"But the dream, the echo, slips from him as quickly as he had found it and as consciousness comes to him (a slap and not the gentle waves of oceanic tides), it dissolves entirely. His muscles relax as the cold claims him again, as the numbness sets in, and when his grey eyes open, there’s nothing but the faint after burn of a dream often trod and never remembered." --Brigade, written by Laura
01-16-2020, 06:43 PM (This post was last modified: 01-16-2020, 06:43 PM by ghaul.)
GHAUL
i can take you there, but baby, you won't make it back
He had been ravenous for some maternal figure to keep him comforted and safe when Anaxarete arrived in Pangea. Dawn had been gentle and loving, certainly, but he could feel the way she tensed whenever he nestled beside her to sleep. Something at the core of her rejected him and knew he was not a harmless child like her others. But with Ana, she cooed and did not even flinch at the sight of him. She had accepted him so readily when he had puffed his chest and stood his ground against her as a tiny prince.
That is why he has decided to give her the trophy of his first big kill. His greed and that itching desire to hoard had given him brief pause before making up his mind, but now he plucks the tattered wing from the little alcove he keeps it hidden. Ghaul drags the thing with him as pale blue feathers spin and twirl to form a path behind him. The majority remain in place by dried tissue as he happily trots along, talons gritting against the red clay ground. His small ears swivel back and forth as he searches for the queen’s familiar outline.
Ah, there, just up ahead. He is surprised to catch her alone but his delight shows in the smile of crooked fangs across his face. The monster eagerly drops his prize at her hooves and then looks down at her, ears perked forward as he awaits her reaction. His wings rustle excitedly across his back as a soft clicking noise emits from his throat.
“I brought this from Loess. My first real kill,” he explains as his claws tap against the dirt. “I have also brought Castile’s daughter to live with us. Clarissa is my twin flame.”
When they first met, his voice had been so small and carried no weight to it. Now it commands reverence like summer thunderstorms across the plains. But he remains docile toward Ana just as he does with Clarissa or Gospel, ever eager for their approval. His tail flicks as he searches the blur of her face for some semblance of pride.
She’s unsurprised to see him. The woman turns, and watches with mild amusement as the boy drags the carcass across Pangea’s dry, dusty soil. Perhaps some would have been revolting by being presented with a corpse…
Not the shadowmare.
She couldn’t say it was the first time that she’d been presented with such a prize, but she accepted it gracefully all the same. She turned her cold gaze upon the body, walking a circle around it with an appraising gaze before offering a small nod of approval.
“You’ve done well, Ghaul,” she says, cooly, “And a prize from Loess, no less. Impressive.” She means this. She’d met the delegation that Loess had sent not too long ago. She was not one to rush to judgment, but she was in no hurry to establish close ties to the kingdom. Not one who’s King seemed so eager to presume to know things about Pangea and herself. It was foolish, and she had no use for fools as Pangea grew.
But Ghaul?
Ghaul was no fool.
Nor was he a monster. Not in the shadowmare’s eyes.
A twisted smile cracked her dark lips at the mention of Clarissa. She was pleased that he had brought her here. Brought her home. The shadowmare felt comfortable presuming that to win such high praise from Ghaul then Clarissa would be a good addition to Pangea. “If Clarissa is your twin flame, she will always be welcome here. You will have to introduce us if she is this important,” she says, her voice still calm but the barest whisper of warmth echoes in her words.
However she knew that this hunt and recovery of Clarissa were not all that the horned boy had been up to of late. These activities had drawn her attention, to say the very least. She reaches out to the boy, brushing her dark muzzle affectionately against his neck.
“You have been busy,” she adds, conspiratorially.
“Come, young one, tell me of your exploits,” she nearly purrs.
i can take you there, but baby, you won't make it back
He does not know it, but he has always wanted to be loved. That ravenous hunger is tucked away on a shelf while his hunt for conquest takes center stage but it is there all the same. The stars peppered across his horns and cheeks dim and brighten eagerly as she surveys the rotted thing he has brought for her. She does not recoil or kick it away as others might, and he is pleased when she voices her approval. A delighted sort of chittering whispers from his throat.
He watches the colors of her face change and form a smile when he speaks of his beloved. She would like the angel girl, he thinks. Anaxarete is already welcoming of her, though, so he doesn’t feel the need to express this thought aloud. A crooked grin devours his face when she suggests that he has been up to much more. And he has! Ghaul has worked so tirelessly to gather playthings for himself. A low croon leaves him when she reaches for his neck and he leans into the touch like a love-starved child.
“I took captives from Nerine – Brine and Brinly. They should thank me for saving them from the cold,” he explains, snorting softly at the ungrateful duo. “Took two more from Loess. The false dragon’s son and his would-be savior.”
A laugh rumbles from his lungs as he recalls the way Malone tried so hard to be the valiant hero. But Ghaul knows very well that heroes are just lucky fools who never faced an adversary like him. Their legends would crumble to pathetic nothing beneath his ragged claws.
“Gospel was from Nerine too. They wanted her to be quiet, to not be hungry,” he says with a visible frown forming across his face. He remembers the way Adna had tried so hard to bare her brittle fangs at Ghaul when he was only hours old. Even then, the serpent woman could not face him. Imagine how quickly she would fold now.
“I’m proud of all you’ve done, Ghaul,” she offers, as the boy has been busy in the best of ways. Her affection for the boy was genuine - and she was pleased with how much he’d grown. It is too easy to slip into idleness. “Pangea will always welcome those ostracized from other lands, like Gospel. No one under the protection of Pangea will ever be hungry,” she adds, cooly. So many were threatened by the darker impulses of their children - trying to morph them into something docile and sweet. It was unrealistic and often damaged the children more than encouraging them to live up to their full potential. It was one of the many reasons that Anaxarete often found herself drawn to the youth.
It has not escaped her notice that Ghaul had successfully captured those from other lands. The idea of stealing doesn’t phase the shadowmare. Stealing was so often harmless, and with it came a unique opportunity as well. “Captives always offer opportunity - the more impressionable can be swayed to stay. The hard minded may inadvertently reveal information about their homelands and the leadership there,” she replied. There was always a way to bend such things to their advantage. “Similarly, if one of ours is ever stolen it would allow us a unique opportunity to see inside a foreign kingdom - their politics, their ranks, and how the leadership really functions.”
She pauses for a moment, musing on an adequate reward for the boy.
“I think you’re ready for something more,” she muses. The Cove had been quiet since Dawn had returned to her daughter’s land. She’d met the girl and had no complaint, but the idea of thriving territories to help bolster Pangea was something she had to consider. With Atrox settled in Hyaline, that just left the Cove. The cove was positioned in a way that made it important to Pangea, and she believed that Ghaul was up to the task of breathing life into the territory.
“I’d like to offer you leadership of the Cove, Ghaul. You may rule as you see fit, so long as both you and the Cove remain loyal to Pangea. In turn, Pangea will come to your aid should you ever need it,” she offers, watching curiously for his reaction to this news.
“If this is acceptable - I’ll take you now,” she says - unfurling her great, leathery wings that she more often than not kept hidden away. ”You can spend as much or as little time there as you’d like - you’ll keep your rank here in Pangea and will always be welcome here at home.” She wants to ensure that he knows this is a reward and that Pangea will always be his home.
