Stallion Mage: A Horse Shifter Mpreg Romance (COMPLETE)

Call Of The Ancient Land (END!)

Many mares stared at the old stallion. "But isn't the rift just a story?" Harta asked. Several mares' heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

"A true story, tribe-daughter," Elder Mastok replied, his aged eyes wise and kind.

"But how do you know that it's true?" Harta asked. Her hooves dug into the earth.

Why else would Mare-Mother tell you the story? Alvarr thought in answer, but he did not give voice to his irritation. Still, an earth mage, of all people, should have been able to sense the truth of it. But some things are not as easy to accept. I also struggled to understand.

He tried to see through a mare's eyes. To Harta and the others, who had never seen the cave drawings or those found in the flat leaves from the ancient days, Alvarr supposed it would seem like only a wild tale, especially when confronted with the realities of everyday life. He had not believed he was with foal at first, either.

He snorted. Then again, what stallion would?

Alvarr stood a little behind Elder Mastok, ready to tell his story once more. After all, Harta had seen a stallion bear a foal in her camp. Surely, she would accept that there was more in the world than what she knew.

The old stallion looked at the ground beneath his hooves, up at the clouded-over sky, then tilted his head to one side and regarded Harta. "Tell me something, tribe-daughter. Do you feel the need to wander?"

"I... don't know," Harta said, looking away from the Elder's probing.

"As a stallion, I can tell you that I do not feel the need to seek safety as I once did," Elder Mastok said.

Alvarr reached inside himself. Where is home? Where should I be?

There was a strong pull toward Laren and Fara. But separately, connections drew him to his mother, Sakol, and Darani. Each was a line of Nature's energy, and it all connected them to each other. But as Alvarr focused deeper, a direction tugged at him, somewhere in the distance. And it led to a place where he'd only been once before. A place he hadn't expected to know how to find.

The ancient land.

He found himself twisting toward it. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the whole tribe faced the same direction, even Fara, the youngest among them. They said nothing and stood motionless. Gentle rain fell over them all.

We are all compelled. But it was a far stronger compulsion than any leader could manage. He tried to speak, but the weight of the compulsion held him.

Alvarr had seen the swoop of birds of prey as they descended on a small creature. This was what those creatures experienced, transfixed by the shadow of a much larger power.

"I want to go home," Harta finally said. Her voice was small and quiet, but rose over the silence of the tribe.

"I, too, have never felt the urge to travel, until this day," Elder Mastok said.

"We will go there," said the mare leader, her voice distant. "We must, I think."

Raising her head, she shook herself from ear to tail, breaking free of the spell of the ancient land. She gathered the tribe with a look, accompanied by a gentle compulsion.

The heavy press of stillness lifted from Alvarr, like the sun burning off a morning mist. Laren, too, no longer stood so silently.

"Adults and children," the mare leader said. "Let us take this day to rest. Rejoin your families. At sunset, we will have a vote to determine our next step."