literature

A slow working poison.

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Literature Text

Late-Spring, year 761 of the new age
Silverthorne, Blackwood border
Featuring: Hati and Skyla

Hati

The foolish soldiers went on yapping about their conquest in the last rut, their idiotic grins so wide with the pride they got by disrespecting does. None of them knew a certain shadow was watching them. Hati had come to the border to meet Gen once again, to give him the news that a real Queen had finally taken the Blackwood throne next to his brother, the colt needed to learn about the dark kingdom after all. Yet apparently after the ‘coronation’ had ended there had been a rockslide near the mountains and it had blocked the path the black stag normally took to get to his youngest apprentice. It hadn’t been a big deal, he had decided to take the longer route without a worry...that is until he found something better to do. On his way to the big lake he came across a group of scouts. Their arrogance could be sniffed a mile away. All three light colored stags kept bragging and laughing about the does they had ‘conquered’. Two of them had actually admitted to rape the doe, which had made Hati seethe with anger. They will learn their lesson today.

As they bragged and changed topic to the new Generals they began eating what will be their last meal. Soldiers of Silverthorne were fools, not one of them was able to recognize the Wolf’s bane. Hati had used his raven to drop it there, the soldiers not even bothering to look at the black bird, and now they were eating their own deaths with smiles on their faces. A feral grin grew on the black stag’s muzzle. That’s it, let them die, stags like them didn’t deserve to touch a doe ever again. Normally Hati didn’t kill Silverthornes...but he was feeling oh so giving today, the Mother would be happy that he got rid of stags like them.

Within minutes, the poison took effect and Hati couldn’t hold back his cruel laugh.

Skyla

“Hello?” called the dark filly.

She cursed her own stupidity as she called again for anyone to listen. The small darkling had followed a group of soldiers to the border without even knowing how far she had gone. She had kept her distance so as not to be found out and scolded by them but...now she was lost. Skyla had tried going back to the Vale only to find out she had no idea where to go. And the soldiers had dispersed too, they were probably scouts if they had come so close to the Blackwood border.

“Anyone there?” she needed to go back, her grandma was supposed to be watching her and Raiden today, she would kill her if she wasn’t back before the blind doe noticed. Blind and old the doe still had the keen senses of a lion and enough energy to lecture the king himself till sunset.

That was when she heard it. Laughter, cold, cruel laughter drowning out choked pain noises. Dark ringed ears twitched, her long bushy tail tugging closer to her legs as the laughter sent a cold shiver through her spine. Should she go? maybe there were soldiers around. What if it was a Blackwood?
The darkling shook her head and glared at the direction of the laughter. No, she was going to be a soldier and show the king just how strong does can be, if she couldn’t brave this then what good was she. Taking a deep breath she walked to the direction of the laughter, her still childish mind keeping logic and common-sense in check. She came out from the tall, newly grown grass and froze.

Three soldiers lay in front of her, blood and bubbles coming out of their noses and mouths, their eyes frozen in pain and horror. Standing over the now unmoving bodies stood a stag taller than any other stag she had seen, his coat as dark as hers without any markings. His head was naked now, and on his shoulder sat a black raven. Blackwood. Her blood felt as if it had frozen now, her instincts told her to run but her legs wouldn’t listen. As if feeling her presence the grinning stag turned to her, his grin grew and Skyla flinched.

Hati

Oooh the screams of the dead, they were such nice music when made by those deserving to be punished.
A rustle came from his left. Oh? another soldier?

Hati turned, his grin widening only for it to disappear within the next second. Not a soldier, a filly. A small, dark filly stood in front of him, her reddish eyes wide, her body frozen in fear as she stared at Hati and the mess he had made. Why was a filly here? Her coat was dark, was she a Blackwood? No, she didn’t smell like the Mother’s land. Still she was much too young to be near the border by herself, probably around Gen’s age too. What should he do?
A part of him whispered to take her to Blackwood, save her from soldiers such as these who will taint her the moment she turned five. But...no… she was too young, too small, too skinny, even with her coat she might not survive in Blackwood at her current age.
Gathering what was left of the poison into his herb sack Hati turned his body to the frozen filly. His mouth opened to say something, anything that will make her turn back to her mother. He barely got a syllable out before a flash of black slammed into his chest, not pushing him down but it did surprise him at the speed of it. The filly had slammed into him.

