That's a Fine Looking High Horse

by **Dravite** on May 27th, 2015, 5:51 am

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Continued from here.

90 Spring, 515 AV
Morning

They were asking him to pull a rabbit from the hat and Dravite was growing angry. “I’ve been out all night looking with the men, what more can I do?” His eyes narrowed, his voice was lowered, and he felt a familiar tightness in his shoulders.
Belkaia had been pacing back and forth, only now did she stop, throwing her hands up. “I can’t believe you didn’t follow him! He is our Ankal! He is my father!”
She raised her hand to strike but Dravite caught her wrist in his palm tightly. “You’re angry, we all are, but right now I am tired. I need rest. I haven’t slept for two days, my love.”

Belkaia pulled her hand away from Dravite and stormed off, scooping up their son Kyanite as she went. The man watched his wife disappear into his mother’s tent on the far side of camp where most of the women had gathered around Lazuli to comfort her. Not only had she lost her husband, but a step-son as well; Belhatir was still too far from anyone’s reach to pick up using the web, though Dravite had a fair idea where his friend was headed.

The majority of Endrykas had already packed up and moved on, with only the stragglers remaining; opportunists and families that weren’t big enough to keep up with the strength of the moving city. Dravite watched them drift by the camp with their pack animals, jumping gently when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. “Brother, we should go soon or we will arrive late for the summer,” one of the warriors encouraged.
Dravite nodded, ignoring the heavy feeling in his eyelids and the dragging of his feet. “Make sure everyone is packed up, I want us out of here before midday.”

The man nodded and moved on to help other Windborne members take down their tents and round up their animals. Dravite went to his mother’s tent and carefully stepped inside, nervous that the women would scold him for interrupting. “We need to go now; we’ve wasted too much time,” he told them.
The mothers and daughters of the Windborne pavilion looked to Lazuli who sat quietly with her head bowed. “Did you find Belhaur; we cannot go without our Ankal.”
“Wherever he went he took his horse and people know we’re looking for him, someone will find him in the webbing. Until then he knows our plans, after all they are his own,” Dravite pointed out, “If we don’t go now we are putting lives at risk.”
Lazuli murmured, “My son is right… Fetch your things; we leave within the next bell.”

Packing up took longer than any of them had anticipated; this being the first year in some time that the pavilion had decided to live on the fringes of Endrykas permanently. People had settled and perhaps made themselves a little too comfortable, leaving more to carry away to the next place they found. Dravite had always preferred to live light, but even he was guilty of collecting more than he could carry alone for the journey, or he would have been, if the family tent hadn’t been demolished by the wildfire on the seventy-second day of spring.

He took down the deer pelt he had salted and left to dry in the sun, it still needed time to cure properly, but would have to be rolled up for now to ride with him on his Strider. Belkaia had her own mount that she had bonded with at a young age. The mare was spritely, but preferred to go slow, hanging out at the back of the moving convoy. Dravite put his right hand on the animal’s wither and leaned forward to press a kiss to Kyanite’s cheek who sat up in his mother’s lap. “Get a head start with the others. I’ll stay back and make sure no one leaves anything behind.”
Belkaia didn’t look at him, acknowledging the man with a hasty hand signal, “Husband.”
“Wife,” he called after her in jest as she rode away on her mare. .
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by **Dravite** on May 29th, 2015, 11:07 pm

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The last few days had been a real test of his endurance. His legs were sore from riding, his arms were sick of lifting, and his eye stung for lack of sleep. Dravite helped the last few members of the pavilion pack up their tents and load them onto the wagon, slaving over tightened knots, and doing all the heavy lifting when there was no one else. His payment, the odd kind smile or affectionate wave as the wagon pulled away, a line-up of young children sat along the back with their feet dangling over the sides.

Dravite picked up the odd bit of rubbish, a forgotten spoon, the hilt of a broken weapon missing its blade, and a three metre length of rolled rope that looked a bit like a snake in the grass. He put the things in his saddlebag and looked back to where they had been camping, finding it almost hard to believe that this patch of earth had hosted the Windborne pavilion for some weeks now. Leaving the land as they found it was important to Dravite who had been raised to believe that nothing was more sacred to the Drykas. Not everyone seemed to share this opinion and so it seemed he often stayed behind to ensure the place was tidy.

