Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

The Road Ahead (1/3)

For a moment, the only sound was that of rain. Alvarr looked at the faces for the mares. They are stunned, he thought. They do not want to do it. They are just like the stallions, and Mare-Mother has failed to convince them.

Larea broke the strained atmosphere. "If our growing colts have nowhere good to live, what choice do we have?" the mare said, tossing her wet mane. "We will have stallions among us when they grow, anyway. With Laren and Alvarr, we already do."

Noses turned toward each other as the mares quietly discussed what Larea had just said. "She makes a sensible point," Laren whispered.

"Mares and children, I do not expect an answer from you now," Mare-Mother Quirina said. "Think about what you have learned this day. Think," she stressed, "about what you have to gain, and what you have to lose. We will meet tomorrow morning, before we move to new ground." A few groans sounded, and Alvarr wondered if she had stressed the moving on purpose. With the Elders here, Fara does have a better chance of getting control. That, at least, is a point in favor of letting the stallions join.

But was it too much of a change? The mares were used to their way of life. With the introduction of the stallions, there would be more to manage, more voices. And Thane and Nassor, Alvarr realized, shuddering. No one would want them in their midst.

With a final look at her people, the mare leader's compulsion lifted, and the mares and children scattered.

Mare-Mother Quirina cantered over to Laren and Alvarr, but Fara dashed away as the mare leader approached.

"Fara!" Laren called, but Mare-Mother Quirina shook her mane. "Oh, let her run. She won't go too far from you yet." Hoofbeats splashed after her. Alvarr watched Darani streak after the weather-mage foal.

"There, you see? Fara will be safe."

"I just don't want her getting into trouble she can't get out of," Alvarr said, watching the two trot away into the distance. "The earth will always protect an earth-mage." Alvarr remembered his own childhood, which, though lonely, was always filled with the assurance that Nature would protect him. "But what about a weather-mage?"

The mare leader sighed and touched noses with Alvarr, and then Laren. "I do not know," she said, weariness in her voice. "I only hope that the tribe votes to allow your tribe to join with ours."

Hope. Vote. So Alvarr had been right. His mother would let the tribe decide. Is that leadership? he thought, with a flash of scorn. If a leader could not change things, then who could? "Can you not just compel them to agree?" Alvarr asked, but his mate was already shaking his head.

"You know that there is only so much power a leader has over the tribe," Laren said gently. "Think on it. What if I had compelled the stallions to all eat so much romeya that they died?"

The stallion mage shuddered. "You would not do that! It is against Nature."

Laren nudged his neck. "Of course I would not," he said. "But if a leader had that much power, it could turn into a terrible thing."

"Indeed," Mare-Mother Quirina said, stamping her hoof in the mud. "Even if I could compel them, the ones that did not want to go would harbor resentment, and I would have to compel them every time they disagreed with me. That is no way to lead."

But this is no way to live, Alvarr thought. He was tired of being cold and wet, and he was sure the mares were as well. The three of them watched the dim shapes of mares and children wander in the rain.

"If the tribe does not agree to have the stallion tribe," Alvarr asked, "what about only the Elders? I know that they are old, and will make travel slow, but it is dangerous if Fara does not have guidance." The kind that I did not, he thought.

"It is a possibility," the mare leader said, nodding slowly.

"Or we could take Fara back to live among the stallions," Laren said, but then vigorously shook his mane, sending water flying. "No. That will never work."

Mare-Mother Quirina blew out a breath. "No. I do not want the foal-of-my-foal to live in such a place, nor any of our growing colts."

"You sent me there," Alvarr murmured.

Mare-Mother Quirina turned her head away, as though she could not bear to meet her son's eyes. "I..." she started, then shook her coat all over.

"And I can see that you have not left Sakol to grow alone like a wild weed in the woods, as you did with me." The stallion mage's words came without his consent, but once he said them, he found that he wanted to hear his mother's response.

"You have a right to be angry," she said in a low voice. "As leader, I could not-"

"I am not angry," Alvarr said. He reached inside his spirit and found only acceptance of what had happened. Though his mother was like a stranger, he could not regret the sequence of his life events that had led him to have Laren and Fara as kin. "But you need to know that I will not do that with Fara." He felt Laren nod his large gray head next to him. "Whatever it takes, I will see to it that she has protection and guidance, the way I did not."

"I could not have taught you," Mare-Mother Quirina said.

"I know," Alvarr said. "No one could have. And you did not have the knowledge of the stallion Elders. But now, we must do all we can. If we do not join with the stallion tribe," he said, looking out into the rainy, gray landscape, "I will help her somehow, even if Fara and I have to leave."

"And I," Laren added softly.

Mare-Mother Quirina sighed. "When you were born, and the earth erupted with white flowers, I was afraid. Such power, in someone so young..." She finally looked at her son. "And I am a healer, the same as Sakol. I do not have the power of earth." She swished her tail. "I suppose I could have found an earth mage tribe-sister to teach you."

"No one knew what to do with a stallion mage," Alvarr said without emotion. "I was strange."

The mare leader bowed her head. "In this, I suppose we are no better than the stallions and their fear of mages."

Alvarr watched his breath come out in white puffs in front of his face. There was no use blaming anyone; they were all victims of the rift's damage.

"I have faith in the tribe to see the sense," the mare leader said. "It is far too easy to get used to the way things are."

Alvarr silently agreed, remembering his life of being chased, shunned, and bullied. As terrible as it was, he had simply adapted to it.

"Now that Fara is among us and your horn has fallen off, it is easy to believe that you are simply stallions that have come to live with us. But Nature led you to us, we must not forget." Mare-Mother Quirina said. "I have faith in my tribe to see the wisdom of joining with the stallions, and we must act as though they have already agreed."

"Well said," Laren agreed. "When not fearful, we are a sensible people, mares and stallions both."

Mare-Mother Quirina flicked her ears in the direction of the stallion tribe, which lay somewhere in the far distance. "We need to move to better ground. Fara will be out there for hours, playing with the other children, as she should be." She gave them a sideways look. "While Fara is not with you, you two can scout ahead," she said. "If you can find the edge of Fara's influence, so much the better."

Without Fara? Half of Alvarr wanted to protest, but the other half leaped at the chance to be free. Just for a little while, he wouldn't have to worry. He glanced at Laren, whose large, dark eyes showed his own uncertainty.

But what if she cannot find enough to eat? What if she comes back to find us not here, and is upset?

Mare-Mother Quirina closed her eyes, and Alvarr could feel her channeling Nature's Order. "I have put compulsion on Darani and your little stormcloud. They are sure not to wander too far, and will be here when you return. Go on," she said, swishing her tail. "Fara will be safe."

With a few hesitant steps, Alvarr and Laren started walking away from the camp.