[open] I've bled for less { any }

[Shadowmere]

Heat spread over her body, the air thick with smoke, the crackling of fire filling her ears...Shadowmere thrashed as a weight pressed into her and a ragged shriek of fury ripped from her throat. Those green eyes flashing in the embers, the panther she despised so had come to end her. She went to thrash again when a sharp jab to her ribs woke her from her nightmare. At first, the flash of green eyes that had met her own made her lingering fury burn until the furrowed brow and scowl upon the small horned head of Nadja, not Naga, finally came into focus. It was just another damned dream... She thought as she panted, and the sweat coating her lithe body soaking into the filly beside her. "Ugh gross! Mom! What is wrong with you!?", Nadja spat in a high pitched whine at her mother with undisguised venom. Shadowmere scowled at her and snaked her neck to nip at the filly's shoulder, of course the little demon was a smaller mirror of herself. "Mind yourself, Nadja!", she snorted with an exasperated tone. She was in no mood to deal with her daughter's attitude right now with how frayed the tether on her sanity was....lest she hurt her.

Those green eyes haunted her dreams almost every night, and the flash of defiance in her youngest daughter's own emerald gaze stirred confusing feelings within her. She shook the remaining fury and confusion from her head and heaved herself to stand. She needed to cool down, badly. Nadja, who was now old enough to eat grass on her own still followed close behind as the dark queen brushed through the low hanging pine boughs that concealed the hollow within a densely covered copse. Her ears flickered back at the sound of Nadja's soft hoofbeats and she signed. The filly was a royal now, she would possibly be her predecessor if she ever deigned to pass down the crown...now that she finally had it, she was more than determined to keep it. She snaked her head back toward Nadja and hissed in her graveled voice, "You and your brother must learn to hold yourselves in a manner fit of Chamber royalty, child. We are an example, a symbol of vitality and strength within the land. Do you understand?", she was never a soft mother but she was determined to raise these children better than her children of the past. Nadja nodded with a roll of her dark emerald eyes, "Yeah, yeah. I get it.", Shadowmere doubted she did, but decided not to argue with her about it. 

After taking some time to drink in the river that ran through the forest and tear up some of the lush autumn grass between hungry jaws, the pair wandered the borders of the kingdom, ensuring nothing was amiss. As usual, the lands were quiet and calm, aside from the familiar voices of residents within and the chorus of birdsong and crow caws from the treetops. She still felt like the peace within the lands was odd, so different from the tumultuous past of Beqanna. There was never this much quiet, there was deceit, war, and stealing of mares. There were lands of light and peace, and lands of dark brutality. There was once even the separation of mythic beings from the mundane but that was a long, long time ago.  Nadja snorted, "Remind me why we even bother to do this every day? What is the point?", Shadowmere whirled on her haunches with a swiftness that made the filly flinch back a step and faced her head on, swishing her long, wispy silvery tail in annoyance. "Do not let this peace make you complacent. No matter how quiet, there is always a possibility for threats to our land. We patrol the borders to ensure there is no danger. We keep our lands and it's residents safe. Now, lets keep moving if you want to stay with me so badly. There is still plenty of land to cover, and I better not hear any more whining.", she said with a finality that had Nadja hold her tongue for once. The pair continued onward in silence, covering a good portion of the territory. The dark queen knew Havelock would be patrolling the far side of the territory by now and knew he was strong enough to take on any possible threats on the now rare possibility that there could be one. She figured it was safe to head back to the heart of the Chamber now, and nodded to Nadja briefly before leading the way back.

{ Shadowmere & Nadja }

_{The Dark Queen and Princess of The Chamber}

OOC: Sorry for thr naked post until I can make a new html, idk how to fix Shadowmere's last html that keeps breaking...
Word Count: 768