Cree, his Strider, was grumpy having been forced to stay while the rest of the herd had moved on with the pavilion, getting one hell of a head-start. There was nothing the animal loathed more than being last, and Dravite knew it. "I'm sorry, boy. Don't worry, we'll soon catch up."

The man got onto his Strider, sitting back on the leather of his saddlebags so that they would not go anywhere during the ride. He fetched one of his water-skins to have a drink before leaving for the summer grounds. There were only a few things on the Sea of Grass that were faster than a bonded Strider that had been tied to the web, but Cree seemed all too happy to try and disprove that, not needing any encouragement to get underway. He gave a playful little buck as he set off, pointing his ears forward in the direction the pavilion had gone; his hooves barely touching the ground as he raced to catch up to them quickly.

The ground was drier this time of year, making it easier to cross. The sun on their backs was warm and inviting. Up ahead the horizon danced in an updraft of hot air, and Dravite could see the tail end of the Drykas migration. If they could keep this pace and catch up with the Moving city, the journey would not seem as long; a little hard work now would pay off in the end.

Soon he passed the Windborne wagon and slowed to share his thoughts with the drives who agreed with a nod, "Good plan, young buck. We don't won't to let them get too far ahead and end up alone out here," the man at the front of the wagon added, "We will need to water the animals soon for the sun is high and that will eventually slow us down." .
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by **Dravite** on May 29th, 2015, 11:23 pm

There was a low point across the Ki River that hadn't been two difficult to get the wagon across with the help of a few extra horses. Most of Endrykas had opted to go around the rivers end where they would spend the afternoon setting up and most certainly camp for the night. The animals had drunk their fill of water and most of the pavilion had stocked up on what they would need for the journey, with some already boiling water over makeshift fires to make it safe to drink.

"The day is starting to cool," one of the Warriors said, "We should keep going and walk through the night so that we can rest tomorrow while the city catches up."

Dravite knew it was a sound plan, but he was tired and selfishly hung back from weighing into the conversation.

"No, we should camp here tonight," a woman called, "Most of Endrykas is miles ahead of us; we are only following the tail end."

"Camping near water is never a good idea," Lazuli scolded, "You should all know better. All kinds of predators stalk up and down the waterways for prey; we need to get as far from here as we can and travel through the night by torch-light, resting during the day while it is too hot to keep a good pace."

There was a hum of indecision that rushed through the camp. Dravite felt Belkaia put her hand in his and give a light squeeze, it seemed she had forgiven him already; there was no time for grudges on the Sea of Grass. He put his arm around her shoulders and held her against his side gently. "Say something," she whispered to him, "They are a leaderless people. They will listen to you."

Dravite swallowed, her words highlighting the exact thing he feared the most, being put in charge when he had so little experience when it came to leading. "I don't want to make the wrong decision," Dravite told his wife honestly, "I am happy to stay or go."

She nudged him and he knew that was code for, 'not good enough.' The young horse lord stepped forward and raised a hand, feeling their eyes on him before he looked to make sure. "I will use to web to find out exactly where we are and what way we need to head."

Another busy drone of words and arguing followed. The Windborne pavilion had always looked to their Ankal for matters regarding the web, and now that they were without him, they had little choice but to trust in the inexperienced son of a long dead leader.

"Good thinking, Dravite," one of the mothers smiled.
"Well done, young buck," another agree, thought he knew there were many biting their tongues.

He moved away from the group, finding it almost impossible to make a connection with the Drykas web when there was so much noise around him. He sat down on the riverbank and concentrated on the sound of the flowing water, imagining that it was taking him away from this place like a stray tree leaf; whipped downstream towards adventure.

His body felt numb, his ears were ringing, and for a few beautiful moments of stolen serenity, he was as light as a feather. The strands of the web swayed back and forth like seaweed, reaching out only to slowly retract again. Dravite took hold with his mind's eye and followed the connections of the web out into the surrounding area. Far off in the distance lay the Iysan Ruins and beyond that, the Bluevein River, which lead away from the group, winding past the spring encampment to pass through the borders of Riverfall.

