The Breakaways

Chapter 8

Liz's POV

He led us all the way across, to the jungle zone. Around a tree (there were windows high in the walls, giving plenty of sunlight for the plants to grow), and suddenly it opened to a clearing. It was time for me to gasp again. I heard a deep intake of breath come from my guide, too.

These horses, they were not normal horses. They were of the kind that was awe-inspiring. My guide seemed just a little less surprised, so perhaps he had known they would be like this. But, Lyn still laughed at both of our reactions. I blushed in embarrassment, which wasn't too much like me.

"Surprised?" he asked, looking directly at me.

I still felt the unfamiliar heat in my face. "Yeah," I admitted.

He laughed again. "Good. You should be. These are some of the best-and coolest, if you'll allow me to brag-horses in the region."

"I can see why," I told him. Taking a slow step forwards, I asked, "Can I?"

He nodded. "Sure."

So, gingerly, I took the last steps forwards towards one of the horses. It didn't move away from me. The horse's main color was a dark brown with a rosy tint. It was an appaloosa, and it's spots were white. It had socks on all its legs and a feathery looking splotch over it's eye and on either side of it's face. It's mane was white too, although there were thin streaks of the brown. The ensemble reminded me of dark red velvet cupcakes.

It's tail? Well, that was the fantastical part. Instead of hairs, it had long, white peacock feathers with velvet markings.

Its dark brown eyes looked into mine and I petted its face gently. It felt like velvet too. I stroked it for a little longer before turning away and realizing Lyn was not where he had been before.

Instead, he was farther away and leading another fantastical horse towards me. When he realized I was watching him, he told me, "That's Red Velvet." I looked back into the eyes of the horse I had continued to stroke. "He fits the name, huh?" Lyn asked as he came up beside me. I nodded.

He patted Red Velvet's side, and Red Velvet left to munch on the vibrant green grass and other plants of the tropical zone. Turning back to me, he placed the lead of another fantastical horse in my hand.

"Her name is Whetu Wai, Māori for Water Stars. She's the horse I rescued when I came here, so she's the one I'll be riding."

The name fit well. This horse was entirely blue and silver, and was slightly see through, like water. Silver dots speckled throughout her, and she had a silver outlining, like stars. Her mane and tail were very long. Once they began touching the ground, they began becoming more and more transparent until a few feet later they were nearly invisible except for an outlining. She was stunning, and her silver-white eyes met mine.

 I stroked her face.

To the right of me, another horse came out of the trees. This one looked fairly normal, except it was spotted like a giraffe. Its mane and tail were white, and its eyes were a deep green. I thought green eyes were cool. 

Two horses followed after the giraffe one. Both were equally stunning. The first one, which Lyn described as, "extra special." He had also said that it'd be dangerous if they lost her, though he didn't explain how. 

She was dark chocolate brown, with a cream colored mane and tail. On top of the brown, there were swirls of pastel colors that seemed too perfect to be real-but then again, this was a fantasy story. On her face, I recognized some kind of runes on either side, in the same pastel colors as the rest of her had swirling through her hair. Atop her back were big, white butterfly wings with pastel yellow details, so light you could barely tell the difference from the white. They had a glowing aura around them, and I could tell why Lyn had to keep her protected. Which, showing her to the random new sixteen year old didn't seem very smart for that cause, but I knew I was trustworthy, so...whatever. It made me happy he was showing me his horses.

That sentence sounded kinda weird, I thought. Whatever.

The last horse was a white appaloosa with dove grey spots and socks that the white faded into. It's mane and tail had to be the most impressive. The mane was flowing as if there were a breeze, and it had branches with dense white leaves. Cherry blossoms were scattered throughout, in just the perfect positions. It's tail was like a-no, was a-flowing cloud in the wind. Rain followed above the mystical horse, coming from seemingly nowhere. Each drop was slate gray, but whenever it landed on the horse, it gave a three second show on its coat of a golden spiral, fading into life and fading out, growing and shrinking. Albeit odd, there was one way to describe the horse and one way only: Beautiful and glorious. 

Seeing I was inspecting the cherry blossom horse, Lyn sighed. "No one ever wants to ride that one. Even though I tell them they can't feel it, they don't wish to get splattered by rain."

"I want to ride her," I told him, briskly moving forwards. The horse reared back slightly, and I stopped dead in my tracks, not wanting to scare her. But I placed my hand gently on her face, and she calmed down. 

Now that I was up close, I wanted to see if I really couldn't see any traces of a cloud.

And I couldn't.

Then, despite what Lyn had said, I felt a raindrop.

Plunk!

Right on my forehead, I thought, grumpily.

I'm a he, someone else thought. Somehow I managed to not jump.

A/N

Sorry if this is kind of dull right now, I promise a little bit after Liz meets Waylon and Loxley the story'll start picking up. You'll get a piece of the plot next chapter <3

Word count: 1010