Things hadn't exactly turned out the way he had expected them to. This and that had happened and before he knew it, birds were chirping, the snow was melting and the sound of running, rushing, gurgling and laughing water was everywhere. It made the progress incredibly slow and the travel messy beyond belief, but for once Cathun felt no inclination to stop and comb the mud and grime out of the hair. Because, well, there wasn't much hair left to comb. The embers were consuming it, inch by sweeping inch erupting into flame as the second bead in his necklace blinked on and off under the strain of suppressing the rampaging magic. The young stallion kept his mouth pressed firmly together in a stern line as he hurried south towards the coast, the panic at this erratic behavior hidden only by a thin veil of determination... but it grew harder to maintain for every hiccup and delay along the way.

He didn't pause to hesitate or skulk around as he reached the magical bridge, like he usually did. In long strides he gathered speed and leaped instead with reckless abandon off the steep edge. Immediately he noticed how the amulet finally caved in as wings of flame erupted from his sides to carry him across the sea, summoned by the key that glinted and gleamed among the billowing flames that now burst from his neck in place of hair. He grimaced but felt no pain, only a grim determination not to give in to panic. When he landed it was in an eruption of silent fire, red-hot but otherwise harmless where it licked his hooves. Any other time the boy might have cursed the signs of growing peril, slipped further into dark despair as he pondered death and misery, but... alas, he was in too much of a hurry this time. Something else was occupying his thoughts, something that was far more urgent than his private little hell.

As soon as he felt solid ground beneath the feet again he rushed off into the flowering desert with the course set for the eastern edge of the Oasis, the place where he knew he was most likely to find warriors, people of rank, maybe even the Sultans. Only a few days ago he would have withered at the thought of facing up to Gaucho after skiving off his duties for two whole seasons, but the news he brought went far beyond the humiliation of a scolding. They could do with him what they wished once he had told them everything he had seen so far...

"Heeey, anyone here?" he shouted as he skidded to a halt by the usual meeting spot, coat dark and lathery with sweat and so winded he could barely get the words out. "I've got news, big news, you won't believe what's happened up north!"

Cathun swirled on the spot as he looked for someone, anyone, to report to, too agitated to stay still even though he was tired to his bones from the long, hard run.



@Ampere @Megaera @Gaucho Open