He came back to himself to follow the Ki waterway to its end, where sure enough, he found the Endrykas stragglers setting up camp for the afternoon. With eyes that were not his own he looked away from those who gathered and steered his mind across the plains to a familiar site, where he had travelled with The Watch for work and encountered the stray winged man Aris had called a 'Zith'. On that occasion he had also noticed the path of a Grass-bear that had been roaming across country with her two young Cubs, long forgotten until now when the site of the Serenity Tree came into view.

He had almost reached the limits of his webbing ability, the visions he saw wavering, distorted by the distance he had put between them and himself with the use of the web. When he returned to his own, Dravite opened his eyes and stood up, returning to his group to point in the direction of the Serenity Tree; impossibly to see from here, but the best landmark he knew of to lead them all towards the place Endrykas would camp for the summer. "Northeast," he called out to the Windborne members, "Gather your things, we leave soon. .
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by **Dravite** on May 29th, 2015, 11:52 pm

91 Spring, 515 AV
Around the Fifth Bell

His feet and arms were dotted with insect bites, in fact any bit of bare skin that went uncovered seemed to have been attacked in the last hour that he had finally managed to close his eyes and sleep. The fire he had put together for his wife and son had gone out and the smoke that usually protected them from insect bites had died with it. It wasn’t this but the sound of nervous horses that caused him to rouse from his slumber; the screams of woman ripping him from the daze of sleep to get him up on his feet.

They had travelled all day and well into the night before settling down to sleep around the third bell. Dravite had been assigned to stand guard with a torch, his experience in webbing something the camp would rely on to keep them safe. However, having been awake for so long had taken its toll on the man and after fighting with himself to keep his eyes open for the first bell, he had drifted off before the warm fingers of dawn and first light had graced the land. Now, it seemed, someone else would pay for his mistake.

Dravite ran towards the commotion, with spear in hand. Most of the pavilion had chosen to stay close as they had been too tired to erect their tents in the pitch black, and chose instead to sleep surrounded by torch and fire light. Most; one of the younger couples had strayed from the group to spend the night in each other’s arms, rolling back and forth in the tall grass, entangled lovers. Stupid, reckless, deadly love.

When he arrived on foot he quickly noticed the small, dead form in the grass, fur covered in blood. The young couple had obviously been snuck up on by the bear cub and had managed to slit its throat before they was attacked by its mother; a huge Grass-Bear that stood almost seven feet high on her hind legs, swiping madly at the air as her second cub cried, pinned under the screaming Drykas woman who seemed to be wrestling with it. Dravite swallowed when he saw her husband’s mangled body a few feet from the dead bear cub, and froze as the scene seemed to unfold in slow motion.

He didn't know what to do. If he tried to help the woman he would be turning his back on the angry sow, which roared and slammed her front paws down against the earth, only to rise again and shake the world with her deep baritone. At his back he felt the Warriors come to life and gather, half dressed and wielding whatever weapons they could find in a hurry, though Dravite was too stunned to turn back and look at them. One threw a stone that knocked the Bear’s shoulder and she turned towards the throng, charging forward only to stop suddenly, not wanting to abandon her cub.

The men and women of the Windborne pavilion stepped back, some of them ran, others fell; looking down the nose of the sow was enough to shatter the bravest man's courage. It was then, as the bear had charged them that Dravite noticed the hilt of a dagger protruding from the her right eye; the parting gift of a dead man. She pawed at the hilt, catching it with her claws, which was enough to upset her, but did little to dislodge the weapon. Blood raced from the ghastly wound, masking the animals face like war paint.

An arrow flew from somewhere behind Dravite to catch the Bear’s right, front paw as she raised it again, this causing the beast to cry out once more with a roar that felt almost deafening. The arrow was accompanied by a second, and three more; the Windborne archers firing everything they had at the bear, which was very little considering it was the end of the season. The Warriors usually waited for the new season before stocking up on arrows; they would never make that mistake again. The arrows only seemed to aggravate the bear, piercing her fat stores and missing anything vital that might slow her down.

Drivate felt someone's hand push him forward and he quickly turned to shove them back. "What in Syna's light do you think you are doing?" He hissed at the bow wielding warrior.
"We have none but swords and daggers, brother; you have more reach with that spear to avoid her claws!"

