Hala and the Daughter of the Horse God

Story by WotanAnubis

TITLE: Hala and the Daughter of the Horse God

AUTHOR: WotanAnubis

RATING: NC-17

NOTE: Just another little quickie.

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There was a small cave near where the plains met the mountains. To the Nahali tribe it was known as the Sacred Cave and they made sure only they would ever know about it. Even though the plains had no real borders and its tribes wandered it freely, nevertheless, the Nahali had made it clear that this place was their territory and all the other tribes of the plains had best stay away. And because the Nahali had the strongest and fastest stallions of anyone, the other tribes obeyed and stayed away.

The other tribes often wondered why the Nahali were so concerned with the edge of the plains and often speculated that it had something to do with the stallions that gave them their dominance. And they were right. Long ago, before the stonebirds had come down the mountains and gods still walked the land, a young woman named Nahal had entered the Sacred Cave in order to seek shelter from a fierce storm. There she had met the Horse God and when she'd emerged the following day she'd brought the first stallions that would give her tribe its power with her.

And so, once a year, the Nahali went to the small cave near where the plains met the mountains and there left one young tribeswoman to enter the Sacred Cave alone, never to return. It was, they felt, a small price to pay to ensure that when their prize stallions mated with the inferior mares of the other tribes their offspring would be of the same strong breed the Horse God had granted them so long ago.

This year it was Hala who had to enter the Sacred Cave. She didn't particularly mind. Old Zera had cast the bones and the bones had told that she was the one who had to enter and so she'd entered. The thought of escaping whatever lay waiting for her in the Sacred Cave had never once crossed her mind. After all, if she'd fled into the mountains she would no longer be Nahali, and if she were no longer Nahali then what would be the point of living? Besides, just because no-one other than Nahal had ever come out of the Sacred Cave again was no reason at all to think she was going to die in there.

Hala walked slowly through the darkness, the stone cold to her bare feet. At first she'd been frightened by the absent horizon or the lack of a sky above, but now she was mostly annoyed by the darkness all around. Almost all around her. There was a faint light ahead and Hala slowly walked towards it simply because she couldn't think of anything else to do. Whatever would happen to her in the Sacred Cave would happen to her no matter what and she would prefer it happened in the light rather than the darkness.

After walking down a slope for what felt like forever in this darkness, Hala finally turned a very gradual corner and found the source of the faint light. It was a circle of thick, white candles sitting around a small, clear pool. The young tribeswoman stared at them for a while, uncertain of what to think. The Nahali never let anyone into this cave, other than the one young woman chosen by the bones once a year. So who made sure these candles remained lit and who replaced them when they burned down?

Hala chuckled to herself and shook her head. What a stupid thing to ask. This was the Sacred Cave where Nahal had met the Horse God. These candles would not go out or burn down. They were as eternal as the cave itself.

Hala knelt down at the edge of the pool and trailed her fingers through the water. She had expected the water to be icy cold or, perhaps, searingly hot. Instead the water felt quite pleasant. Temptingly so. Hala rose to her feet and was about to take off the rough white dress that was her only garment when she hesitated. Would she defile the Sacred Cave by being nude within it? Or would she offend the Horse God by allowing her unnatural, manmade dress into the pool? She wished she could ask one of the elders, but they weren't here, were they? Besides, they probably wouldn't have been able to give her an answer either. None of them had ever entered the Sacred Cave, after all.

Figuring that it would do her no good to just stand about dithering about it, Hala pulled off her dress in one decisive movement and flung it away. She shivered slightly, the air of the Sacred Cave cold on her bare skin. She slowly lowered herself into the water, feeling it warm her naked body. The pool turned out to be quite shallow and Hala sat down in it, the water just reaching her neck.

"Ah, there you are."

Hala turned sharply and glared at the indistinct figure just barely visible outside the circle of candlelight. Her first thought was that an outsider had intruded upon her, but that was impossible. No outsider would even think of going anywhere near the Sacred Cave. And it could not possibly be a Nahali either. So... was this the Horse God, then?

"You are a little later than usual this year."

It was a gentle, melodious voice, but there was somethi

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