Hope
begins in the dark.
From the bushes came a rustling sound and Eulalie tensed, her dark eyes flashing over the foliage, but what came from the shadows was not a beast but a friend. Messalina, and for the chill in her pale blue eyes, Eulalie could see the tremors that claimed her skin. How long had she been there?
Messalina moved toward her, and she offered the pale woman a gentle smile. Eulalie was not royalty, and although the bow sat uncomfortably on her thoughts she did not correct Messalina. There were more important things here than the formalities that were offered to her. It worried her, that Messalina had been here without their knowledge. Had she been alone with this savagery, this destruction, for long? Messalina was gentle and kind, and no doubt was even more familiar with the pages than even she.
“We are not safe,” she says to Messalina, though it is a cold hard truth. None of them were safe if there was a creature capable of doing this, out here somewhere. “But you may be right, we may need guards if it decides to return or if we happen to come across it.” When Tabbris announced his return, Eulalie turned, watching him move through the trees with Somnus close behind. He stops, eyes fixated on the scene laid out before him before they slid shut. No doubt, she thought, he was asking Oriens to care for them.
When he turned toward her, speaking her name, his voice heavy with emotion, Eulalie stepped closer and reached out for him. She pressed her cheek gently against his neck, offering what comfort she could. “We haven’t found much, the only thing I can tell is that they have been dead for quite some time. Late last night, I would assume,” she says, trying not to think about what their last moments may have been like, how full of fear.
Then, they all begin to speak.
Sloane responds to her comment, scathing and cold, but Somnus speaks before she can, and Eulalie can only hope that of them all, the dark woman might listen to him. If she was not going to be of help then she could go, but they would not stand here and argue when there was more important work needing done. Pan speaks, his words choppy and broken, difficult to understand, whereas the man next to him is calmer and offers his services to them. She offers him a grateful smile, allowing Somnus to speak for them both as she agrees with his statement.
Eventually, when all is calmer again, she speaks. “Messalina is injured, and I fear Pan may be suffering from shock,” her dark eyes sweep over the two. She had noticed the blood dripping from Messalina’s legs, easy to spot as the red roses she wore in her hair. Pan, she worried, for his young age and the way his sentences had come together rather incoherently, was reacting badly to the gruesomeness he had stumbled upon. “They both need care.”
“As for the beast, I fear it is a creature the likes of which none of us have ever seen.” Eulalie looks at Somnus, her gaze suddenly quite serious, “Somnus, if we cannot figure out what has done this and somehow deal with it today, we should enforce a curfew.” There were perhaps some citizens, she thought, that would not like the idea of a curfew. One of them in fact happened to be standing right here, but Eulalie believed it was the best way to keep everyone safe. “Knowing what we know, we cannot risk more victims.”
Then, she finally looks up at the others. A man who claims he is headed for Denocte, a boy who calls the forest his home, a woman with obscure intentions, and another who is dear to her. They would all need protection, if they could not come to bottom of this today. Pan, perhaps, could move into the citadel temporarily. Metaphor, she assumed, would simply be able to move on to Night Court unless he chose to stay. Sloane might be safe on the island, but who knew if she would stay away from the forest at night if it was asked of her. Messalina, like all her people, she worried for their safety. Now, however, was not the time to worry. Now was a time for action.
“Can anyone tell where the tracks may have come from, or where they go to?” The bank had become a muddy mess, but perhaps if they were lucky they could find out where to begin their search. The forest was quite large, even for a beast big enough to kill two equines.
@Sloane @Pan @Metaphor @Somnus @Messalina
