The Deal - CV6

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Great Gods she is a fast one… Lir thought in exasperation as he looked around for the silver and white mare he had fought for and won. Her trail was fresh, leading into the nearby trees, but he couldn’t even catch sight of her. Though suddenly a foreign scent flooded his nose, causing him to freeze. He recognized what it was from the shirt in the cave he had seen with Savitr and Sinner earlier in the day. Human!

He was just about to leave, deciding the mare more trouble than she’s worth, when he heard a sharp noise hissing through the nearby undergrowth.

“Lir.”

The pale stallion almost ignored it, but the fact it was a female voice made him approach. He pushed through some bushes to see her. The silver and white mare. She must have heard Savitr say his name. She was crouched over a fox struggled to escape a trap, her hooves trying to work at something, but Lir barely paid mind to the animal's struggle. The scent of human was strong, getting stronger, and his ears even picked up the heavy two-legged walk nearby. “Come on, there’s a human coming. We must leave.” Lir said, lowering his head, preparing to direct her away from the threat.

The mare didn’t budge, “No, you have to help me. Distract the human while I free this fox!” The fox yelped as she moved the trap too hastily and caused it pain.

Lir snorted incredulously, finally looking down to acknowledge that there was a fox present. “And why in the world would I do that? You ran away, I don't have to do anything for you. And that is just a stupid fox.” Lir had never encountered a human before, and while he was less afraid of them than many were he still wasn’t about to risk an encounter because of some lowly fox and a mare who wasn’t even his.

The mare looked dismayed when she realized that Lir wasn’t going to help her, “Please! There's no time!”

Lir turned and began walking away. It seemed she was brave after all, perhaps, but not too smart. It wasn’t worth tangling with a human and his catch, especially when there was no benefit to him.

“I’ll be in your herd! I’ll follow you without question, just please!”

The human was in sight now, spotting the mare over his prey and yelling angrily. He began to run toward them.

The stallion exploded out of the bushes, letting out a thunderous roar as he flew right into the human’s way, causing him to slid to a halt so fast he ended up flat on his butt. Lir snorted in fury, rearing onto his hind legs and striking the air with powerful hooves. The human scrambled backwards with some shrieks of fear, struggling to regain his feet as Lir pounded the ground in front of him with earthshaking might. When the human fled in terror, nearly losing his hat in the process, Lir did not chase him. He was sufficiently distracted, more than distracted even, so he had done his part. Supposedly those creatures were dangerous but Lir had yet to see an instance of that, and this only further solidified his view that other horses were just being dramatic. Maybe they were dangerous to a trapped fox, but a full grown stallion? Naahh.

Lir turned back to the mare and trotted over. He frowned in surprised when he saw she was alone. “Where is it?”

She had a small smile on her face as she answered, “Gone. I managed to free him so he ran.”

“It must feel good to save the life of an animal who doesn’t even stick around to thank you.”

She pinned her ears back at the dry comment, “It does. I didn’t help him so he’d thank me. I helped him because I could, and it was the right thing to do.”

“You couldn’t, not alone. If I wasn’t here you could be dead or captured.” Yeah Lir didn’t think humans were that big a deal, but he wasn’t afraid to pull out whatever card suited his point in the situation.

“Yes, well, thank you.”

“And?” When she tilted her head in confusion Lir continued, “Our deal.” He hadn’t done all that for nothing.

She realized then what he meant. “Oh… right.” She took a reluctant step toward him. “A deal’s a deal.”

Lir looked her over briefly. She had proven a coward before, though proven brave in this situation when faced with a real threat, so that was alright he supposed. As he notice earlier, however, she did seem quite stupid, and her heart was soft as wet mud, and worst of all she was his responsibility now. He sincerely regretted fighting Savitr on her account. But… too late now. Nothing to do but make the best of it. “Come, time to move along.” He lead the way in a new direction, away from where the human had ran to.

The mare blinked in surprise at the abrupt beginning to their relationship, “Wait,” The mare hurried to catch up, “Shouldn’t you at least like to know my name?”

Lir nearly rolled his eyes. “Sure,” he answered, patronizingly.

The mare seemed to get the message from his tone. She was silent for a long while, making Lir wonder if she had was even going to answer at all. But finally she did speak, her voice quiet. “Clodagh.”