11-19-2017, 08:29 PM
They did not find Briar that first day. Searching high and low, through jungle, cliffs and beaches, they found not hide nor hair of the missing man. Noa and Barb did what they could to keep the group upbeat, but a coldness had seeped into Bragi’s heart. A certainty of something deeply wrong. To his growing consternation, though, Juniper seemed to be the only one who shared his concerns. And even she seemed to be only humoring him at times. Why weren’t they taking this seriously?! By the third day, they had covered the island several times over. Bragi noticed Leif, Zaq and Elena talking among themselves that morning, growing quiet as he approached. All three of them stared as he neared the little group, Leif with an accusing look painting his features. The tall dun Warlander houghed in a disgusted way, shoving against Bragi’s shoulder as he left the clearing they had settled into last night. Perplexed, he turned to the other two. He and Leif had not been as close as he and Briar were, but they had never been enemies either. He raised an eyebrow at Zaq and Elena. “What’s his problem?” He asked them, bemused. Elena and Zaq glanced at each other uncertainly before the blonde mare turned to respond. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you Bragi.” She said flatly, then walked off to follow Leif. Zaq just shook his head sadly, and followed his comrades, leaving Bragi to stew in confusion.
After the third day of fruitless searching, there was a definite division in the herd when they came to rest that night. Juniper and their colt, Gull, were the only ones to stand near Bragi. The others clustered at the other side of the clearing, with Noa and Barb resting between them in an attempt at bridging the herd. Subdued and disgruntled, there was very little said in the group that evening. Even the foals were unusually quiet, sticking close to their dam’s sides at darkness began to fall on that moonless night. Cold-lighted stars appeared one by one, and the lost souls of the island fell into fitful sleep. Bragi sighed against Juniper’s shoulder as he fell into a nightmare-studded unconsciousness.
The morning of the fourth day came quietly. The first thing Bragi noticed as he woke from his restless night was the quiet. No birds called into the pale light, no insects clouded the humid air. There was the sound of his lungs pulling air, and his heart in his chest, that was all. He opened his eyes unwillingly, knowing he was about to face another painful day. Just how painful, he was about to find out. He twisted his head around, panic gripping is mind as he noticed the lack of warmth at his side. Juniper and Gull were missing. He surged to his feet, a scream threatening to pull away from his throat. The others were rousing at the other end of the clearing, and cries of dismay began to rise from the herd. “The babies, where did the babies go?!” He heard Ayla call out frantically. Looking around, he saw what they did. All three foals were nowhere to be found, and Juniper along with them. Barb immediately went to the remaining mothers, whispering words of reassurance to Ayla and Elena. The last few days had taken their toll on the entire herd, but most noticeable on the elders. The vitality that had been given to them had leached away, leaving them looking thinner and more care-worn than they had at the beginning. Bitter anger had etched itself into the lines of the herd, and biting accusations began to fly through the air. Bragi watched the horses he had come to know and love turn upon each other, friends suspecting friends, walls of distrust building between lovers. And he was not immune. His best friend, his lover and his son had all vanished over a matter of days. No one had lost as much as he had. He looked at the faces of his family, one by one, looking for some kind of clue. He landed on Leif. Yes, it must be him. Leif had always been jealous of him, hadn’t he? He and his family, he has Briar and Juniper and little Gull. Had. Dear gods, he held fear in his heart that he would never see them again. Leif had taken them from him, somehow. A seed of suspicion and hatred had been planted in his mind.
The rest of the day passed in terse suspense, punctuated alternately with Ayla and Elena’s weeping, and barked answers to brief questions. Spirits lower than ever, the search continued, albeit with a new sense of futility. That night there was silence. They gathered in the same clearing they always had, but it no longer held the sense of security it used to. Staggered about in ones and twos, the eight remaining herd members lay beneath the uncaring sky, and Bragi dozed uneasily to the sound of quiet weeping.
