Morning dawned on frosted grasslands; a murky, hazy, dark morning there was little sound in the world

that penetrated the fog. There were no sounds of birds, chattering and chirping merrily about Wolf as
she navigated the thick, pearly shrouds and banners of haze.

The air held a certain chill, and when she breathed out she created her own streamers of mist that
swirled and tapered away. There was a stream near to her, she could hear it, smell it, and remembering
taking a drink to fill her belly before they had bedded down the night before and yet she was having a
hard time finding it in all of the vast fog.

Hooves crunched against the frozen grass under her, and it was cool against her canons and her fetlocks.
The nip in the air made her eager for the day to warm; she nearly regretted venturing from the safety of
the protective little glade that she had stumbled across in his search of water. Her own breathing, and
that steady crunching were the only sounds to break the silent hush the fog laid over the world and she
felt very much alone in her quiet trek, as though she would never find her way from the fog and would
remain trapped forever in it like a specter.

But suddenly, a hoof she placed firmly broke ground and her fetlock and her cannon were submerged in
bitterly cold water, it made her snort and jerk and when she looked down she was standing upon the
bank of the stream, frozen over in its most shallow parts.

A quiet look around her, and then she lowered her head towards the water. The close pressed fog made
her uneasy suddenly, as though something lurked beyond her eyes and her ears, waiting for her to lower
her head and drink before it would strike. Several times, despite the same, pressing, uniform silence she
jerked her head back from the water to cast rolling eyes around in search of some looming shape, a
shadow in the luminescent, pale haze of the fog.

Yet she found nothing, despite how her skin crawled and her nerves jolted and finally, with a strong
resolve she lowered her head and put her lips to the cool water.

Beyond her eye-line a shadow formed against the glaze of the morning, massive and lumbering in
quality it swayed forward and towards Wolf, but it was not until that tight silence was shattered by a
loud, deep, rumbling cry that she reacted.

By then it was far too late, and the shape, bigger and blacker than ever lunged with another one of those
chest rattling cries and an outstretched limb that –

Silver eyes snapped open with a start and a gasp, and Wolf blearily searched her own eyes
before they blinked at her and she lifted her head and took in a breath.

Coyote stood before her, regarding her carefully with a look of doubt that instantly made her want to
throttle and rattle him, even at such an early hour. Her heart continued to pound in her chest, and the
echo of the rumbling scream was still in her ears. She pinned them back, and shook her head as if to
shake the growl out of her head.
It unhinged Coyote’s jaw though, and as she thought during his monologue it might not have been the
best of ideas.

“Another dream was it?” he asked curiously, and patiently she shook her head and took a step forward
to ease the tension out of long locked knees.

“Just a nightmare. Nothing of substance.” She provided, and Coyote gave her that same skeptical sort of
look, though now she was better suited to deal with it. While she stretched her body and legs out,
Coyote talked.

“Well then, it must have been a ferocious sort of nightmare. You never move so much when you
are having the normal dreams us normal sorts have. Thought you were awake, I did – you kept stamping
and snorting, moving your ears all about. What was it then, your nightmare? A cat?” he pressed and as
she stepped past him out of the glade to find water she again, shook her head for her twin.

“No, no – I’m not sure what it was. I’m already forgetting it.” she fibbed, and this time Coyote spared her
his doubtful look and seemed to believe her. He shouldered up against her, quite chipper and energetic
for the early hour.

It was a little bit frustrating; she was quite normally the first one up so she didn’t have to put up
with the chatter first thing. She got to experience him, crabby and broody after being woken up and
pressed into action.

They stepped into the otherworldly haze of chilly fog, on frozen grasses in a world so silent around them
that the hush seemed a weight. Coyote broke that silence, already talking and telling his silent, watchful
twin of his own dreams – inspired by the moonseed berries he had indulged in, despite her warnings.

They always made his dreams colorful and his sleep a little fitful.

Walking towards the stream, in such familiar territory she was pinned by the sudden fear of that large,
looming, growling shape and though it had been a dream, she couldn’t be sure if it was the normal sort
of dream she wanted it to be or if, like some of her other dreams it would truly play out in her life.

Her nostrils pinched, and ears swiveled with every sound that she could make out over Coyote’s talk,
and their crunching, nosy hoof-falls in the frosted grass.

“He was a great big, brassy sort of fellow, like all crows are but he was the size of Anatherin –
you remember Anatherin, do you not? The Dayan from beyond the Seas, the barren, disfigured
gentleheart who adored you so. You remember him, I know that you do, you were plum under his
attentions.”
There was the jet of a black shape over head, the fluttering of wings and as quickly as the bird had
flapped into focus, it was gone and disappeared in the greedy fog again. She looked upwards, towards a
sky she could not quite see and then again directed her silver eyes ahead, fearfully searching out this
shape.

“I digress, Anatherin and your blushing hardly has a thing to do with my dream. As I was saying, the crow
was enormous, and when he would beat his wings he would throw us down – I was quite adamant, for it
didn’t seem a very polite thing for him to do and I told him so, I said to him ‘Sir, had I the capacity to
bowl you over, I would not do so, you are being dreadfully rude...’” Coyote prattled on about his dream,
and his chatter played a backdrop to Wolf’s own paranoia and fear.

She felt silly, it was nothing but a dream and yet the familiarity of the moment – minus her
twin’s noisy company – was so vivid that she couldn’t help but entertain the fear that something was
waiting for her to drop her guard.

Suddenly, her hoof broke a layer of ice and her foreleg was plunged halfway up her cannon into bitterly
cold water. It startled her, and the sensation was that of countless tiny fanged things gnawing at her
cannon but her attention was not with her hoof or her leg, but it was focused in the fog, heart
thundering.

Several moments passed with all the speed of a snail and she stared into the fog, hardly aware of her
own breathing, let alone her blithering companion and his tale of the giant crow.