Dravite felt like his heart dropped to his stomach, causing every hair on his body to prick and stand on end. "No!" He heard Belkaia scream behind him, "No! Don't let him!"

He didn't dare look back, for seeing his distraught wife would only kill him a second time, for he was sure death this morning was his fate. His son had been born on the first day of spring three years ago, and he would die on the last. "Caiyha give me strength," he whispered to the wind and slowly began and to circle to the left, the bear charging forward as he did. There was a loud cry from the people at his back as they tried to scare the bear, but only managed to halt her for a moment.

When the man jumped to the right out of the way of her swipe, he backed off a bit and gave himself a moment to catch his breath. What in the world are you thinking? He asked himself, his heart threatening to beat right out of his chest. The sow suddenly stalked towards its cub again, limping where she held up her front right paw, pierced with an arrow. Dravite waved his arms wildly at the bear, trying to steer it away from the wrestling Drykas woman who still struggled to keep the cub in check. It was then that he discovered the Bear’s blind stop, as she now paid no attention to him whatsoever. He rushed forward to close the gap, but gave himself away with heavy footfalls; she was blind in one eye, not deaf in both ears.

Realising his mistake as the bear turned, he rolled to the right and thrust his spear forward, catching her shoulder with the head of his weapon, which she took with her as she rose to thrash madly at the air, his spear waved back and forth. Weaponless, his pavilion seemed to lose heart and stilled for a moment, fearing the worst. Dravite clutched his shirt at the chest, half paralysed with fear, he cursed himself for only having one weapon; the thought of the range on his dagger and hatchet he wore pinned to his belt, did little to comfort him now. .
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by **Dravite** on May 30th, 2015, 12:18 am

Fear turned to anger. It should have been his mangled body lying in the grass at his back; he had been tasked with watching over the pavilion while they slept, and he alone had failed. Dravite balled his fists and stood white-knuckled as the bear made a beeline for her cub. If he didn't take this chance, didn't risk his life, there would be another to add to the death toll under his watch and that was something the man could not live with.

He approached the bear, his time mindful of where he planted his feet, choosing to fall against the dry earth in favour of the grass which sung like rustling reeds. His movements were quick, if a little ill-timed and as he ripped his spear from the bear's side, she turned, bowling him with the back of her poor. The man rolled to a stop but had managed to hold onto his weapon, and save for a few grazes and a dull pain where her paw had whacked him, Dravite felt relatively unscathed.

She had him in her sights, mouth wet with drool and blood; both her own and that she had tasted upon killing the man who had managed to take the life of one of her cubs before plunging his dagger into her skull. Adrenaline alone kept the sow on her feet, that and the will to protect her progeny. Though he had not inflicted the pain caused by the dagger and arrows she felt, the mother bear pinned all her hate on the Drykas warrior she had managed to put on his back.

The bear rose above Dravite and summoned a mighty roar; earth shaker, he deemed her, pointing his spear at her heart. Though he kept the end of the weapon grounded against his side, as the bear loomed, he lost his nerve and this threw off his aim, wavering, hands shaking; Dravite held the weapon as tightly as he could and squeezed his eyes shut. The bear came down with a heavy hand, stopped mid-air to dangle above him. When a timely death did not strike, Dravite opened his eyes to the sight and sound of a suffocating bear.

She rasped, the point of his spear buried in her throat, severing the windpipe and killing her roar mid-boom. Struck dumb, he did little but clasp the spear, driving it forward with all his might only to find his strength was no match for the Bears weight, which gradually collapsed forwards as life escaped her; leaving her feet first and slowly winding up through the rest of her body to rush away with the last sigh of air that her lungs had managed to muster.

Though he had escaped death it seemed the man now lost under three hundred pounds of bear would not forgo injury, and as the bear slumped, the bone spear was twisted against Dravite's side. From under the bear there sounded a crack, followed swift by a painful rumble, suited more to beast than man; the pain of one of his lower 'floating ribs' breaking and the weight of the bear upon it inspiring such a cry that the likes of the Windborne kin had never heard before.

