The wanderings of the orphan dingo and the silver colt had ended long after the death of their eagle guardian near Dickey Cooper's Bogong, but they had always found one another again, even as they had grown older and gained families. In his fifth year, Tiarri had already taken up a small place of residence amongst the high ridges and tors, not far from the Ramshead his own sire ruled fondly. In fact, Tiarri had already done well and held a small harem of about three mares, one black, one bay, and one dune. This year was his second as a father, though it barely interested him, and his foal from the dun mare had been born a darker coloured palomino them himself, but still the colt was a Silver Brumby. In fact, he had chosen the colt's name and called him Malaka, meaning dog, calling him a name that was nearest to the creature that he had found and bonded with. But unlike Tiarri, Malaka had been an only foal, the other two mares had not had foals the same year as him, but even so there were always animals wandering that would gladly have played with him. But the colt had been nervous of them, terrified and backing away as often as possible. But he was not alone in his fears.
The year Malaka had been born, Neera's red coloured dingo mate had also had her pups. At first there had been three of them, but the puppies had been ill and only the little bitch pup had been able to survive. She was a surprisingly light coloured pup, almost a silvery white colour, at least when she was a young pup. She was given the name Terrigal, meaning "place of little birds", and affectionate name that was given to her by Neera. In their little pack there was simply the three of them, father, mother, and puppy, but unlike the horses Neera was much more interested in his little family, feeling his role in the world had been changed to that Bomber had taken on to help him and Tiarri survive. Perhaps it would have surprised him to think that Tiarri and all other stallions did not have such feelings for their offspring unless they showed some interesting characteristics. But as she grew up and had to see her father fight off many other males that wanted to still his land or his mate, she grew just as cunning and smart as her father, catching meals incredibly quickly and figuring out problems almost as keenly as the human creatures. But Terrigal's coat turned a dusty yellow colour as she reached nine months, and then the male dogs kept trying to tempt her away, getting her bites and her father into more fights.
When the time came before the winter snows for Tiarri and Neera to meet up again near the Bogong and say farewell once more to the bird that had saved them both so many times when they had been alone. This time though, they felt it best, though they knew not how the other thought, that it would be a better mark of respect to introduce their first children to the death place of a mighty creature. Despite the fact that Terrigal would probably be going off with a male sometime soon, it didn't matter when she heard about the great wedge-tailed eagle that had helped her father. But she was quickly invited to follow her father when she reached the end of her first year, following him toward the rocky edge of Dickey Cooper's Bogong. Tiarri also left with his son lagging at his heels, though the three mares were a little nervous of him leaving them alone for a little while.
The journey there was slow for the horses, though Tiarri had been scaling the heights and avoiding other horses for a long time, Malaka had not been around others then his herd. Where other foals would squeal and try to greet other horses, Malaka would freeze, even in the open, and wait for his father to lead him away. He started at every smell on the wind and waited, nickering fearfully toward his father to make sure every scent was checked to make sure it was safe. At first this had all seemed reasonably sensible to Tiarri, but then Malaka had insisted it with every sight, sound, and smell, let alone every plant or place he stepped as they went on. It was relatively annoying, and when a wombat emerged from the bush and made Malaka gallop in the wrong direction down toward the Snowy River. Swiftly though Tiarri was in front of him, turning him round back the way they needed to go, and comforting the colt with gentle nickering sounds.
Neera had a faster time, leading his little Terrigal in bounding strides toward the Bogong. His daughter was very smart, catching food for her mother and father and leading them to safety if she got separated with one or the other. She found a small rodent-like animal, possibly a mouse or rat and snapped it up as they meandered away from their home near the Dead Horse Ridge region toward the big grassy Bogong. Neera was pleased that Terrigal had the mind to eat before they carried on, he knew that if Tiarri was heading down he would have to stop a graze a few times too. But as they got closer to the place where they would call to the spirit of Bomber the eagle, Neera paused in thought. He did not have the rabbit offering he generally left for the bird's spirit, and swiftly he turned around and headed away from the Bogong with his daughter in search of a young rabbit offering.
