lovingly shall nestle near

Ever Mayawyn · 02-04-2011, 08:56 PM

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Pre dated; early morning of Feb. 6
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930

She was nearly up to her knees in snow, and it was still coming down. The roof of their home had barely managed to stay attached against the roaring winds of last night. Even though the gusts had subdued substantially, the temperatures were below freezing and the frigidness caused an uncomfortable stiffness in her bones.

As usual, Ever had to stick to her pack duties, even if that meant getting up in the numbing winter mornings. Reluctantly, the silver girl slid out from under the warmth of the covers and was instantly exposed to the cold. She could feel her teeth chattering and lethargically wrapped her arms around her shoulders. Still unwillingly, Ever padded over to her chest of clothes and easily pushed aside the thinner fabrics and settled on a newer tightly knit sweater dress that hung just enough for freedom of movement. The window above the bed in her and Ezra’s room rattled nervously against the snow flurries that brushed its surface. A concerned expression adorned her young face as ocean eyes rested upon the sleeping form of her mate. She let a few minutes pass by as she watched his side rise and fall in even, sleeping breaths. The blanket on his shoulder quivered with the disturbance in the air.

Her sigh spiraled out her mouth and turned into a sickly fog that mingled with the snowflakes falling as soon as she stepped outside. She struggled to get the door closed behind the mound of snow that made the bottom of her paws burn. Ever was defiantly not a fan of shoes at all and refused to wear anything on her feet even in the coldest of weathers. The girl snuggled Ezra’s scarf closer to her mouth and breathed as deeply as she could with the chill of the air seeping in her lungs.

Saphraine was still close even though most of the woods had lost its earthy green shades. Ever nearly ran to him in an effort to get off the frozen ground. She lifted her legs above the snow, mesmerized by the sensation of the turf against her skin. It was soft like silk and powdery like sand. The feeling of it surging across her silver fur was like the pleasant caressing of a blanket rolling across her thigh. Yet, she still was glad when her stallion’s warm body heat was once again placed under her seat.

She had really never ridden in snow before. Patches were not as hard to trot through as a foot of snow that seemed to tangle everything and make the whole territory hazy with a white-like film. They took it slow together, both battling the cold and occasional flurries that crept up behind them. Flakes were falling again with more reoccurrences than the morning. Barely enough light filtered between the snow laden branches that bent under the weight. It was still early and already the weather had rejected to slow its pace. Each step sent them sinking into the white blanket.

Ever urged her companion to take each step more carefully after one of his strides had taken both of them into a drift. She brushed away some snow on her legs and untangled some ice from his silk of a mane, still hearing his frightened neigh when they went down. Several times the thought of turning back occurred but by now they were too close to the stables to change her mind. The horses would need extra feed to keep their body heat up enough but not too much for them to gain more weight since she and Saphraine would most likely remain the only ones crazy enough to venture in the growing storm.

She kept imagining the tattered building in the distance only to see the crowding of flakes space out from the oddly similar appearance of the barn. The girl started to feel uneasy. Shouldn’t they have arrived already? Ever looked down and noticed the shaking in her legs, focused over the painfully heavy look of the stallion’s golden hoof drowning in the resting snow. But before she could notice the awkwardly thin line of slush above a steep slope, she could feel Saphraine shudder violently below her. Ever gripped his mane shakily and their connection caused her to feel the way his hooves failed to make contact with ground, the screeching whine that escaped his mouth in a frightening whinny, and the slipping of his balance on the hidden ice before his body was forced into a rear backwards down the slope.

And then nothing. Ever couldn’t feel anything at all. Not the stinging of the tiny snowflakes or the contrasting warmth of her horse’s body against her. Nothing. But the floating feeling lapsed as quickly as it had been drawn on her and suddenly the girl could feel the cold ground come up fast and hit her achingly. She lay limp in the snow as she dropped in and slid down the hill side. Flashing colors of Saphraine golden legs could be seen out of the corner of her eye but Ever couldn’t look very hard past the black dancing spots. She focused on a sharp throbbing in her wrist that seemed to grow the farther she went down the slope. Black dots mingled with the twirling flakes that danced in the sides of her vision when she finally came to rest on the bottom. Her mind swam and the pain rushed to her head and engulfed her in unconsciousness.

