Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

The Flow Of Time (3/3)

Short update this time, but I wanted to get this chapter done.

Nature provides. The grass, Alvarr knew, would be the food for the stallions and mares as they returned. He realized that the barrier that he felt must have been the edge of the stallions' tainted territory. And Fara realized that I was channeling too much energy, out of control.

He put his hand on her neck and stroked her soft mane. "Thank you, daughter." As young as she was, she was still a mage, and mages' understanding of magic was woven into their very beings. It gave him hope that, even if there was no knowledge of weather-mages, Fara would be able to control herself. Perhaps she is a very different mare from Alvi, and there will be no danger at all.

Smiling, he shook off the last traces of Nature's hold over him. "Fara, tell everyone to come and eat." There was enough for all. "Can you do that?"

"Come. Eat." Fara said, her dark eyes understanding and clear.

"Go on, daughter," Alvarr said. "You can do it."

Reha was busy grazing, but when the small weather-mage sped toward the tribe, Reha trotted toward Alvarr. "She is already so..." A swish of her tail expressed what her words could not.

Alvarr nodded. "She is already herself. Separate. Mare-Mother says that is the way of mage-foals." He nodded in the direction his daughter had taken.

"Does that not make you sad?" the other earth mage asked. Her anxiety was clear in the way she strained after the small filly.

"Even if it did, it simply is," Alvarr said. "It is all the way of Nature. The flow of time."

"That is so," Reha said in a quiet voice. "But at least now, we will all be together."

The way the tribe waited changed. They picked up their hooves faster each day, and heads pointed toward their destination without fail. Even the youngest among them sensed how their voices now carried a joyful current, not the worn edge of anxiety.

And Fara's rain was turning to mist more often, though they had not seen a blue sky since she was born. It was on one such morning when Alvarr and his mage daughter rose early and walked out a ways along the ribbon of grass that guided them.

Heavy white mist clouded the air, and their breath showed white. Alvarr shivered, but this was far better than cold drops of rain.

"No rain," Fara said, biting off a few shreds.

She is already separate from me, Alvarr thought. Despite what he'd told Reha, a bittersweet pain stole through his chest. Their people grew fast, but even when Fara had been cut out of his body, she was already remote.

Like Alvarr, she had a burden only she could bear. She needs to be strong, then. Alvarr resolved to help her the best he could.

"Look, Fara," he said, pawing at the edge of the grass. "It is starting to spread. And it could not do that without your rain." He shifted to two-legs.

Fara did as well. "Father. Why?"

"You can see better colors this way," Alvarr explained. He knelt on the grass, running his hand over the fine blades. "And feel it."

When Fara knelt, her dark gray hair hung like a waterfall over her shoulder, spilling on the grass.

She has mage's hair. This was something Alvarr knew, of course, but children did not shift to two-legs often. He was relieved to see that she had become sturdier, a true child of their people. With any luck, she would not inherit Alvarr's delicate frame, but take after Laren.

"Soft," she said, but then, she stood up, her fine brows drawing together as she looked out into the distance. A few drops of rain fell.

"What is it?" Alvarr put his hand on Fara's shoulder. "What is wrong?"

The sound of pounding hooves behind them made them both turn. "Father," Fara said.

Laren came toward them, breathing hard, and shifted, looking in the same direction. "I thought there was something..." He rubbed over his short-cropped hair.

Mare-Mother Quirina, Reha, and Harta cantered toward them next. Alvarr knew they sensed the same thing as the others. We all are close to Nature, he thought. Something is happening.

"We must warn the others," he said. Warn was not right, for whatever was happening was not bad.

A confusing impulse hit him. He wanted to run. No, he wanted to find shelter. Fara shifted to four legs and cantered back toward the camp. Mare-Mother Quirina charged after her.

Laren put his ears back and took off down the ribbon of grass.

Reha and Harta pressed closer to Alvarr. "Help us," Harta whispered. "It's coming for us."

What was coming? Alvarr planted his hooves in the ground and felt for Nature's flow. He broke the connection and gasped, stumbling back. A brilliant wave of light had washed through his mind, too intense to handle. "Don't reach for your magic," he said.

With his mind, he called for his mate. Laren!

As though in answer, the big gray stallion thundered back to them. His coat was foaming and he panted for breath, but his energy was unmistakable. Swerving around them, he shouted. "Come back to camp! Quickly!"

The three earth mages followed. When they arrived, Mare-Mother Quirina and Laren were already giving orders to the mares and older children.

"We need spare cloths," the mare leader said, "and four strong backs. Pack the tents and get the children. Healers, with me."

Laren's tail was whipping back and forth. "Carriers, with me," he called. "We will go ahead."

"The stallions are coming," Reha said. "They're almost here."

The tribe moved silently and swiftly. Alvarr took down their own tent and deposited their night coverings next to Mare-Mother Quirina, who nodded. She had no time to say more, for she was speaking to the healers.

Alvarr did not know if he wanted to run ahead or stay behind. He, too, felt the press of change on him. It will happen, he reminded himself. No matter how he felt, nothing ever would stand still.