04-29-2020, 09:22 PM
(This post was last modified: 04-29-2020, 09:26 PM by Neverwhere.)
Hey all you cool cats and kittens
Ghaul's path barely changes, but his speed does and misgivings rise up like bile in the back of her throat. One ear is trained onto him, the other rotates backward slowly, but she doesn't move. Neverwhere stands firm against that ground eating, earth-shredding approach, as the storm winds gather in fury between them.
"Damn it, Ghaul, are you deaf, now, too? I said you can g--
Her words are cut short by a flash of lightning, it isn't Ghaul flying at her up the hill, it's Wolfbane. Lilli fucking stole Wolfbane. The realization dawns on her almost inappropriately slowly, and it freezes her feet in the half second she might have taken to attempt escape. A stupid plan, anyway, where would she go in the wide open expanse of Nerine that he could not reach her? No where fast enough to find help.
Too little, too late, indeed.
Heartfire had counseled patience, that Wolfbane was someone Neverwhere would want on her side, but even then she must have already known this was coming, must have known about the curse. She must have known that there would be no reasoning, no sides, there would only be a dangerous creature rampaging the continent in her grandson's skin and either no-one willing, or no-one able to put him down.
She had known that this was coming, though - that he was coming - from the moment Lepis had come to Nerine seeking Heartfire. She had known, deep down, that this was going to end in blood, and in a way, it's almost a relief to have the wait at an end. Wolfbane closes the final space between them with a leap and lands changed once again, brandishing too many eyes and sharp, piscine, teeth in a too-wide mouth. Her head rears back in disgust from the creature before her, eyes rolling, but the set of her snarling lips says she has long since resolved herself to this.
Those awful jaws shut with a snap. Neverwhere is already lunging at him with bared teeth but she doesn't feel when they pierce her shoulder. She doesn't feel the blood welling from torn skin, only the faintest burn lighting across her side like fur singed by standing too near Ghaul's fires. It was a miscalculation to assume she would try to evade him, instead she throws her entire weight at him, lunging forward even as he pulls her to him, with knees tucked tight to her chest like battering rams and the flat edges of her teeth seeking purchase on his skin and his extra eyes.
Her own eyes flash behind the clouds that seem to dim them and she growls through clenched teeth, "Lepis has been looking for you, Commandant," her breath is noisy in gaping nostrils as adrenaline seethes through her, "But Heartfire already knows where you are."
Heartfire, who sees through Neverwhere's eyes. Neither mare is close enough to help her, but she forces her tongue around their names as taunts, picking at memories and weaknesses to stoke the coals of his anger. It had worked once before and the certainty of death makes her reckless.
That bitch, Neverwhere
@[Wolfbane]
