"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
Lauchlan rushes back to Tephra at top speed, tripping and fumbling over roots and bushes. His heart pounds in his throat and the wind whistles in his ears and he wants nothing more to find someplace to hide and disappear forever.
His worst fear, his worst, nightmare has come to pass.
Tears begin to sting his cheeks as he leaps into river that cuts Tephra off from the mainland, but he fights to keep himself under control as the brackish water sprays his sides. He has to get into hiding. Then he can let it out, then he can wallow in the misery of what has befallen him.
But first he must get away, first he must find a place where no one will find him. Where Raeg’n won’t find him.
He runs until he reaches Tephra’s northern shores, and he finds the little cave that he’d found only a few days before. He hasn’t had the chance to show it to Raeg’n yet, she won’t know to look for him here.
Once he’s inside, he throws himself against the soft sandy ground, finally letting himself be taken over by the sobs working their way up from the core of his being. He instinctively tries to wrap his wings around himself protectively … only to remember, as the little nubs sticking out of his shoulders twitch, that they’re gone.
His beautiful, incredible wings are gone. And his damnable curse is back.
He’d been too naive to think that it could last, that this happiness would go on forever. What will Raeg’n think of him now? No longer able to soar above, reduced to walking, and occasionally crawling through the leaves …
He’s just glad she won’t know where to look for him.
She broke him somehow. Something changed and Magnus backed off, shut down. She must have done something wrong, she must have failed in some way. Disappointed him maybe. Didn’t he see she needed this? She needed more. It was cut too short, it was not enough. She needed more.
She should find Lauchlan, she thought as she paced tracks into the earth. Her navy coat shimmered in the sunlight, her fiery hair battling for supremacy against its heat. Lauchlan would do it, he would push her further. He would finish the job, and then he’d be there when she needed him. He would watch over her, as he always did. She could always count on him, the one constant in her life since waking alone as a feeble child.
A thunder in the clear day snatched her attention immediately. Burning amber eyes jerked to land on a black figure racing from unseen demons. Her heart leapt in her chest, sparking fear as she instantly thought of Lauchlan. But this stallion had no wings like Lauchlan, and in this distance she could only see the black of his coat, the coil and spring of muscles as he tore across the border with anxious purpose. Perhaps Dahmer? She didn't really know him, but she'd seen the dark stallion around at times, most usually with one woman or another. Simply an observation. But he'd never been upset, she wasn't sure he was capable of losing that syrupy smile of his.
She slid into a smooth gallop, taking a shorter path across the land but keeping a wide breadth of space constantly between them. Her sharp gaze tracked his direction, watched him reach the coast and dive into a cave. Her pace held steady, her gut soured anxiously. She had no reason to worry over Dahmer, and she didn't think she was, but the taut strain of worry was there. Perhaps it was that he'd looked so much like Lauchlan, a wingless Lauchlan. A distraught Lauchlan. Something she never wanted to see, never wanted him to be.
The blue of her coat stood out from the dark ocean-blue, almost vibrant in comparison. Bright amber eyes peered into the darkness as she rounded the entrance. Dahmer..? she called cautiously, her figure sliding into the blackness surrounding them. She didn't want to near him, a strange stallion with a habit of dazzling smiles. But when she breathed in his scent she gasped quietly.
Lauchlan!
Her voice was a fierce whisper of shock as she dove to his side and immediately sank into him. There were no ebony wings to wrap around her, and the sharp tang of his distress could nearly be tasted in the air, coating the both of them in a chill. Her throat swelled at the strength of his emotion, as if he could transfer it to her, too.
Lauchlan? she asked shakily. She swallowed and tried again, her voice hard and eyes fever-bright with fury. What happened? Who has done this to you? An angry tear fell on his cheek as she brushed against him, trying to soothe him. She had never been very affectionate, even with him, and she wasn't sure if she was helping or making things worse. She only knew she suddenly needed to feel his solid warmth against her, to reassure her that he was ok.
Thanata, like any wise mare, made it a point to have a good understanding of her home. Even though she had begun to grow bolder, learning to fight some to better protect herself and the other herd residents of her home, she wished to have a thorough knowledge so if she ever needed to escape, but remain within her home territory, she would know where to go.
This urge to find safe places to hide, along with her curious nature to explore the Tephra, had led the black mare to the northern shores, where the green meadows gave way to sandy beaches and craggy mountain bluffs that had been shaped by the waves buffeting against them. Often, she would come to stand there and look out over the distance of the ocean, mesmerized by its beauty. Sometimes, she thought that, off in the distance, she could glimpse the distant land of Ischia, but most of the time figured it was the fog in the bay tricking her mind.
