//------------------------------// // Interlude to the past 2 // Story: Mocha's Story // by Mocha Star //------------------------------// “Is dark. Is cold. Sad and alone. ‘Stable’ they say word. My name now? My home now? They take my necklace, no understand them.” Lom said to the horse in the stable next to her. A male horse that nickered and whinnied often, but spoke in a different dialect than her. Unable to speak the same language she spoke simply to get her feelings out. Looking at the hay strewn randomly across the floor and with the scent of manure heavy in the air she continued. “Miss friends. M-miss Mocha, pink one too even, a little bit. So much happen. Such happy, little scary; Mocha safe. Remember when Lom first meet.” The horse next to her nickered, looking sullenly at the floor. It was a warm morning, the berries we were eating were delicious and us big mares were ready to go to a new grazing spot. Pota and Yano, born the same week as Lom, giggled and spoke about a cute guard that was watching over us. It was typical to have several guards guarding us. Pota was the herd’s shaman's’ daughter. A series of loud crunching sounds broke all of us from our joyful outing. “Monster! Monster! Made from rock, run!” “Monster?” Yano asked the others with a sly grin. Ever the explorer she galloped towards where the ‘monster’ was while the guards were looking after the panicking ‘guard in training’. “Yano, come back! Please,” Lom shouted, speaking softly as she looked to Pota, “she will stop moving, be food for monster. Please.” The group didn’t need to say anything. The soldiers galloped away, after the young mare. Lom and Pota were in close pursuit. “Defenders, halt! Poh’Nee, ready. Younglings, behind,” the guard leader, Retalia, shouted as he and the others formed a column, protecting the girls behind them, “prepare to escape. Defenders die for Poh’Nee tribe!” he shouted as the others yelled a warning to the monster. “A beast made from shiny stone? Cool,” Yano said as she has pressed between Lom and Yano to stop her from running away again, “if is beast, why no attack yet?” “Hush, female,” a defender in line said ahead of her, “it watching. Listening.” It spoke in a weird way, but it wasn’t their language. “GO AWAY!” With a movement of the beast the defenders began doing their job. Having left their spears at camp they began throwing whatever was around them, mostly rocks. “The beast remains! Back up, prepare to run. None will be food this day!” With a cheer the defenders gave one last barrage, the creature ahead of them, oddly standing on it’s hind legs, seemingly mocked them. One of the defenders carried a shovel. The latest tool he had made, which he grabbed from a strap on his back. “Away, beast, or I’ll use this!” The defender prepared to throw it as the beast swung a stick from it’s back, then the sound of a dozen thunderbolts screamed from the beast. Everyone left, running to safety. All except Lom. “I-I bit, dead now. Please, eat me and not others.” Lom fell to her side, barely holding onto consciousness as the beast stomped closer. Lom felt her heart pounding and her head began to swim, shortly she was embraced by her last sleep. The beast was still over Lom when her began to wake up. Hoping it was a bad dream, she listened and trembled as the sound of steps retreating reached her. Lom cautiously raised her head to look. “Maybe it not hungry?” She looked at the beast, kneeling, looking at her, ready to strike. It had bit her, and it was going to watch her die. Lom scrambled back, trying to distance herself from her inevitable death. “Don’teatmeandifyoudomakemyendquick.” It began moving its forelegs, telling Lom something. Then it began tapping it’s heart. Then bowed to Lom. This thing thinks Lom is leader? Maybe it friend, not monster. One way, to ask. “Friend?” Lom asked the shiny rock monster. “Friends.” The creature said. Lom couldn’t believe it. A friendly beast. No, not a beast, it hugged. Offering itself as servant to Lom for life. A new friend for Lom. First servant, too! And a rock monster. Everyone will be so jealous. After the creature fixed Lom’s leg, she took him to show off too tribe. Everything went great, he even made a fire! Turns out he was a beast that lived inside the rock monster. He took the rock monster with him everywhere. He was Lom’s servant and defender, so she let him keep it. Then deer attacked, they took us to a big tree. Lom was taught words ‘toilet’, ‘potty’, and to use a hole in the floor to go; not where ever Lom was standing or walking. Everyone was happy; so Lom was happy! Also, new necklace that showed Mocha and Lom are one. We began to talk. He said a lot of words Lom didn’t understand, however it was nice to have a servant that spoke now. Oh yeah, Retalia was there, whatever. We went to a different town later; A real beast tried to eat Mocha, so Lom and Retalia fought it, beat it. “No one hurts my servant,” I screamed as I ran my Mocha to a healer with a smart bird showing us the way. A long time passed before my servant was better, then he had a cave. No, it was named ‘Home’, with Home another Home. A pink little horse was there too. She was his servant. A servant should have a servant, but this world was different in places. Very different. The last place we went was a town of beasts that tried to eat my servant. I was hiding with the pink one and the rock clothes while Mocha was defender. Lom has a smart servant. Attractive too. Retalia is gone, stayed to mate with a small horse there. Maybe I can have my servant… That is a thought for another day. We all walked up the ‘mout-mane’ and then Mocha was hurt, a flying cloud made a boom, hit him in the head. “Now, I wait. Servant with healer, long time. Much work. No necklace. No friends, not even pink one.” The horse huffed twice and clopped his hoof, turning away from her. “Now, Lom alone and sad. And… Mocha?”