The fifth day dawned as they usually did, with the sun clearing the verdant palms as if nothing had changed. Tempers flared as the bereaved herd drew closer to discuss the day’s plan. Sweet young Maggi was in favor of continuing to search. What else could they even consider doing? She asked persistently. Leif and Zaq promoted that they should look instead to defending themselves. Something, or someone, was doing this. They were certain that whatever it was, it could be fought. Noa and Barb looked to each other, pain for their family deep in their sunken eyes. “We shall divide, then. But only in two. Those who wish to continue searching will do so with Noa.” Barb stated. “Those who wish to fortify this place shall stay with me.” She continued, and so the group split down the middle. Bragi and Maggi joined Elena and Barb, and prepared for another day of searching for their loved ones. “If I need to fight for my daughter, I think I should know how.” Ayla said quietly in explanation to Elena’s plaintive look. The two had become like sisters in their time on the island, and shared each other’s pain. Nodding in understanding, they parted ways, each believing they were doing what was best for their children, as mothers will.
The search party had not been gone more than an hour when Maggi turned to Noa with an anxious look. “I need to go back. I need to tell Zaq… something.” The young mare said, her voiced laced with stress. Noa looked about, noting the daylight and their proximity to home. “Very well, my dear. Say what you must. We will continue searching. It is not a bad day to be with one you love.” He answered knowingly, compassion for her fearful young heart in mind. She nodded, grateful for her surrogate grandfather’s blessing. She turned, and set off trotting to tell Zaq she loved him. Bragi knew the two had been feeling more strongly about each other lately. He hoped they’d get the chance to be happy once this ordeal ended. If it ever ended. He shook himself, feeling the grip of depression claw at his mind. That wouldn’t do. He had people to find, and he could only hope it wouldn’t be too late.
He, Elena and Noa began heading back as dusk began to fall, not wanting to be gone past dark. Darkness seemed to be their harbinger of doom, and not one of them felt comfortable being out in the open at night anymore. How things had changed in just a few days… Elena had asked Noa for counselling, hoping for some kind of reassurance about their situation, and so Bragi had gone a bit ahead. Still in view, mind, but out of earshot of their private conversation. It was because of this that he first smelled it. The acrid scent of singed fur and roasted flesh assailed his nostrils. A dark mass was piled against a large tree several yards ahead. His mind knew what it was before his mind was willing to accept it. Stepping forward almost compulsively, he came to a stop before the charred corpse that had been posed restfully beneath the tree. There was no fur left, only black and scarlet flesh, still smoking in the late afternoon light. The head was missing, leaving only a mangled, bloody stump of neck. The scent was much stronger here. He felt bile rise up his throat, and it took every ounce of control he had to not vomit. The poor soul had been burned beyond recognition, but he felt a guilty twinge of relief that it was at least too small to belong to Briar. A retching, gagging noise came from behind him, making Bragi jump. Elena and Noa had caught up.
“Dear gods…!” He heard Noa murmur. He looked to where the old stallion’s eyes were locked. A moan of horror escaped his lips as he took in the fresh evil that was above them. It was a wonder he had not seen it earlier, as whatever sadistic soul had committed this evil had clearly placed it with strategy, at eye level. A pile of rocks behind the tree was splashed with dark blood, which had drained from Maggi’s grinning head. The little brown and white mare, barely two years old, had been viciously decapitated, sinew and thick arteries trailing from the jagged line of her neck. The skin of her lips had been pressed up into a macabre grin, revealing blood-stained teeth. And her soft brown eyes, once gentle and kind, had been gouged out. Bloody black sockets were all that remained in the once-lively girl’s face.
“Noooooooo! NOOOOOO!!!” Elena began to keen, and Bragi knew that she was seeing her daughter where Maggi was. They were close to camp, and Elena’s anguished howls soon drew the remaining members of the one-time happy herd. Noa stared at Bragi as Zaq rushed forward, only to collapse at Maggi’s abused side. The youth began to sob, joining Elena in agonized mourning for the lost lass. She had never made it back, they knew that now. With bleak severity, they moved the dead girl to their clearing, Zaq carrying the violated head of his sweetheart. The heartbroken boy placed the severed head reverently beneath a tree, and kissed her cold cheek softly. Disturbed, Bragi did not think that he could sleep, but he was wrong. The last week had exhausted him beyond belief, and so he drifted off, lulled by the distant sound of waves on the beach, and the hushed whispering of promises Zaq spoke to a murdered head.
There was no warning the next day. Bragi awoke, like any other day. Today, though, he was cold. He had not felt cold since coming to the island. He had not lied down to sleep last night, preferring the ability to take off in case some monster came to savage him in the night. The reality was much worse. Zaq looked awful. As though he had not slept in weeks, there was a glint in his eye that was not there before. The roan lad also had streaks of blood painted along his face, as though he had spent the night nuzzling the Maggi’s stinking corpse. Bragi looked around. It seemed that he was the last to wake. Six sets of flat eyes bore into him, as emotionless as if they had not spent the last six days in terror.
