|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Mon Nov 03, 2008 12:10 pm
The afternoon was umbearably hot and muggy. Zoet moved restlessly through a string of trees that meandered alongside what normally would have been a merry stream. But in this height of summer, it had dried to a mere trickly, leaving boggy mud in its place beneath the shade of the thirsty trees. Insects droned loudly, hiding in the grasses or up in the trees. Clouds of gnats swearmed like miniature whirlwinds above the bodies of dead fish. Overall, it was an entirely unsatisfactory day.
Overhead the sun beat mercilessly down on the landscape, searing the grass to a washed out yellow, and making the leaves on the trees visbly sag. She disliked the scent of stangant water and rotting amphibians, but the heat of the sun was fierce across the plain, and she was unwilling to leave the shade of the trees. Despite the wisdom of merely finding a cooler spot to stand or recline, she couldn't help a nagging sene of agitation, driving her to an edgy trot along the treeline.
The still air began to move suddenly, swirling tauntingly before settling down to stillness again. It seemed to stir up more restiveness in her, causing her to dance sideways, ears and eyes alert. Again it picked up, spitting dust into her face and curling about her legs in a hot carees before dying down once more. But this time something it carried made her stop dead, nostrils flaring. Her head swung around to face east, where the washed out blue sky was growing blurry along the horizon. Another gust of wind blew her thick mane back, tracing a light finger of cold along her neck. In and out heaved her breath, eyes wide and ears twitching uneasily.
This time the wind did not fall away, but merely grew in intensity, steadily growing cooler. The horizon darkened as roiling clouds raced into view, boiling up from the east like tar out of a pit. She watched, mezmerized, as the wind whipped her heavy locks into disarray, bringing the scent of rain and the deep rumble of thunder. Her heart swelled as it drew swiftly nearer, her hooves planted firmly in the ground as if to bind her there until the living cloud could pounce upon her.
The clouds soon overtook the sun, blotting out its light and heat effectively, throwing the land into chaotic gloom. The howling wind ripped through the trees with hungry fingers, tearing loose twigs and leaves, nearly flattening the seedlings that already looked weak with thirst. The rolling thunder grew louder, vibrating the ground beneath her hooves as streaks of lightning lit up the sky. Spellbound in fascination, Zoet stared upwards, ignoring the flying debris, caught up in the aweing power of this force of nature, come so unexpectedly upon her.
A sharp thunderclap directly overhead finally brought her to her senses. Instintively she ducked her head down at the ear-piercing sound, shutting her eyes from the dazzle of lighting. At that signal, before she could even open her eyes, plump drops of rain began to fall, startling her into opening her eyes again. The top of one of the trees along the dry stream now smouldered blackly, though she saw no sign of fire. The few fat drops were steadily increasing into a drenching downpour as she turned her eyes once more skyward... where a shape that was colored of the storm itself soared with wings spread.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2008 1:52 pm
The thunder that rippled across the skies was like a river of pure force that Stormcloud soared through. It was a tangible force that bristled her fur and seized her as it rolled over her. The roar sung to her, exhalting along with her in the sheer power and magesty of the thunderhead.
Lightning flickered its forked tongue between the dark islands in the sky, occasionally jabbing downwards towards the ground as it raced overhead.
Stormcloud's exhilirated gaze canvased the ground, watching as the storm's shadow swallowed the ground in darkness only punctuated with the flash of day-bright light from the lightning strikes. It was power - pure power. Power over darkness or light, power to shout out in a voice louder than any single being could contain to drown out everything else for miles. The power to tear the branches from the trees. The power over the life-bringing rains, or the sudden, fiery death from a direct strike, or a resultant forest fire. Thunderstorms, to the mare, was the powers of the spirits themselves as their magic touched the land. And it was her connection. She could feel the storms rolling through her own spirit. Hear the thunder echoed by her racing heart as she spread her wings and took to the skies.
