Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

The Rogue Mage

The stallion mage tried to imagine what it would be like, seeing mares living among them.  Mares in woman-shape and equine shape.  And there would be children.  Foals on two and four legs.  I want that.  It isn't fair that only mares can live with children.

"But Elder, how do you know this?" Alvarr asked.

Elder Mastok nodded.  "It is well you might ask.  There have been so many things lost to us… so much knowledge of our people."  He rose again and went to the center of the tent where a small rock had always been.

Alvarr had wondered why no one cleared the rock; now, he could see the reason.  Elder Mastok lifted it and drew out a rectangular shape, wrapped in the same white cloth as the tent.

"What is that?" the mage asked.

"I believe it is the ancient history of our people," the Elder said.  He split the rectangle in half, and Alvarr saw it was made of many rectangles put together at one end, as thin and flexible as leaves.

The mage reached out a finger to touch one of the leaves' white, smooth surface.  On it were dark brown marks that he could not make sense of.  They were unlike any natural marks left by the trail of an animal, but he sensed that they were meaningful.

"Where did this come from?"

"Our people made it, long ago.  I believe they were common items."

Alvarr shook his head in confusion.  How was that possible?  Such a thing… he couldn't imagine how anyone made it, even with their hands.  People painted sometimes, by pounding plants for their juices and using hairs from their own tails, but it was rare.  And this was different.  The lines were so fine, and some were straight as the horizon.

"During this time," the Elder continued, turning a flat leaf, "a stallion and a mare-mage ruled the people."  He showed the marks on the leaf. 

This, Alvarr recognized.  It showed a large mare with a mage-stripe, and a dark stallion beside her.  "These are the same people from the cave."

"Indeed," Elder Mastok said.  "And they were true mates."

"Mates?" Alvarr asked.

The old man nodded. 

"What does that mean, other than mating?"

"It is difficult to explain, for I have not experienced it," the Elder said.  "But it is when two people become very close.  They want to be together, even outside the Time of Mating.  They understand one another."

The only thing Alvarr understood about everyone was how much they feared his power.  At least now, he knew why stallions were so wary of magic.  Does that mean Laren was brave to bring me here?  "How do you know of this?"

Elder Mastok stroked the flat leaf.  "I have been able to decipher some of the marks on the page.  They are words, Alvarr.  The words that we speak."

"I don't understand," the mage said.

"It is no matter."  The old man turned the leaf over so that the other side showed with more of the marks.  "Under the mare-mage and stallion, our people were great.  There were many mages.  Even non-mages could easily hold man-shape and woman-shape."

He took a sip of tea.  "But then, everything changed."

"What happened?" Alvarr said.  Unease rippled over his skin, raising the hairs.

"The stallion died.  It is unclear why.  But the mare went… mad.  Her magic became boundless."

Alvarr remembered the sense of dread he had gotten from the cave's image.  "She was an earth mage, wasn't she?"

"Yes, the strongest.  One of the strongest," Elder Mastok said.

But earth magic doesn't do harm.  At least, that was what the Mare-Mother had taught him.  But the cave told a different story.  "She killed many.  Isn't that right?"  Alvarr knew his face had turned pale, and his hands gripped each other.  I have to know the truth.

"Yes," the old man said.  "Her magic reshaped the very earth.  In her madness, she called terrible winds around her that uprooted trees and shook the ground."

Alvarr had to look away, recalling the terrible sight of trees falling into each other.  If he had not been the cause of it, what had?

"The tribe drove her away, and the mare-mage left with her sisters to protect her and travel forever.  The stallions, too, left their home."

"Did they become nomads, like the mares?"

"No, but they could not return to their home that held too many memories."

"So they settled here."  Perhaps that explained why it didn't truly feel like home. 

Magic had been the cause of the separation.  Alvarr's toes dug into the packed earthen floor, but he tried to keep his voice steady.  "J-just because one mare went mad?"

The Elder held out his hands.  "That day proved that a mare-mage's power was a fearsome thing," he said.  "What would you do if you knew your power could put the tribe in danger?  The mare-mage was a leader, as well, and leaders-"

"Always protect the tribe," Alvarr finished.  A silence fell between them, a quiet that waited for him to tell his secrets.

A sense of unreality overtook him, as though his body was not his own, as though he was not truly sitting in the healing tent.  He, too, had to do his duty, though the tribe had not shown much care for him.

"Elder," he began.  "I must tell you something."  His voice sounded thin and small in his own ears.

"What is it, young mage?"

"My power has been growing."  Alvarr took a breath, unable to get enough air from the panic that had started tightening his chest.

"I cannot stop it.  Flowers grow where my feet touched the ground.  In the cave, something… happened to me," he continued, unable to describe the strange events.  "I had a dream and woke up changed.  My power came so easily.  I could feel magic under my feet." 

But the Elder smiled.  "You are not a mare, young mage.  As a Healer, I know that there is nothing to fear from you."

"Mare-Mother said that stallion mages were rare," Alvarr said.  "When was the last time there was one?"

Elder Mastok's weathered face fell into lines of sympathy.  "They are more than just rare," he said.  "Though much of our history is lost, I have never heard of a stallion mage in all my life."  The Elder made that strange bowing gesture.

I wish he wouldn't.  The last thing Alvarr wanted to be was special.  He resisted the urge to rub his forehead. 

"You are still fatigued from your time in the cave," the Elder said.  "Stay here and rest." 

Alvarr obeyed, glad to not have to talk.  I did not tell him about the horn, or the trees that fell by themselves.  I am a coward.  He closed his eyes. 

At least now he knew what he had to do if his power became uncontrollable.  It would be lonely, so lonely, but he would be able to protect them. 

His last thought before he slipped into sleep was of the large leader who brought him there in his strong arms.