post by tingara on Jul 11, 2008 14:52:23 GMT
Dilali pulled Baramay, who was frozen, back towards the Moonfillies, yanking hard on her mane to get her to move. Once she had reached a spot all Dilali could do was watch terrified along with the others. She hoped desperately her stallion would come through. The new stallion was a brute but Nevada was strong. Her heart in her mouth, Dilali looked on, silently rooting for Nevada.
Tingara watched what little of the fight he could see sternly. A new stallion that no bird had gossiped about, he must have only moved around at night. This thought unsettled him, if the other black stallion won then Dilali would be taken along with... hang on. Tingara shook his head, he thought he was seeing double but no there were two moonfillies down there in the valley. How did Nevada manage to keep two rare beauties a secret? Back to the matter of Dilali going with the unknown shadow. As much as he hated to admit, the only stallion Tingara wanted to see her with was Nevada, but if he did fight the shadow and win, the two moonfillies were a different story.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 12, 2008 8:22:31 GMT
OOC: Illu and I are gunna be naughty and skip out of turn so the fight gets some progress and you guys have something substantial to watch XD
IC:
Nevada thrashed, trying to loosen the hold. The black stallion began to push him in circles, and Nevada squealed in anger. Unable to land a good kick, Nevada began to turn in the direction the stallion was pushing, trying to get some distance between their rumps so a kick might hit. Snorting, Nevada tried to rear and though he was unable to rise far, he hoped the movement would loosen the black's grip.
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Post by Illu on Jul 12, 2008 8:48:51 GMT
Garrong was so preoccupied with making sure the other horse didn’t buck that he accidentally let his grip loosen the slightest bit, and it was then that Nevada chose to rear and as the creamy came crashing down his teeth slipped, cutting into the skin, but un-securing his vicelike hold into one much easier to shake off. In response he clenched his teeth harder, worming himself back as close to the other horses body and trying to push once more, this time not in a circle to provide as little wriggle room as possible by keeping Nevada more focused on standing than fighting back.
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Post by Tiggs on Jul 12, 2008 8:59:34 GMT
Feeling the teeth slip, Nevada took his chance and raced forward, his back legs bunching as he launched himself away from the teeth biting painfully into the withers. With a victory squeal, Nevada bucked at the other stallion's head as he passed, turning a tight circle once he was out of range to see his rival.
This definitely wasn't Tingara. He was built solidly, his legs thicker and shorter than Tingara's. His fetlocks were feathered, and from what he could see in the dark, something about the dark stallion gave him away as being younger despite him being of a similar if not taller height. Snorting, Nevada pawed the ground with one hoof. So the younger stallion had attacked out of nowhere because he wanted to get the upper hand? Nevada bellowed a challenging call, mocking the younger stallion. No stallion worth his salt launched a surprise attack at night unless they were unlikely to win otherwise.
Nevada began to circle his opponent, concentrating hard to see all of him in the dark. This fight would be difficult with so little light to see by, but Nevada could beat a colt easily, right?
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