"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
Fear doesn’t best her, not entirely. I smile at that, it is a victory even if it is a small one, have to start somewhere I suppose. In any case she seems to agree to joining me and while I am happy about that there is an inkling of uncertainty with my offer. I had things to explain.
I nod my cloudy colored head, closing my eyes as it dips down then rises once more. “Very well,” I say, opening my copper eyes to peek at her again, holding her gaze when I can manage. “It’s easier said than done though, it isn’t an accommodating place. There is little food and water, I travel back to the common lands most days to eat and drink.” Most days, if not daily, thus I kept myself alive but I also expended a lot of energy just to do so. My body stays toned, I am in good shape and I am thankful for that.
As I speak I move, nodding in the direction of the Waste and taking up a slow pace. There is no hurry to get there, she might even change her mind on the way and I could not hold it against her if she did.
“The others are just as hard and unforgiving as the land.” I make a point to speak slowly and seriously on the matter, taking my time with the words that come so thick from my lips.
“You must always be on alert and do not assume they will befriend you, let alone like you. It matters not to me what they like but I understand not everyone is so comfortable with solitude as I.” Of course I was, I’m deaf, my world is silence and I have spent many years becoming one with that endless quiet. The twins had kept me company but outsiders weren’t often in my circle, partially because I did little to seek the comfort of company. Even if and when I was lonely.
“The ruler is the one to be the most guarded with too if you happen upon him, he’s a Magician. A dark one and he takes and breaks all that he touches.” That was certain in my mind, I had witnessed his ill attempts at taking and I was not impressed by the outcome. My distaste for the Dark God was deeper than just that though, he and I went back but not in the way others might think. “He broke my sister once and in turn she broke our Mother, if it was possible to break her more. The twins have him to thank for their destruction as well, creation but destruction all the same.” My words took on a shadow of their own as I spoke, my eyes set on the path in front of us because I did not seek a comforting gaze. No one could apologize for these things, others feeling sorry for me or my family wouldn’t fix them.
He is a god, not a king.
Kings are full of responsibilities – leading, guarding, greeting. Kings should speak to all of them, kings should recruit, should fortify the land. Kings should build ranks.
He does none of this.
It’s strange, almost mystifying, being back in this thrall – he is used to being on his own, at least most of the time. He spends his immortality wandering, burning, finding new places. He spends it in the stars, timeless, comes to them wrapped on constellations and colors, seeds the land with his brood. His legions.
But he had done this, created this land in his own sick defiance, and he is tied to it, at least for a while. Which means he must be a king. Or something like one.
(He is a much better god than he is a king.)
He knows the girl who comes – she is one who pledged to him, and who stayed – but he does not know the girl at her side. She is new. Good.
(He should be out there. He isn’t. He has no time for such things.)
He overhears her - he takes and breaks all that he touches - and he grins.
The taker and breaker walks up to them, dips his head in greeting.
“Speak of the devil and he will appear, you know,” he says, but it’s through a smile. He looks to the new mare.
“Hello,” he says, “I’m Carnage.”
09-26-2016, 10:57 AM (This post was last modified: 09-26-2016, 10:59 AM by Rhae.)
She followed Tioga faithfully, if not a little nervously. Rhae was a slender grulla, a creamy sort of gray with pale hair and wide eyes. Her companion, though, was large. Strength and power. The skittish mare melted almost naturally into the safety of her shadow, as if she belonged there.
She'd lost her mother, and then her adopted family, and she was understandably concerned she'd lose this one too. Tioga hadn't taken her in as family, or even as a friend, she supposed, and so there was no obligation to stay with Rhae (not that commitment seemed to make a difference). Still, though, she didn't want this bare thread of security to fray and tear, and edged just a tad closer to the woman's hip.
Tioga talked as they traveled, warning her of the viciousness of the land -and possibly the people too. Sharp blades of fear pinched her veins like shattered glass shards. Equally fragile eyes scanned around for all the threats that must be eagerly watching them with hunger. It didn't sound at all like a place to live, but it was enormously better than not having a home. At least here she'd know she belonged to the land, and she wasn't all that great at making friends anyway.
She'd just have to be sure she wasn't noticed, she was good at that. Probably, anyway. Well... at least she wasn't at all interesting.
She nearly leapt from her skin when a stallion appeared. Somehow she hadn't even noticed him til the danger was knocking at her flimsy door. Her heart quailed and did its best to beat a cornered rabbit's in tempo. Just a tiny step nearer to the mare brought their coats together, and that oddly had no effect on her soaring pulse. Wasn't Tioga just warning her that the people here were dangerous?
Rhae ducked her head, hair falling limply over her face, and desperately tried to shrink or disappear. Oh, what she wouldn't give for a bit of invisibility just now. Don't move, don't be noticed. I'm not here. Her ghostly white forelock curtained him from her eyes, and like a child she hoped that somehow made it better.
I can't see you, you can't see me.
I can't see you, you can't see me...
But he did see her. He did take notice. He'd quite possibly called himself a devil and she was inclined to believe it just then, if only for the instinctual fear of him. Everything about him screamed to her senses, predator. As she hid behind her sheet of hair, she didn't have to see him to feel his gaze pierce her soul.
"I'm Carnage" "Baahah!" she spouted a hysterical sort of laugh. Of course his name would be Carnage. How incredibly suitable.