Eventually though the stallion and his colt came down and reached the edge of the grassy dip. They checked around them carefully before Tiarri plodded onto the Bogong and snorted gently at the appearance of no other horses, Malaka snorted in agreement and relief. The two horses bounced across the last remnants of the springy grasses as the air around them started to grow cold and icy. The colt was quite pleased with this change of tactics, he liked the softness of the grass and he could see the dangerous muddy and watery areas that he would need to avoid when he ran. But at first, his father did not seem interested in having a gay gallop; instead the silver stallion was peering around in hopes of spotting something. After a few minutes frozen to the spot with his head turning from side to side, his great neck stretching out as he tried to see around, the great stallion heard a barking sound and looked to the other end of the Bogong, where he spotted a dingo approaching. At the sight and sound of both the dingo and its bark however, Malaka gave a nickering of fear and backed away toward the gum-lined edge of the Bogong and the hop-scrub around it. He watched for this safe point as the stallion and the dingo trotted out to greet each other.
The stallion and the dingo-dog stopped in front of one another and pressed noses before butting heads very gently. Then Neera licked at Tiarri's face and head, the stallion let out a gentle nickering of delight and nipped the ear very carefully. Then they began to jump and skip around one another before galloping up and down the little plain of grass for a short while before stopping again and nuzzling each other. After they paced around in search of the rocks where the great eagle had disappeared, and then, when it was found, Neera gave a gentle bark to his daughter. Calmly, Terrigal padded after her father with the rabbit hanging in her jaws. She listened to the gentle woofing and snapping of her father as he encouraged her to place it down in front of the rocky crevice so that the ghost could see how well the dingo was doing. Then she stepped aside and watched her father and the stallion snorting gently at one another, asking how the other faired in life, but then suddenly they both through their heads to the sky. A long howl of farewell to the summer and to the eagle erupted from Neera's throat and the shrill stallion scream of a long goodbye echoed around the rocks as Tiarri joined in. For a while they remained howling and neighing in farewell.
Terrigal watched and felt the need to join in, but she paused and looked toward her father's stallion friend. It was then that she noticed the yearling watching nervously near the hop-scrub, terrified of what was going on. Eagerly the little dingo bitch padded over to the colt, she was not keen on horses, but her father had explained the bond between the colt and the dingo on the journey, so Terrigal felt intrigued to greet the young stallion and perhaps experience the same friendship that her father had found amongst the animals. But as she trotted up, the sounds of the howling made her heart thump with excitement, and she grinned as she barked at the colt in greeting. As she reached his side she began to bounce about and try to head-butt him as her father had done with the stallion.
But the colt did not appreciate the greeting or the playful antics, and the jumping only made him much worse. With a squeal of terror he galloped sideways across the bogong, confused and ignoring everything but the dingo sounds. He leapt about as the confused dingo bitch followed, in her mind the colt was just joining in her game. The pale little lady did not want to cause any trouble, she just thought the two were having a fun game together; the stallion and her father did not seem to be bothered by it. They just kept their heads to the sky, watching the approaching snow clouds. But within an instant Terrigal noticed that she was following the colt away from their parents and she tried to get ahead of him and turn the colt backward like a herding dog. But she had no experience of this sort, and only frightened the colt into running up toward the rocky ridges and the tors of the main range where he had come down. So, obediently like all of the dog-like animals, she padded after him with a grin on her face and a wag in her long pale tail.
Things took a bad turn though, as Tiarri and Neera turned to find their children, the white hawk flew up from Geehi Gorge once more, and headed toward the rocky edges of the rang and onward toward the Snowy River. They gave screams of terror at the disappearance of the youngsters, but then they thought they heard the familiar call of Bomber the eagle. Even as they turned to see if they had only been dreaming the sound, their children were both already in trouble. As the colt leapt amongst the rocks and headed toward the range, he tripped as the little dingo bitch leapt to his heels, and slipped sideways. As he landed gently on his side on some soft rocks, Terrigal stood beside him and they both let out screeches as the rocks suddenly gave way beneath them. But as Malaka turned to try and get away, he fell even faster. Terrigal leapt onto the rock edge and was hanging by her forelimbs for a few moments before she was able to stand up, and get smothered by a sudden blast of snow.
Coming Soon – Part Two: Trapped!