The rain was singing. And it was horrible.
"Do you hear it, young creature ?
Do you hear us ?
We know you hear us…
Don't you like our song ?
Don't you like our voices ?
Why the long, long, face ?
Why the grin ?
Listen and listen closely, young one.
Come, come !
Follow us !
You are so… So kind.
What a feast it will be.
What a joy it will be !
To eat. The meat. When we meet.
Come, come, young one.
We call, we call…
Follow, follow…
It is written in our waters.
The white-foal will come.
With him the hurricane…
With him the hurricane…
With him..."
"Hey, wimp. How's it going ? Want some ?", said Bone-Sack while cracking some hazelnuts between his thumbs.
Schimmel almost screamed. But fear muffled his voice and hurted his throat, stopping him from screeching. He looked at the golden-beast with anxiety, before scanning the black and deep woods, his pupils jumping from a shadow to another. Each drop of rain on his bare skin made him shudder in disgust. Each rustle where they touched him, made him want to tear his own flesh apart. Bone-Sack was imperturbable. He was eating his acorns greedily, a faint smile on his face. The fruits were a thoughtful gift from his master, he suddenly told him. Found on the road, in the hollow of an oddly gigantic fireball. It had roasted them a bit. It was crunchy and tasty. Just like he loved them. The Akhal-Teke stretched his hand forward, some nuts in his palms, inciting Schimmel to take some.
The young centaur fingers were shaking. But he did.
Bone-Sack was right. It was grilled and tasty.
"Why are you here ?", asked the white-beast, his ears still ringing.
"I'm trying to escape Bill's harassment. This guy doesn't know how to stop. Give him your hand, he will try to eat the whole arm."
"Hin ! That is true. Is that why you're sure he will be a horrible leader ? He has a bad attitude ?"
"Na. You're mistaken. He will be a horrible leader cause he's self-centered and ambitious. Not a good combo when you are responsible for a group. Bill's strong. But his selfishness will make him take some questionable decisions and abuse his authority. I don't want that to ever happen. Rather keep him on the low part of the ladder."
Schimmel eyes lit with interest, slowly resting, half-closed. He tilted his head slightly while crushing an acorn between his teethes.
"You seem to talk from experience."
"I am. Why d'you think I'm here, risking my pelt and heaving a catapult when I could be used as a parading horse or a racing one ? Look at me, damn. I'm one of the finest stallions you will find here, honest, no boasting. D'you think it was my fate to be in deep shit, or something ?"
Schimmel shrug nonchalantly.
"I don't know. I don't know a thing, Bone-Sack. Nor about you, nor about me. So I would be damned to try and put value on people from the get-go. I'm just painfully aware that you are the most handsome horse I have ever met."
Bone-Sack puffed a laugh, making a small cloud of while spirals in the air, waving his hand in front of his face. "Don't say it out loud, you are gonna embarrass me.", he grinned.
Schimmel's face twisted, retaining irritation and hilarity. Are you serious, brother ? All you ever do is frown and complain, but a bit of praise and you're all pink and blooming like a spring flower ? Compliment fishing little shit ! The white centaur huffed.
"Is bragging all you ever do ? Where do you get all this bravado ?"
"It's not bravado." cut Bone-Sack. "I know my value for a fact. And I did not choose to be an expensive good. I was just… Estimated and sold at the golden market for a high price. I even had a stigma from the barns which raised me. But it was burned over by a blast. Better this way, probably."
Schimmel's eyes, caught by curiosity, descended towards the horrendous scar. It was big. Running from the left hoof of Bone-Sack, and ending at the beginning of his tail. It was shaped in strange stripes ending in a big star on his rump. It was of an off-white color, and fur didn't grow on it. It was very well healed and cleaned. Schimmel eyes squint. Standing next to his companion, when he himself was pure as the morning light from any marks or blisters… It did not feel right. Carefully, he lifted a hand and put it on Bone-Sack shoulder. He pressed gently on the fair skin, brows frown, expression full of worry. The golden-beast blinked in surprise, before gently chasing the hand, unable to suppress a smile.
"Was it painful ? It seems painful.", asked Schimmel softly.
"The stigma, or the blast ?"
"Both."
"Ah… Very. The blast was made by a magical trap, when I was running errands. I had to find some important guys who died in the battle of the Somar valley, and get back their equipment. Some expensive shit, crafted by an immortal blacksmith and engraved with words of power."
