The Taming

Find the Fallen

A strange surge lifted inside Deragan. Something he barely recognized after so long. Hope.

"Sebastian never hurries." Deragan concurred. His shout to the gate tower made the bridge begin descending over the moat.

Not fast enough.

"He's not slowing down." Lucien grimaced.

The valkyrie's cry rose again. Louder.

She can feel his return. Deragan sensed.

Lucien eyed the wall separating them warily. "That's why I lock that thing in when I'm here..."

And because she scares you. Deragan had no time to tease just now.

"Bast wouldn't appreciate that." Deragan commented without looking away.

"Yeah...But she terrifies me. I love a tough woman. But not one that can actually kill me..." He murmured. "And likely wants to." Even Lucien silenced as Bast reached the bridge. Leaping to claw the peak of wooden planks, raking in front feet until piercing the wood. Tossing his body atop it, he took the downward slope at a breakneck pace. Tearing up clods of mud as he crossed the bailey to the front doors.

Come my friend. I need your news. Deragan willed him to move faster.

Throwing wide the chamber door, Deragan barreled into the corridor. Barely noticing Lucien on his heels.

Lunging through the front doors, Bast scraped across the marbled foyer, sliding as he caught footing. Shaking roughly, he tossed off heavy droplets of water.

Grip white knuckled Deragan stood at the railing of the second level, waiting for him to change. Speak to me.

Deragan waved an open palm over the foyer below which made the candles in the triple layered chandelier bloom and all the candle wall mounts burst to life brightening the foyer to the luminescence of daylight. Reflecting off the black and white marbled foyer leading to the dais where the stairs split into the dual cases wrapping both sides of the wall below in rich red carpeting.

Lurching onto rear legs Bast's back cracked and twisted. Joints jerked into the smooth lines of a human. Crumbled strands of cloth knitted together into clothes covering him. Cloak billowing as its folds fluttered down around him to still against pale marble. Black clothes made him barely discernible and turned his face an ashen crescent in the darkness below. Rolling his head to brutally snap his neck into place, Bast looked up at Deragan.

"Where is she?" He clenched the railing desperately.

***

They were oblivious to the hot earth under their coarse paws. A strip of a moon rose cooling sand that could've burnt them without their notice. Trees broke the span of dry land. Gloomy shadows against the backdrop of the Sourthern Vale's perpetual fog.

Cimmerii Nonis, rodents. He groaned at the awful odor of them...

Lumbering in the borders of Phalanx Forest told him there were bigger things there. A glimpse of the elongated snout and lumbering head told him what they were.

Targue. The ugly demonic dogs were half the size of horses.

Threading through the shadows they watched through glimmering yellow orange eyes. Highly aggressive the larger Targue were far more dangerous than the rodents. But better then crossing paths with a Sarabi. Still, the Targue's disconnected jaws and raptor claws were designed for shredding human flesh.

The things of nightmares.

As Deragan dodged several swiping claws his wings began unfurling from under the skin of his back. Pushing silver fur off to splay and carry him up.

Landing heavily on the back of one, he tore into the chords at the base of its skull. With a ferocious snarl. Balancing precariously as it tipped sideways. Flying off before it could crunch him. Dropping to all four he wound his wings tightly before pulling them into his fur in a hump that inevitably smoothed beneath his fur coat.

An orange-eyed Noni stepped in his path.

Jerking forward he snatched it between his teeth and shook furiously until he heard the crack of its back. Growling he pitched it aside.

Radix Malorum, master of the Cimmerii, knows Forever Knights are back in Meadowbrook now. Their telepathic link would've alerted him.

Evading snapping Sarabi jaws Deragan jumped a Noni pack and landed in the trees...beyond the Cimmerii line. Ensconcing himself safely within the depths of Phalanx Forest. The dense forestry crested around Meadowbrook in a half-moon cradling the small town.

Behind him branches crashed. Spinning quickly, he bared his teeth.

Sebastian.

Tearing out the throat of a giant Targue, Bast leapt agilely aside uttering a feline roar, as the beast fell. Already the tormented Targue was returning to the form of a dying man. Wheezing through a gaping neck. He jerked several times before his eyes glassed and he stilled.

Hopping a log Bast gave another feral scream before proceeding toward town. Deragan behind him.

Even as the distance between them stretched, Deragan heard snarling Forever Knights fighting Cimmerii ranks.

They won't let any Cimmerii follow me. His gaze steadied on the panther ahead.

***

Meadowbrook, Grier Country

The heart of Meadowbrook was a circular drive embracing a steepled church. Complete with long-forgotten bell. New paint was a vivid splash against pitch darkness. Awash with the scent of needle trees and dewy early evening, the town was silent. Brushing through the leaves of low branches to make them softly whisper over Deragan's fur. Dampening him.

He hardly noticed.

His focus is her. He barely sees anything else. Bast knew.

In a night overshadowed by towering treetops, all starlight was blocked. Not even a dim glimmer of moonlight dared peer. Street candles cast a pale glow over dark cobbles on eerily abandoned roads. Only a few yards from the border of trees, and to the left was the park where Bast spotted her.

Glowing like a halo. Bast led to where the woods broke into manicured lawns bearing colored play structures for children and a stretch of flowers. A village park.

Glancing back over his shoulder he eyed the distance to where the Cimmerii had lurked. So close...Children probably played here. It was a terrifying thought.

Lowering to his belly behind a group of ferns Bast took to licking his shoulders and front legs. An attempt to cleanse himself of water, mud and darker things. Across the lonely street Deragan paused to eye the house Bast indicated.