King of the Ashes - whoeverthehell

[Levi]

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Levi’s words hover in the dark as he waits patiently for any input. He does not wish to lead them indiscriminately towards trouble, he recognizes they may have valuable information. If he is leading them towards trouble, it will be calculated trouble.

To his surprise, the first to reply is a newcomer. The grim stallion tilts his large skull, ears tilting towards her, as she approaches their moonlit gathering. Like a carpet unfurling below her hooves, she walks on a terrain of her own making. Her caustic smile is charming even as death churns around her - he is wary, yet intrigued. “Welcome, Deathwish.”

Maugrim stands by, a silent yet capable soldier. Levi doesn’t expect the piebald stallion to voice an opinion and his eyes drift to Kolera again, noting her hint of displeasure as she seems to size up Deathwish. Internally, he frowns at this. The two of them will be much more efficient if they cooperate, but he remains silent on the issue.

Then Iset’s voice breaks the pause which had followed his words. He hasn’t missed that voice, but her suggestion is sweeter than her tone. “Hyaline.” Before Levi had left Tephra, rumors had been tossed around that two young foreigners had claimed the territory as a sanctuary of sorts - a neutral territory for children to test themselves at kingdom politics.  Could this Iset be one of those two young foreigners? What kind of leader would sacrifice their own territory for a cheap thrill? He asks himself.

A volatile one, a bored one. The steaming, warm, voice his fire answers in his mind. 

 Maybe the metallic filly believed they would get a few new recruits from this, with five ramblers…. It could be possible one of them would end up making a home there. But it seemed a high price to pay for one or two young recruits. But of all the troubles on his broad shoulders, this was not one of them.

“Iset, you and Maugrim will go in first, get the attention of anyone who may interfere. Koleara, Deathwish, the tree of us will follow a few minutes after they enter. The more plants you kill, the quicker the flames will spread. Once the flames go up, our presence will be sure to attract attention.” His thoughts flicker to two beings he had never meet in the flesh, only in reputation - Nayl and her genie at heel.

He smiles then, a surprisingly boyish look on his large face as he breaks the stoic mask of his father for the first time that night. He feels precariously balanced on the edge of something meaningful. The fires in his belly stirs again, prompting him to hasten to the place, the place where he will finally let his flames drink from the ground before his feet all the way to the horizon.   

“Unless anyone else has something to add… lead the way, Queen Iset.” Levi cannot be sure if she is a queen or not, but he is enjoying the irony of the situation and indulges in the sarcasm. The fact that they have made progress in such a short amount of time also heightens his mood.

He glances up to the moon. Not much time has passed, the pale orb is still low in the sky, casting long shadows on the mass on dead grasses which surround the group like a toxic footprint.  

Levi

so scream you, out from behind the bitter ache.