“He did not take at all to the idea of being eaten, as is understandable, I don’t think anyone
would quite like that idea and he put up an awful fight. He was so noisy, it gathered a great deal of
attention to us all and I would have helped him, had I been able to but those great, vibrant fluttering
bugs with their painful red eyes – Are you listening? The stream has frozen; you’ll have to break the ice.”
Coyote finally noticed her distant eyes, and it was not until he began to stamp the ice himself, breaking
it up for her that she finally turned her attention to him.

“You haven’t listened, not this entire time. What is the matter?” he pressed and after a moment of
watching his quizzical face she lowered her head towards the water.

“Nothing – I’ve barely had a moment’s time to gather myself, and you’ve been talking since I
woke. It is not often I am confronted with the task of contending with your chatter from the first
moment I open my eyes.” She said, and Coyote gave an affronted sort of snort.

The moment passed, with her twin still talking and the first glimmer of bright, golden sun cut through
the clouds overhead and turned the fog transparent, it shimmered over the frozen ground and glared off
of the stream. Life leapt out of the earth, she could suddenly hear the merry trickle of the water under
the ice, and the sounds of birds eagerly setting out for the day.

She felt foolish, instantly, but hid this from her brother as she drank from the icy stream.

They moved on when the fog cleared, and by that time Coyote’s insult was a long forgotten
memory, like the mist and frost. It was still rather chilly, as far east as they were of the Vale and the
Gryphon Mountains, they were not near far enough North to escape the chill of winter.

It was a place neither of them had ventured into and it was not a conscious decision to travel and
venture into unknown territory. Rather, it was a vague sort of wandering, the unconscious search for
something unknown that possessed the souls of all true plains roaming unicorns. They had joined, and
then departed from a great many bands on the course of their slow trip towards the eastern unknown,
and were currently alone though there was no doubt in either of them, that they would find another
band soon.

The sun warmed the plains, and in the late morning they scattered a flock of grazing deer –
Coyote with a bit more delight than Wolf, who threatened her brother with the prospect of finding a
hornet’s hive to tie to his tail, should he continue harassing the skittish creatures.

Beyond their chasing of the deer, and assorted threats and dares the day was uneventful at best. They
ran for the better part of the afternoon, and paused briefly for a graze and a nap in the warmest parts of
the day before again they set off for the eastern horizon. As they traveled it grew cooler, the sky darker
with heavy clouds that smelled of wet and rain.

Coyote mused eagerly about what might lay just beyond the shape of a hillock, or a tree, while Wolf
quietly recalled her dream from time to time. She even wryly imagined that were they to encounter the
dark, growling thing, Coyote might shut his mouth – if only for a little while.

The sun began to fade into the west, and as evening fell they began their search for shelter to
bed down for the night.

“There is always the rock hill, not a league behind us – should we not find suitable cover for the night in
a quarter of that, I say it best we turn back.” Coyote suggested, and there was a great reasoning in this
idea that Wolf could not deny. She nodded her head to him.

“Aye, I think this the best plan.” She confirmed, and Coyote, pleased, took off to trot proudly ahead of
his sibling and scout out their surroundings.
“I would doubt we find any cover better, this plain seems dreadfully… plain.” He said, and with a little
chuckle to himself, obviously entertained by his own humor he disappeared over the slow hill they
crested. Wolf rolled her eyes in his absence, and picked up her own pace to breach the hill, nearly
colliding with the very still form of her bright azure brother.

“What are you doing?” she huffed, side stepping his haunch and he did not answer, drawing her to look
up, and a great shock filled her.

Their ‘plain’ plains stretched out, swept elegantly – covered in thick, white patches of snow. A
stream broke the flat of the ground, and there were trees scattered across this patch of ground, scarce
at first before they grew more and more numerous until at last, they all rose together to form the great,
expansive stretches of a forest scattered healthily along the foothills of a mountain.

All thick, dark evergreen these trees were covered in snow, bristling pine needled trees that grew close
together and shielded the horizon from view. Both sapphire siblings were immediately struck with the
sudden the same, foot-loose, adventurer’s longing to plunge into the forest and lose themselves amid
the trunks of those looming giants.

But something caught their eye, at the same moment. They both turned their faces towards the
flicker of movement and as eyes focused in Coyote took a curious step forward. Wolf did not move, she
remained cautious, suspicious despite the wonder that took her at the sight of the distant unicorn in
such far, foreign trees.

It was a stallion – or perhaps a terribly bulky, large mare that made Wolf a little fearful to imagine just
how large their males were, if it were indeed a female. A drab, dead umber with a blanket of snowy
appaloosa markings over a set of particularly thick haunches, a wild white mane and tail.

“Do you reckon he lives in those trees?” Coyote posed curiously, and Wolf was quietly relieved to know
she was not the only one making assumptions about the stranger and its gender and after a moment of
silence Wolf stepped forward to shoulder up against her fanciful twin.

The stranger looked back into the trees, and it silenced Wolf before she spoke as she watched
with a curiosity the way he seemed to whicker at the trees. A moment passed in silence, before another
shape slipped from amid the tree trunks. Slimmer, smaller, pearly cream in color there was no doubt in
that this stranger was a mare.

“Yes, I reckon he does.” Wolf answered, and Coyote gave her a look as if to say “Really?” before he
looked ahead again to the duo that they could see, but could not hear. They were most certainly deep in
conversation, and Coyote visibly strained in his attempt to pick up on just what they were saying.
With the hiss of the wind, over the great distance of the plains they stood there was no way he would
hear just what the strangers were discussing, and it no doubt irked him.

The mare reacted with a slight jolt to a particularly fierce gust of wind. First lifting her nose to
the wind, and then she looked upwards – obviously catching their scent. Coyote called out, and the
trumpet of greeting carried across the plains expanse and to the two strangers. The big, snowy stallion
looked shocked, even from a great distance.

“Ho! Greetings, we come with good intentions! We come in peace!” Coyote called, and he cast a pleased
sort of look on his sibling.

