Prologue

Prologue of Hoofbeats.

     Amethia strode down the dense trail she was taking back towards her homeland. Her hooves barely touched the ground as she glided down the path, her silver mane flowing behind her in a tangle of twigs and clinging dirt. Her bright eyes weren’t dulled despite her muddy and restless appearance. The beautiful day above the forest blazed bright and sunny with a hint of heat making it near perfection.

     The young silver mare glanced upward as the shadow of an eagle gracefully made its way past her above in a small clearing of the trees. She naturally marveled at the beautiful design of its wings and the elegance as it danced across the bright blue sky, but her mind was edged with worry as she held the knowledge that a strong eagle could easily carry away a newborn foal. The late spring had many of those, including the lead stallion Cerus’s newborn daughter Atalant. Amethia was surprised that the aging stallion still felt strong enough to raise foals in his prime of nine years, but then again, his mate Eponine was only seven.

     Amethia flicked an ear thoughtfully as she loped in to the final clearing where the herd lived. The elderly dun storyteller, Balios, grazed quietly in the shadow of a huge oak tree at the edge of the clearing nearest to her and Amethia greeted him with a nicker. All the reply she received was a scornful, sharp whinny from the old horse. She trotted along the edge of the clearing to get a glimpse of what was going on.

     Abraxus, Cerus’s near four year old son, stood noble in the sunlight. He was precisely a younger version of his father with his shining black coat and proud, handsome eyes. His legs itched with adventure at every moment and his fine features were desirable beyond compare. Amethia twitched her muzzle at him with slight annoyance at the older colt’s pride, and lowered her head to graze. Before she completely reached the ground, though, she made out the words “Stop staring, weaning!” erupt from his throat.

     Hurt, the silver filly averted her eyes to instead stare at the grass, but after a few mouthfuls, a young gang of colts rammed in to her and Amethia was barreled on to her side painfully. She looked up to see them race overtop of her flank and not look back to see if she was okay. Muttering to herself, she sighed heavily and returned to grazing in an upright position.

     “Hello, Amethia, how’re you doing today?” Eponine’s voice broke the silence of the silver filly’s mind as she lifted her head and looked over at the older mare. They were good friends, despite the two years age difference.

     “I’m good, Eponine, thank you.” Amethia spoke kindly but still grimly towards the lead mare, glad that at least she had this one friend.

     The two began in deep conversation about Abraxus and the proud mother’s plans for her son in the future, and soon drifted to the newborn Atalant and how Eponine was planning to raise one or two more foals before she died, which came as a shock to Amethia because of the three foals that she had bore before Atalant.

     After a short hour had passed of friendly conversation and grazing, Eponine shook her mane thoughtfully and announced that she had to leave and see how her foal was doing. “Cerus is good as a father, but not as a foal-sitter…” she giggled, sounding like a filly again for once in her life. Then, Eponine turned and trotted to the edge of the clearing opposite of Balios where a graying black stallion stood, dazing in the shade. She greeted him with a happy whinny and they touched muzzles.

     Amethia glanced over at Abraxus again and shuddered at his huge ego. At the age of four, every son of the leader was assigned a ‘betrothal’, or in other words- an early mate. The leaders did it because the son nearest to four years old when the leader died would take over as leader, for youth’s sake, and the leaders didn’t want the son to go without a ‘proper’ mate during his reign. Amethia personally hated all the rules and restrictions, but she understood that the herds just wanted to keep going. Just like her herd… the fire herd.

     Horses lived in this land as long as anyone could remember, and stories of Humans were just myths… but these horses themselves were partially a myth, too, for they were of four main elements and could bend these elements to their will. Within the land lived the four elemental herds- Earth, Air, Water, and Amethia’s own herd- Fire.

     So Amethia and the others weren’t normal as other herds were. Whenever one of them reached four years of age, they discovered the usage of their element depending on the herd they were raised in.

     Amethia looked up at the bright sun over the clearing, and let out a nicker of pride. She was scorned here. Her only friends were Balios and Eponine. She was shy and often underestimated. Her life was a mess of laughter and being kept at the bottom. But she was desperate to get her powers. Then, she could exact revenge on those who harmed her in a simple swish of her tail. She was glad that no horses were immune to their own powers in this way.

     The muddy mare soon stopped grazing and looked up warily before turning to the tree cover for a quick snooze in the shade. One day, she would be even.

 

Author's Note

Okay, for those from HI, only the characters of Me, Elfeh, Bless, and Mels have been introduced but only Bless and me really shown so far. Don't worry, Spader, you come in soon! And Elfeh and Mels, you both end up playing a big part.

PS: That note above is for people I told about this from a game, nicknames used.

Reviews

[Ollie]

YAY! I get to play a part >:D

Well, anyways, I'm looking forward to this book. It sounds really interesting...

[Taco]

Awesome awesome awesome awesome! And what can I say? AWESOME.
I can't wait to see my character!