Raum.
She could not help but recall the night they had crossed paths, the way the rain fell so sharp that it felt like pin pricks upon her glistening skin... the way the thunder cracked so viciously, like a bullwhip snapping at the heels of its mark; that was the night Avdotya’s suspicions of an abandoned crow swelled into bloom. Indeed, not only had he pressed the blade of his dagger to Solterra’s velvet throat, but he’d ran it across - gently, though, not quite deep enough to bleed the nation dry, but sufficient in the way it left them wounded and gasping for relief. Day Court was once again under the fire of chaos and calamity, and there sat Raum upon its broken throne.
It was with silence, then, that the viper prowled its empty streets. She was swift as the wind with the palace in her sights, the curves of carved stone peeking over weathered sandstone walls. He was in there... somewhere within a crow preens, plotting the moves and countermoves of a war yet to come, but Avdotya had her own intentions as the dawn of his empire was beginning. Her interests did not rest in the foolish squabbles of courts, kings and queens and she had long since denied any power a simple crown held over her.
But this was opportunity, one that granted her the ability to take advantage of Raum’s fragility as the head of a nation that would surely eat him alive if given the chance. She would be the first to assure him of that.
So she wound her way into the palace’s open courtyard, her body a shining beacon from the sweat that soaked her. Even as the sun had only just reached the dark edge of the horizon, introducing Solterra to its new reality, Avdotya could feel the intensity of the heat. She thrived in it, in fact the mare even reveled in it - the desert fueled her feral heart regardless of the claustrophobic sandstone walls that surrounded the capitol. That wildness was why she was here, it was why she stood before the palace steps with a nobleman’s head strapped firmly to her shoulder. It was why she summoned Raum from the depths of his stronghold.
”Raum!" Her voice boomed through the morning’s lull, and with it the ground around her began to shudder. It rumbled with the thrum of her magic and reached its earthy tendrils up into the walls, shaking the dust from them and - she hoped - enticing the king enough to heed her call...
... and when he did, she drove the blunt end of her spear into the dirt, loosing the head from its ties and thrusting it upon her weapon's jagged arrowhead. Staring up at Raum from atop its pike were the lifeless eyes of one of House Hajakha’s most favoured members, his tongue hung boorishly from his unhinged jaw and filled with maggots crawling from every orifice.
Avdotya, too, looked up at him from her place at the edge of the king’s doorstep, offering only the slightest play at a curtsy dripping with cynicism; she was where he would find the fires of Solterra. ”There are matters that need discussing.”
She could not help but recall the night they had crossed paths, the way the rain fell so sharp that it felt like pin pricks upon her glistening skin... the way the thunder cracked so viciously, like a bullwhip snapping at the heels of its mark; that was the night Avdotya’s suspicions of an abandoned crow swelled into bloom. Indeed, not only had he pressed the blade of his dagger to Solterra’s velvet throat, but he’d ran it across - gently, though, not quite deep enough to bleed the nation dry, but sufficient in the way it left them wounded and gasping for relief. Day Court was once again under the fire of chaos and calamity, and there sat Raum upon its broken throne.
It was with silence, then, that the viper prowled its empty streets. She was swift as the wind with the palace in her sights, the curves of carved stone peeking over weathered sandstone walls. He was in there... somewhere within a crow preens, plotting the moves and countermoves of a war yet to come, but Avdotya had her own intentions as the dawn of his empire was beginning. Her interests did not rest in the foolish squabbles of courts, kings and queens and she had long since denied any power a simple crown held over her.
But this was opportunity, one that granted her the ability to take advantage of Raum’s fragility as the head of a nation that would surely eat him alive if given the chance. She would be the first to assure him of that.
So she wound her way into the palace’s open courtyard, her body a shining beacon from the sweat that soaked her. Even as the sun had only just reached the dark edge of the horizon, introducing Solterra to its new reality, Avdotya could feel the intensity of the heat. She thrived in it, in fact the mare even reveled in it - the desert fueled her feral heart regardless of the claustrophobic sandstone walls that surrounded the capitol. That wildness was why she was here, it was why she stood before the palace steps with a nobleman’s head strapped firmly to her shoulder. It was why she summoned Raum from the depths of his stronghold.
”Raum!" Her voice boomed through the morning’s lull, and with it the ground around her began to shudder. It rumbled with the thrum of her magic and reached its earthy tendrils up into the walls, shaking the dust from them and - she hoped - enticing the king enough to heed her call...
... and when he did, she drove the blunt end of her spear into the dirt, loosing the head from its ties and thrusting it upon her weapon's jagged arrowhead. Staring up at Raum from atop its pike were the lifeless eyes of one of House Hajakha’s most favoured members, his tongue hung boorishly from his unhinged jaw and filled with maggots crawling from every orifice.
Avdotya, too, looked up at him from her place at the edge of the king’s doorstep, offering only the slightest play at a curtsy dripping with cynicism; she was where he would find the fires of Solterra. ”There are matters that need discussing.”
You’re playing my game now, @Raum
