Silver Hooves in the Darkness

Chapter Seven

She had lingered in the hot bath as if that act alone could wash away the apprehension that coursed throughout her body. That no others of her kind had come to join her suited her mood this evening, for she wished for solitude.

Once more in her stall, she stretched out on the soft, deep bed of straw, rather than allow the soothing light from the wall to cradle her. Although it was cool, she kept the window open, and for a long time, she followed the nightly dance of twinkling lights across the dome.

Some equinii had made up their own names for patterns that the arrangement of lights made, honoring the most notable of their kind. But this practice had often led to squabbles in the stables between equinii who were born into different domes, as individual preferences prevailed.

Paola traced the patterns in darkness. During her foal instruction phase, before her first Run as a yearling, she had learned from her stable mate the names of the patterns that the humans of Dome Scienza had used. Her companion had earned the name Francesa. She had been a very frisky, gangly equina, who had endurance bred into her for short, intense Runs. Swift passage of documents between domes in a time of crisis was essential, and those of the TH identification code held the record for speed.

The Five Gems shone brightly, a mark of spring and planting time in many of the domes. The last time she had seen that pattern was the last time that she had seen her friend. In a dome she had recently visited, the Crown had gleamed in the darkness, a herald of the short, cold days of winter and retreat from labor. In Dome Musica, the humans had spent most of their time inside their cozy cottages creating instruments.

Paola breathed deeply of the pleasing odor of her bedding. She began to hum a tune she had heard in Dome Musica, its simple melody relaxing her. Someone had called it a "lullaby", a tune played to calm the very young among the humans. If she could add the steady, low beats of the drums and the rattles played by the orange-robed monks and nuns of Dome Memore, who devoted their lives to solitary meditation and reflective calligraphy, her rendition of the song would be complete.

The night and its pattern of lights disappeared, and Paola found herself in the familiar blackness of the Maze.

Confused, she began to run, but she did not transform. Her gem glowed red in warning, for no destination had been set into it to guide her. Yet some force pulled her relentlessly forward. She leapt through portals one after another with an intensifying fear of getting hopelessly lost.

Her gem sent out a tone so sharp, Paola grabbed at her pained ears. She crashed into an unseen wall and was thrown onto her back. She lay in complete darkness, her cracked gem extinguished. Without the gem's life-giving energy, she would die.

A trail of light appeared before her. Paola forced herself to stand. Blocking her Run was a smooth black wall etched in silver with the shape of a bizarre creature. Pointed ears, not unlike her own, sat atop its long skull. The eyes rested high on the face and were not positioned forward; large nostrils gouged out its muzzle. Its lips pulled back to reveal flat teeth. It had a flowing mane which traveled down the crest of its broad neck, which impossibly joined to the wide shoulders of a human body. A kirtle stamped with intersecting spirals hung off of its narrow hips. Flowing script encircled the image. She touched a word she could not read.

An ancient voice sang mournfully of the Death Bringer in the Maze.

"Cenere!" With a scream, Paola awoke and immediately knew that she was not alone in her stall. She leapt to her feet. By the privacy screen sat a small, furry creature. She had heard descriptions of the animal, but she had never seen one in the flesh. The black and white cat licked its paw delicately, unconcerned by the fright its sudden appearance had caused.

The equina put her hand over her pounding heart and slowly sat back down on her bed of straw.

The cat stretched. It swished its very bushy tail as it approached her. It rubbed against her thigh and made an odd, but pleasing, sound. The collar that it wore was made of clear crystals strung through silver wire. They pushed against the strands of her coat. The cat narrowed its round eyes, one green-brown and one blue-green, and cocked its head quizzically.

Paola reached toward the animal with curiosity.

It shot away from her, running straight at the wall.

"No!" Paola shouted, fearful that it would harm itself.

With a hiss similar to a Maze portal, a hole in the wall unexpectedly opened and closed, giving her a brief glimpse of the outside.

The cat had vanished.