Still, that didn't deter her from coming back. The view from the top if the craggy bluff above some caves was really quite beautiful, a sight that often drew her there multiple times within the span of just as many days. The quiet solitude of this place was just highly pleasing to the closeted mare, and she enjoyed the time she spent out here to be alone when she needed to get away from the herd.
On this particular day, the sun was shimmering bright above the bluffs, casting its golden rays down on the rough waves below. They struck the mountain like a force of thunder, briefly surprising the mare with the power of their blows. Perhaps the ocean was angry today? But there were no signs of an incoming storm. So what else could the land be responding to?
Thanata thought she had an answer when she noticed a flash of movement down below. She stepped closer to the edge of the bluff and spotted a black colt racing beneath the bluffs, in the direction of the caves that lined the mountains several yards above the reach of the waves. For a moment, Thanata wondered if she should go investigate. Then, a few minutes later, she saw another horse, one she did somewhat recognize. Not all the members of the Tephra she knew very well, but that mare was familiar; it was Raeg'n, a blue-colored mare that Thanata didn't often see around too much but had once been a regular resident here.
Curious as to what had happened, Thanata began making her way down the bluffs. Once she reached the bottom, she turned and headed for the caves, easily finding the one the two horses had gone in thanks to their hoof prints in the sand. She poked her head in the cave, making sure they weren't right by the entrance to receive an unexpected surprise from a nosy mare. Not seeing them, and figuring they were a bit more inside, Thanata entered the cave.
A short distance in, she spotted them. The black colt she'd seen running first was on the ground, sobbing heavily, while the mare appeared to be comforting him. Lowering her head some, the tender mare spoke in a soft voice, "What has happened? Are you two all right? Has someone been hurt?"
02-23-2017, 01:00 AM (This post was last modified: 02-23-2017, 01:00 AM by Lauchlan.)
Oh fuck.
He should have known better, he really should. Raeg’n is a warrior - a fighter, a tracker. He should have known that nothing in Tephra would have escaped her noticed, especially himself.
His breath catches in his throat as her scent fills the cave, followed by a shadowy figure at the cave mouth. “Lauchlan?” No, no, no, NO! “Go away Raeg’n!” He doesn’t want her to see him like this.
So utterly pathetic.
But she keeps walking forward, and suddenly she’s touching him gently as he tries to shrink further into the darkness of the cave. But she’s already noticed. Of course she has. God, how can he explain? How can he tell her that these are his real wings? The ones that he’d been born with, the ones that his birth mother had ripped off. How can he tell her about his real ability, or rather, his curse. She’ll laugh at him. She’ll never look at him the same.
“I …”
More hoof steps at the mouth of the cave. Someone else has found them. He shrinks away from Raeg’n’s touch, forcing himself up onto reluctant legs.
The stranger takes a few more steps into the cave and speaks up, asking if they’re alright. It’s a mare he hasn’t seen before, though that doesn’t mean much - he hasn’t spent too much time amongst the other inhabitants of Tephra.
He glances back at his sides for a brief moment - in the dark of the cave, he can just barely make out the little stubs jutting out of his shoulders. Scarred over after being healed so many years ago, as if there hadn’t been wings there only hours earlier. “It’s alright, it’s nothing.” He’s not exactly sure he even knows how to explain this to Raeg’n, let alone a stranger.
Now that was a lie if Thanata had ever heard one in her life. Still, as she stared into the eyes of the young colt, seeing the pain within, she knew that she could not push the matter. Obviously, whatever had happened before she'd gotten here had troubled him greatly. What was it that had pushed him into a state like this? Had he been hurt physically, or was it perhaps he'd suffered an emotional blow by having someone close to him hurt?
The mare kept her distance, instead just looking over the colt's body to see if she could spot anything wrong. He appeared physically healthy, except for something odd she spotted on his back. Thanata didn't know this colt too well, so she didn't know that prior to this encounter, he'd sported wings. It would've explained the stumps on his back had she known, for she would've guessed they got ripped off.
But, as it was, she had no knowledge of the situation. Instead, the Friesian mare lowered her head, speaking to the colt again in the softest voice she could muster, "I might not be an expert in anything medical, but you do seem to be hurt. Is there anything I can do? Perhaps fetch someone to help you? There are some I know who could help you."
