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I AM IRON AND I FORGE MYSELF
If Wessex were prone to dramatics, she’d tell the story later and say it’s a miracle she left that beach alive, which is far from the truth but gives credit where credit is due to her opponent. For now, the mottled (how much of it is bruising instead of coat coloration, she can’t be sure) mare limps along in a northern direction until her thigh muscles demand she stop and rest. Begrudgingly, she obliges, taking repose under a soaring oak tree. The boughs block out the stars, rustling in a warm summer wind that seems to lull the weary warrior into a fitful, dream-filled sleep.
Even here, it seems, she is plagued by missteps and loss; images of the past come back in fitful flashes of sharp teeth and harried sprints. She can taste fear on her lips, sour mouth sick with what she knows she cannot prevent, but must watch again and again and again, her mind filling in the details of what she could not possibly have seen. But oh, a childish imagination is a powerful thing, and just as Wessex once played at at Pirates, so can she see her mother surrounded and fighting to her very last breath.
The three slashes across her left flank seem to glow even more brightly than before, purely luminescent in the moonlight as skin splits and sharp, bony growths protrude. It is a different sort of pain than the aches of battle - those, she can sleep through - this is entirely different. An anguished half-cry wakes her, and she looks wildly around before realizing that the sound came from her own throat. Disgusted with herself, Wessex snorts derisively before registering the growing pains that roused her from her sleep. Craning around (god, she’s been in this position before, not so long ago), she peers at her rear end and is more than a little surprised to see ivory collected in pairs along the length of her leonine tail. Unable to touch them, she cannot yet tell if they are sharp or dull, only that there will surely be more oddities to add to her collection.
Wessex the Mutant. From her lips to the Gods’ ears.
W E S S E X
Wessex is going through her second mutation!
-- magic and force allowed, no death or permanent damage --
