THROUGH SHADOW TO THE EDGE OF NIGHT
UNTIL THE STARS ARE ALL ALIGHT
Another step forward and Tilney was keenly - almost impatiently - observing the young woman as she buzzed around the ominous plant. The archaic and scholarly mind within his withered skull waited and wished for the first glimpse of answers and knowledge since his entry to this gods-forsaken place, and all thought of the cost was easily slipping. Instead he hungrily watched with wide and observant eyes as she confidently agreed to take it's test and proceeded to crowd her teeth around the fruit.
"It's sweet!" she had chanted, words that remained music to his ears even as he turned and looked for an identical plant to bite into himself, now confident that she had picked out a rarity. Finally, something that didn't glow and ooze or smell foul, and it was edible!
Just as his emerald eyes adjusted upon another succulent only a few paces from where he presently stood, her first murmur of doubt and questioning filled the air.
Slowly the stallion craned his head fearfully in her direction, primarily thinking 'father, what have I done' until she started to screech - that was when all thought escaped his mind and he even began to believe her, twisting his gaze across each shoulder half expecting to find it blanketed in flame.
Soon the gangly eruption of shrieks and tripping legs had made it into the waves, begging him to leap in and extinguish the 'fire' that lapped as his mane. There was no name he could cry out to her for reason as he had no inkling toward what her name might be, though as she swayed dizzily into the surf it was then that the stag found his way through the shock and sprung into action.
The autumnal leaf that swept in the tide was of a similar age to Maude, and as the waves lapped at her neck he was almost taken aback at the similarities in their gangly, growing structure. Raking his antlers toward her spine the stag plotted to shove the filly's head, neck and shoulders out of the tide's reach, feeling Peatree soar away from the water without so much as a squeak.
This antidote he had spoken of was a promise he had given without much thought into how he would execute it, and honestly Tilney didn't even know if his magic still worked in this realm. Desperate, he would try and try again even if it didn't.
Stepping over her tangle of tail hair and hooves, Tilney craned down to meet her face wit his hot and heavy nostrils, blowing her damp forelock off of her face as he pressed his velveteen lips to the whorl in the center of her skull, wishing and hoping that the power he possessed would run forth through the bond he had created once more. The kiss had marked her, and soon to follow was the wave of magic, energy and light searching for any signs of harm within her quaint body to correct.
Riptide Isles
