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 Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:01 pm
He was close enough to shout to them now, and so the scaled Reya took in another gulp of air. “Salomé stand down!” He had no authority over her of course, other than whatever say friends had over one another’s actions, but just as he’d hoped she pulled up and spun to face him in surprise. Though her horn and tails still threatened the two stallion she’d been fighting, at least it looked as though she was going to listen, and both Diego and the battered Ichsa had frozen in place too. Good.
As he made his final approach, Ignatius allowed himself to slow; his legs had been screaming at him to do that for some time now and it was a great relief to go along at a purposefully plodding walk rather than a full gallop. Trying not to look as exhausted as he actually was, he finally came to a halt between the two sides.
“Alright then,” he panted, “what’s going on here Salomé?” He knew what she was going to say, but getting her to say it gave him time to think of something to say in return. He had the beginning of an idea already, he just needed to hone it a bit. It would be nice, too, to get in a few deep lungfuls of air that he didn’t need to spend on anything other than recovering from his mad gallop.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:15 pm
Salomé smiled awkwardly at the scaled Reya; she didn’t like to talk about demons in front of him. When she’d first seen him, she’d thought he was one of them, but given the fact that he was one of the Chosen, she’d given him a chance to explain.
His mother, he had said, was indeed a demon, but his father had been a normal Reya. He had got his mother’s skin, but his father’s heart. She liked him for that, for not being what his nature told him to be, and for simply being another freak. The Hellenes accepted them both, of course, but they were still different, and looked at differently than their peers. Often it was in a good way, true, but it still marked them out.
“Ignatius...” Well she was going to have to say it sooner or later. “The gold Jala is a demon; I saw him change his skin just as he was leaving the territories. Spyke isn’t, but he wouldn’t believe about the gold one and so I had to fight him,” she glanced over at the swaying moon boy and felt a pang, “I didn’t want to hurt you,” she murmured softly. When the bleeding Ichsa didn’t respond, Salomé sighed and turned back to Ignatius. “I have to finish the gold demon off now, or he’ll report to his masters about the herd. I can’t allow that.”
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:30 pm
Diego sidled cautiously over to Spyke and dropped a win over the young stallion’s back before shooting an emploring look at the one called Ignatius. Clearly the strange scaly thing was a Hellene too; perhaps he could get Salomé to back off. Certainly he didn’t seem like he had any interest in attacking them, which was a small mercy. Ignatius looked back at him for a moment with an almost imperceptible raise of the scaled ridges that passed for his eyebrows. Then he turned to Salomé, and Diego held his breath.
“He’s like me, a little,” the Reya said, “I can tell my own kind, and in fact I know of Diego though I don’t know him personally.”
Diego nodded to this; there wasn’t really much else he could do that go along with what seemed to be yet another hare-brained scheme.
“Unlike me though,” Ignatius went on, “He’s three quarters demon, I’d reckon. That means that while he still thinks like us, he can change his skin like a demon. I’d guess you’re the only one other than That Lot who can see the demon side in him though... You’ve told me your presence blocks Their eyes, so I’ll be frank; Diego here is a double agent. He feeds Them bad information, and does what he can to work against them... Don’t look so shocked Diego; I had to tell her.”
The golden Jala blinked. Well that had been about as mad as Salomé was; perhaps that would make it plausible in her eyes. He hoped so. He nodded. “Well I didn’t know she could... block them,” whoever the hell ‘they’ were, “or I would have tried to explain... Sorry about this whole mess,” he went on to Spyke, who was leaning against him, “you’ve taken a hell of a pounding over this misunderstanding...” Sweet Gods, the mad b***h had taken his eye out. Shuddering, Diego tucked his wing closer about the battered Ichsa and turned to Salomé to see how she would react to Ignatius’ ‘news’.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 1:50 pm
Salomé looked at Ignatius uncertainly. “...You’re sure?” it seemed a bit farfetched to her... but the scaled Reya was nodding seriously. It made a sort of sense, she supposed, and if Ignatius trusted him then she’d have to as well. That meant she’d hurt Spyke for no reason, but she’d thought it was the right thing to do at the time. Nothing much she could do other than apologise and see he got looked after until his injuries healed.
“Well... Alright then,” the crossbreed said slowly, feeling Anna’s reluctant assent. “I guess you should go then, Diego, you have things to do and They’ll be suspicious if They can’t see you for too long. I’ll look after Spyke, don’t worry...” The blue-eyed stallion looked very worried now. Probably didn’t trust her.
“I’ll look after him too,” Ignatius put in, “we’ve got doctors in the herdlands... but perhaps you’d like to come along and make sure he’s alright anyway? You can excuse that as having to play along with us, I’m sure. You can tell Them you’re doing that while we make our way back if Salomé goes on ahead and warns the doctors we’re coming... Salomé, better tell them you saw Spyke by the border and thought he was a threat; you don’t want to worry everyone with the truth, right?”
Salomé had to nod. “Yes, that sounds like the best idea; if the herd at large knew the truth... Well it wouldn’t be good, I’m sure.” They’d probably be frightened, and she didn’t want to worry everyone with her personal battles. It was not for normal folk to fight the dark forces, they didn’t have the power she had; they’d be finished in moments if they tried.
“I’ll head on then,” the gold-legged mare said with another nod, “see you three soon.” With these words, she turned away and set off at a swift canter; the sooner Diego could give his false message the better. It also had the advantage of taking her away from the sight of Spyke. She wished she hadn’t hurt him, wished it fervently, but just wishing things didn’t make them so. Feeling tired, a bit confused and really rather guilty, Salomé hurried onward.
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Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2008 2:06 pm
Spyke watched the retreating red shape blearily. “Crazy ********’ b***h,” he muttered once she was well out of earshot, “she nearly ********’ killed me.” He hurt, everywhere, and had a sneaky suspicion that he now had half the usual number of eyes. If the eye was still there, it wasn’t working so the difference was mostly academic in any case.
“So... we goin’ then?” he asked, looking from Diego to Ignatius and back again; this took quite some effort as he had to turn his head a long way to take in the golden Jala. Frankly he just wanted to fall over and sleep where he was, but that wasn’t an option. Come to that, he wished he was back home in Quirne; his father had always told him that seawater stopped injuries going foul. Still, no help for it, he’d just have to hope these doctor people this herd he was going to had were some good; keeling over and dying was not on his to-do list.
Ignatius nodded and clopped over to stand on Spyke’s other side; the young Ichsa would have trouble falling over now. “Yes,” he agreed, “she’s mad alright. Good at her job though, and pretty sweet provided she thinks you’re an ally.” There wasn’t a lot else to say, and the spined Reya had never been one to make awkward small talk, so instead of rambling on about something else he set off at an easy walk, and the other two stallions set off beside him. To Ignatius’ relief, neither of them tried to say anything either.
Squinting, Ignatius was just able to make out the red dot of Salomé’s hurrying form as it vanished over the horizon. Sighing and muttering; “Crazy bint,” the tall Reya plodded onward, hoping silently that Salomé didn’t mess up her story. Last thing he wanted to do was explain what had actually happened out here today.
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