The Warriors from the pavilion rushed forward to lift and roll the bear while two others dragged Dravite out from under her. He gasped, filling his lungs only to let out a low, defeated sound; the motion of his arm being raised above his head, stretched the muscles in his upper body, heightening the pain in his chest. He wavered in and out of consciousness as his body came to terms with the shock. Someone called for water, another for a blanket. Belkaia threw herself against him, gathering his arms and touching his thighs and hip as if to check that he was still in one piece.

As the endorphins kicked in, the pain was numbed long enough for him to ask after the girl that had been wrestling with the bear cub. "She's all right," Belkaia assured him, stroking sweat from the man's brow.

"What should we do with the cub?" One of the men asked.
"Kill it!" Another encouraged, "So that it doesn't grow to do this to someone else!"
"Stop!" Dravite hissed, holding his side as he spoke. He drew a shallow breath and tried to sit up.
"That is one of Caiyha's creatures; waste not, want not, brothers."

They stopped and looked at the grounded man and then each other. The bear was young, far too young to survive on its own without its mother in the Sea of Grass, but perhaps not so much so that it might not live if they cared for it. "Tie it up," Dravite ordered, "Help me to my feet!" He coughed but did not taste blood.
"No, my love!" Belkaia fussed, "You should not move until we know you are safe to."
"Feel," he whispered, guiding her hand to the small dent on his right side, "Just like you when you were young and bunted by the goat."

The woman paused, remembering how much rest she had needed that season long passed, for two months she had been nothing but a burden to her people, or so she had felt; so she knew her husband would feel in the days and weeks to come. He was proud, too proud for his own good and would be very sore in the bells following. Belkaia helped Dravite to his feet and held her arm about his middle. Lazuli stood back with her grandson wrapped in her arms and nodded to her boy, glad to see he was on his feet.

The horse lord looked back at the large Grass-Bear and held his hand out to take his weapon from one of the Windborne members who had managed to pull it free. He walked with the spear, pressing his weight into it whenever he stopped. The woman who had wrestled with the bear cub and lost a husband was scratched and bruised but didn't seemed to be too worse to wear; unlike the man she sat with, silently combing his blood drenched hair back from his face.

"I'm so sorry," Dravite offered his apologies; after all he was to blame.
The woman's shoulders tightened visibly and she turned to scream at Dravite, something he hadn't expected, "This is your doing! You selfish pig! I wish the bear had taken you! You aren't fit to lead these people to Endrykas; you can't even go a moon without almost killing yourself! You're pathetic."

Her eyes were wild and her words were fire. "And now you would protect the cub? May it grow to be your undoing, Blackwater!”

The pavilion fell silent at the mention of Dravite’s father’s name. All his life he knew what they had been thinking, knew what their strange stares meant; but surely, after all this time... had they still not accepted him?

“Curse you! Curse you!" The girl screamed, tears streaming down over her cheeks and breast. "First you chase off our would-be Ankal Belhatir, then his father, and now you are to blame for the death of his best hunter, Slate! Slate," She whispered her husband's name and stroked his face tenderly, "I won't stick around for you to betray everything we are. You don't deserve to call yourself Windborne!" She spat at his feet. "Curse you... Curse you," the woman sobbed against her fallen companion and the plains seemed to stand still.

The wind died down, the tall grass no longer rustled, and all the man could hear was the sound of his racing heart.

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by **Dravite** on May 31st, 2015, 1:00 am

They left with their horses and wagons, the goats and the hunting dogs, leaving Dravite, his wife, mother, and son together alone on the plain. It had been voted on by those fit to speak, the young and old who had their Windmarks; and as always, all decisions were final within the Windborne pavilion. They had asked Belkaia to come with them but she refused to leave her husband. Lazuli was quiet, confused, abandoned by the people she had protected and cared for all of her adult life.

Cursed. The word swam around in the man's head, a word that used to confuse him as a boy though he knew it was something to fear. To be cursed was to be cast out by ones kin, forced to leave what kept most Drykas alive; strength in numbers. Cursed, he thought to himself, "Am I really cursed?"
Lazuli turned to her son and closed the distance between them slowly to set her hands on his face. "No, my son."
"I've always worked hard for them," Dravite admitted.
"It is they who are cursed. Their hearts are closed to the love and loyalty we have given them."
"Twenty two years," Dravite mouthed, holding his side. "They are all I have known for twenty two years."

