No man was ever wise by chance.
The command was given and his beloved’s mighty bonded took to the skies in a twirl of fur and feathers, leading Somnus towards his destination. He had not expected to be waylaid by Tabbris that morning. His goal had been to venture to the library for studying, but almost as soon as he left the citadel behind was he met with Eulalie’s near frantic gryphon. Perhaps they could not communicate, but Somnus understood that Tabbris wanted him to follow, and he could only speculate the worst.
Was Eulalie alright? Had something happened? Tabbris would not have left her side and sought him out in such alarm for no reason.
Trusting Alba to watch over Regis and alert him if anything happened, the Dawn King took to the morning skies, his great mottled wings unfurling to lift the stallion’s gilded body into the air. Anxiety and fear twisted his gut, grasping his heart with a frigid talon and not letting go. What could it be? How he wished that he could ask Tabbris, but the gryphon charged on ahead, trusting Somnus to follow, and follow he did. Together both gryphon and stallion charged through the air, picking the quickest path. They flew over the Dawn Court proper, traveling above the Viride Forest to where the forest itself met the Rapax River, and only then did they begin to descend.
Wings spreading out to catch the air and slow his descent, Somnus made to land with Tabbris at his side, legs outstretched and hooves digging in to the earth as they landed, the speed of the land causing the dunalino to stumble a few steps in a clumsy sort of lope-trot combination. The landing was not near as poised and collected as he typically would have taken caution to achieve, for it wasn’t important. Right now, finding Eulalie was everything. Even after landing, Tabbris continued on into the trees around them at a brisk trot, turning to look at Somnus over his shoulder and jerk his head for him to follow. The Dawn King obeyed, knowing well to listen, and followed, surely looking a mess with windswept alabaster hair and wide, verdant eyes.
It was the scent that hit him first, a scent that Somnus knew well. Metallic almost, thick and cloying as they grew closer. Copper seemed to coat the back of his tongue as the scent of blood filled his nose, and as Tabbris slowed, pushing through a particularly dense set of foliage, Somnus made to follow. What he saw on the other end took his breath away and that sense of dread only grew.
First, he spotted the bodies; two of them. One pale, the other bay, but both stained in crimson from their wretched place upon the strewn earth. Second, he saw Eulalie, standing over the bodies in intense examination. There were others with her; Messalina, Sloane, Pan, and a chestnut fellow he did not recognize the sight or scent of, but right now his eyes were only on his life-mate. She seemed unharmed.
Wings folding back, Somnus pulled himself the remainder of the way through the brush and the trees, ducking a little to avoid snagging his horn on a branch. With cautious, careful steps, the dunalino approached the crumpled, tragic equines upon the earth. Growing closer, he noticed immediately what was wrong; the corpses were torn apart. Where they still resembled the equines they very clearly were, chunks had crudely been torn away. It was almost like a predator had latched ahold of them and had eaten chunks of them, flesh torn away from bones and innards and muscle exposed to the world. It was even more horrifying to realize that he knew them.
Oh, no. No, no. Oriens, please. Loyal, steadfast, wise and keen, these two were pages that had served Delumine faithfully even before his ascension to sovereign. Moore and Casper had served under Kasil, true and kind, and this was their fate. They deserved far, far more. They deserved better.
Slowly, verdant eyes slid shut to offer each of them a moment of respectful silence, as well as offer Oriens a prayer. ’Wise, blessed Oriens… Please, watch over them where we cannot. Guide them and love them, and reward them for everything that they have done.’ It was not a worthy prayer. It did not truly convey what he wanted, but despite as silver a tongue as he could have, Somnus was at a loss for words. Emerald eyes slid open to then look up at the others who had gathered, watching each of them carefully before his gaze settled on Eulalie.
Turning his head, ears forward and at attention, the Dawn King surveyed the others. He looked to Pan, nodding his head to the youthful boy with a great deal of respect, and then nodded to Sloane. Overhearing the way that Sloane spoke to pan and the chestnut stranger, the dunalino lifted his jaw and regarded the woman with a level stare. Strange, that she now seemed so interested in Delumine when she previously had not cared much at all… Just like when they had met in the library. Caution was a familiar feeling, and he would be a fool to ignore it.
Focusing once more on the bodies, Somnus' verdant eyes roamed the area around them. They had been eviscerated, that much was obvious. Tracks and upturned earth and grass gave sign of a struggle, but not a very large one. Three sets of prints, two of which could match Moore and Casper, but the third… It was strange. Cloven, yes, but seemingly bipedal and far larger than any equine he had ever encountered within Novus. A golden ear tipped back as he thought, wondering.
weeeee :D
