Raymond.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
Raymond met Isra's eye with equal brightness, the angles of his battle-hardened body as clean and purposeful as fire-forged steel. The brief moment that passed them contained a tiny eternity, encapsulated entirely in that spark of shared understanding, of a test presented and passed.
Her words brought a smile of muted satisfaction to his dark lips in turn - the smile, perhaps, was commonplace, but the approval perhaps less so. Raymond did not pass judgment lightly, and it was a rare thing indeed to truly please him. This, though...an iron-clad statement, a bell rung for liberty at tradition's expense that could not be un-rung...it carried with it a weight and courage far greater than any blueblood could hope to shoulder.
"It never could," the red stallion replied, conviction written in the swell of his breast and the arch of his proud neck, "nor should it ever be again." Ruth's consciousness stirred against his in response to his sudden intensity. A distant growl echoed in from outside the castle walls.
Raymond raised his voice for the benefit of the gathered Denocteans. It was a commander's voice, its tone an echo of the one that had guided some of them into battle against the thunderbirds. "Long ago, someone built a gate in the mountains to keep the rest of Novus at bay. More recently, those gates were closed again, and it was Denocte that paid the price for its leaders' fear. We must not give history the opportunity to repeat itself ever again. Walls are cages for the fearful, and we..." He paused, ruminating on his words, then, "All we've ever had to fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
Without bravado, the red stallion offered Isra a lingering look and added, more quietly this time, "Meet us outside the Court if you want to come along."
He swept away from the meeting without waiting for a reply.
and at his feet they'll cast their golden crowns
when the man comes around
Raymond met Isra's eye with equal brightness, the angles of his battle-hardened body as clean and purposeful as fire-forged steel. The brief moment that passed them contained a tiny eternity, encapsulated entirely in that spark of shared understanding, of a test presented and passed.
Her words brought a smile of muted satisfaction to his dark lips in turn - the smile, perhaps, was commonplace, but the approval perhaps less so. Raymond did not pass judgment lightly, and it was a rare thing indeed to truly please him. This, though...an iron-clad statement, a bell rung for liberty at tradition's expense that could not be un-rung...it carried with it a weight and courage far greater than any blueblood could hope to shoulder.
"It never could," the red stallion replied, conviction written in the swell of his breast and the arch of his proud neck, "nor should it ever be again." Ruth's consciousness stirred against his in response to his sudden intensity. A distant growl echoed in from outside the castle walls.
Raymond raised his voice for the benefit of the gathered Denocteans. It was a commander's voice, its tone an echo of the one that had guided some of them into battle against the thunderbirds. "Long ago, someone built a gate in the mountains to keep the rest of Novus at bay. More recently, those gates were closed again, and it was Denocte that paid the price for its leaders' fear. We must not give history the opportunity to repeat itself ever again. Walls are cages for the fearful, and we..." He paused, ruminating on his words, then, "All we've ever had to fear is that we are powerful beyond measure."
Without bravado, the red stallion offered Isra a lingering look and added, more quietly this time, "Meet us outside the Court if you want to come along."
He swept away from the meeting without waiting for a reply.
@
aut viam inveniam aut faciam