Her eyes widened to saucers and she gasped quietly, surprised by her outburst and absolutely mortified. Well if that didn't get his attention, for sure.
Rhae scurried to the larger woman's other side, placing Tioga between her and that strange stallion like a shield. She peered carefully beneath the woman's throat, glassy blue eyes watchful.
"Hh-hi" she breathed, out of proper formality only, before reorganizing her efforts at a miraculous disappearing act.
I could expand on the devious qualities of my counterparts and the land in which we lived but I may have never quit speaking. The other woman deserved to know though and I felt it was my duty to inform her. Had I not coaxed her into living in the very bowels of Beqanna? In a manner of speaking I had done just that and whether it was selfish of me or not I did not dwell on it overlong. I did not mean for her to suffer, to have a hard life or be stuck with one but being with someone, anyone, was better than being alone.
I am a prime example of that. Look which basket I had thrown my eggs into.
She presses into my hip and sadly this only makes me feel better about my actions. Did she know I needed reassurance, could she the doubt in my heart, the weight of the burden in my mind?
In any case I do not push her away, instead I let her cling to me like a babe velcros itself to a mother. I too am a mother, believe it or not, but Lysenth had long grown into a man years ago. That’s what they do babes, they grow and then once again the mother is alone. Perhaps the timid woman feels that void, even if the years are far too long on her to be coddled in such ways. I can not help but have a soft spot for the meek.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth
And what a grand inheritance he had left them. Speaking of the presence of the gray Magician brings my forward progression to a halt, heaven forbid I run into him, that would require touching him. My side aches where Rhae touches, it feels like she is trying to get me to absorb her but I make no comment, instead my eyes never leave the beast before us. I do however dip my head, even if only just. While I do not care for our host, I have a healthy dose of respect for him. I am a woman but not a stupid one.
He speaks of Devils, of course he feels inclined to speak of his own kind and my mouth finds itself in a hard flat line. I can not hear Rhae’s outburst of laughter but I feel the shift of her head against my side and my ears flatten against my skull. She moves away from him, placing me in the middle and I do not quiver at the prospect of being the receiving end. “Carnage,” I begin, “this is Rhae. She’s decided to come stay.” I take my time placing the syllables together, even if it does not help much with my delivery of speech.
“Rhae, this is Carnage. The ruler of Pangea for all intents and purposes.” Ah a ruler and here I am doing the leg work, though it is for my own benefit and not his. Of course I tack on that last bit because I’ve yet to see him do anything but lay waste to the land and toss us to it- sink or swim.
“To what do we owe such an audience?” I ask but keep the majority of my bile in my head. Oh do tell us great one, I think, but do not linger too long. We might start feeling special or something. My thoughts leak sarcasm in rivers overflowing, the exact opposite of the dust covered riverbed Pangea harbors.
He can smell the fleeting scurry of her fear, and it’s a thing he savors. Though he had not necessarily intended to frighten her, he doesn’t mind if he does. There is a definite wrongness about him, though his form is equine, and a plain dappled gray, the other things that he is – a dark god, a god who has spent decades amongst galaxies, in worlds other than these – well, those things cling to him like a stench.
To his surprise, she lets out a machine-gun burst of laughter. He doesn’t react, only watches, impassive. There was a time he might have struck her down for the insolence, but he is a king, and kings should not strike down new subjects so readily. Especially not subjects who come into this wasteland.
He looks then to Tioga, as if for explanation, but she only gives him the newcomer’s name: Rhae.
He nods, as if this information matters, then smiles lazily as she inquires to his presence.
“Well, Tioga and Rhae, it’s common manners that a king welcome his new subjects, even if all he’s king of is a wasteland. We must always keep our manners, mustn’t we?”
Like not laughing inappropriately, for example. But he won’t press the issue.
“Excuse our dust,” he tells Rhae, “there was an…error in construction. It’ll be right enough soon.”
He, of course, likes this awful place, likes the dust and decay, but he also intends to leave this land as his personal relic, the way the valley had once been – and not all are so hasty as he to live amongst nothingness.
Tioga introduced her, and in turn explained to Rhae that this stallion was the ruler here. Her eyes pinched shut and she slid further from him, taking shelter behind her companion's larger form. No doubt she'd managed to offend him already in some way, something that seemed to come naturally to her terrible social manner. Best if she just disappear now and let him forget she existed.
"...it's common manners that a king welcome his new subjects, even if all he's king of is a wasteland," he was saying. "We must always keep our manners, mustn't we?" She flinched. Was he digging at her? She'd never truly know, so awful with the games of social cues and the like.
"Excuse our dust," he continued. It'll be right enough soon." She thought she might try to mumble that it was alright, but she rather preferred not to remind him she was still here. It was clear he was not speaking to Tioga, however, as the mare already lived here and knew about the land. Rhae didn't want to be rude.
She peered out from behind the woman's broad neck and tried to smile dismissively at his apology or explanation or whatever it was, but it came out more of a grimace in her nervousness. She slinked back just a little, keeping her eye on him as she touched her nose to Tioga's neck, taking comfort in the smell of her. They were still strangers in their own right, but she felt safe with her and trusted her to keep her from ruining things.
![[Image: Tioga.png]](http://s16.postimg.org/ceb0gz0n9/Tioga.png)
