Baringa's Story

Chapter 1

There is only one person who will look after you. Yourself. So that's why I had to go. And it's for the best. I think. So, here I am, in the dark, menacing wood, soaked to the bone. But I keep on trotting. Because I have to.
Suddenly, I felt a torrent of pain surging through my rear-left flank. I spun around and was confronted by a massive grey stallion. "You're mine now." He demanded.
"Umm, no thanks," I replied sweetly, before turning to continue on my journey.
"You're not going anywhere!" He roared before nipping my flank again.
"Ow!" I whined, "ok, fine! I'll come with you." He turned around, trotted off in another direction, and I followed. We headed through the woods for what seemed like a lifetime. He turned his head often, to check I was still there, and I could have sworn I'd seen him before
Eventually, we left the wood and the ugly, grey stallion started to canter. Now I was in the fresh air, I could smell other horses. He slowed as we got close to the top of a valley. The sun was just rising, which allowed me to see the mares in the bottom of the valley. There were hundreds of them, and their colours were amazing! There were chestnuts, bays, duns, palominos, roans, strawberry roans, blue roans, and of course, there were the usual blacks, whites, and greys. Loads of greys!
He frog-marched me through the glaring mares, and they closed the path behind me until I was right in the middle of the herd. I could barely move. I had a chestnut mare on one side, a palomino mare with a grey foal the other side, and two grey year old mares in front and behind. The stallion turned and left and the path once again closed behind him.
The greys' personalities were the same as the colour of their coat. They were dull, and mean… Just like the stallion! The palomino was alright. Her name was Bel Bel. She spoke about her son a lot. "His name is Thowra," she told me, whispering in a story-like voice. "His father, our last stallion, was the amazing Yarraman, and the cattle say my son is now a thing of legend among the humans!"
"Is he still around?" I asked curiously.
"I don't know. I sent him away when Yarraman was killed. The Brolga kills any colts when he gets new mares." She thought a little while, then said, "sorry, but what is your name?"
"I'm Baringa. Who's the Brolga?"
"Baringa means the light that pierces the sky at dawn, am I right?"
"Yes. It's a lovely meaning."
"It is indeed. The Brolga is the grey stallion that leads this herd."
"Oh."
"I didn't want him to be killed. He was such a lovely colour! And knew the land around him so well. I was sure he would survive on his own. He's smart you know. Most stallions win mares through strength, but my Thowra wins with his mind! He confuses the other stallions and outsmarts them!"
"Stop talking about him! You should forget about your foals same as the rest of us! It's un-natural!" A grey mare grumbled.
"How can I forget about him? He can escape capture better than anybody!" Bel Bel retorted.
"Don't talk about that pain-in-the-arse colt of yours while you're in this herd!" The Brolga roared.
"Me and Mirri will just be leaving then." She threatened and she started to push the chestnut mare towards the edge of the herd.
"You're not going anywhere!" As soon as he had said that, Bel Bel and Mirri were surrounded by grey mares. I had to get out of here, I thought to myself. If I was going to escape, Bel Bel and Mirri where coming with me.