As the flames glowed, dancing wickedly in the pale cream of her eyes and beckoning her forward with a grappling crimson finger, Africa could not fight the fascination as it gripped her soul. There was no path for the raw tread of her hoof to follow, nor did the long, golden grasses bend or part to offer her some rite of passage. She moved as though blinded, her eyes entranced, possessed by the smouldering heart of the land. The crackling was twinged for a second with the bitter tone of someone’s voice, and the young horse’s ears pivoted, unable to distinguish reality while her mind was held captive by the luring, tempting lick of fire. The smoke grew thick the nearer she went and it filled her lungs nauseatingly, so that she began to cough in short busting fits.
That was when she broke the chain, and realised her predicament. Africa was lost. She turned across her clenched hocks, completing a full, tight circle as distress began to flood her heart. The grass was long and thick; the dark, sickening smog a barely penetrable screen preventing her escape; and even as her wildly searching eyes struggled to comprehend the situation and find some resolution, the dapple grey Pegasus felt the overwhelming pang of anxiety.
Large grey wings unfurled in an instant, pumping against the yielding swish of the head high grass, but she could gather no momentum, her face whipped unkindly, tauntingly as she leapt forward irresolutely. Sensitive by nature, her emotive face was etched with grim disbelief. Still the cackle of mocking flames pursued her; gleaming eyes and gaping mouths surged and cavorted, watching always; delighting as their victim grew weary in the sticky web. Africa’s eyes watered uncontrollably, stinging but unable to avoid the onslaught of smoke, and streams of red-tinged tears began to soak her cheek- she wished in earnest now that she had never been tempted from the safety of the desert.
She was a fool, of childish spirit; easily discarding the helmet of common sense. A breeze swirled through the area, diluting the smoke and offering her desperate gulps refreshment. In the instant, her face was lifted high and her eyes able to distinguish a break ahead- but also the rapacious gaze of another watching, following as though a predator hunting her, the lamb. “Who are you!” She demanded, apprehension tarnishing the soft innocence normally cloaking her voice. “Why are you following me...” Africa had turned towards the flickering movement, the shadow of life obscured in the maze of grass, but could not discern their identity; wolf?
She spun around and started forward with haste, legs almost crumpling with relief as the grass vanished. Nothing but the dead, cracked surface of Helovia’s burnt centre before her. Africa stumbled closer to the threat of looming fire, away from the thick grass and the hiding creature, before turning again to bravely meet his approach. The breeze was gone, and smoke began to descend around her.
"Thinking. Speaking. Acting."
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[O] [Finished] A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.
![[Image: afri_zps12e4f1bf.png]](http://i1067.photobucket.com/albums/u438/SapphireTitanium/afri_zps12e4f1bf.png)