It was times like this that Stormcloud found her life had meaning, that she fit in with the world. The storms seemed to embrace her like a part of the tempestuous clouds, just another part of the ever-moving whole. Energy crackled along her wings, arcing between her horns. And while her whinny could never match the roar of the thunder, it seemed to chime in like an essential note of a chorus.
She pumped her wings, now heading to the front of the storm, letting the blackness and energy trail behind her, riding the front like a wave, watching the start of the storm begin to pelt the land.
Down below there was a figure, another soquili, but one born of the land. A wild smile stretched Stormcloud's face. The contrast that the glimpse granted her made her feel all the more alive. Sometimes, her differences made her feel out of place and awkward. But as she rode the storm, she felt priviledged. Alive.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 27, 2008 5:40 pm
Seeing those wings beating strongly, borne aloft by winds of storm, stirred her soul and made her heart pound. Taking a gulp of a breath, nose still tipped to the sky, she pivoted as the wind soquili soared above her. An unnamable urge moved her hooves, and she plunged down into the ravine, leapt the stream, and then was up the other side, pounding across the plain. The storm-driven breezes had risen to a howl, pressing against her, parting around her, tearing at her mane and tail. It was an odd, moist warm wind, which she drew into her lungs.
With her eyes ever upward, she raced along the ground beneath the other that flew so high. She began to fall behind, but still she galloped on, racing the storm's edge and the occupant that was buoyed on its energy. Lightning cracked and sizzled across the underside of the clouds, illuminating or casting into stark relief the equine body in its midst. Mezmerized, Zoet felt her heart squeeze tight, as if to explode from her chest to sprout wings and join the chaotic joy above her. For there was no doubt that the one who braved the lashing rain and rolling thunder was doing so with exhileration, not fear.
For once in her life, Zoet wished to be what she was not. When it came to the lots which life had thrown, she had ultimately been serenely content. But here and now, lightning dancing in her eyes and heart thudding to the beat of the crashing thunder, at this very moment she yearned to do as the one she watched was doing. To touch the storm, be part of its fantastic fury, the sheer power and glory of nature. Her forehooves began lifting further off the ground as she ran, as if she might somehow transport herself higher and higher with her desires, somehow lift her physical body to match the height of her soul.
But she fell further and further behind, doused and earthbound, relegated to being watered like the vegitation about her. Her soaked forelock straggled into her eyes, and she slowed, nostrils flaring and lungs heaving like a bellows. And yet her gaze followed the distant figure, neck outstretched in wistful eagerness to join that free spirit.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:15 pm
With a wild smile borne of the exhiliration of the storm, the mare's wingbeats came more slowly, letting the front of the storm move ahead of her. Something in Stormcloud felt a sweet note of mirth as she slowed to the speed of a galloping land-mare.
It was times like these: perfect, delicious times like these that Stormcloud felt right. Not awkward. Not restless. Not bored. RIGHT. She saw what she was so priviledged not to be.
She dipped lower, wingbeats stroking her through the air like a swimmer until she was shadowing the other mare, keeping pace about twenty feet above her. There were no need for words.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:17 pm
Lo and behold, though the stormfront swiftly outdistanced her, that speck grew larger again. Zoet's eyes widened with surprise, heaving a deep breath in as an almost-gasp. Why, that mare was coming back! She kept a steady pace until the other hovered above her, clearly slowing herself to remain above the ground-bound mare.
A surge of exhileration accompanied by an earth-shaking boom of thunder sent Zoet's heart pounding madly. Of their own, her legs increased their pace, her stride lengthened once again, and her neck stretched out. Her long legs served her well as she raced this spirit of the wind and storm. She sped swiftly across the uneven ground, her hindquarters occasionally bunched and sending her hurtling through the air over a ditch or clustering of bushes. Her breath heaved like bellows in and out, in and out, steady as the beating of a heart, or the rising and setting of the sun. Lighting zinged across the sky, leaving her momentarily blinded, though she did not slacken her pace.