Ever Mayawyn · 02-05-2011, 10:43 PM

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Final post
1038

Horses. There were horses everywhere. Not a single tree was in sight, just the green grass and blue sky. No shrubs or bushes or even a small hill that disturbed the incline. Clouds were absent from the air as were the mountains that gently protruded from the horizon, which was gone along with everything else. Just horses. Everywhere.

They were all around, in every corner of vision. Running past occasionally tossing their heads and manes that whipped violently in the wind. Their silken bodies filled every space and their hooves pounded silently against the grass, barely visible underneath their presence.

Ever couldn’t feel any of this. She couldn’t reach out to catch hold of their dancing hair or feel the comfortable vibrations of their steps sinking and rising from the ground. They were all moving, not one slowed or sped up, and not one passed another or fell back. All in rhythm like a song.

Each one was different, though. The girl could make out the deep browns of chestnuts or the discoloring of pintos. But there were no palominos. She gazed through the sea of colors that made her eyes dash hungrily over the array of unfamiliar patterns. Her point of view was set just above the backs of each horse. But was it all real? Her subconscious never stumbled across the thought.

The only thing it knew was that horses were everywhere, and they kept coming. Thousands rolled across the land in racehorse fashion right where the sky sheltered the ground. But she started to notice something. They were fading. A moaning sound seemed to rip from their lips and roar in her ears. Steadily, they were becoming transparent, revealing the earth that settled under them.

The blades were as fresh as if just grown. All the same height and not a single wilting patch in sight. Everything was perfect. But the moaning continued until the horses were gone completely and the lack of motion made the world spin. Or was it really spinning? Ever tried to hold onto something, but there was nothing. The sky swirled into an angry gray even though there were no clouds to filter such a color. Haze stretched across the wide plain and clung to it like a shred of rope.

The suddenly, the ground dropped. The grass turned to stone the color of frost and a sinking feeling entered the girls stomach. She could feel the throbbing of her head and wrist slowly come back to her and increase when the world broke to pieces, revealing large gaps full of red. What was happening to her quaint little world?

It felt like some had hit her hard in the head. She awoke in a large gasp of breath that sucked icicles into her lungs. Her face twisted into a wince, which helped clear her vision followed by a couple slow blinks. The air was a whirlwind of snow flurries and the sleet strangled her fur and chilled her with the dropping temperature. Already, the shallow path her body had created sliding down the slope was covered. She lay at the bottom being eaten alive by the cold. Something was broken, but everything hurt too much to tell. Ever picked up her head and forced her body to ignore the screaming pain that seemed to add up and crush itself inside of her mind. Black spots started bouncing in her vision again and she uncontrollably fell back down.

She knew she needed help. And she knew she wasn’t going to get it. The slope was too steep to climb and the weather made everything, including scents, indistinguishable. A blanket of snow had already started to pile up on her pelt and she did the best to shift it off, but she was weak. Her bones were stiff and she was trapped in optime form. Trapped at the bottom of the fall. Trapped in a cold and useless body. But she couldn’t be alone.

Ever summed up enough energy to look around in a slow, controlled movement. Where was her horse? Or did she imagining him falling with her to their near death? The wind was moaning like the horses in her dream now. It whipped her fur back with a furious curiosity although the girl willed it to go away. She was conflicted in many ways now. A desperate franticness welled up inside of her heart but she refused to let go.

So she started to list what she could do. Calling out would be daft, and climbing up the slope would be near impossible. Crawling back home could take hours, but maybe not to the barn. They had to have been close before they fell. She tried to picture the area around the stables in spring, or summer, even fall, whatever time she could that would make it easier to see the surrounding area. And it worked. Ever miraculously knew where she was. The storm had not blown her and Saphraine very far off the route, only towards the sea more, where the terrain had became rocky, sea spray-laden, and very uneven. She must have fallen down one of the grassy slopes that started the hilly area.

Ever begged her legs to move, but the blood were gone from them under the snow cover. Black hands pushed off what she could but she had to leave her right hand limp. It was broken. Useless. New found confidence helped her stir the strength inside her and she managed to stumble to a well-sheltered tree. The snow on the ground was thin here.

She stopped to pant, knowing the trip to the stables would be unbearably long. Tears were flowing freely now from the stinging cold and pain that pushed out from her ribs and wrist. But suddenly, a warm breeze billowed from somewhere above her and spread onto her open hands. Ever looked up, barely able to keep her balance on the tree. Saphraine was there, standing with the concern look she had seen the first day she met him. And nothing broken or cut. The girl smiled.

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