“I hear the gryphons treat in such a manner – sophisticated, wouldn’t you think?” he urged, and she was
saved the duty of responding to her clever twin when the mare called back; voice clear, and surprisingly
powerful for her stature.

“And we will accept you with peace! Come down, and out of the wind – atop that hill you will freeze!”
she called, and she was right. The wind was fierce and cold, probably more so atop the crest of the hill
they were on than it would be among the trunks of those trees. The mare and stallion both looked on
curiously at the siblings, though from a distance it was truly impossible to tell just how they were being
looked at.

Coyote was the first to move forward, naturally, his curiosity and his reckless bravery leading
him to trust, immediately in the words of these strangers and while Wolf was struck by the youthful
nature of her own paranoia. She regarded them carefully, as something rose in her to make her question
their good intentions. The forest beyond them was so thick, dense, and quiet, her mind was focused
hard on that forest and waiting for motion among the trees but she saw nothing. There was never the
movement of a bird, only just the swaying of the great, needled tree heads in the wind.

Coyote’s call broke her of her concentration.

“Wolf! Come! Stand about and they may think you’re touched.” He snapped, and she gave him a harsh
look that communicated, without the colorful words, a threat that he would do best to mind. He gave
her an impatient look, and after a moment she moved on, following her twin carefully down the gradual
slope.

The strange pair met them where the land evened out, and in standing in front of them the dark, snowy
stallion was even larger. He had a quiet, angry air about him – he didn’t look pleased to be forced into
treating beside the streamline pearl of a mare beside him. She looked pleased, however, wearing a wide
smile that surely bewitched Coyote.
He was the first to bow, with a great deal of zeal in front of the pair. Of course his eyes were upon the
mare, and Wolf refrained from taking a well aimed kick at his hocks. She settled for watching the
pearlescent cream mare, comforted by the smile she wore that her darker companion could not seem to
muster. They all bowed to one another, respectful inclines of the heads and the pretty mare was the first
to speak.

“I am Redswift, and this is my brother Heatborne,” she paused a moment to turn her eyes
towards her great, broody brother before she again looked to Coyote, and then Wolf. “Heat does not
speak much, he is the mysterious sort.” She said, laughingly, and while Coyote laughed with her Wolf
was inclined to smile, but Heat seemed ignorant at best.

It greatly aggravated Wolf – couldn’t he summon perhaps the slightest amount of energy to be at the
very least civil?

“Well met, Redswift, Heat – I am Coyote, this - ”

“I am Wolf.” She cut across her twin, and he seemed pleased by her sudden urge to speak. She inclined
her head once more, a quick, curt bow of the head and Redswift smiled again in that same sweet
manner, while Heat gave the most insignificant tilt of his chin imaginable.

Normally good natured, slightly moody for the paranoia such a dream had put into her, and
angry with her own needless jitters Wolf was far less patient than she might have been in any other
situation. She did not react, she did not lash out as she might have liked to but the broody stallion’s lack
of tact rubbed her the wrong way.

“Well met, well met! It brings me great glee that you’ve stumbled upon us! It has been such a
long time since we’ve had the joys of visitors among the herd! Come, you must follow us! There is a
great storm coming in behind you – it would not do for you to keep traveling – you must bed here and
wait out the storm.” Redswift urged, and Coyote was visibly pleased by her excitement, whereas Wolf
was a bit taken aback by the admittance there was a herd somewhere in these trees.

“The herd?” she voiced curiously, and Redswift gave her a happy nod.

“Yes, yes, we’ve a herd here! We are not great in numbers, but we are healthy and always eager to meet
strangers. This is such a boring, cold part of the Plains – few venture in this direction.” She explained,
and Coyote tilted his head.

“I cannot ever imagine why – I’m upset we did not travel this way sooner.” He said, and his gaze was
focused so intently on Redswift that she consented to a merry chuckle, and Wolf was embarrassed over
him. But the pretty cream mare seemed pleased under his attentions, and her lumbering, mute of a
brother was ignorant to Coyote’s gaze.

“What has brought you in this direction?” Heat asked, suddenly and it shocked Coyote as much
as it shocked Wolf. The big stallion had a deep, rough voice but he spoke elegantly enough. There was
no curiosity, no sign of real interest in his gaze as he watched Wolf – it was a silent demand in his eyes.

She longed not to answer him, simply to spite him for being such an uncouth hound.

“The lure of the unknown.” Coyote supplied, and while Wolf was displeased because Heat had
gotten an answer, Redswift’s almost adolescent reaction pleased her.

“Adventurers! Oh surely then you’ve seen the great Smoking Mountains? Or the Sea, the herons?” she
pressed, and Coyote’s chuckle was a mirror of Wolf’s amused smile. The childish nature of her sudden
excitement was endearing, almost immediately, and Wolf decided that she liked Redswift.

“We have seen all of those things – and much, much more.” Coyote assured her, and Redswift positively
radiated when she smiled again. Wolf was drawn to smile as well, and now she was completely ignorant
of Heat, whom loomed, a simple, dark, bestial shape beside his enjoyable sister.

“Oh you’ll have to come with us! You will have to stay with our herd the night and tell us your
stories, weather or no weather, we won’t let you leave now!” Redswift gushed, and she laughed. It was
clear and sharp, Coyote grinned at Wolf – obviously of the opinion that such a fate wouldn’t be so bad.
Wolf could tell already that her twin fancied the pretty pearlescent mare, and he was right to. She was
very lovely, and unlike her brother she was engaging.

Wolf answered before Coyote, and this seemed to take Redswift by surprise at first, but her surprise
quickly turned to an obvious pleasure.

“We would take your hospitality with joy and thanks, we’ve traveled a long way and been trapped out in
a great many storms. A warm night to a cold one, it’s not a hard choice to make.” She said, and when
she smiled Redswift mimicked her. Coyote seemed pleased, stepping to shoulder up beside his sister
proudly, with his chest thrown out and neck tensed to show off what a fine specimen her was for her.

