ashamin

Alone

Ba-thump

The haruspex's heart beat a cool and steady rhythm that his body matched in eagerness. Slow, contained:

Ba-thump.

Einarr had told him to run from the battle with the Crocodile God. Einarr had told Ashamin to run. But hadn't it been Ashamin who had broken the Crocodile's wrist, snapping the bone into two clean halves with nothing but the force of his weight?

Ba-thump.

Hadn't it been Ashamin, battling at the Earth God's side, who had driven a broken rib into the ancient Tigress' lung and punctured her dying breath?

Ba-thump.

What had Einarr done?

Ba-thump.

What right did Einarr have to tell Ashamin to go to safety?

Ba-thump.

Why didn't the Warden trust the haruspex to hold his fucking own?

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Ashamin cantered with quiet force, straddling the clattering stonebed of the shore and the expanse of white steppe. He bore four perfectly cleft white hooves, and he focused his energy every time that they bit into the quiet strip of frosted scrub beneath him.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

His body plunged with every step into the relentless wind that he was accustomed to, but his face was protected by his sarong--draped across the convex bridge of his nose and the tangled web of his horn--and the Bear God's crystal-covered skull. Einarr had never fought on this turf, maybe, but this was the land Ashamin knew best. He was downwind, which maybe slowed his approach but granted it the invaluable asset of being harder to detect. Einarr had told him to run. Well, now he was running.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Running straight for Einarr.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Heart filled with electricity, head filled with learned tactics, the painted buck was running and he wasn't going to stop. Not until he proved himself.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Not until he made his mark.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump.

Hooves pounding, coils sparking.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump. Ba-thump, ba-thump.

Body a snake in the snow.

Ba-thump. Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump.

Soul a relentless, waking, living passion.

Ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump, ba-thump.

He had--

Ba-thump.

so much--

Ba-thump.

to prove!

Wham, and Ashamin tried to close that precious gap between student and teacher. Wham, and he let his quad-colored form skid to a halt as he made an attempt to slam into Einarr's exposed right shoulder where wing met body. Wham and snap, Ashamin was rearing low and twisting his head to try and bite the tough elbow of Einarr's wing on the very same side, letting the wind and gravity blow back the blood-stained drapery of his sarong to reveal the teeth behind his lips.

Ba-thump went his delicate heart as he strove to show greatness. Ba-thump, went the sound of his fury.


""