[Firebringer 02] - Dark Moon by Meredith Ann Pierce

let loose a peal of rage.
    “What meaneth this? Who dareth to approach my consorts?”
    The dark unicorn snorted, confused as much by the others hot and angry tone as by his strange way of speaking. Before him, the mares screamed and scattered, thundering away toward the opposite end of the barricaded yard, all save the coppery mare, who cried out to him hastily.
    “Peace, my lord. Naught unseemly hath occurred. This is Moonbrow, that our lady hath…”
    “Moonbrow?” the other snarled. “The outlander that hath usurped my stall?”
    Tai-shan frowned. The meanings of several of the other’s words he had to guess at. Outlander must mean one from outside the two-foots’ settlement. Perhaps stall referred to the wooden enclosure in which he now sheltered. Ignoring his escorts, the umber stallion stamped and sidled.
    “Wouldst claim my harem as well?”
    Tai-shan shook his head. He had no idea what a harem might be.
    “I seek nothing that is not my due,” he called across the barricade. “I long only to learn what place this is—”
    “A place where thou’lt find no welcome, upstart!” the stallion spat, eyes narrowed, his small, untasseled ears laid back. “Stand off, harlot,” he shouted at the coppery mare. “Thou’rt pledged to me!”
    Trembling, the coppery mare began to back away. Once more, the daïcha called sharply to her fellows. They tugged with determination at the straps of the stallion’s headgear, but he shook them furiously off.
    “Trespasser!” he flung at the dark unicorn. “Thief!” Tai-shan ramped and sidled for sheer bafflement. “What is my trespass?” he cried. “I assure you, I am no thief….”
    “Dost challenge me?” the other shrilled, rearing. “I’ll brook no such outrage!”
    With shouts of surprise, his two-foot companions lost their grip on the straps as all at once, the stallion charged. Confounded, Tai-shan sprang back.
    “Peace, friend,” he exclaimed. “I seek no quarrel….”
    “No quarrel!” the other roared. “Our keepers should have cut thee, not made thee welcome, freak! I am First Stallion here!”
    His words made no sense to Tai-shan. Across the yard, the two-foot escorts cried out in alarm as the umber stallion thundered toward the dark unicorn. Tai-shan tensed: the wooden barrier between them was only shoulder high, an easy leap—then abruptly he realized it was the coppery mare, not he, who stood directly in the other’s path. With a startled cry, she scrambled aside—too slowly. The umber stallion champed and struck at her savagely.
    “Hie thee back to thy sisters, strumpet!” he snarled. Then to Tai-shan, “Be grateful a fence standeth between us, colt, else it would be to thee I’d give this drubbing.”
    Cornered against the barrier, the coppery mare cried out, unable to dodge. Tai-shan saw blood on her neck where her assailant’s teeth had found her. She stood on three limbs, favoring one bleeding foreleg. With a shout, the dark unicorn leapt the barrier and sprang between them, shouldering the umber stallion away from the coppery mare.
    “Leave off!” he shouted. “She has done you no hurt.” Behind him, he heard cries of amazement. The place seemed full of two-foots suddenly, running and calling. The daïcha’s voice rose commandingly above the rest. At the far end of the yard, the panicked mares galloped in circles. Green-clad two-foots ran to contain them. The umber stallion fell back from Tai-shan at first with an astonished look, then seemed to recover himself. Viciously, he lashed and flailed at Tai-shan, who braced and struck back, striving to hold his ground lest he himself be driven back and trapped against the barrier.
    “Nay, do not defend me, Moonbrow,” the coppery mare gasped, limping painfully out of the umber stallion’s reach.
    The chon burst into the yard suddenly. Tai-shan heard him shouting above the tumult, the clatter of footfalls as his purple-plumes rushed forward with their long, pointed staves.