The pure white body twisted in the deep night, meneuvering its way around in the darkness. It was graceful, lithe, pristine. She was a whisper in this night, her bright coat standing out subtly against the shadows. At one glance, she might have appeared normal, just a delicate Arabian picking her way through the night.

But at a second glance, you could tell there was something off, something utterly out of place.

The hooves which carried her barely made a sound on the ground, and the way her bodice moved was no where near equine. And yet, she herself wasn't what set your mind whirling. It was the ten pairs of eyes that glistened behind her that did. Ten, staring, canine eyes.

The massive, steel grey wolf-Ares-padded closely beside her. He was the alpha, and his rightful place was beside his mare, leading their pack. The other nine followed in the same, quiet manner- three grown males, three grown females, and three young dogs, nearly a year old. The three pups walked side by side as always, the two males on either side of the young female, who carried herself in a stiff, jagged limp. All of the pack moved as one, their minds and senses connected in the incredible way a wolf pack is.

The white mare stopped, suddenly, her fluid movements coming to a standstill. Ares did as well, looking at her with questioning eyes. She had thought she'd heard something, seen something. It had looked only a shadow, but she couldn't be sure. A scent came to her nostrils as well.

Someone was definitely there.

Ares no longer held question in his glistening eyes, for he had scented it as well. And when a chilling shriek of terror rang out, it was known for certain that someone was there.

A deep rumbling growled in the alpha's chest, and the hair on his back raised ever so slightly. You could never be too careful. Some equines these days would go right after wolves and attack. The young, cinnamon brown female, standing awkwardly with her twisted leg, was proof.

The mare took a pace back, cautioning her wolves. Danger , her body language screamed to them, don't make a sound.

They waited silently, optics probing into the depths of the night. Waiting for something to happen.

The pale moonlit stag stepped quietly, avoiding the sticks and stones that lay on the cold earth beneath his hooves. Halting for a moment, the Spanish steed looked around, his velvet eartips pricked, his deep, dark eyes glinting with hope. Asfaloth-the stallion's name- whinnied briefly, his eyes full of anxiety. When he got no reply, Asfaloth's body seemed to wither. "You knew she wouldn't be here. Why did you come? It's not even the eclipse." The grey stallion shook his head, ignored his inner voice, and continued wandering on, occasionally whinnying.

As he traversed across the forest that lay around the Clearing, a whole host of strange, unfamiliar scents washed over the stag, immediately halting him. He immediately became alert, his ears pricked, his eyes sharp, and his nostrils taking in the strange scent, trying to decipher what creature produced it.

An expression of fear and intrigue crossed the stallion's face as his nostrils revealed to him what the strange scents were. Two horses and an entire wolf pack? What is going on here? Asfaloth began stepping carefully toward the source.

When the stag reached the edge of the trees, he quietly peeked out from behind a large pine tree, and what he saw startled him. An Arabian mare, right smack in the center of ten wolves!

[craaappppyyy~~]

{OMG I love the poem "I know Why the Caged Bird Sings"!! xD

Anywho...mind if I bud in?}

((Holy sheep, forgot all about this. Sorry guys!))

Danza's eyes widened, position stiff and locked as she scented ANOTHER horse, a stallion. Why were there so many out at night? Didn't horses sleep at night? Weren't they supposed to? She didn't know, she'd never really been one.

She watched as a dark outline stepped forward, threw a rear with her optics set on her pack.The pale mare shifted a half step back, watching the strange horse flailing from apparently nothing. She seemed strange, unlike the equines she had encountered before. A deep growl gurgled in her chest, a sound which was more than alien for a horse. Ares bared his teeth beside her, guarded. The rest of the pack shifted, bunching tighter together. They were more powerful as one.

The white Arab stared coldly, still scenting the stallion who was obviously close. Should she encourage her pack to flee? Should they stay put? Whatever they did, it wouldn't be to attack. She had long ago forbade her canine companions for ever targeting a horse of any sorts, unless of course they had been threatened. She didn't feel truly threatened at the moment...more taken aback, startled from this awkward entrance the femme had made.

Ares gazed up with his liquid eyes, questioning. He wanted to know what to do. Wait, she signaled. Just wait.

((aah, quite horrible. I'm trying to get my muse going Dx))

The Arab tensed her muscles. There were two dangers here-she could see a ghost out of the corner of her eye, which she knew was a stallion as white as herself. He didn't seem too threatening, yet, for he wasn't making a quick advancement...it was the mare she was worried about.

She seemed disturbed, crazy. Her movements seemed alien to the mare...she was pretty alien herself, but she knew horses just did not act like that. Not the sane ones. She staggered forward...and as she did, Danzarina moved back, growling lowly, like a canine. Her black eyes flashed dangerously, protectively. She heard several snarls from her pack, some of the males had bared their teeth...but with a quick look back, her brows raised, they silenced themselves.

Danza's muscles locked, and she stepped forwards, rising the the oncoming mare. Ares stepped forward as well, his massive body as tensed and alert as she was...he was nearly springing off the ground already, legs coiled, shoulders up.

And then, the dark mare lurched forwards.

Everything flashed through the ivory mare's mind at that one moment. She saw herself charging into battle at Mordred, pack at hand, fighting alongside her during a battle that none of them REALLY related to, during a war that none of them REALLY belonged in. What had the equine population done for her? Absolutely nothing, but she had fought in that war, risking her life and her pack, and for what? To have various injuries among her pack, the worst that had been a shattered leg to one of the young females...little more than a pup at that time. She saw again the time when she had encountered a blind mare in the woods...and her pack had protected her and the other mare-a stranger to them- from a mountain lion. She watched her young female's leg re-shatter during a hunt in the woods, it had never fully healed and probably never would. She brushed her tail across the five lines of the scar on her hindquarters and remembered why she bore the slashes that had been carved by a wolf's paw with pride.

She glanced a quick look at the cinnamon colored wolf, standing behind her, her brothers boxed protectively around her, for they knew she was weak. That triggered the rage in the mare's mind, and she could think only one thing... Not MY pack! She let out a shriek of rage, eyes wild, Her wolfish traits shining through. She chased forward, lips curled and face in a twisted snarl, then launched herself into a full rear, pawing out sharply, body twisting and lashing defensively. Ares had charged alongside her...but the rest of the pack stood back, understanding that they could not help. Not yet, anyways, while their mare was in such a fit. She shrieked at the charging dark mare, lips spitting out the words in disgust, "DON'T YOU TOUCH THEM!"

[Mreh. I don't really feel like replying to this... you people can continue on without me, if you wish ^_^ ]