WOLFBANE

Death had done very little to temper Arthas’ sarcasm, and Wolfbane isn’t exactly sure whether to be grateful of that fact or annoyed. Still the same self-serving, righteous asshole he always was, thought the skin-walker, turning his head to watch Arthas meander by and further into the deep woods. “Nice? Little?” He smirked, baited by the sarcasm and falling just as easily into their old ways despite the years gone by. Bane shook his head and decided to ignore the obvious barb about Loess, moving away from the border in favor of following alongside Arthas. Together they made a striking pair of stallions, in height and girth, and they cut a solid path through the swirling mists and over the deep snow blanketing Taiga’s earth.

“You know Lepis would be ten times more surprised than I am right now if she got a good look at you, dirty old man.” The once-student chuckled deeply, turning his ears down to rest on his nape, smirking with devilish intent. For a moment more they continued on, traversing the redwoods mindlessly and with no exact destination in mind. Then they paused and Arthas spoke again, adding insult to injury with such an outlandish request.

Hardly fresh from the grave and already eager to disturb the bourgeois.
Fuck I missed you, Wolfbane would never admit aloud, though the truth of it sparkled in his olive-colored gaze.

“Woah woah, easy there buck-o.”. The striped gold-and-blue horse laughed, sighing. “I like the way you think but it ain’t so simple anymore. This place -” He motioned with the wide swing of his head, indicating Taiga and her gigantic woods, “- is in the middle of a tug-o-war between Nerine and Loess. Castile and Heartfire are trying to out-piss one another.” He muttered dejectedly, making his distaste over the matter obvious. Perhaps it’s the defiant spirit he’d always harbored, or maybe Aten had finally wedged some splinter of himself into Bane’s dark heart, but the constant bickering between kingdoms was starting to make him think Taiga was better off with neither the North or South.

“That shit has really put a damper on mine and Lepis’ relationship. She’s so… she’s so fucking stubborn, so am I. And she loves Castile and I… well I can’t sever ties with Heartfire. It’s a hot mess.” He groaned from the weight of it, realizing that this was perhaps the first time he’d begun to openly talk about his little (actually huge) strife between himself and his spouse. Bane relaxed onto one hind leg and propped the other up, looking at Arthas.

“Must say though, for a dead guy you’ve got impeccable timing. Stick around and we may both get what we want.” The masked marauder joked. “Or this place and everyone in it will be completely annihilated again.”

Then he remembered, “Speaking of death and her many mysteries: how the hell did you get here anyways? Where’ve you been?”

Commandant of Taiga // Champion of Loess

WOLFBANE

Staying in Loess at the time would’ve spelled out death for Lepis, his family and himself. In fact coming back to Beqanna at all had been a huge risk, but Wolfbane had curbed his pride and gone to Heartfire (hah) for help. And make no mistake - she had helped him. But it had cost him and was continuing to cost him the longer he did nothing about it. So far he’d gone to look for Eyas and come back to total chaos, not that Taiga hadn’t been chaotic before leaving. The tangled web of issues and leadership had really only tightened into a ball of tension between kingdoms and horses alike.

Someone - be it Wolfbane or otherwise - would have to snip the dread clean from the source.

In time Taiga would grow out again and the problems surrounding its leadership would smooth out. Where that left Wolfbane though… he can’t be too sure. “Can’t leave decision-making to the weak.” He chuckled, shouldering the dapple grey with a heavy wing to playfully push the other stallion off-course. “But yea… it’s been a rollercoaster.” His expression darkened, turning his eyes and the line of his blueish mouth into a vision of hatred.

Then just as suddenly the darkness faded away, and Arthas was chipperly continuing on with his story of life after death. The origin of such life is fascinating enough that Wolfbane pauses mid-stride, sinking dark hooves into the cold snow but refusing to move them as confusion furrows his glittering brow. Had he heard the ex-King correctly, just then? The gates to both worlds, to life and death, were… open? “I’m sorry- you’re actually telling me that someone, or some ‘thing’ has allowed your soul to rise from the grave and return to your body healthy and whole?” Bane asked, fully aware that his chin had dropped open entirely.

What the… what the fuck?!

His head began to spin. If Arthas was back… if it was actually true then…
NO, the first thought he has is to stop himself from thinking about it at all. To hope for something like a prodigal son returning would be more pain than it was worth but maybe, just maybe if Arthas had come back life then…

Gale.
His son could’ve come back too.

Commandant of Taiga // Champion of Loess