“Why’d ya do it, Bragi? Why’d ya kill them” Queried Zaq, suddenly breaking the eerie silence. His voice was unnaturally high pitched, grating against Bragi’s ears. “Maggi says you led her away. Says you killed the others too. Maggi thinks that’s why you’re here. It’s all your fault. You’re not our friend. You’re our doom.” A mirthless laugh broke out from Ayla, joined in by Leif and old Barb. Soon the whole herd was cackling, shrilly and mirthless. Bragi pinned his ears. This was bad, oh this was so bad… He took a slow step backwards, suddenly wanting to be as far away from them as possible. The motion did not go unnoticed. As suddenly as it began, the laughter stopped. “Where ya going Brag? Where do you think you can possibly go? Don’t run, you bastard, you’ll only die tired.” As he spoke, Zaq’s voice dropped in pitch from grating falsetto, to a deep rumbling growl. As his voice change, so did he. Where his face had originally been only sneering, now it stretched and until his jaws had stretched to an exaggerated length, teeth sharpening in his snapping maw. A heartbeat behind him, the others began to change as well. Soon Bragi was surrounded by nightmare parodies of his family, slavering jaws giggling maliciously, flesh wasting from bones as he watched until their skins hung, papery and loose from skeletal frames. Eyes wild with maddening violence, they rushed him all at once. Once-beautiful Ayla got to him first, her huge frame now gaunt but still powerful barreled into him. Gnarled teeth ripped into his shoulder, a strike of agony making him dizzy. A rush of adrenaline surged through his veins. This was officially life or death, and he had no more time to pretend otherwise. He wrenched away from Ayla’s grip, leaving a strip of his own skin hanging from her bloody lips. No time to pause, he took off running. He could hear the screams following him, branches crashing behind him. Where to go, where to go… Blood was oozing from his shoulder, pushed by his throbbing heart. What the hell was going on! He wasn’t thinking straight, so he just ran. It was a small island, they would find him eventually, no matter where he went. May as well leave where he came. His feet took him instinctively to the place he had first come here. The beach. Stoney cliffs overhung it, and the tide was low. Sand muffled his hooves, and the rushing of his heart was drowned out by the boom of water on the shore. He came to a stop. If this was his last stand, so be it. If he was to be murdered by people he loved, then fine. He only wished he had not lost Briar, and Juniper and Gull in the process. And he damned the day the ocean called him and dragged him here on cursed tides in the first place. He took a steadying breath, noticing how his muscles shook where he stood. Unrequested tears pooled in his eyes, not falling yet. Bragi stood with his head to the wind, waiting for fate to meet him.
After the third day of fruitless searching, there was a definite division in the herd when they came to rest that night. Juniper and their colt, Gull, were the only ones to stand near Bragi. The others clustered at the other side of the clearing, with Noa and Barb resting between them in an attempt at bridging the herd. Subdued and disgruntled, there was very little said in the group that evening. Even the foals were unusually quiet, sticking close to their dam’s sides at darkness began to fall on that moonless night. Cold-lighted stars appeared one by one, and the lost souls of the island fell into fitful sleep. Bragi sighed against Juniper’s shoulder as he fell into a nightmare-studded unconsciousness.
The morning of the fourth day came quietly. The first thing Bragi noticed as he woke from his restless night was the quiet. No birds called into the pale light, no insects clouded the humid air. There was the sound of his lungs pulling air, and his heart in his chest, that was all. He opened his eyes unwillingly, knowing he was about to face another painful day. Just how painful, he was about to find out. He twisted his head around, panic gripping is mind as he noticed the lack of warmth at his side. Juniper and Gull were missing. He surged to his feet, a scream threatening to pull away from his throat. The others were rousing at the other end of the clearing, and cries of dismay began to rise from the herd. “The babies, where did the babies go?!” He heard Ayla call out frantically. Looking around, he saw what they did. All three foals were nowhere to be found, and Juniper along with them. Barb immediately went to the remaining mothers, whispering words of reassurance to Ayla and Elena. The last few days had taken their toll on the entire herd, but most noticeable on the elders. The vitality that had been given to them had leached away, leaving them looking thinner and more care-worn than they had at the beginning. Bitter anger had etched itself into the lines of the herd, and biting accusations began to fly through the air. Bragi watched the horses he had come to know and love turn upon each other, friends suspecting friends, walls of distrust building between lovers. And he was not immune. His best friend, his lover and his son had all vanished over a matter of days. No one had lost as much as he had. He looked at the faces of his family, one by one, looking for some kind of clue. He landed on Leif. Yes, it must be him. Leif had always been jealous of him, hadn’t he? He and his family, he has Briar and Juniper and little Gull. Had. Dear gods, he held fear in his heart that he would never see them again. Leif had taken them from him, somehow. A seed of suspicion and hatred had been planted in his mind.