Heat took little notice.

“Then follow, follow friends! We will take you into the hollow!” Redswift bade them, and as that mean
wind picked up again they quickly moved under the cover of trees. Redswift led the way, slender and
graceful and Coyote eagerly jumped in behind her.
 There was a heartbeat of silence that Wolf stood trapped in with Heat, who watched her with
patient, but unkind eyes as if she were an inconvenience. She stared him down, and was surprised when
the beast bowed its head to gesture for her to lead on. His eyes did not leave her, and under that
steady, dispassionate gaze she wanted to lash out but she restrained herself.

She stepped past him, with little more than a once over, falling in line behind her chattering sibling –
already eagerly recounting one of their many adventures.

The forest through which they walked was thick, and grew thicker as they walked further. Laden
down with snow, with more of the white fluttering down between great, thick, needle trees it was silent.
While it remained cold, the trees blocked the wind and protected the group from the mean, icy chill that
it had brought so cruelly from the east atop that hill.

There was evidence of other life in the snow – deer, rabbits, birds and other small creatures that Wolf
could not see, but knew were about. The silence was so thick and pressing that Wolf could barely
manage to ignore her twin, but even more remarkably, above his talk she could hear the snow as it fell.

It was soothing, and peaceful but despite the peace it all provided for her Wolf found a part of her
remained on edge. Trees were so close together that it was not possible to see very far off the path, and
while her hearing was acute she could not help but feel hidden behind the trees and off the well worn
path that they walked something lumbered and lurked.

Birds did not twitter gaily among the trees, and while she told herself it was simply the cold, the hour,
and her twin she continued to note the almost desperate silence in the wood.

They walked for near half a league before they encountered another unicorn. The unicorn
appeared out of the trees on a portion of the path that squeezed between two high, snow laden cliff
faces that spiraled off into the ring of mountains they were venturing into. The cobalt dapple crossed
the path before them, and Wolf was the first to note the warrior. Heat noted the stallion next, and
called out to him.

“Long-Rib.”

His voice caught Wolf off her guard and she jolted. She looked to Heat, whom gave her something
between a careless, and an apologetic look. It was neutral enough for her to recognize that he wasn’t
outright trying to be a jackass – he was accidentally accomplishing that.
 Long-Rib paused on the path, and looked down it towards the party of unicorns, turning a
curious eye from Heat first, and then onward towards Wolf and her brother. He cocked an aquiline face,
one tattered ear flickering to catch something off to his right, before they both came to the fore.

“Alright, Heat?” he questioned and Redswift looked over a slender shoulder to Coyote and Wolf,
respectively.

“Despite what you may think, based on your encounters with our herd members thus far we are
courteous.” She said, and a wry smile crooked Wolf’s lips, while Coyote managed to get in something
about trusting her wholly on such a point.

Long-Rib turned a somewhat guilty, apologetic look first on Redswift and then towards the twins.

“Forgive me, out among the trees for so long and I tend to forget my manners. I am Long-Rib.”
He bowed quickly to Coyote, and the dip of his head to Wolf was a little slower. This pleased her, though
she made no outward show of this but rather returned the bow, then turned curious eyes onward as
Long-Rib returned his attention to the snowy beast trailing her.

“Everything is fine – travelers, staying the night. A bad storm headed in.” Heat provided, as vaguely as
possible and Long-Rib gave a nod of his head.

“A wise decision to stay.” He commented, and there was a moment more that he paused which
provided Wolf with the opportunity to come closer to him as they passed. He was quite long in the rib,
but what was most interesting about him was the web of scar tissue that very nearly spanned the entire
right side of his face. It didn’t look as though fur would brave the scar tissue, and the skin was a light red
under the cold.

“What of the borders? Dune told me this morn he found signs of another cat. We’ll have to
locate the den and chase her out before the snow piles in again – I would hate for her to find she cannot
escape the glen and turn to the herd to sate her hunger.” Heat said, and it was the most Wolf had heard
him speak. There was suddenly a great purpose in him, and Long-Rib gave a nod of his head before he
looked over a shoulder, and whistled.

Wolf slowed up now, finding far more interest in the affairs of the warriors than the stories her brother
retold to every pretty mare whom would hear him out.

“Echo!”

A mare appeared then out of the trees, a rose grey with dark shoulders and points, she burned to black
at the knees and over her cheeks. Her eyes stood out amid two white rings, and she looked ghostly. She
paused to look Wolf over and it was similar to staring a foreign reflection down in a pond – she was very
off putting.
But Echo moved on quickly, her attention on Long-Rib and then Heat, when she noted him.

“We’ll find the cat tonight, before the storm sets.” Long-Rib told her, and she nodded quickly then
disappeared wordlessly into the trees he stood near to. After another bow to Wolf, Long-Rib vanished
amid the trees as well and Heat did not spare her a look. He followed the other two unicorns, and Wolf
grimaced but gladly moved on.

Had he spoken to her she wouldn’t have had anything polite to say to the urchin.

Somewhere near half a league from the edge of the forest the land began sloping gradually
downhill and the trees began to scatter. Suddenly, Wolf’s senses came alive as she could suddenly hear
and smell others in surplus.

The trees opened up into a lively glade, flat and scattered through with trees and brush, however it
seemed beneath the snow it was well cropped. There was the scent of water underneath all of the
smells of unicorns and there were dozens and dozens of unicorns in the glen. Foraging, sparring,
laughing and talking they weren’t the rag tag herd that Wolf had imagined when Redswift spoke of the
herd.

They were plentiful, and healthy and Wolf was a bit shocked to find life in such splendor in such a barren
part of the plains. Coyote mirrored her in her wonderment, though he voiced his own amazement with
the show of life.

“Who would imagine such a lively herd here, on the edge of the world?”

Redswift laughed gaily, and at first they passed through the ranks unnoticed, but steadily more and
more of the herd took note of the two cerulean twins. Talk and play ceased, there were cries of
excitement from youngsters “Outsiders!” they shouted, but parents hushed them, and elders seemed to
show little care.