Somehow, having her path mimicked from the sky, wingbeat for gallop, gave her a double sense, as if she might be the one flying, and the other here on the ground. It wasn't a matter of wanting to make the other earth-bound, but more a sharing of the joy of what it must be like to fly. Her heart soared, and mid-stride she leapt into the air, spine arched and head thrown back, letting forth a shrill and loud neigh of pure ecstasy.
As sure as she could not fly, her heart could.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:05 am
Stormcloud didn't feel like a soquili at this moment. This divine, exhiliarting moment. With the mare matching her pace below her, muscles and lungs pumping, she was a connection. Never feeling onen with other soquili, Stormcloud dwelled on her own, chasing storms, or waiting for her moment. While no words had been exchanged, Stormcloud's pity for the mare began to change to a sympathy. Despite all the characteristics that Stormcloud possessed - her spirialing horns that arced lightning, her wind-tousled mane and tail that seemed almost as wispy and rolling as the clouds, and her wings that she would not trade for the most glorious of treasures. And still, she was not of the storm truly. Her body was flesh and blood. She had a weight that even in flight she could not depart from. And she was small, inconsequential compared to the encompassing stormclouds. This storm-racing was the closest she could get. And for this mare below her, while she flew along the ground, she was joined with the power of the storm as well.
But she was thinking too much. Thinking and analyzying only drew away from the moment, this perfect, storming moment. She shut her eyes, letting the crackle in the air set her fur on edge, feeling the course of the storm. She listened to the hoofbeats below her, the booming thunder above her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 08, 2009 2:16 pm
Zoet wished this could go on forever... racing beneath the storm, 'borrowing' the wings of the powerful spirit of the tempest. At this point the tan mare wasn't entirely sure if the one above her was truly a soquili, or something more mystical and untouchable. The time spent near her was charged with surreality and awe. Perhaps she was a messenger of the Great Spirit, on her way to deliver some warning to a distant people?
But before she could further ponder this, a burning began within her chest. The bellows of her breath became labored, and with the one pain begun, more made an ppearance. Her hooves faltered, her stride's steady beat broken by a near stumble. A touch of despair at having to acknowledge the limits of her ground-bound body, she slowed her pace. Muscles that had been pushed beyond their normal limit were now screaming at her to stop immediately, but she couldn't bring herself to so abruptly leave this euphoria of an experience.
Still, she had little choice, and her steps slowed further, her strides shortening. Her eyes turned upwards, safer now at a slower speed to watch the one she'd 'flown' with. Such electric beauty! She gazed with admiration and not a stitch of envy at the being so connected to the gale, a part of it in living flesh and blood, or at least the appearance of it.
Reluctantly, she slowed finally to a trot that swiftly fell into a walk, nostrils blowing as chilled fingers of wind stroked her steaming flanks and slid beneath her mane to cool her hot neck. She bent her head, snorting and shaking her head free of the dripping rain, before tossing it high and opening her jaws in a wordless whinny of understanding, of companionship, meant for the ears of whatever being had shared this storm's joy with her.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2009 7:26 am
Time seemed to blur and bend as Stormcloud pumped her wings keeping pace with the mare below. She could not have put a number to the duration of this magical moment. At once, it seemed to last forever, and yet be a rare glimpse of a moment of belonging. But like all wonderful moments, it could not stretch on forever.
Gradually, the mare began to wane, her breathing becoming audible. Her hoofbeats began to falter, breaking their steady, thunderous pace. She sensed the pure exhaustion that washed over the mare. And indeed, her own muscles were not immune to the burning sensation. But borne on wings and riding the swirling updrafts, she had the fortune to be able to meter out her energy, to ride the storm as if she were a part of it and be carried by its own power.
The storm began to pass overhead, and Stormcloud felt the pull of its power drawing her away. But before she pumped her wings to catch the storm once more, her eyes went down to the rain-soaked mare that stood with electricity in her eyes that figuratively mirrored her own. And calling back in camraderie, she loosed a whinny of respect, of understanding.
And then, like a stroke of white-hot lightning that leaves behind echoes on the eyes, the mare was gone, called back to the tumultous clouds.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