The rest of the day passed in terse suspense, punctuated alternately with Ayla and Elena’s weeping, and barked answers to brief questions. Spirits lower than ever, the search continued, albeit with a new sense of futility. That night there was silence. They gathered in the same clearing they always had, but it no longer held the sense of security it used to. Staggered about in ones and twos, the eight remaining herd members lay beneath the uncaring sky, and Bragi dozed uneasily to the sound of quiet weeping.
The fifth day dawned as they usually did, with the sun clearing the verdant palms as if nothing had changed. Tempers flared as the bereaved herd drew closer to discuss the day’s plan. Sweet young Maggi was in favor of continuing to search. What else could they even consider doing? She asked persistently. Leif and Zaq promoted that they should look instead to defending themselves. Something, or someone, was doing this. They were certain that whatever it was, it could be fought. Noa and Barb looked to each other, pain for their family deep in their sunken eyes. “We shall divide, then. But only in two. Those who wish to continue searching will do so with Noa.” Barb stated. “Those who wish to fortify this place shall stay with me.” She continued, and so the group split down the middle. Bragi and Maggi joined Elena and Barb, and prepared for another day of searching for their loved ones. “If I need to fight for my daughter, I think I should know how.” Ayla said quietly in explanation to Elena’s plaintive look. The two had become like sisters in their time on the island, and shared each other’s pain. Nodding in understanding, they parted ways, each believing they were doing what was best for their children, as mothers will.
The search party had not been gone more than an hour when Maggi turned to Noa with an anxious look. “I need to go back. I need to tell Zaq… something.” The young mare said, her voiced laced with stress. Noa looked about, noting the daylight and their proximity to home. “Very well, my dear. Say what you must. We will continue searching. It is not a bad day to be with one you love.” He answered knowingly, compassion for her fearful young heart in mind. She nodded, grateful for her surrogate grandfather’s blessing. She turned, and set off trotting to tell Zaq she loved him. Bragi knew the two had been feeling more strongly about each other lately. He hoped they’d get the chance to be happy once this ordeal ended. If it ever ended. He shook himself, feeling the grip of depression claw at his mind. That wouldn’t do. He had people to find, and he could only hope it wouldn’t be too late.
He, Elena and Noa began heading back as dusk began to fall, not wanting to be gone past dark. Darkness seemed to be their harbinger of doom, and not one of them felt comfortable being out in the open at night anymore. How things had changed in just a few days… Elena had asked Noa for counselling, hoping for some kind of reassurance about their situation, and so Bragi had gone a bit ahead. Still in view, mind, but out of earshot of their private conversation. It was because of this that he first smelled it. The acrid scent of singed fur and roasted flesh assailed his nostrils. A dark mass was piled against a large tree several yards ahead. His mind knew what it was before his mind was willing to accept it. Stepping forward almost compulsively, he came to a stop before the charred corpse that had been posed restfully beneath the tree. There was no fur left, only black and scarlet flesh, still smoking in the late afternoon light. The head was missing, leaving only a mangled, bloody stump of neck. The scent was much stronger here. He felt bile rise up his throat, and it took every ounce of control he had to not vomit. The poor soul had been burned beyond recognition, but he felt a guilty twinge of relief that it was at least too small to belong to Briar. A retching, gagging noise came from behind him, making Bragi jump. Elena and Noa had caught up.
“Dear gods…!” He heard Noa murmur. He looked to where the old stallion’s eyes were locked. A moan of horror escaped his lips as he took in the fresh evil that was above them. It was a wonder he had not seen it earlier, as whatever sadistic soul had committed this evil had clearly placed it with strategy, at eye level. A pile of rocks behind the tree was splashed with dark blood, which had drained from Maggi’s grinning head. The little brown and white mare, barely two years old, had been viciously decapitated, sinew and thick arteries trailing from the jagged line of her neck. The skin of her lips had been pressed up into a macabre grin, revealing blood-stained teeth. And her soft brown eyes, once gentle and kind, had been gouged out. Bloody black sockets were all that remained in the once-lively girl’s face.