Skyla

Fear.

Skyla didn’t like the emotion, the instinct, it made her feel cowardly.

Yet here she was, frozen in it as the Blackwood stag took something off the ground and put it in a pouch around his neck.

Move

The stag turned to her completely now, his red eyes calculating. He might kill her.

Move you coward

His mouth opened. A curse? Was he going to curse her?

By the Gods. MOVE!

She did. But she didn’t run, she didn’t turn around. With a burst of speed she slammed into the stag’s chest barely even winding him. She fell lightly on her hooves and slammed again, this time in his shoulder. She should run, anyone else would have, especially a fawn. But he was too big, he would catch her. And suddenly the thought of the Blackwood taking advantage of her mother popped into her head even though the logic side of her told her that it would be impossible for the stag to do that to Lyanna. So now she was attacking him, again and again.

“That’s enough” she heard him say, his voice nearing annoyance.

“Stop it, kid” he said again, his head came down as if to catch her and she bit down hard on his ear.

“Fuck! I said that’s enough!”

He grabbed her by the tail and pulled her off of him, slammed her to the ground and put a hoof on her shoulder to keep her down. A pained curse left her lips as small rocks dug to her side. Had she been older she could have taken him.

Hati

Hati stared at the small filly under his hoof. Her red-brown eyes glared up at him even though there was a glint of fear in them, her nose wrinkled back into a silent snarl. He almost laughed, this little one had more guts than any other soldiers he had met. Perhaps Uir had decided to play a joke on the Silverthornes and had actually allowed the soul of a Blackwood to be born within the fire territory. Again his Raider side told him to take her to the kingdom that will treat her as she deserved and again it was pushed away. Too young.

“Only take on the enemies you know you can defeat, child” he chided, as if they weren’t surrounded by the corpses of poisoned soldiers.

“You killed them” she said, her voice shaking with an unknown emotion.

“Indeed” he smiled “They deserved it.”

“Are you gonna kill me too?”

This time he did laugh. “Oh no, my dear, no Blackwood in their right mind would kill one such as you.”

Skyla

So  he wasn’t going to kill her? What was he going to do then? Take her away?
The hoof keeping her down lifted, allowing her to get back to her feet.

“Go back to your dam, Birdie” he said “Only grown ups are allowed to challenge me”

“B-Birdie?”

“Yeah, you’re fast like a bird, so now you’re Birdie.”

Skyla blinked up at the huge Blackwood. Was he sane? No, wait! He just killed three soldiers! She shook her head and got to an attack position, her tail lashing wildly behind her.
He chortled. Chortled!

“You are ten years too young to fight me, little one” he said with a smile

“I’ll tell the king” she bite out, fully knowing that was the worst threat to say right now.

The stag laughed yet again. “What will you tell your little decoration of a king? Hmmm?” he got closer to her, his eyes staring deep into her own “That a big bad Blackwood killed three scouts while a filly barely in her second year watched from a place she shouldn’t be in?Don’t make me laugh.”

“Shut up!” anger grew in her, it had become a familiar emotion since what had happened with Gen “I’m gonna be a soldier and then I’m going to kick every Blackwood that enters Silverthorne all the way to hell!”

Another laugh, this time deeper, less mocking. “Ooh how I would love to show you the lands you should have been born in?” what? had he lost it? “But you’re too young still, perhaps when you are older, yes, when you’re older.” he was talking to himself now.

