book 1 || Taka's Journey

Learning More

Taka observed the camp, it was beautiful  Horses basking in the sun, elegant tree leaves blocking the sun. She finally found the buckskin yearling and walked up to him. The buckskin seemed to be talking with the leader, and Taka tries not to interrupt. 

"Great news Taka! Hurricane is letting you join ShadowHerd! Isn't that great!" The buckskin says almost rearing with joy. "Yes, that's wonderful." Taka smiles with delight and glanced up at a large dappled grey stallion with serious eyes. 

"Father, this is Taka." The buckskin nickered as Hurricane looked down from his stone. "Nice to meet you Taka, I am Hurricane, leader of ShadowHerd." Hurricane greeted, his eyes softening. "Nice to meet you too." Taka nickered shyly, hiding behind the young buckskin. "You two go and explore the camp, and Prince you might want to show her the Golden Meadow!" Hurricane suggested as a beautiful black mare walked out from one of the resting dens. 

"How are you my dear, Hurricane?" She asked with false loving eyes. "I am doing just fine, we actually have a new member of the herd, Taka." Hurricane explained as the dark mare looked upon Taka. 

"Hello Taka I am Midnight Jet, but you can call me Midnight. I am the lead mare of ShadowHerd." Midnight greeted and dipped her head.

"Nice to mee-" Prince interrupted Taka, "Come on Taka. let's go see the Golden Meadow." Prince hisses as he turns his back on the leaders' and slowly walks away. Taka follows him, a bit curious why he didn't show much respect.  

"Are you ok?" Taka asked. "Yeah I can explain later, come on!" Prince yelled as he began to canter off. "Wait! I can't gallop remember?" Taka says, reminding Prince as he stops. "Oh, right, sorry." Prince mutters, looking embarrassed. "It's okay." Taka smiles, and they walk shoulder to shoulder, matching their hooves. 

The two yearlings finally make it to the Golden Meadow. It was a large field full of juicy green grass.  "Wow, this is amazing. I never knew ShadowHerd had such grazing grounds!" Taka whinnied astonished, her dark brown eyes blazing with wonder. 

"Why, thanks. Over there near the Ice River is StreamHerd's territory." Prince said, pointing with his muzzle in the direction. "I've never heard of StreamHerd. Who's the leader?" Taka asked, deep in puzzlement. "The leader is Picasso, he is a very kind stallion and is very fair too." Prince nickered as he bent his head down to eat.  

"So you know a little about me, but I haven't gotten to know much about you. Who's your family?" Taka asked, dipping her head down to eat with him. 

"You met my father, Hurricane. I hate him." Prince plainly says swallowing the grass he was munching on.  Taka lifts her head up in surprise. "You hate Hurricane?" She asks. "No, I hate my father. Hurricane is a leader, father is a jerk." Prince says as he looks into Taka's glowing brown eyes. Taka was a little confused by Prince's words. "I can see your confused." Prince snickered. "I can explain better, Hurricane has two sides, one side is his leader side, and I like that side because he makes good decisions as a leader. His other side is his family side, and he doesn't care for me." Prince explained taking another bite of grass. 

"Oh, I understand. But I also disagree with that he hates you. I can read eyes, Prince, and his eyes tell me that he is trying to care for you, it's just hard." Taka says soothingly. "Tell me why you hate him." Taka ordered, but the order wasn't stern. 

"He..." It was hard for Prince to explain, his emotions took control of him, and a tear rolled down from his soft amber eyes. "After my mother ran away, to join the No-Tails, he found another mare. That mare is Midnight, and all she cares about is getting groomed and having power as a lead mare." Prince said, feeling ashamed.