Winter Encounter

[Arthur]

The horse whinnied with distain at the thump of a rock at it's side, ala only to incite more rage. “Can anyone help us?” the clear tones of Luna’s distress harkened to the trees, louder than Arthur could manage. Woe an behold they answered in the form of a Malikyth. The young mercenary blinked when he saw the guild mage appear from the bushes, he wasn’t imagining anything.

“Damn. Aren’t I glad to see you,” Arthur chortled with bated breath as he scrambled to his feet and threw dirt into the horses face. It snorted, stepped shook its head and brushed of the dirst as the young man broke into a run, past the horse and toward his familiar companion. Running, Racing, Panting, the young man could not see what conspired behind him, he could only hear the horse's hooves galloping behind him. He couldn't keep this up for long, the creature was catching up.

They'd just broken the clearing of an open field when Arthur’s heartbeat skipped a step and he turned wide-eyed to witness Malikyth lift himself atop of the saddle and plunge his swords into the creature’s neck. Arthur could feel the coils of his guts churning, the blood made him want to puke.

“It was loyal to the bitter end,” the mercenary answered, watching the beast bleed to death. Even now, he could not bear the look of fear in the creature’s eye as the soul lifted away from their bleeding body. Help for his own safety meant the death of this animal. His gaze was locked on the horse. He did not see the rolling fields of green, the soft cold breeze, Malikyth’s curious dismay or even Luna’s approach. Arthur fell to his knees “Goodbye. Travel safely,” he whispered and knelt, bowing his head in silent prayer to the gods.

‘I pray to you Azunath and Malek, may you help guide the soul of this spirit to the next life. I know it died a horrible death, for that I am sorry. I am sorry for all the lives that have been lost today. I accept that I am in part to blame. Please bless this poor horse’s soul, the soul of its rider and their friend. I will do my best to return their bodies to the soil and I pray that you will one day forgive me for what transpired here today. And to all of the gods I am grateful, Thank you. Thank you for my life, the food that has sustained me, the beauty of the hills and the bonds of friendship I am allowed to relish in. Thank you for everything. Amen.’

The exhaustion and pain finally kicked in “I need to bury them,” he winced and stumbled to his feet “I need to- to honour their deaths.”

[Sola]

Luna watched in awe as Malikyth quickly mounted the horse and prepared for battle. She had known that he was a mage, but she had never seen him use his magic before. She was impressed by his ability to not only mount the horse with ease, but also by his ability to create weapons out of thin air using his magic. It was clear that Malikyth was a powerful and skilled mage, and Luna was grateful to have him come to their rescue.

As Luna ran over to join the men, she was surprised to see Arthur kneeling beside the fallen horse, deep in prayer. She approached him with confusion etched on her face and said, "you know that thing just tried to kill you, right? What's the sense in praying for it?"

Luna let out a deep sigh then continued, "anyways, I'm glad that's over. I should get back to the road to make sure nobody's taken my bow." It was the only weapon she owned and she really did not want to lose it. Although, she did think she could get away with taking one of the bandit's swords on the way back.

She turned to Malikyth and said, "seems like you're always around to save the day. Thank you for coming. Some bandits were stealing from some people and they decided to attack us too. There might be more bandits around and there could be any number of victims stranded on the roadside." Luna spoke to him as if she expected him to do something about all of this, although she would have been perfectly fine if they all just went home.