the serpent and the rainbow

Alaine Winters · 05-20-2011, 10:49 AM

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Word Count → 5+

Alaine had risen early, feeding her pups before gathering her belongings and heading down before the two youngsters had fully roused from their full bellies and heavy-lidded eyes. The day was warm and pleasant, and the lush emerald grass in the field before the old Chien Hotel beckoned in the dazzling yellow and golden sunlight. With a lackadaisically mirthful and surprisingly tranquil emotion taking her over, the generally tense and wary Fae shifted the meager weight of her satchel over her slender shoulders, and jogged the short distance to the stables.

Because the day was so blight and the grass so fresh, it seemed only fair that the Apothecary allow her rotund travelling companion to soak up the sweetness of the weather. Unlatching Nana's stall, the colliewoman rubbed fondly at her large head. The docile mare blinked her lovely doe-eyes once, and snorted warm honey-grass breath at her smiling mistress. Not bothering to fasten a tether to the fat broodmare's rope halter, she left the stall door open and strode back out into the sunlight, pleased to hear the heavy clops of giant hooves on the compressed ground behind her as the mare dutifully followed.

Enjoying stretching her own legs, she did not ride Nana back to the hotel, but the pair wandered along amiably - The giant, sweet-natured matriarch, and the slender, faded beauty. Having entered the Chien's field, Alaine found a pleasant spot in the sun, sitting in the plush grass and leaning her back on the worn remains of an old fence. The deep bay, her slightly mottled pelt lovely in the warm light, plodded lazily about, swinging her large head and flaring her sharp pink nostrils to sniff out the sweeter patches of still-dewy grass.

It was not long after then that the boychild emerged. Absorbed in her chosen task of mending some cloth bandages by stitching them, Alaine did not look up from her small bone needle, but gently hummed to herself. The boy was instantly lost to his fantasies, and only Nana watched from the corner of her placid eyes, bemused by the child's antics. It was a morning routine that they had followed numerous times before - Nothing hinted to the danger lurking in the grass. The sky was a brilliant, cloudless blue, stretching forever over the fragile serendipity below.

The boy's excited yapping again drew the attention of the slow-moving mare, who perked her stubby ears in interest, for she did seem to adore the strange wrongling. It was then that the still tranquility shattered - Huge, heavy hooves pounded the earth, rumbling like thunder as the mare's eyes tossed bone white. She charged towards the boy, equine teeth bared as a shrill whinny sought to call the child who was not hers back to her; but the little lowspeech he knew had never before been confronted by such a sound.

Alaine, however, was quick to leap to her feet, but far too slow to prevent the strange and horrifying scene from emerging. In an instant, the snake curved back to strike - And Nana was upon it, rearing and plunging, the serpent and the sweet little boy lost from view in the dust and the frantic movements of her hooves. The Apothecary screamed, but her cry was lost to the sound of the frantic mare, who for all appearances had just trampled her son into the warm, uncaring earth.

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