Wolf noted the way they were watched almost suspiciously, but it was only a brief moment that
she noted such things before Redswift spoke out above the murmuring of the herd.

“Dark-Swan! We’ve visitors!” she cried, and Wolf turned her eyes forward just in time to
sidestep her brother’s suddenly stationary haunches, and pull to a halt herself. She then moved her eyes
towards the approaching unicorn – this Dark-Swan that Redswift called out to.

She was a mare, in her prime, a steely, beautiful grey in color and her sides shimmered like water.
Frosted at her points, with a wild white mane she was strict in appearance, a stern demeanor that
communicated the status of leadership.
Dark-Swan bowed, and Coyote and Wolf returned the gesture.

“Off from the plains?” she questioned, and it was a little soft, her expression one of mild interest
before the sternness of it lessened and she smiled. It was soft and generous, motherly in a sense.

“Aye, far from here.” Coyote answered, and the respectful tone he answered with told Wolf that Dark-
Swan struck him as much as she. This pleased her a bit, not only to see her frog of a brother showing
respect, but also to see that she was not alone in this feeling.

“You may call me Dark-Swan, I am the leader of this herd, and we are most pleased to have you here
with us. Winters in these parts are harsh, very harsh; it pleases me to see that we’ve found you before a
storm might have claimed you. These parts are severe.” She told them, and Wolf bowed again. Coyote
mimicked her and they introduced themselves – it drew Dark-Swan to smile a bit when they provided
their names.

“Coyote, and Wolf? Given names at birth, or have you named yourselves in your ventures? I am
most interested to see if you share similarities with your namesakes.” She commented, and Wolf
opened her mouth to speak but Dark-Swan spoke, quickly carrying the conversation onward.

“The hollow is safe and warm, even in the strongest storms we’ve seen we have been comfortable. The
snow falls heavy, and the way out will be shut for some time, you will be with us until the snows thaw
but do not fret – you are most welcome.” She explained, and Wolf glanced to Coyote, and Coyote to
Wolf.

Neither of them had quite counted on being trapped in this hollow until the thaws but, when Redswift
nudged Coyote he looked as though he might have forgotten to care.

“Tonight we will hold a celebration! To welcome our new friends!” Dark-Swan called it to the herd at
large, and there was an uproarious reaction to this decision. Wolf herself was struck with a bit of
giddiness as excitement and joy became so strong in the congregation.

“I will help you to find suitable sleeping quarters, so that you may make yourselves comfortable, and
perhaps rest a bit.” Redswift leaned into the two of them, and she smiled. Coyote’s smile was nearly
brainless, and Wolf nearly rolled her eyes.

“I think Coyote might like to help to keep you warm, he is such a generous soul.” Wolf commented,
wryly, and Coyote looked to her – shocked and angered – but Redswift giggled appreciatively in that
same melodic way that sated the sapphire twin instantly.

“I do find I get rather cold – I am so susceptible to the elements here.” She admitted, and as she turned
away with Coyote at her shoulder Wolf could hear her brother, talking instantly. Wolf smirked just a bit,
watching her smitten brother before she resigned to follow after the two – feeling very much like an
awkward third party, which entertained her a great deal. She was usually quite embarrassed for Coyote.

They were provided with a very nice grotto to bed in, the mountains the hollow was set into the
bottom of opened up into a twisting labyrinth as if they had been carved out by the belly of a great
snake. The path that led to them was well worn, there had been life in this place for a great time and
that was obvious and the grotto, though emptied of life was filled with straw for bedding and was
sheltered against the wind.

Coyote was bedded in the grotto with Wolf, despite his rather valiant attempts at charmingly, and
offhandedly offering his shoulder to warm Redswift multiple times. His disappointment was palpable
when they were left alone in the grotto, and he would do little more than grunt at Wolf when she
inquired as to his well being, and his thoughts on the herd.

Coyote eventually laid down for a nap, curled up moodily in the corner with his back to Wolf. She
however did not sleep. Her mind went wild as the snow piled high; she was far too excited and curious
about the herd, where they were and while she remained in the grotto her mind did not. She thought
back on Heat, Long-Rib and Echo, and the cat that they were hunting. She wondered curiously if they
had returned to the herd, but even when Coyote stirred, and Redswift returned with the setting of the
sun to invite them out for the festivities the trio had still not returned.

As she walked with Redswift and her brother, her curiosity grew.

“Redswift, forgive me but I am curious – your brother,” she began, and Redswift laughed gently
in that way that made Coyote nearly visibly giddy.

“My brother seems a fiendish creature; you would think we came from entirely separate parents. He is
stoic, there is a good heart within him.” She assured Wolf, and Wolf laughed a little herself.

“I am sure there is – but, I was curious, he accompanied Long-Rib, and a mare named Echo into the
wood in search of a cat… Is this common?” she asked, curiously and Redswift gave a nod of her head
though there was something about it that seemed a little reluctant.

“Yes, yes. Most of us are born of the plains, or we come from families who have taught us the ways of
peace but, in the time that we have lived here we have learned that we cannot always be so peaceful.
There are a great many cats in these parts, in the summer they take after deer and others they can catch
easier but during the winter, when the deer become scarce and press in closer to us the cats become a
bit more desperate. We’ve lost a great many to cats in the winter, and to prevent them getting trapped
in our hollow with us during the snows we chase them out.” She explained, and Wolf glanced to Coyote,
whom could only spare her a momentary glance before again he was bewitched by their cream colored
escort.

“But do not worry for Heat, or Long-Rib and least of all Echo! It is their profession, as one might say, in
the way of healers and lay singers! They are hunters, they have been trained in these ways and you will
find scarce others who would do so well in such a situation!” Redswift encouraged them, much happier
now in tone as they came away from the quiet, snow laden path between the floor of the hollow and
the elevated grottos in the foothills.