Lazuli closed her arms around her son and held him gently, mindful of the pain he felt in his right side. She stroked his face and shoulders, ran her hands down the length of his bronzed arms and managed to force her lips up into the shape of a small, crooked smile. "Then I have a lot to tell you about where you came from."
She put her hands on her hips and looked about. "But first we need to build a fire and secure this area; we don't want any more surprises today."

Dravite took stock of what remained. Three horses, Cree, his wife's mare and his mother’s old stallion. They had been left without a tent but still had a tarp to keep the rain off if it came, a pan to cook with, their clothes, and rope. Dravite had his weapons and the deer pelt he decided to lay out on the ground so that the sun could continue to cure it once it made an appearance. The Grass-Bear had been butchered for its meat by the pavilion, though they had left the pelt under the heavy stack of flesh riddled bones. "We need to move away from that," Dravite pointed out, noticing a bird of prey circle overhead. "We don't know what the smell might attract."
"We should take the skin," Lazuli encouraged.
"Why?"
"The days might be hot, my son, but the nights are still cold."
"Even more so without a tent to sleep in," Belkaia pointed out.

It took them a bell or two to remove the bones. Belkaia helped Dravite dragged them aside while Lazuli cut away what little scraps of meat she could find. They would need a meal after exerting all of this energy. Dravite took things slow, trying to ignore the nagging pain in his side which felt sharp whenever he bent over; something he tried to avoid as much as possible.

Once the bones were clear they were free to work on the pelt. Dravite stood with his hunting knife, scraping away the fatty layering from the skin. He didn't have too much time to be careful and make a good job of the pelt, instead taking off as much as the lining as he could, cutting away the paws instead of working to preserve them which would make it near worthless to sell. It took all of the salt from his preserving kit to cover the underside of the pelt, which he rubbed in carefully. It was important to spend time on this part of the tanning process, or all his work would be for naught.

They rolled up the pelt and carried it away from the bones, putting a good thirty chimes travel time between them and the kill site. The Serenity Tree was nowhere to be seen, though Dravite imagined it might be the tiny black dot he saw in the distance on the horizon. The Windborne pavilion had taken off with the live bear cub. They would probably sell it when they reached Endrykas, if the poor little creature made it that far.

Foraging for wood to burn was next on the agenda. Dravite scouted the land with his eyes and noticed a few small shrubs he might be able to put to use. Belkaia gathered some dry grass for kindling and worked on clearing a spot for the fire while Lazuli watched her grandson Kyanite.

Dravite set off on foot, taking an easy pace across the grasslands to keep his breathing steady. It would be at least two months before he was able to run without pain and he feared he would not last that long now that they had been left to fend for themselves. If only Belhatir had stayed… none of this would have happened.

The young horse lord kneeled, taking his hatchet to cut away at the base of the tree. The shrub was stubborn and every swing of his hatchet felt exhausting. He tried using his left hand to swing the hatchet and found this difficult, hacking at the lifeless shrub at least forty times before it came away. By the end of this small task alone he felt utterly drained, breathless, and sore. How was he going to recover when his priority now was to keep his family safe?

The sun moved higher into the sky and by lunch they still hadn't managed to get a fire going. Dravite returned with another shrub and groaned as he sat down, forced to lay on his left side for the pain in his right was stabbing now and causing him to draw shallow breaths. The women rolled out the pelts to dry them and Belkaia had a go at trying to start the fire to no avail. She helped Dravite onto his knees and he arranged the dry branches of the shrubs carefully, using his flint and steel to strike up a few sparks. The dry grass took only to fizzle out in the breeze. "We need to dig a pit," Dravite managed to say, speaking only when he had to.

He used his hatchet to loosen up the earth, the dug it away with his hands. The tips of his fingers were sore by the end of it and his fingernails were stuffed with dirt. The fire took in the pit and soon roared to life. He continued to feed it small twigs and branches until it was stable enough to lay a thicker piece of wood on. "Here," Lazuli offered, passing him the pan scattered with thin slivers of bear meat.

