Current Herd

Pt. 1: A New Beginning

Jacaerys is woken up before the sun has even peeked over the horizon by the arrival of wrestlers in the yard outside of his holding pen. He lifts his broad cranium from where he lays near his dam and watches closely, his audits swiveling at their words he can’t make out in their language. “Jace, what’s wrong?” Mara nickers softly to him as her sleepy eyes flutter awake. It takes her a few moments to realize he’s staring and catches on.

As a few more humans quickly arrive, all the horses stand up. Jacaerys, now at his height, takes a cautious step forward with a hard snort, obviously unsettled by their gathering. What do they want? His orbs strain to watch their every move. It appears as though all their attention is on him. It isn't too hard for him to piece together as they stare and point in his direction. What are they planning?

With whips in their hands the humans enter the enclosure, circling around the blue stallion as he stands his ground, pawing and snorting defensively. “Jace, he careful,” his mother worryingly snorts as she steps behind her son with the other mares. A wave of fear devours the colt’s frame as he quickly realizes that he’s the one that is supposed to defend the other mares and their foals in this pen. He’s nearly frozen in place, racking his brain on what to do. What do they want?! He tries his best to come off intimidating as he paws the loose sand underneath his front hooves and throws his head around with a demonic snarl on his features.

A few laughs erupt from a couple of the men and they jump forward swinging their arms with the whips, generating a loud crack! Jacaerys flinches, tossing his head in the air and popping up on his hind end. The next cracking sound is from his opposing side but accompanied with an immediate stinging sensation across his hip. He lurches forward, thrown off guard by the physical pain. He tries to keep himself between the humans and the other horses the best he can, but the humans are coming at him from all angles, slinging whips that bite at his hocks. They close in on him and Jacaerys is forced into a smaller corral by the means of panels and sheer fear of the whips that lash into the air like a serpent's tongue.

They leave him be for a few minutes as he gallops the expanse of the wooden panels. Mara’s cries haunt his audits as she calls out. The panels are just high enough that Jacaerys can’t see over them. “It’s alright, mother! I’m okay. It’s going to be okay!” He tries to reassure her, putting forward his best, strong and unwavering tone. But the truth is, he was freaking out. The humans had never bothered him before in all the time he had lived in the holding pen. Many horses came and went but the horses of his pen had always been safe. What changed!?

When the humans re-approach and one enters the round pen, he has a different item in his hand. One that the stallion has seen used many times over the years. Rope. Jacaerys brings himself to stand facing the man, paying very close attention as he lifts the rope over his head and begins to swing it into a big loop. He steps forward and the stallion scrambles back with a big blow from his nostrils. However, once again, he finds that his long legs lock up on him and he’s frozen, staring down the man dead in the eyes, pleading with him to just go away. Obviously, his silent pleas are ignored. Get a grip, man!

Just as Jacaerys is able to gain control of his legs once more, he musters the courage to bolt. The wrestler tosses the rope into the air and it snags around his neck. Jacaerys continues to run but the rope only gets tighter around the top of his neck and he struggles to breathe. I can't breathe! He pulls the human around the pen, creating a ginormous dust cloud that swallows them both up in front of the other spectators. A few more wrestlers are climbing over the fence now and make their way to grab hold of the rope, helping the first man pull him steady. In sheer panic, Jacaerys throws his body into the air as he rears with such momentum that he thrusts himself off balance and he’s unable to catch himself.

The sky was growing dark all around the young stallion as he traveled. His gait was a bit sluggish and his eyes heavy as he stared blankly ahead at the horizon. He had seen nothing but shrubs and grass for the last 2 days, traveling in a straight line away from his captors. While probably not the best idea, given that he wanted to escape them, he also had no idea where he was going and was trying to avoid walking in circles. For the first time in his life he was free and able to go wherever he pleased, but also in that same breath, he was alone for the first time.

The calls of his mother and the others plagued his mind. They all had nearly believed that he was dead when he came across the top of the wooden panels of his enclosure and they broke under his weight. However, the blood had been misleading and that split second of disbelief was the only chance he was given to find his feet underneath him and book it out of there. His dam had screamed at him to run and not look back - and he listened - but he missed her terribly. I will go back. He would find somewhere safe for them, and he would return for them all!

A sharp tug at his neck snapped him from his thoughts and brought him to a stop. It was the rope that still trailed with him, attached to his neck. Every attempt to remove it so far had either failed or almost put him in a predicament of becoming more entangled in it, so he just clenched his teeth and dealt with the nuisance of it. The wound he had sustained from his fall and initial rope burn from the humans were near painless as they scabbed over, but at this rate, he would be rubbed raw from the nylon lariat before he ever got off the plains. A low grumble of thunder alerted the oncoming storm around him. Jacaerys tilted his head towards the sky as light rain drops touched his pink muzzle, causing him to snort involuntarily. Enough sulking. He quickened his gait to an extended trot, hoping he wouldn’t be caught in the ensuing downpour.

As he continued to travel east, the horizon began to grow a dark shade of green against the pale, dried grasses of the plains he had been staring at for the last couple days. His audits pricked in interest as he moved a little quicker. He quickly realized that it was trees that he saw. Big, green trees that shaded the ground beneath them. A smile swept across his muzzle as he cantered forward until he reached the wood line. Jacaerys and his dark form nearly disappeared into the cover of the branches tightly woven into each other. The soil beneath him was mostly earth with a few blades of dull yellowish grass sprouting sporadically. More color and nutrients than what was currently fried on the plains. Just as he was able to catch his breath, the clouds above opened up and the rain fell hard across the land. The stallion ventured a little further into the forest, finding a quiet place among the bushes to lay his frame on the ground and rest.

Life outside of the holding pens was very different from the world Jacaerys was currently experiencing. The rainstorm had cooled off the hot and dry atmosphere to welcome in a cool evening as the sun set behind the canopy. The stallion had rested rather peacefully through the night, not much aware of the world around him. In holding, he never had to worry about predators or challengers, so the idea of staying vigilant throughout the night seemed like an unnecessary precaution. However, this would be one lesson he'd learn the hard way.

As morning came, Jacaerys was jolted awake by snarly whispers and rustling in the brush around him. Light had not yet broken through the treetops bright enough for him to see more than shadows all around him. His audits were strained forward, grabbing at each voice and movement he could detect. He sucks in air through his nostrils, nearly choking on the musky scent of wet dog ... Had the humans found me?

His first thoughts were the hounds that some of the humans used for tracking the herds of mustangs to scope out the area before deciding on the method of capture for that particular group. The dogs could move silently, or with one whistle, they would fill the air with howls and barks, causing chaos and confusion for anyone they set their sights on. But there were also dogs among the humans that didn't seem to do anything other than follow them around for attention or food. Some of them were just as noisy, but some of them were hardly ever seen outside of the human buildings. He listened hard but he never could pick up human voices or their language among the harsh whispers. Perhaps these dogs were lost as well?

Jacaerys battled with his fears and curiosity as the sensible part of him was telling him to run, but the other part teased him to check it out. How harmful could dogs be without a human? With that thought in mind, the young stud brought his frame to stand up on his feet and he crept silently towards the bush he had determined was the only thing that stood between him and these creatures.