“Noooooooo! NOOOOOO!!!” Elena began to keen, and Bragi knew that she was seeing her daughter where Maggi was. They were close to camp, and Elena’s anguished howls soon drew the remaining members of the one-time happy herd. Noa stared at Bragi as Zaq rushed forward, only to collapse at Maggi’s abused side. The youth began to sob, joining Elena in agonized mourning for the lost lass. She had never made it back, they knew that now. With bleak severity, they moved the dead girl to their clearing, Zaq carrying the violated head of his sweetheart. The heartbroken boy placed the severed head reverently beneath a tree, and kissed her cold cheek softly. Disturbed, Bragi did not think that he could sleep, but he was wrong. The last week had exhausted him beyond belief, and so he drifted off, lulled by the distant sound of waves on the beach, and the hushed whispering of promises Zaq spoke to a murdered head.
There was no warning the next day. Bragi awoke, like any other day. Today, though, he was cold. He had not felt cold since coming to the island. He had not lied down to sleep last night, preferring the ability to take off in case some monster came to savage him in the night. The reality was much worse. Zaq looked awful. As though he had not slept in weeks, there was a glint in his eye that was not there before. The roan lad also had streaks of blood painted along his face, as though he had spent the night nuzzling the Maggi’s stinking corpse. Bragi looked around. It seemed that he was the last to wake. Six sets of flat eyes bore into him, as emotionless as if they had not spent the last six days in terror.
“Why’d ya do it, Bragi? Why’d ya kill them” Queried Zaq, suddenly breaking the eerie silence. His voice was unnaturally high pitched, grating against Bragi’s ears. “Maggi says you led her away. Says you killed the others too. Maggi thinks that’s why you’re here. It’s all your fault. You’re not our friend. You’re our doom.” A mirthless laugh broke out from Ayla, joined in by Leif and old Barb. Soon the whole herd was cackling, shrilly and mirthless. Bragi pinned his ears. This was bad, oh this was so bad… He took a slow step backwards, suddenly wanting to be as far away from them as possible. The motion did not go unnoticed. As suddenly as it began, the laughter stopped. “Where ya going Brag? Where do you think you can possibly go? Don’t run, you bastard, you’ll only die tired.” As he spoke, Zaq’s voice dropped in pitch from grating falsetto, to a deep rumbling growl. As his voice change, so did he. Where his face had originally been only sneering, now it stretched and until his jaws had stretched to an exaggerated length, teeth sharpening in his snapping maw. A heartbeat behind him, the others began to change as well. Soon Bragi was surrounded by nightmare parodies of his family, slavering jaws giggling maliciously, flesh wasting from bones as he watched until their skins hung, papery and loose from skeletal frames. Eyes wild with maddening violence, they rushed him all at once. Once-beautiful Ayla got to him first, her huge frame now gaunt but still powerful barreled into him. Gnarled teeth ripped into his shoulder, a strike of agony making him dizzy. A rush of adrenaline surged through his veins. This was officially life or death, and he had no more time to pretend otherwise. He wrenched away from Ayla’s grip, leaving a strip of his own skin hanging from her bloody lips. No time to pause, he took off running. He could hear the screams following him, branches crashing behind him. Where to go, where to go… Blood was oozing from his shoulder, pushed by his throbbing heart. What the hell was going on! He wasn’t thinking straight, so he just ran. It was a small island, they would find him eventually, no matter where he went. May as well leave where he came. His feet took him instinctively to the place he had first come here. The beach. Stoney cliffs overhung it, and the tide was low. Sand muffled his hooves, and the rushing of his heart was drowned out by the boom of water on the shore. He came to a stop. If this was his last stand, so be it. If he was to be murdered by people he loved, then fine. He only wished he had not lost Briar, and Juniper and Gull in the process. And he damned the day the ocean called him and dragged him here on cursed tides in the first place. He took a steadying breath, noticing how his muscles shook where he stood. Unrequested tears pooled in his eyes, not falling yet. Bragi stood with his head to the wind, waiting for fate to meet him.