Dravite held the pan over the flames and moved the meat about with a spoon. He added some water from his water-skin, just enough so that the meat had something to cook in other than its own fat. When the meat started to colour he took a piece and teased it between his teeth. Dravite spat and threw the strip of meat back into the pan. "Still raw," he laughed, but even that hurt.
"Make sure you cook it through," Belkaia piped up, "I've never eaten bear before."

The meat was tough and chewy but it was eatable and filled them up. "At least we've had something," Lazuli smiled as Dravite lay back in the shadow of the tarp to keep the midday sun off of him.
"Search the web," Belkaia cooed, "I want to know where we are. I want to know that we are safe."

Dravite closed his eyes and relaxed, concentrating on the slow rise and fall of his chest as he slipped away into a trance. .
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by **Dravite** on May 31st, 2015, 1:27 am

There was no pain in using the web, escaping his physical body for the time. Dravite followed the faint glowing strands, making his way along the interwoven maze of radiant strands that led towards the Serenity Tree. Between the tree and where he had left his form, grazed a large herd of wild cattle, a drift of pigs and a small flock of game birds. Dravite found a pride of Night Lions resting on the long winding roots of the Serenity Tree; a young male with two females, each with cubs. It wasn't the kind of site a lone pavilion was very fond of but seen from within the safety of the web, they were almost beautiful.

It took him a long time to find his way back to where he had left his seemingly lifeless form, and quickly checking in, he looked around the area closer to them. The bones of the Grass-Bear were being picked apart by a flock of birds, scared into flights by a pair of coyotes who kept trying their luck at snatching a bone or two. The area looked relatively safe otherwise and when Dravite returned to himself and opened his eyes, he gasped, feeling the pain he had almost managed to forget.

Belkaia rushed to his side and Lazuli hovered close by with Kyanite in her arms. "What is it?" His wife asked, "Did you see something?"
"We are safe," he murmured and closed his eyes, trying to catch his breath.
"What did you see, my son?"
"Night Lions, a day's ride from here; cattle, pigs, and a flock of birds. The coyotes have already closed in on the bones we left, but they are few."

Lazuli stopped pacing and seemed to relax. "Try and get some rest, save your energy for tonight."
Dravite smiled, "You promised me some history. I hope you have not so quickly forgotten."

Lazuli laughed and sat down beside her son. Kyanite found his feet and Dravite summoned the boy silently to his arms, tucking him against his left side. Kyanite settled, resting his head against Dravite with a yawn. It seemed they were all still tired.

"Your father was the only son born into the Blackwater pavilion. He had a birthmark on his chest," Lazuli touched Dravite where she had remembered the mark and he smiled up at her.

"Touched by the Goddess he used to tell me," Lazuli laughed softly, "I was such a child for believing him. He was stubborn, just like you, kind, and gentle, but he took everyone's troubles as his own and as the years passed his heart hardened to the things he used to cherish."

Belkaia balled up some freshly plucked grass and used it to clean out the pan they had used to cook the Bear meat while Lazuli carried on with her story. "He was so proud of you, his only child."
"Did you plan more?" Dravite asked, remembering that he and Belkaia had not shared their news with Lazuli yet.
The woman shook her head. "We tried for a long time, but the Blackwater curse seemed to have some truth to it."
"Curse?" Dravite asked; this was the first time Lazuli had spoken openly about his father.
She nodded and made herself comfortable in the shade. "Cursed with one son, Taloker, your grandfather, was supposedly to blame. Rumour has it that he struck a deal with the Gods. In exchange for a son in a pavilion that had only daughters, he cut out his eyes and sacrificed his Strider to the Goddess Dira. He was cursed by Kihara to roam the land without a mount. Cursed with one son, she whispered to him in a dream; and so it seemed that curse has carried from one Blackwater son to the next."

Dravite felt Belkaia's eyes on him and blindly reached out to take her hand in his own. They would keep their good news to themselves as planned and surprise Lazuli when the time was right; when they could no longer hide their precious little secret from the world. .
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by **Ssezzkero** on August 23rd, 2015, 3:56 pm

Grades

DRAVITE

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Notes: Don't forget to edit your post in the request forum as 'Graded'. PM me if you have any questions or concerns.

Open That's a Fine Looking High Horse