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 Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:31 am
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Siavash squinted through the thick mist. The air was stagnant and heavy with salt. The black lion shivered, despite his thick coat. His pink eyes glanced towards one of his partners on this raid. The older, more experienced lion was leading the way between the two of them, though he was not the captain for the mission. It was Siavash's first expedition, so he would take whatever leadership he could get. Though the lion was head-strong, stubborn and prideful, he saved those qualities for situations in which he wasn't the least knowledgable in. He needed the oder male's guidance.
"Now what, Ylevä?" He asked.
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The blue reaver looked over at his companion. Siavash was a huge lion by any standard. He likely rivaled some of the biggest Firekin. Ylevä had heard that there were many gods in the boy's lineage. The most recognizable was the God of Rogues, from which Siavash got his almost all-black coat (the god was widely-known among all lions, it seemed. He was very... prolific).
"We'll go further up ahead to scout, then we'll see." He squinted against a sudden, sharp breeze that stung his eyes.
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"Now, you die!" Siavash's uncle, Eikthyrnir, blindsided his nephew, leaping on his back and tackling him to the ground gleefully before hopping off and cackling. His grey mane bounced with his steps as he circled back to get the full measure of the damage done by his stunt. Adelheid, his sister and Siavash's mother, had not known that Eikthyrnir was also going on this raid. It either would have soothed her fears, or it would have filled her with immeasurable dread, so Eikthyrnir figured it was best that she not know until it was all over, said and done.
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Siavash roared at his uncle and pushed himself up and out of the mud. It held fast and tried to suction him down to the boggy land, but he struggled free. He tensed his muscles to prepare to surge forward and do unto his uncle as had been done unto him, but a sharp look from Ylevä stopped him cold. The blue lion was the one he needed to heed more than his uncle, but he made a mental note to get the black, red and grey male back later, and worse. He shook his great black mane and growled his displeasure anyway.
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The trio forged further ahead, all secretly unsettled by the heavy, hanging fog. They lived near the sea, so while some denser air was not uncharacteristic for the mornings, something this pervasive was abnormal. Usually, the ocean breeze would clear it away, or the sun would burn it up, but the sky was overcast as well, the rays of the sun barely slicing through at any interval. They breathed deeply, the cool air giving them a chill in their bones. |
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Posted: Sun Mar 25, 2018 4:32 pm
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Far up ahead and out of sight, they heard something- something loud. They looked at each other with uncertainty behind their eyes, but forged on. Their captain was out of sight and out of shouting distance, but perhaps the noise could be attributed to them. Siavash shivered and hoped it went unnoticed by his companions. Eikthyrnr, despite being his uncle, could act more like an annoying older brother at times. Maybe he felt the need to step in as a brother-figure after Vaivata abandoned the pride. It was hard on the family to see him go- or rather that he never came back. The blue lion had often felt sidelined or second-best to Siavash. Adelheid, their mother and Eikthyrnir's sister, had met a rogue on a raid who was the son of a goddess- just like how she was the daughter of a god, and they had cubs in the hopes of having extremely powerful seers- but the only success from their genetic experiment was Siavash. He was more coddled, more cherished than the other three, and Vaivata decided one day that he'd had enough and picked up and left the Storm born for good. No one knew where he was now, or if he was dead or alive even. They could only hope.
So far their search for the source had been fruitless.
"Slow down..." one of them said to the group. They had all noticed and been thinking it- but the ground was softer. It was worse than the mud that Siavash had been driven into, it grabbed hold of their paws more and more with each step. They stopped, but were hesitant to stand still, they each kept shifting their weight around so they wouldn't sink any deeper.
"Quicksand...?"
Another loud crash ahead drew their attention and they looked ahead as the mist parted slightly. What they saw was not what had made the noise. A half-exposed carcass laid ahead. A zebra- most of its flesh had been eaten away by scavengers and insects, but its bones rose out of the quagmire, freezing it in a desperate pose, like it was riding out of the earth itself, trying to escape.
The reavers found themselves further unsettled, though none wanted to be the first to admit it. However, they were too wise to let any machismo get them killed- they wouldn't forge on ahead into the clearly dangerous swamp just to prove some their toughness to one another.
"We should turn back," Yleva said. He felt it was his duty- and probably best to come from him as the oldest and most experienced lion among them. He knew Eikthyrnir and Siavash were related and that family rivalry wouldn't make them prone to speaking up. The grey maned male seconded the motion. Siavash nodded, too. Carefully, they turned around, planning on following their tracks out of the marsh until they reached firmer ground, then they would circumvent the danger. The runny, watery ground was making quick work of their footsteps, disfiguring and obscuring them, but it was enough for them to go by. Until...
"Help! Hello? Is anyone there?" A weak, female voice cried out. The lions looked at each other and precious seconds passed during their indecision before they heard another scream. Vaivata was the one to break from the group. Eikthyrnir started after him too, but Ylevä yelled at him.
"Stop!" Eikthyrnir roared his frustration, Ylevä answered it with one of his own. "Do you both want to die?!" Siavash paused for just a moment.
"It needs to be me! I'll use my Sight to stay safe," he shouted. Eikthyrnir gave him a look- they were both Seers and he knew that it didn't work like that, and he knew that Siavash knew that, too, but the uncle also understood that stubbornness seemed to run in the family, too. There would be no stopping him.
"Best let him go," Eikthyrnir said to his blue companion.
"We'll wait for him where it's safe," Ylevä said, trying to reassure the other reaver. It did nothing to assuage his nerves.
"Yeah, we'll wait."
the end/to be continued...
1,155 words
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