Bone-Sack stopped a bit to catch a breather, his eyes faded and his torso limp. Bad memories, obviously. The rest of his story, he told in one go, as to chase it away. Away, deep inside him. Where it should never leave it's locked cage of traumas.
"The explosion, it was a rune, hidden under the corpse of a practitioner." Bone-Sack shivered. From the rain, or from his reminiscence ? Schimmel did not dare guess. "Do you know the South is the Region who possesses the greatest numbers of these bastards ? They die like flies on the battlefields. But still, they never cease to appear in greater numbers. No one knows where the South gets them all… When ours are now just a dozen... Anyway. I was ransacking one of them when… Well. A flash splattered my eyes. I jumped at the last moment. It saved my life. So I only ended up burned. My master was furious. Lucky me, he convinced a healer to use a bit of arcane on me… So I ended up fine. But since… I have trouble with the corpses. It reminds me of this day. Makes me wanna puke."
"Rough. I never had to rummage through the battlefield like that, but I heard it was a nasty task. You were unlucky. That's all."
"Aren't we all ?", exhaled Bone-Sack.
Schimmel stayed silent a bit. The other seems nonchalant. But he was obviously taking upon himself to open up bit by bit. He must have been really desperate to appear sympathetic, for him to suddenly take an interest and try so hard to be friendly. He was probably at the end of his rope. Whatever rope that was... Schimmel looked him over, before proceeding.
"What about the stigma ?"
Bone-Sack expression entered a daze.
"Oh. That. It's odd, but it was much more terrifying than the blast. Probably because I was young. And impressionable. It hurted like a bitch. More than it should have been, since I was so afraid, that time."
"Who did that to you ?"
"The stables of Brixt, in Vesuna, a rich and prosperous city up north. They are well known. All of their employees are cursed by the wrath spirit. They are hideous, trust me. But they know how to tame a Centaur. How to push on our instinct and make us as they wish us to be. Bill wouldn't last long, there. It's one hell of a place for those who are a little rebellious by nature."
"And you were ?"
"Me ? Are you kidding ? I was as sweet as a lamb !"
Schimmel gave the Akhal-Teke a suspicious look and the golden-one defended himself.
"I'm not kidding, pal. I wasn't always that spirited. I'm on the job here since, what, three years max ? Before that, I was in training to be a hunting horse for an immortal candidate."
"No kidding ?"
"I'm as serious as I can be.", answered Bone-Sack with a smirk. "It was a special order coming right from the East Realm. I was meant for the Kua Family first son, who is still a kid, and chosen for my tribe and color. Golden one, silky one… Appearance wise, I'm a rare breed."
"Okay, now you got me hooked… How exactly did you end up… Here ?" Said the Schimmel, pointing to the forest edge, towards the encampment. Bone-Sack sighed before turning his eyes away.
"Let's say they found a better candidate… But it's a long story. I will tell you another time."
"No !" complained the white half-man with outrage. "Come one, you can't leave me hanging ! Not after all this blabber ! I'm full of questions now ! How did you end up here ? Who took your position ? Why a work-horse and not something more prestigious ? Were you really called Bone-Sack, when you were a luxury horse ?"
The interested clicked his tongue and shook his finger, grinning. "Now, now, wimpy kid. We don't know each other so well that I can tell you all about my life so far."
Schimmel's brow rose and he snorted.
"Ah, I see. It was the carrot, now the stick, hum ?"
"Tell me more about you and I, maybe, be willing to talk more about me. Hum ? What d'ya think ?"
The white-centaur growled an unenthusiastic laugh.
"Haha ! Good bait, smartass. But I'm not biting. And even if I wanted to, I don't have any interesting stories to tell."
"Why so careful ? I'm not going to snitch. Even more if your life is boring."
"Never be so sure. Everything you say is left on another tongue."
"Come one, friend ! Buddy. Dear. Sunshine. Lovely beast. Light of my life. I opened up my heart here. Can't you at least give me a bit of something to chew on ?"
Schimmel almost choked on his saliva, his eyes widening big time. Bone-Sack had stuck himself to him, shoulders against shoulders, giving him playful elbows strikes. The Akhal-Teke, seeing his dejected face, topped it with a wink and Schimmel massaged his face with desperation.
"You are creeping me out.", he finally articulated. But Bone-Sack seemed even more eager to bother him, after what he said.