Hati

A soldier huh?
The Silverthornes won’t like that. They will try to crush that dream of hers. Such a shame. A raven flew to him from inside the hot lands, cawing a warning. Someone was coming. Tut tut. He was about to turn to his birthland when he saw something interesting. A red stone hung from the filly’s neck. Had he not lost that years ago in his last raid? Yeah he had planned to make it into a charm? How curious.

“I’ll take that” he said, his neck moving in a swift motion to get the necklace off the filly’s neck easily. “As payment for letting you live.”

“Wha?! That’s mine!” she shouted, her anger gone, and tried to grab the necklace back from his jaws that were too high up for her to reach.

“Nope, mine now” he pipped happily “You’ll get it back when you’re stronger”

“Give it back!” she slammed into his chest again and the raven’s warning became louder.

So he lowered his head, fast enough to make the little darkling flinch as he started into her.

“Three years” he said eerily.

“W-Wha-”

“Three years until you’re allowed to become a soldier in training right? When you are strong enough to do that I’ll allow you to challenge me, if you win you’ll get this back.” With a little bonus too, she would serve the Mother, he could feel it in his veins, so why not give her a little gift once she hit the end of her childhood.

A group of soldiers and a dark doe could be seen now, running towards them.

Hati lifted back his head, the red stone shining in the light. “See ya, Birdie”

And off he went, back to Uir’s lands. Boy, did he need to find a Master Shaman now.

Skyla

Skyla watched as the stag’s dark figure disappeared into the woods of Blackwood. His words repeating in her mind as she shivered. Something told her she had fallen into a trap of sorts. The drumming of hooves made her turn. A group of five soldiers and a doe reached her and the bodies. Her grandma rushed to her, her wet nose poking her as she checked on her. The oldest of the soldiers sniffed at the bodies, his gray nose wrinkling.

“Blackwood” he spat out. “Those bastards are getting too gutsy. I’ll speak to the Generals about this, perhaps learning herbalism should be made a requirement for recruits.” A stag next to him nodded in agreement before they both turned to Skyla.


“Are you well?” asked the elder

“...” no words left her mouth even though she opened it, so instead she nodded.

“Foolish child” her grandma growled at her “Following soldiers to the border, have you lost your mind!”

The dark doe stared right at her as if her eyes weren’t white with blindness.

“We must get them to their families for burial” one of the soldiers said, already helping a friend get one of the corpses onto his back and the elder nodded.

“Thank you” her grandma turned to the captain “I don’t know what would have happened if we hadn’t reached her in time.”

Her words were respectful, yet the tone was oddly familiar, and so was the smile the older stag sent her way. Did they know each other?

“She looks like you already, it wouldn’t surprise me if she also got your spirit.”

Her grandma snorted.

As they left, Tarian began ranting about a list of punishments she had prepared for Skyla for pulling such a stunt. The captain of the soldiers chuckling once in a while at the old doe. Even then the Blackwood’s words echoed in the darkling’s head.

Three years
Hati meets Skyla...doesn't go too well XD

Also Skyla calls Tarian "grandma" because it is shorter than "great-grandmother" and because Tarian said to (she says it makes her feel old) and Sykla doesn't know this but she also just met her grandpa XD (as in Lyanna's dad) he is a soldier and the moment Tarian told him his grand-daughter might be in danger he rushed in and was glad about it because now he's gonna train other soliders about poisons Oo. Hati's on the look for a Shaman to make a charm now >:3

P.S
Her grandpa's name (the captain) is Edan

Skyla gains 4 points (2 for wordcount and 2 for sparring with a character of higher level.) (it wasn't a real fight but it was still something) (+2 strength, and +2 stamina)

Hati gains 2 points for wordcount(Skyla was lower level so he gets no bonus XD) which will go into Herbs (he used poison and honestly 'defeating' Skyla was nothing :p

Hati and Skyla belong to me

:iconfawnlings:
© 2015 - 2024 okami02
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brytewolf's avatar
Lol! I think that went very well indeed! I love Skyla's spunk, and Hati's plotting :3