The floor was cleared of snow, through traffic and the lighting of numerous fires which burned
great and high and even as snow fell from the sky in thick, heavy flakes this clearing was warm. Loud
with the sound of joyous voices, there were already unicorns in trains, dancing gaily or circled in groups
around fires, chattering, sparring playfully with one another.

The joyous air was infectious and while Wolf was both a little overwhelmed by the massive response to
their arrival she was also ready for a night of dancing, and frivolous behavior. Her nerves needed
unwinding, lightly pent not only from their sudden introduction into this strange new herd but still from
that dream, and the pervading paranoia that she still felt in quick pangs.

Coyote was quick to pair off with Redwift for dancing, and much to her relief Wolf only stood a few
moments by herself before a handsome bay stallion who introduced himself as Yew asked her to dance.
He was an excellent dancer, and a charming conversation partner and he had Wolf in stitches very
quickly, pleased by his company and his sudden keen interest in her.

They romped and they frolicked, and he was quite adamant in complimenting her on her
swiftness of foot though she found herself hard pressed to keep up with him and when her breath left
her she was pleased in the same way she was pleased when she ran herself to exhaustion. She laughed
gaily, and Yew mimicked her while they curled through the hollow floor in the firelight. The cold was
forgotten in the heat of the moment, dancing near such large fires she was hot, her mane dampened
with sweat.

“Forgive me, butterfly but unlike you I find that I tire! I cannot keep up with you, I must beg of
you a moment to rest!” Yew panted, and there was laughter in his handsome rich voice and Wolf was
quietly relieved even as she laughed and nodded her own head.

“Fine, fine – but only just a moment.” She breathed, teasingly of course and Yew gave her a wicked
smile, before he ducked out of the line of dancers with her, shouldering her off to one side of the wildly
moving line of dancers. Yew laughed as he ducked his head to catch his breath, and it was cooler where
they stood so that heat rose from his shoulders and back.
“You are by far the most challenging partner I’ve had for a dance yet!” he admitted, with a grin and a
laugh and Wolf shook her head, throwing her mane from one side of her hot neck to the next and
relishing the sensation of cool air against her hot pelt. She smiled, and prepared to answer him but he
spoke up quickly before she could.

“You are not quite ready for a dance again, are you? I would very much like to show you something, it is
not far from here – just in the wood!” he lifted his head and stepped closer to her. For a moment there
was another pang of that paranoia and … Wolf thought to deny him his request. He watched her with an
expectant, bright smile, still panting gently and it was only when two other unicorns spirited past them,
drunk with their laughter and their joy and nudging into Wolf before they disappeared off into the trees
did she come to life.

She looked after them, and Yew looked over his shoulder to them as well.

“Brainless!” he called after them, and then looked back to Wolf with a dismissive sort of grin before
lifting his brows gently at her and she nodded her head to him.

“Of course! I only hope that it is interesting, and not just marginally so, lest you waste my time
and tempt my ire!” she said, jokingly of course and Yew laughed again then turned with a flourish to
guide her into the wood.

“I am most certain you will find it more than marginally interesting, butterfly. You will find it most
riveting, this I am sure of.” He said, and when he glanced back to her she thought for a moment there
was something a little dark in the way he looked upon her, but he quickly took off into the woods and
she was forced to pitch off after him to catch him up.

He led the way through the woods with all the skill of one who knew them well, and she found herself
slightly hard pressed to keep up with her partner. He would disappear amid the trees and then call to
her, bidding her to keep up before he would appear again with a charming, smoldering sort of look to
lead her off again.

It seemed very much a game to him, as he laughed and called to her flirtatiously through the trees,
guiding her through the heavy banks of snow and further on into the woods in a dizzying way that made
her certain she would be lost if she were to try and turn back. Her frustration with Yew mounted and
when she finally decided that she was through with his game, she broke into a clearing where he stood,
smiling and waiting for her.

She looked around them, sighed gently and then looked back to Yew a little impatiently as if to
ask him just what was so interesting about the clearing but again, he spoke up first.
“Forgive me, I was quite excited to get you here.” He said, and again she looked around then back to
Yew as he stepped forward, quite certain now it was simply a very horribly played attempt at getting her
alone. She softened up just a bit, though as she relaxed she began to note the odd way the clearing
around her smelled. She looked around; bark had been stripped off of trees higher than her horn
reached and her skin prickled under her pelt. She suddenly felt uneasy, a charge in the air hit her just
right and she wanted to do nothing more than run but courage and Yew’s slow advance kept her in
place.

“For what reason? I’m quite unimpressed.” She murmured, giving him a rather cold look as suddenly
that handsome smile no longer made her heart pound. She was suddenly aggravated with him, fed up,
and nerves that had been tight were suddenly humming within her.

“Give it a moment, shortly you will find reason to be impressed, I’m sure.” He said, and again he
sounded very sure of himself in this sentiment. She breathed out, slowly and it condensed on the air in
front of her, forming a pale misty plume. She steeled her resolve, and even as he advanced she did not
step back – she prepared herself for violence and when he lowered his horn towards her she began to
move to knock his head askance but there was suddenly a great deal of sound.

Crashing through the undergrowth, an angry shout and Yew reacted with a violent twist just as a
shape exploded out of the undergrowth. Large and dark, the movement was so sudden that Wolf could
hardly process colors but when she finally did, she cried out.

“Coyote!”

Her twin was suddenly in horn lock with Yew, and the clattering of bone on bone was louder than their
voices as all three of them spoke out for very different reasons. Wolf lunged forward to aid her brother,
but before she could connect with Yew another shape darted in front of her, and there was suddenly a
thick shoulder up against hers.

Echo shouldered Coyote and shoved him away from Yew and when Wolf prepared to lunge forward and
attack her, in a panic and thinking that Echo was there to defend the big bay pig Long-Rib cut her off,
pushing her back and away again.

