And I heard, as it were, the noise of thunder
One of the four beasts saying,
'Come and see.' and I saw.
***
One of the four beasts saying,
'Come and see.' and I saw.
***
Believe it or not, Raymond preferred not to tangle with war. There was a reason that he'd never thrown his name down to lead any armies, even doing all that he'd done. He liked to exercise control in all things, to minimize his exposures and exact the greatest result from the least effort and win by any means necessary. Given the opportunity to slay a dragon, the red stallion had chosen to dispatch it by the far less heroic and far more pragmatic route of unseating its king.
He did not belong in the old songs.
This contest with the thunderbirds offered him exactly none of the things he liked. Calliope was here with him on the front line, crackling like an exposed nerve on the outskirts of his every thought, almost cruelly calling him to prove himself in the aftermath of the events that had bound them together and to Denocte. These were monsters - that was her territory, not his.
Joining them in the Court's defense were other horses fueled more by spirit than sense, and if he thought that any one of them could be convinced of the wisdom of reconsidering their zeal he probably would have tried...but that would be pointless.
Raymond knew that the one he cared about most would only leave the battlefield as either a victor or a corpse.
"If you can't kill them, try to ground them," he called to the horses assembled around him, raising his voice above the near-constant peals of thunder, "and don't die". Ruth, too, was nearly upon them now, and the red stallion did not need the bond between them to hear her primal roars as a pair of thunderbirds harried her or feel the heavy snap of her jaws slamming shut just short of a lagging wing.
Lightning crashed overhead, limning the thunderbirds overhead in halos of violent silver. Looking up, he must have caught one wild beast's eye: it shrieked a raucous challenge and dove, talons bared.
The other horses faded into the background as survival became the only thought in Raymond's mind. He spun away, his tail blade tracing a vicious arc and biting deep into one of the creature's wings as its talons opened a neat bloody furrow across his side. Its cry split his ears.
Before he could recover enough to make a second swing, the thunderbird continued past and drew itself up unsteadily under the power of three good wings, fighting to regain the high ground. Blood poured freely from the otherwise superficial wound that had been meant to carry him aloft and dash him across the court parapets. Even in her bloodwrath Ruth reacted to his pain, snarling with redoubled rage as she thrashed with long, siegebreaking arms.
Thus was the battle joined.
He did not belong in the old songs.
This contest with the thunderbirds offered him exactly none of the things he liked. Calliope was here with him on the front line, crackling like an exposed nerve on the outskirts of his every thought, almost cruelly calling him to prove himself in the aftermath of the events that had bound them together and to Denocte. These were monsters - that was her territory, not his.
Joining them in the Court's defense were other horses fueled more by spirit than sense, and if he thought that any one of them could be convinced of the wisdom of reconsidering their zeal he probably would have tried...but that would be pointless.
Raymond knew that the one he cared about most would only leave the battlefield as either a victor or a corpse.
"If you can't kill them, try to ground them," he called to the horses assembled around him, raising his voice above the near-constant peals of thunder, "and don't die". Ruth, too, was nearly upon them now, and the red stallion did not need the bond between them to hear her primal roars as a pair of thunderbirds harried her or feel the heavy snap of her jaws slamming shut just short of a lagging wing.
Lightning crashed overhead, limning the thunderbirds overhead in halos of violent silver. Looking up, he must have caught one wild beast's eye: it shrieked a raucous challenge and dove, talons bared.
The other horses faded into the background as survival became the only thought in Raymond's mind. He spun away, his tail blade tracing a vicious arc and biting deep into one of the creature's wings as its talons opened a neat bloody furrow across his side. Its cry split his ears.
Before he could recover enough to make a second swing, the thunderbird continued past and drew itself up unsteadily under the power of three good wings, fighting to regain the high ground. Blood poured freely from the otherwise superficial wound that had been meant to carry him aloft and dash him across the court parapets. Even in her bloodwrath Ruth reacted to his pain, snarling with redoubled rage as she thrashed with long, siegebreaking arms.
Thus was the battle joined.
***
Raymond
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around.
Raymond
And at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
When the man comes around.
@Calliope for direct mention
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
