[PRP] Sedition (Nateica and Falchion)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Nateica lounged, fat and indolent atop her mounded pile of reeds and cattail fluff. It was as soft a throne as you could get in the middle of the swamp. She'd made the tribe fetch her furs once, but they'd quickly rotted to nothing in the damp climate. She, the alligator queen, ruled over all that she surveyed. Her subjects floated listlessly in the oily water. One, her attendant for the day, stood anxiously to attention several paces away. His anxiety was well merited. She'd eaten the last servant who'd displeased her.

"Kota," she growled, voice as deep and resonant as any wild gator's might be. "Get the reports from the border patrols, and make it quick." There was only one thing she really cared about in those useless reports: Any news of her brother. Her brother, after all, was how she kept command over the pathetic bunch of weaklings that once had dared lord over her. Her brother would kill all of them if given the chance. Her rule was merciful compared to what he'd do, or so her subjects and slaves thought.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Every nerve in Falchion's body screamed "danger! danger!" He knew it was a fine line he walked here. He knew his parents and grandparents would have forbidden it if they knew where he went off to. He'd heard of this alligator tribe months ago, dark rumors about a previously peaceful tribe ruled over by a demon. Something about the story had captured him then and left him unable to leave well enough alone. This wasn't his first time here and he hoped it wouldn't be his last. He was playing messenger here, between the embattled alligators and the outside world.

Not all of the alligators wanted help, that was what made this truly dangerous. It wasn't difficult to avoid the demon, she was but one creature, even if a terrible one. It was far more difficult to avoid the others. Some, astoundingly, were loyal to their fiendish overlord. Maybe they were afraid. Maybe it was something else. Falcion didn't understand it, and his contact, Itztli, could tell him little more.

It was Itztli that he waited for now. He just prayed that he'd see the dark alligator's face before anyone else's.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Nateica shifted. Beneath her, bones clicked and crunched. One bone, a broken shard of femur, jabbed her sharply in the side. She let out a loud snarl and was on her feet, glaring at the offending piece. "You!" she bellowed to the closet gator in the water, not deigning to use a name.

"Get over here. Clear out my nest!" She imperiously kicked away a pile of rushes and bones, suddenly furious. How dare her servants leave her living in such squalor? "It had better be clean by the time I get back," she hissed. She didn't need to tell the slave what would happen if it wasn't to her liking. She stalked to the water's edge then, feeling a craving to feel the water around her. She slipped in, an equine monstrosity among the nature of the swamp.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Where was Itztli? Restlessly, Falchion rustled his wings. He always kept his wings half-open around here. Alligators couldn't fly. It was the one saving grace of this hellishly dangerous mission. If he could see them coming he could be in the air before they had a chance to attack.

Of course, if he didn't notice them approaching, that was another matter entirely. Even he didn't think he could avoid a gator in a full ambush, which was starting to seem more and more likely by the minute...  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Itzli was running late. He hoped that Falchion would stick around, and he cursed his bad luck for stalling him. He couldn't afford to miss this meeting. He couldn't-


"You!" Nateica spied another long dark form in the water, marked with fluorescent green. "Come." She hissed her command through clenched teeth. Those same teeth would close around her servant's neck if he displeased her now. "You are one of the scouts." She didn't think that her slaves deserved her respect, but she did take note of who did what, and who was useful and who were not. Those that weren't useful didn't last long. Those that were sometimes didn't either.

"Have you seen my brother's sorry hide lately?" she asked, watching as the alligator reluctantly pulled himself out of the water. He was right to show hesitance around her. Hesitance was a sign of fear.
 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Dread and curiosity warred within Falchion the longer he waited. Eventually curiosity won out. He had to know where Itzli was, and he wasn't going to find him by staying put. Quietly, he began moving through the marsh. He hoped his dark colors would keep him hidden in the shaded grays of the area, but doubted it would give him much protection.

A frog, startled out from hiding, splashed noisily int the water. Falchion froze, waiting to see if there were any sounds of larger alarm. There were not. Frogs jumping weren't really unusual in the swamp, he supposed. He moved forward. Eventually, the muffled sounds of voices reached him. His blood curdled when he realized who one of the voices was coming from.

He could see her through an opening in a bramble patch. She was monstrously white, the color of grubs he'd seen rooting through dead wood. It was the alligator walker queen herself. He stayed utterly still, knowing that if she spotted him it could mean his end.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

If alligators could sweat, Itzli would be sweating. He was all too aware of how many people didn't survive these little informal meetings with Nateica.

"We've seen prints," he said carefully. "But have not sighted him otherwise."

Prints. Nateica's eyes narrowed. If there were prints, that meant Teocipactli had been close enough to make them. If he was close enough to leave prints where her scouts could find them but they had not seen him making them, that meant there was a whole in security. To think that he could dare to tread on her lands. A low growl rose in her throat.

"Fools," she growled, tail quivering. "He taunts us. He taunts me! He knows I cannot guard all sides at once, and that my followers are too stupid to find him." Really, she didn't guard any sides personally. She'd fight him if she knew he was around, but she never went looking. That was work for someone else.

"If you are too stupid to keep watch on our borders, more of your pathetic kind need to be pressed into service."  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Falchion felt his stomach churn. That was Itzli, there in front of the beast. He wanted to shout to his friend, tell him to flee. Only, he knew that wouldn't do any good. He knew that the powerful skinwalker could kill any normal gator, and he knew that she would take out her frustrations on those dear to Itzli even if he himself survived. There was nothing he could do.

... or was there? Falchion's mind raced, tracing his plan down all of the possible things could go wrong. He'd wait and see if Itzli could make it out on his own. If not, then he'd have to step in.