“This is not your fight!” he shouted it, and she was puzzled by the sentiment but continued to
shove, until she saw Echo turn her horn on Yew and in little more than three moves down the stallion
with a lethal blow to his ribcage. Wolf cried out in consternation, confusion and fear made her angry,
and the fact that Coyote had been involved in a scuffle with Yew who now lay bleeding and thrashing
made her even angrier.

“You fools! You’ll kill the herd! The herd!” Yew was shouting, desperately and Echo made a movement
that Wolf could not follow past Long-Rib’s neck, and then Yew was silent.
Long-Rib finally stepped back, allowing Wolf to rush to Coyote who was well all but for a few scrapes
and sore spots along his shoulders where Yew had landed his teeth like a viper.

“What is going on?!” Coyote demanded, and Wolf turned expectant angry eyes on Long-Rib and
Echo, then onto the massive, dark shape that made Wolf pin her ears back for a moment, before Heat
ducked out of the wood and stepped into the clearing.

“What is all of this?!” Wolf snapped angrily and Heat turned guilty, but fierce eyes upon the twins.

“I am sorry you have been caught up in this – this is a fight that has been coming for a great
while. But you must leave this place, now, you have been led here for slaughter. There are few of us
who would protect you, and shortly I fear there will be even.” He said, and instead of being straight
forward and providing an explanation he made for more questions.

“What are you talking about?” Wolf asked, her voice a bit more steady now, but no less demanding of
the snowy backed stallion, whom moved closer to them.

“There is a beast in these woods, a great creature our families have taken to sating, rather than
subduing. It has grown beyond management.” Heat said in a rushed undertone, and Wolf glanced
sidelong to her brother whose expression was as skeptical as her own. A foreign voice made her look
back towards the trio, and she was surprised to find Echo speaking.

“You have been led here for slaughter – you are a sacrifice. These mountains are evil and this herd has
been cursed!” She widened her eyes a bit as she hissed that last word, in a voice surprisingly soft and
even a bit gentle, for a mare who stood with the glimmer and dark of blood against her horn and
forehead. Long-Rib gave a shake of his head, and Heat moved forward further.

“We must go. Now.” He urged, impatiently and he turned to Long-Rib, opening his mouth to speak to
the cobalt hunter. Wolf looked to her twin, and he seemed to steel slightly under her gaze. He took a
step forward and spoke out – surprising Wolf with his sudden reason.

“Where will we go? With the snow so high, the hollow will be near impossible to get out of – the banks
will be unmanageable.” He protested, as if reluctant to believe that Redswift could have really been
working against them all the while, and Heat gave an impatient shake of his head and it was obvious in
this motion that he did not know either.

“We will manage the banks, it is the only way and once you break the hollow you must run, run as fast
as you can for they will surely send parties after you. No matter how many of our number fight tonight,
they will still attempt to catch you and keep you in this cursed place.” Long-Rib rushed, and there was a
sudden crashing of branches. The entire group jerked their heads, looking upward as quickly the crash
and din of tinder being crushed by something large was followed by something that rattled their
ribcages.

Wolf’s heart stilled a moment in her chest.

It lumbered, a dark, massive beast that issued a cry that rattled her to the core, a roar that shook the
clearing they stood in and when it took a swipe at her with a paw near the size of her head she dodged it
with a leap to the side.

The bear – far larger than any Wolf had ever encountered, and bordering on the size of
unrealistic – gave another one of those bellows and instead of pursuing her in her dive greedily took to
the next closest, Coyote. The clearing came to life as Coyote leapt away from the bear and Wolf towards
it, aiming her horn for its massive flank. The connection she made with the bear was hardly a scrape,
and it did nothing but make the beast angrier as it swung for her with a surprising speed and deftness
for a creature of its impossible size.

“Run! NOW!” Heat shouted somewhere in the melee, and just as the bear’s jaws came to snap at her
something drew its ire away from her. When she skirted around it, shouldering Coyote along she caught
sight of Echo jumping out of the way of the bear’s paws. Long-Rib charged the bear and when Wolf dove
to attack it from a blind side, Heat caught her and shoved her roughly away.

“It is not your fight!” he shouted, that cry again that she could not understand and Coyote
crowded her, forcing her forward.

“Go Wolf, now, it is too large!” he cried, and as the bear swung and roared again Echo and Long-Rib
scattered. Wolf turned her attention then on running, charging through the wood after Heat who
barreled through the tundra with a surprising deftness and grace that made him good to lead the party
on their dash.

“What do we do now?!” Coyote cried, behind his sister and Long-Rib shouted from a distance off,
disappearing and then reappearing between trees. Wolf could not see Echo, but rather simply knew she
was amid the party as the bear lumbered after them with a determination that spoke to greed, rather
than actual hunger.
 “We make for the path! There is no other way out of the hollow, the other passes will have
closed and it is our only hope for an escape!” Heat shouted, and behind them the bear roared in its
consternation, tearing a path through the forestry four times the size of a healthy, fat unicorn. In the
distance, between the trunks of trees the light of a fire could be made out, and with a start Wolf realized
the bear would chase them right into the herd.

She stretched her gait, and caught Heat’s side to shove him which drew him to cry out in alarm and
anger. Coyote dodged around a tree, and it brought him to Long-Rib’s side and as he attempted to
dodge around the trees to take his sister’s side again she called out to him.

“Go! Around the herd! We cannot lead the bear into a throng of mares and young ones!” she cried out,
and her lungs burned with the effort, her heart throbbed like something heavy and desperate in her
throat. The snow was cold against her stomach and her cannons, her lower legs were numbed by the
chill of it and her nostrils stung as she breathed in so desperately.

Heat seemed to refocus, and with a wild shout he twirled and lunged at the bear. Wolf jumped
to follow him, and as they charged the beast it rose up onto hind legs and screamed as if welcoming
their challenge. But neither of the unicorns jumped to strike the bear, they merely came within swinging
range of its massive, angry paws and turned sharply – Wolf shouldering Heat and forcing him into a hard
turn.

