Alina

Everything was so quiet. Too quiet.

The little dove had spent her days a little bit away from the herd, she couldn’t really explain why, but she had needed some alone time. Now however it seemed she had chosen the completely wrong time to be absent from the others. Something had happened because suddenly she found herself utterly alone; the herd was gone!

She ran across the Throat; from the Diviner’s Fire to the Oasis, from the Dragon Blood tree to the half finished wall. She called for Africa and Virus, but mostly she called for Megaera. After a while the bay mare’s name where the only name that left her lips. However, she found no one, even when she took to the skies to search every inch of the red desert, she had no luck. During these late days of Orangemoon her wounds had healed and she could now move without discomfort. Her naked skin on her chest, belly and the inside of her legs was now soft and smooth. But the colder it became the more she found herself shivering, especially during the nights. She needed someone to heal her hair follicles or she would surely, as she had feared, freeze to death when Frostfall came. And now her only chance of surviving was gone, without the herd she was doomed!

Tears welled up in Alina’s emerald eyes. She didn’t like to look at herself as helpless, but to tell the truth she often was helpless. She had no strength, no survival skills and now she didn’t even have the ability to keep warm when the cold winds started to howl. Was there anything in this world she was good at?!

Then, as she was about to fall into despair, she saw it; a silvery ghost-snake slithering through the air. Gaucho’s magic! The dove leaned forwards and sailed down towards it. ”Show me the way.” she whispered softly and as the apparition turned north she followed.

For a good while she flew behind the transparent snake, even hours passed and when a vast field of dry grass came into view she began feeling tired. The muscles around her wings hurt and her neck and back felt stiff. She noticed that the air was getting hotter and then she felt the smell of sulfur. She was headed towards Helovia’s Heart! Too fast the dove descended from the sky and took to the ground. The impact was too hard for her front legs and she collapsed in a heap just outside the grassy field. Gaucho’s ghostly snake continued north and disappeared from Alina’s view. Scrambling to her feet the dove looked at the gray stalks of grass with fear written across her face. Her heart was pounding both out of tiredness and apprehension and she couldn’t bring herself to continue.

What if he was here, waiting for her to deliver herself to the slaughter?



bg and flower: locolobo.net