Underground Sea Awake My Soul

Another to add... From the thickets... Her wanders in a half daze searching for her love all bled into one. He could be any of the wolves she had encountered for all she knew and yet, only one stuck out in her mind. A face, and a warning of an impending storm. The hair along her spine tickled as she tried to place a location to their meeting, she had been to so many... met so many faces... Did she travel so far west at all? Perhaps it was the whiff of the scent on her mates fur that had conjured the name, and the memory of the tension between them. The rustle in the bushes and the lingering scent of death walking. The whole ordeal had left her more than a little suspicous, but surely it could not be the same wolf? But there was only one way to find out. Brushing past her mate, his words about her leading the way echoing in her mind she made for the fresh air, leaving through the same tunnel she had come, and putting aside the itch in her feet and the will to explore those at the back for another day. It seemed such a shame to leave this magical place, and face the harsh reality of all of the hard work ahead, not just for her, but for all of them. Finally, in the open, the scent hit her fully, and although she tried to remain calm, she could not stop her tail from inching ever higher. She did not think her mate a liar, but what had he offered in return for this wolf’s loyalty? The possibilities made her skin crawl.

With silence between them, he turned and followed the wolf who held his heart, her tawny figure shadowed within the darkness of the mouth of the cave, but he did not walk alongside her, but behind her to make sure she was always there in his vision.

He didn't know if Mapplethorpe had waited outside, he would assume the creepy wolf would still be waiting where he had left him like a good boy, else he wouldn't get the meal he so clearly needed- Rhysis was his ticket to a good meal and he had a feeling that bribery was a language that the smaller male spoke fluently. It seemed with what Naira had planned, the troupes she had gathered, he would easily hold up his side of the bargain, after all, he did owe the guy. He had pointed him in the right direction and with his help he had found much quicker than he could of hoped.

His eyes narrowed as he left the darkness of the cave and stepped into the daylight. They sky was grey, a bright grey which burnt his eyes for a moment. He kept behind the tawny wolf as they stepped out into the chilly winds of the mountains and scanned the area for the wolf he had left at the entrance, not quite sure if he would find him or not. "He should be around here... somewhere." he muttered quietly to Naira before he set his nose to work to track him down.

Was invited to post (thank you <3). Liquid time has me all jumbled, if anything needs to be edited, restated, or clarified jus' let me know. (:

my liege, my king, my sire,

mapplethorpe

what is it that you desire?

O, how the cold made his joints ache and the air sting at his nostrils and lungs. In his trek across the Canadian terrain, he thought he had been over monumental mountains and stately ledges, but as soon as Rhysis, this dark-coated man of a certain sort of hysteria and longing, had made his claims on him Mapplethorpe could have sworn he clambered and shinnied up rock faces and gravel-dotted cliffs several times taller than what he had previously conquered. At one point during their travels, the aging man could not even bear to look down at the treetops below him, and it took several bouts of internal pep talk for him to quell the growing fear of heights in his bones. Having been stationed some ways away from Rhysis, a self-appointed lookout of sorts, the piebald male sat quietly on his own in the shadow of a large boulder, staring at the lightening sky over Relic Lore.

It had been hours since he last sneered and casually chuckled at the Aquila, and by now his act was wearing thin. It seemed to Mapplethorpe, now in this sort of eerie meditation, that Rhysis was growing weary of the mania Mapplethorpe tried to possess. True to his word, he had led the lost King to his Queen, and presently he wondered just how handsomely he would be rewarded... and, once rewarded, how he was to repay them both for their generosity (granted he would never go hungry or be homeless again). In this rare hour of solitude and musing Mapplethorpe might have looked much younger than he truly was if it weren't for the graying hairs on his gaunt face. This image was shattered, however as soon as the monarch's voice drifted into his ears.

"He should be around here... somewhere."

Both of his ears perked up and immediately Mapplethorpe was on his feet, his eyes hastily searching from side to side for Rhysis' figure. A wave of fear rippled through him as he recalled how he had told Rhysis that Naira had come to him, how she had wanted him. But, as quickly as the streak of unease had gone through him, it was gone. He stepped out from behind his shadowy post, his tail wriggling tentatively behind him. Squinting as he turned his face to the dawn, he inched toward the mouth of the cavern with his head tilted inquisitively as he tried to make out the two leaders against the glare of the sun. Once confident he was in their sight, he stopped himself from coming within meters of their personal space. No need for wildcards now... Might as well play the hand and role of the ever-loyal advisor and servant, the competent man he had meant to be under his eldest sister's rule.

"Sire?" the question fluttered from him like a bird freed from a cage, his tone purveying nothing but pure curiosity as he presumed that they were looking for him.

template base formed by GINNYSAURUS.

’He should be around here somewhere...’ She was on edge as she crept forward, eyes on the alert for any hint of movement in the dark. Then a voice came from the darkness and sent a shiver down her spine. ‘Sire?’ She knew that voice. Knew that scent... and she had to wonder what strange encounter her mate had had with the old man to warrant dragging him along... Her movements were stiff as she approached the thin wolf, with a little more confidence than before. After all, their encounter had only been hostile in the way words were flung and bodies were postured, and by the end they had left on somewhat more reasonable terms.

This one, she would watch. But if Rhysis was willing to vouch for him (for all his prior mental break) then she would tolerate the male and allow herself a chance to get to know him a little better. For now, there were children to collect. No names had been exchanged on their last encounter and she was in no rush to exchange them now. A whisper of a ghost tale her aunt had teased her with rung in her ears, about strangers knowing your name and using it for ill purposes. Reluctantly she turned her back on the stranger hoping Rhysis would cover her if he lunged and began to pick her way through the rocky terrain of the heights. "The rest of them are this way. It’s a long walk home yet."

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