The bear bellowed again, and Wolf stumbled and nearly fell when one of those paws very nearly took
her hind hooves out from under her. She threw them in her anger and fear, before she connected fully
with the ground again and her hooves resumed their wild, frantic flight across snow.

They raced eastward, the bear properly distracted and following them now away from and around the
herd, and Wolf had lost sight of her brother and the two hunters he ran with. They obviously ran in the
other direction, and while Wolf was desperately worried for her twin’s safety she knew that he was a far
cry safer than she was. Particularly in the company of the two hunters.

The ground grew jagged, trees were fallen and overgrown in abundance, and the snow clumped thicker
here. They had to dodge and jump a great many obstacles, and they were forced to lift their knees
higher and run harder as the snow grew deeper. The idea that they might run over some covered fallen
tree, or find a jagged patch of rocks under the snow occurred to Wolf only in passing as they flew.

The one blessing that came in their sudden change of scenery was the obstacle suddenly provided for
the bear, who was not so swift as they and slowed and struggled with the deep snow. The space
between the two unicorns and the bear lengthened and lengthened, until finally it gave one last angry
cry and then disappeared beyond vision and earshot when they rounded a heavy stand of trees. Neither
of the duo slowed, despite their sudden freedom of a pursuer when they noted, in the distance the
shape of three others in a mad flight, pursued by no less than seven others.
Wolf cried out in consternation and alarm, and took off with a renewed sort of vigor towards the group
of flying unicorns.

The snow thickened, and slowed the group enough for Heat and Wolf to slide into the race. A
graying sage brute noted Wolf and swung his horn at her midstride, but his stab was thrown off and he
stumbled when she threw out her hind hooves and they slapped him across the nose. Two others
stumbled over him and they dropped out of the running, but the four remaining were dogged and fierce
in their pursuit.

A great, heavy, angry blonde unicorn screamed in a voice as deep and mean as the bear’s bellow.

“You’re ALL going to die!”

By now, her lungs were screaming. There was the twist of something sharp and mean in her ribs with
every stride she stretched and they had to jump now through the snow, like foxes in pursuit of
something beneath it. She was wheezing, as were the others in the group but the remaining four
including the big blonde brute were zealous and fresh.

The blonde set teeth into her flank and she wheeled with a cry to lock horns with him. Heat
charged into the melee, and even he was overshadowed by the blonde monster. Wolf’s shaky legs failed
her as the wheaten beast threw her horn and her head, her knees gave out and she hit her chest in the
snow and even as she rose the thug bore down on her. Heat collided with the stallion, but a well aimed
kicked threw him back and the animal aimed a horn for her.

There was a sudden scream, and an electric orange dun collided with the blonde, laughing as he bowled
over the stallion and shouting about ‘a moment to savor’. Heat shouldered Wolf up, and even as that
wild orange dun laughed and surged after the angry yellow demon, the dark, snowy stallion shoved her.

She wheeled and raced onwards, noting as she did so the appearance of others aside from the dun, as
they joined the desperate race towards the top of the slope they had come down to enter this place.
Her limbs were beginning to refuse movement, Coyote was struggling as well but Long-Rib was crowding
him, doggedly shoving him onward just as Heat was suddenly behind Wolf.

“Go! Go! Do not stop, do not stop!” he roared it at her and she set her mind on the crest of the
hill, on freedom, on the entire group escaping from the hollow.

But suddenly, as if against her will and to prove to her it could not happen there was a
shattering sound. Eerie and deep it was loud enough to echo, and to cut over the sounds of her own
ragged gasping, Heat’s panting behind her, the shouts and screams from warriors and hunters engaged
in battle down the slope.

She threw her eyes upward and with a horrible, sickening twist she watched as from above, moving so
slowly it could not have been possible great, thick cleaves of snow slipping down and off the cliff sides to
scream down at them in thick, angry waves.

The crest of the hill came nearer, nearer, the ground shook and the entire world rocked as all of
that snow raced ever onward like a wave that would devour them all. Coyote screamed ahead of her,
Heat behind her and as all time seemed to stop, her breathing faltered in her throat and she made one
last, desperate jump stretching all of her frame to the point she thought she might break, the dark
stallion behind her screamed –

“HURRY!”

And then there was a billowing, resounding crash and Wolf could only focus on her flight down the
incline, attempting to mind her footing in the same moment as she attempted to fly with all speed and
haste as she could manage. The snow frothed after them, an angry, rattling sound followed them like
the hissing of a great snake and her hind end was suddenly engulfed in a cold that stopped her heart,
then her shoulders and as she began to scream to Coyote the snow closed in and the world went
suddenly dark.

****

Wolf woke to a desperate calling of her name. The sound of hooves scraping the snow and then
the sudden, bright filtering of moonlight across her face. She opened wild eyes and found Coyote,
staring down upon her and when he saw his twin’s eyes open he laughed out joyously, and his digging
became more frantic.

He helped her struggle from the snow, and by the time she was out of it they were both exhausted, and
simply collapsed atop the new layer. They were silent, the both of them and it was only after Wolf
caught her breath that she looked back towards those two cliffs that had once been laden down with
heavy white snow, and were now barren.

She looked down then, upon the path between the two cliffs and there were no signs of life.

None, whatsoever.

She searched desperately for the signs of someone struggling out of the snow, but she found none.
They remained at the pass for some time, calling out to Long-Rib, to Echo, to Heatborn but none
answered. The world was still and quiet as though they were completely alone. She wanted desperately
to believe that they were behind the wall of snow, alive and trapped in the hollow but part of her knew
better.

Shakily, Wolf and Coyote turned away from the foothills, and they moved out of the shade of
those angry mountains, back towards the plains where they had ventured from. They would rest, they
would heal and they would turn away from those mountains for a time but without a word to her twin,
Wolf vowed she would return.

She would return in the spring, with the thaw, and if the revolt that Long-Rib, Echo, and Heat had begun
had not succeeded, she would start another with her brother and free the herd from the curse of the
mountains.