Rock of ages, rock of ages
Still rolling, keep rolling
***
Still rolling, keep rolling
***
The sun had risen that morning into a blood-red sky, its burning and indifferent eye bathing the Arma Mountains in fire. Neither omens nor portents, nor the straining and sleepless eyes of war-weary watchers, gave it pause in its inexorable heavenward march. And under its pitiless gaze, the world carried on as always, with all the usual players - save one.
Raymond stood stiffly in the secluded heart of the mountain range, neck arched instinctively against an unseen threat. He had done what he could for himself in the aftermath of the battle. Shoddy poultices caked the worst of his wounds and the rest lay bare; dark, swollen scabs crisscrossed his flesh over bloody rivulets left to dry and flake on their own. He cast his eyes East toward the midmorning sun, but did not see it: his mind was elsewhere.
She stirs.
He breathed in sharply. The low steady rumble of Ruth's breathing, which had slipped beneath his conscious awareness during the unbroken monotony of his vigil, flooded back to the surface like a wall of white noise.
He turned his back on the sun to where her colossal form lay nestled almost gingerly in the elbow of two adjoining mountains, her carapace a forest of wicked knives to guard the treasure lying in the center of her coiled mass. She lifted her massive head only enough to blink one sleep-clouded golden eye at him.
Thank you, my dear.
Mouth dry and body aching, the red stallion moved with as much dignity as he could muster into the cocoon of the Tarrasque's body. He did not like to worry - it left bitter ashes in his stomach - and the fear running hot and cold through his veins as the swarthy mare came into view was as much against him as it was her.
Because he could not be both in love and in control.
Because he was powerless.
But she was alive. He steeled himself against the worry that had made his own wellbeing an afterthought and said, softly, "That was reckless." But what he felt - to lay eyes upon her again, to share her presence, was not the worry that had creased his face and darkened his eyes.
It was fierce awe.
Raymond stood stiffly in the secluded heart of the mountain range, neck arched instinctively against an unseen threat. He had done what he could for himself in the aftermath of the battle. Shoddy poultices caked the worst of his wounds and the rest lay bare; dark, swollen scabs crisscrossed his flesh over bloody rivulets left to dry and flake on their own. He cast his eyes East toward the midmorning sun, but did not see it: his mind was elsewhere.
She stirs.
He breathed in sharply. The low steady rumble of Ruth's breathing, which had slipped beneath his conscious awareness during the unbroken monotony of his vigil, flooded back to the surface like a wall of white noise.
He turned his back on the sun to where her colossal form lay nestled almost gingerly in the elbow of two adjoining mountains, her carapace a forest of wicked knives to guard the treasure lying in the center of her coiled mass. She lifted her massive head only enough to blink one sleep-clouded golden eye at him.
Thank you, my dear.
Mouth dry and body aching, the red stallion moved with as much dignity as he could muster into the cocoon of the Tarrasque's body. He did not like to worry - it left bitter ashes in his stomach - and the fear running hot and cold through his veins as the swarthy mare came into view was as much against him as it was her.
Because he could not be both in love and in control.
Because he was powerless.
But she was alive. He steeled himself against the worry that had made his own wellbeing an afterthought and said, softly, "That was reckless." But what he felt - to lay eyes upon her again, to share her presence, was not the worry that had creased his face and darkened his eyes.
It was fierce awe.
***
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 | Takes place in the Arma mountains
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
