Her Guardian

The uneven forest floor tore at her feet, her stockings long since shredded in her flight.  The cold of the moonlit night barely numbed the pain and the faint sounds of pursuit growing closer confirmed her trail was impossible to hide.  She threw herself down among the roots of a tree, her heart pounding as she gasped for breath, hoping for concealment among the shadows. She burrowed the fresh gentle curves of her body into her shawl in a likely futile attempt to hide its treasure from their ravenous eyes, dread filling her as the crude slurred comments drew ever closer, leaving no doubt to their intentions as though the already forming bruises had left any.

Curled up tight, eyes screwed shut, silently praying they might miss her in the darkness, her body stiffened in shock as an unexpected wave of safety and comfort washed over her with a wafting scent at once familiar and exotic.  The sounds of the men dulled in her ears as she felt soft, heated velvet nuzzling against her, the musky, sun-drenched scent of horse and jasmine enveloping her. Her eyes opened, her face tipping up, caressed by draping strands of deep midnight forelock and mane, his curling obsidian horn standing guard over her like a sword for a mere instant.

The brutal men forgotten, she blinked transfixed by him as he stepped back, his hooves silent on the leaf litter, instantly gone in the stillness of the night.  The stench of booze and man suddenly crashed down around her, the alien glow of torches intruding on the magic of the moment, her breath catching in horror as reality clarified around her.  Rough calloused hands grabbed her, ripping her from the scant safety of the tree roots as they ripped at her clothes. She fought against their grasp, twisting and biting with strength she didn’t know she had, gasping breath to scream into the uncaring blackness.

Still kicking and fighting, it was a moment before she realized the attacker in front of her was gurgling a scream of pain, his back arching, arms flung out, hot flecks of his blood soaking onto her night-cooled skin.  She staggered back, frantically trying to take in what she was witnessing as the men around her reacted too slowly, releasing her too late as confusion bloomed on their faces. The confusion shattered into fear as as incarnation of terror tore through them, horn drenched in flowing blood, mane dripping with it as one after the other fell watering the roots of the forest with their life’s blood.

Scant seconds later peaceful silence returned to the forest as the men’s bodies came to a final rest among the leaves and roots.  In shock, her back plastered against rough bark, the remnants of her clothes nothing but shreds, she absently smeared blood across her face with the back of her hand in a failed attempt to clean herself as she tried to make sense of it all.  Emerging from the darkness, his dark warm presence was once again enveloping her in safety and comfort, the soft velvet nose that nuzzled her now damp although the night didn’t allow her to see the blood against his midnight hide. She leaned her forehead to his, resting cuddled beneath his horn, allowing herself a moment to bask in the magic of her protector and hide from the horror of the world.