Snow King

• Sophie Murphy, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2017

Snow King

He galloped like no one could dream of. He flew like the clouds towards the winning post. Nothing could ever stop him. Nothing would ever stop him. He was a racer. He would race till his last breath. He was the King. He would bow to no one. They would bow to him. His name was the coat of rippling muscles, that smelt fear, and sensed predator. His name was Snow King.

His father, Sumana (su-ma-na) had been the King of the Snow Brumbies, now Snow King had to get back to the herd he had been separated from at one. His mother would be overjoyed if she was still alive, but his father, his father would be furious that he had been away so long.

On the day he had been captured his father had stood on the mountain furious, nostrils flaring, while his mother stood there, shaking. She had lost her only son. He was gone. Forever. She would never see him again. Never. Or so she thought. What was really going on, was, he would escape the next night, and return to the valley. That was the plan anyway, he didn’t know if the herd was still there or if they had moved on. He had to try. They were his family. Who else could he go to?

The next night, he jumped the fence, and started to gallop north. If he hurried, he might make it before dawn. Just in time to see his father awake the herd to begin the next move. He panted as he reached the top of the next hill, he hoped with all his heart and with every heartbeat that was bringing closer that he would find them. And suddenly, he found them! There they were standing there grazing, his father at the front, the protector and leader of his herd and Snow Kings family and his mother at the back, tall, free, elegant. Her dappled grey coat shone as the first rays of sunlight hit the hill. They would be overjoyed. And they were. He had never, in his entire life felt so happy. He was with the only horses he loved and they loved him in return.