Post by Silence on Apr 12, 2011 17:33:04 GMT -8
JUST THE BEGINNING.
HOW WILL IT ALL PAN OUT?
Päike Tok. Island of the Sun. It's a small island, hidden within the vast, tropical waters of the Atlantic ocean. American Indians once lived here, creating temples and monoliths, mountains of carved stone that filled what the horses now call Sugar Valley and the Highlands, the Borderlands and Haken Beach. Three herds have laid claim to the land the humans once occupied and prospered upon--the Kepas, Lozis and Vakuro--and they have now lived here for over a hundred generations, building cultures of their own among the quickly collapsing ruins.
This year, the tensions are high and the stakes are higher. The Vakuro have been exceptionally lucky over the past few months, and though they are usually secretive, their good fortune has made them careless. Foals with the traditional Vakuro markings have been seen wandering the borderlands, taunting young ones from the neighboring tribes and luring them into the jungle, never to be seen again. Both the Kepas and the Lozis are furious with this turn of events--the shock and pain is, obviously, quite a lot to bear--but aside from these more righteous concerns, the greedy Lozis want their share of the Vakuros' material wealth. Though it has not been proven, this particular herd has convinced itself that the Vakuro have more land and room to graze than they do, which is an unacceptable turn of events, but they don't dare to attack the dangerous Vakuro horses without a plan.
So the Lozis have made an alliance with the Kepas and are organizing an attack...an attack which will take more planning than usual, because the Vakuro are indeed impossibly cunning and terribly deadly. There is a reason the foals have not returned from between the jungle ferns, and the other two herds are certain that the only possible reason is that they are dead. Both groups are screaming for blood, which is fortunate, because that is the only way the Lozis would ever see fit to fight alongside the lowly Kepas.
But the Lozis may have gotten more than they bargained for, because there is more than just revenge that is tying them to the Kepa herd. Romance is blooming between unmated yearlings in both groups, and the new generation in both tribes may not be so firmly anchored to that traditionally azure Lozi blood.
Still, many questions remain unconsidered by either the Kepas or Lozis, questions that should be considered by both herds' leaders before they move to attack. Are their foals really dead? Why have the Vakuro appearances not stopped, when the jungle tribe is usually so very secretive? And are the attacks really so random?
Will there be a fight? Will the Vakuro fall? Or will there be a new tribe, a younger tribe, risen from the phoenix's ashes of the other three?
HOW WILL IT ALL PAN OUT?
Päike Tok. Island of the Sun. It's a small island, hidden within the vast, tropical waters of the Atlantic ocean. American Indians once lived here, creating temples and monoliths, mountains of carved stone that filled what the horses now call Sugar Valley and the Highlands, the Borderlands and Haken Beach. Three herds have laid claim to the land the humans once occupied and prospered upon--the Kepas, Lozis and Vakuro--and they have now lived here for over a hundred generations, building cultures of their own among the quickly collapsing ruins.
This year, the tensions are high and the stakes are higher. The Vakuro have been exceptionally lucky over the past few months, and though they are usually secretive, their good fortune has made them careless. Foals with the traditional Vakuro markings have been seen wandering the borderlands, taunting young ones from the neighboring tribes and luring them into the jungle, never to be seen again. Both the Kepas and the Lozis are furious with this turn of events--the shock and pain is, obviously, quite a lot to bear--but aside from these more righteous concerns, the greedy Lozis want their share of the Vakuros' material wealth. Though it has not been proven, this particular herd has convinced itself that the Vakuro have more land and room to graze than they do, which is an unacceptable turn of events, but they don't dare to attack the dangerous Vakuro horses without a plan.
So the Lozis have made an alliance with the Kepas and are organizing an attack...an attack which will take more planning than usual, because the Vakuro are indeed impossibly cunning and terribly deadly. There is a reason the foals have not returned from between the jungle ferns, and the other two herds are certain that the only possible reason is that they are dead. Both groups are screaming for blood, which is fortunate, because that is the only way the Lozis would ever see fit to fight alongside the lowly Kepas.
But the Lozis may have gotten more than they bargained for, because there is more than just revenge that is tying them to the Kepa herd. Romance is blooming between unmated yearlings in both groups, and the new generation in both tribes may not be so firmly anchored to that traditionally azure Lozi blood.
Still, many questions remain unconsidered by either the Kepas or Lozis, questions that should be considered by both herds' leaders before they move to attack. Are their foals really dead? Why have the Vakuro appearances not stopped, when the jungle tribe is usually so very secretive? And are the attacks really so random?
Will there be a fight? Will the Vakuro fall? Or will there be a new tribe, a younger tribe, risen from the phoenix's ashes of the other three?