The barren branches rattled, winter wind carrying their urgencies as a round form scuttled up the branches of a naked, ancient oak. They listened intently, bright gaze unfocused and clouded as the sour scent of sick met their twitching nose and a distant rumbling echoed through perked ears. At once their eyes sharpened and snapped down to the icy river, flicking furiously about the snow before catching the sight of blue and brown met along the bank. Intruder, the wind heaved, nearly casting the scrawny fox from their perch as they curled their talons tight into the branches. Anticipation fluttered in their lungs, and they cast their muzzle upwards as their feathers tussled wildly with Ohr's message.
A low whistle carried down across the territories from their breath, sharpening to a shrill warning not only to Verdantis guards, but for whoever trespassed upon their kingdom's land. With its end, Linnaeus snapped their wings outwards and at once felt themself caught and airborne, tumbling wildly through the swirling valley wind as they allowed it to deliver them down down down towards whitewater's call.
At worst they expected another of Dusknora--they'd not made a move since their Queen's intrusion and Shifty's treason, but they were greedy, and would have to again soon. Tsillah would never let them not. It was a relief then to see that at least their king was already there to greet them, and there seemed not yet to be any blood spilled across the snow.
Linnaeus slowed their descent and spun in a strange, floaty tailspin as if swimming on the wind, alighting gingerly on the bough of a snow laden willow which hung hauntingly over the blue interloper. Closer now, they could see that he was some sort of cat, and no stench of Tsillah clung to the impressive set of wings hung against his sides. One of the wind, they thought with approval, eyes glittering curiously as their gaze bounced from the cat to the strange cart he hauled behind him. The scent of sick seemed only at bay from the cart's closed lid, and Linnaeus wondered them, having missed the first section of their conversation, if it was a coffin.
"In need or if battered or sore,
one can find peace in the Kingdom of Ohr!"
They grinned down at the pleading cat, a strange amusement glittering in their gaze as a snicker escaped them. Not for his (and hers?) plight, no, but for his cluelessness of who he was speaking to. Their eyes did not leave the stranger as they tightened their grip on the branch and fell sideways, spinning easily so that they hung upside down from the bough and snapping their wing out with a flourish towards Gabriel.
"Now, the leader you seek,
you're in luck--take a peek!
just follow my wing
to meet Verdantis's King."
A low whistle carried down across the territories from their breath, sharpening to a shrill warning not only to Verdantis guards, but for whoever trespassed upon their kingdom's land. With its end, Linnaeus snapped their wings outwards and at once felt themself caught and airborne, tumbling wildly through the swirling valley wind as they allowed it to deliver them down down down towards whitewater's call.
At worst they expected another of Dusknora--they'd not made a move since their Queen's intrusion and Shifty's treason, but they were greedy, and would have to again soon. Tsillah would never let them not. It was a relief then to see that at least their king was already there to greet them, and there seemed not yet to be any blood spilled across the snow.
Linnaeus slowed their descent and spun in a strange, floaty tailspin as if swimming on the wind, alighting gingerly on the bough of a snow laden willow which hung hauntingly over the blue interloper. Closer now, they could see that he was some sort of cat, and no stench of Tsillah clung to the impressive set of wings hung against his sides. One of the wind, they thought with approval, eyes glittering curiously as their gaze bounced from the cat to the strange cart he hauled behind him. The scent of sick seemed only at bay from the cart's closed lid, and Linnaeus wondered them, having missed the first section of their conversation, if it was a coffin.
"In need or if battered or sore,
one can find peace in the Kingdom of Ohr!"
They grinned down at the pleading cat, a strange amusement glittering in their gaze as a snicker escaped them. Not for his (and hers?) plight, no, but for his cluelessness of who he was speaking to. Their eyes did not leave the stranger as they tightened their grip on the branch and fell sideways, spinning easily so that they hung upside down from the bough and snapping their wing out with a flourish towards Gabriel.
"Now, the leader you seek,
you're in luck--take a peek!
just follow my wing
to meet Verdantis's King."