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 Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:30 am
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:31 am
“Sophia Rose. Do you know her?” It was always the same. The mare looked at him blankly, with no hint of recognition in her eyes. The odds of finding anyone who knew of his Sophia Rose in this vast land were small. She had wings, an appetite that favored concealment, and a distaste for most company. Travelling by foot and asking any individual he came across for her was a laughable method, but it was all he had.
“Very well, then,” he said when the mare had shook her head in the negative. He had not expected otherwise, but he was disappointed all the same. Only one had even knew who Sophia was, and that event wasn’t one he liked to recall.
With head dipped in silent farewell, he prepared to leave.
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:31 am
“Wait,” Bitey called, accompanying the word with a few steps forward. “Is she close? I could help you look,” she offered. The name alone did not say much – she could not tell if the dark-antlered stallion was in search of a daughter or mother, a sister or a lover – but his tone had been so listless she could not help but feel that he had been looking for some time. If that was the case, she feared her services would be of little help; as much as the situation saddened her, she could not leave her Dragoona. The purple-feathered mare was likely in the forest now, perhaps wondering where she was...
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:32 am
Giuseppe was sure she meant it; when she spoke, her face split apart so that her eyes looked in two directions at once, and she did not seem at all disoriented. Help him look, indeed.
“You’re kind to say so,” he said, turning away from her. “But your help is not needed.”
She was not the first to offer, nor the first to be rejected. It was true that having a larger search party would raise his chances, but he knew himself: his patience would not last, and no one would be as dedicated as he to the search. Sophia was not like to see him favorably, either, if he associated with the lesser. No, outside help was more trouble than it was worth.
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:32 am
Bitey flattened her ears, struck again by how lonely his circumstances seemed. Both her father and her brother were wanderers – and she had been, too, until she settled with Dragoona. What would it be like, to search for her family and never find them? The Kawani lands were big, and the world was bigger still. But her mother had much extended family in the Kawani lands, and her father ones outside of them. If she wanted to find them, she knew she would not have to look long.
Perhaps Sophia Rose had many relatives, too – one who could help the stallion. Or had he already tried? She shifted from foot to foot. Would he think her silly for suggesting it? Would she be wasting his time? He had been polite, but evidently did not care to stay longer than necessary. Still, if there was some way to help him, she had to try.
"Um, excuse me—"
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Posted: Fri Jan 31, 2014 12:33 am
“Stay your hooves, sister; this one is not safe.”
Inugami padded out of the forest, coal-red eyes locked onto the stallion. He pricked an ear and whirled to face her with naught a sound, his head already lowering to point those twisted antlers her way. The feathers of her mane rose in response as the hackles might on a wolf, making her seem larger than she really was, and her tail lashed once behind her. With steps as silent as his own, she slid past the mare to meet him.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:21 pm
Fighting was always risky business, regardless of an individual’s strength and skills, and Giuseppe did not fancy going toe to toe with this mare. However, she soon made it clear she would not leave him in peace, and he slowed to a stop.
“Damn you, woman; must you vex me again?” The first time they had met, she’d barely fled with her life intact. That should have been enough to dissuade most, but the mare was as pig-headed as she was strong. If she continued to harass him, then next time, it would be he who chased after her. He could not afford to have her hounding after him, and their meetings would have to come to an end, one way or another.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:22 pm
Bitey stepped back without question, almost habitually. It was not often that someone commanded her, but when they did, they often came from her parents or her friends – the people who were looking out for her. But she didn’t know this mare, and when she realized what was happening, she stilled, eyes flickering between the two opponents. On one end was the stallion, brusque but not unkind; and on the other a mare she knew not, but had warned her from a danger she did not comprehend. The mare had eyes like fire and the traits of a wolf, but Bitey knew most of all that appearances were not everything.
“Y-you shouldn’t fight,” she said, but if any of them heard, they gave no indication.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:22 pm
“Oliver, of the Clavenae herd, son to Palla and Daegon. He was only a child, but you killed him, and for that I sentence you to die.”
Inugami had only known the colt for half a day. He had been weak and sickly, but he hadn’t thought her cruel like all the others. A “badass” he had called her, and though she felt she had no resemblance to an unruly donkey, he’d used the word like a compliment, and she took it as such.
The day after, she returned to find him dead.
He had been punctured; his eyes were taken first, and then his heart. It wasn’t difficult to find the culprit, whose tines were still stained red with blood. Antlers weren’t meant to be used in such a way, and the stallion’s lack of precision showed in the scrapes and gouges that marked Oliver’s coat.
Inugami drew back her lips, teeth and slaver and furrowed brow mirroring the fury she’d felt the time she found Oliver’s killer. He was surprised – he hadn’t expected her, and she’d kept the upper hand in the battle that ensued. But just as she’d been about to take his throat, he’d caught her head beneath his antlers. They weren’t normal, that was certain – no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break them, and he’d struck her with tooth and hoof and blunt blows as he cut across her back. In the end, she’d been forced to escape. But it wouldn’t happen again.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:22 pm
It was always the children. Many took their naivety for innocence, and barbarity for ignorance, but he’d found them to be just as cruel as any other, if not more so. The colt’s parents had degraded Sophia’s image, and they had to be taught their place. The commoners were uneducated, and he wouldn’t deal with those, but the alphas of a herd should know not to go against their betters. But the mare wouldn’t understand, and he wouldn’t try to explain – though it still grated him to find that she had mentioned the foal’s age, as if it should make a difference.
“You’re welcome to try again,” he growled, keeping his head held low. It made it more difficult to see, but that was a small enough price to pay. His antlers were his sword, and his scales his shield, and like this they served him better.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:22 pm
Bitey’s grew wide when the mare made her claim. She looked to the searching stallion, but though her mind’s eye saw him as an honorable, if lonely, soul, reality did not paint the same picture. He neither confirmed nor denied the words, but the way he took the mare’s challenge suggested he was the foal-killer. This time, she didn’t need a warning to step back.
The two moved closer as she drew farther away. She could run, she knew she could, and that they wouldn’t even bat an eye in her direction. But it wasn’t right to let them continue. Taking a life for a life seemed more like to bring animosity than peace, but she couldn’t deny that justice was needed, too. Something had to be done.
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Posted: Fri Feb 28, 2014 7:23 pm
Inugami’s paws were beneficial when it came to stepping quietly and navigating coarse ground, but in battle, she was at a disadvantage. Hooves were sharper, and their smaller surface area meant they could deal harder blows as well. She didn’t have surprise on her side, either, but she had received some training at least since the time they had first met. Still, she would have to be careful.
She turned without warning, hoping to strike his side where soft flesh would be easier to find.
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