"I can creep you out even more if you don't give me what I want, big boy."
"Ah ! Okay ! Please, just, stop ! You act like the old lady who sold fish in my home-town ! All touchy-touchy and batting her eyelashes like some sort of witch trying to hypnotize you."
Schimmel moved his fingers around, tensed. Bone-Sack face suddenly radiated satisfaction. A big smile ornamenting his expression. But he didn't back out, visibly drawn by their shared heat. Schimmel let it slide. The weather was too cold to refuse a little bit of contact.
"So, you do have a home-town ! Not just a stable ! That is interesting !"
"Yeah, yeah. I have a home-town. Up the mountains. And I lived here until I met my master. It was a cold and snowy place, full of artisans and artists. Mostly loners. Lots of wolves and monsters all around. So it was a pretty isolated place, based on an ancient mining site. I remember a big factory pushing into the mountain guts. I could pass days and nights there, looking for gems and stones. My father was so worried one time, he made me run around the city three laps at once !"
"I see. Seems like a peaceful childhood. But, that's all ?"
"No. Once, I found a ruby, big as your head, in the mine. I buried it at the bottom of a dying fir, a hundred meters away from my house. And I watered it and fertilized it for months, every day. I was sure that if I did things right, the fir would take roots in the stone and make thorns of rubies. I was dumb. But at least, the fir took great pleasure from my stupidity. It grew big and beautiful."
"It's really a… Thrilling story. I guess ? And so ? Before living there, you were in a tribe ? You don't sound like you were captured by hunters..."
"Hey, I told you I was boring." shrugged Schimmel. "And about my tribe… Don't know. Don't remember. I was found in the forest near my city. Probably after a massacre. But I don't remember a thing."
"Strange… Marwari horses aren't from the mountains… You're a Marwari horse, correct ?" Bone-Sack eyes shifted to the top of Schimmel's head. He pointed to his white ears, twitching under the rain in the middle of his mane. The two crescent moons jolted back in exasperation. "That's why you have the non-humans ears and..."
"My ears are fine as they are !" screamed Schimmel, hiding them with his hands.
"Of course ! I didn't mean to offend you. Please forgive me."
Schimmel pouted in silence, bothered to the highest point. Why did everyone always have to spot and talk about his ears ? Like they were some kind of funny thing people could laugh at impudently... All that because they were acting on their own, making him an open book. They shuddered uncontrollably when Schimmel heard the muffled voice of Bone-Sack.
"Still… These are pretty funny looking ears. All fluffy and.. Their shape is very strange."
Schimmel viciously turned his back on Bone-Sack, slapping him with his tail, gasping in outrage. The golden-beast exploded in pure hilarity at that. Upset, Schimmel looked around, spotting a grassy and not so muddy spot under a pair of twin birches. Without a glance for the mocking Bone-Sack, the half-beast laid in the comfortable patch of meadows, letting his body rest completely soft, his head on his arm.
"Humpf… If you are only there to laugh at me, go back and do not return. I don't need you.", said the pissed-off white centaur.
Bone-Sack approached with caution at these words, his figure topping Schimmel. He had stopped laughing, his glare was interrogative. He was looking down on the patch of meadows. Schimmel frowned a bit and considered carefully… Before jumping a little on the side, leaving a spot for Bone-Sack, who didn't wait much before falling in it. Back to back, they fumbled before finding a good position to share their bed.
Schimmel was dozing off, relaxed. The rain has stopped talking. Bone-Sack was there. Whatever that meant. He wasn't alone in this horrible weather. He wasn't alone in this war. It was a long time, since he had someone to watch his back and give him a bit of companionship. A presence who wasn't the formal master Yuan, the dissipated herd or the aggressive Bill.
A friendly presence.
"Hey, Bone-Sack ?", he muttered.
"Hum ?"
"Thanks."
The Akal-Teke answered with a chuckle. The soft sound ended up putting Schimmel at ease and he drifted towards sleep, a dim smile on his face. That night, he dreamed of his father, hugging him tight, in front of the chimney in his old house. He was holding something close to Schimmel's heart, looking at the snow falling outside the window. It was sharp and cold, making a print on his skin. The blacksmith was saying something… Something important… But what was it, already ? Schimmel couldn't remember. And soon enough, the dream faded, only leaving a warm recollection of souvenirs burning in his soul.
It was a peaceful night, under the rain. For once.