They were all so eager to speak, shedding pieces of their mind like rabbits their thick fur in spring. Both of their voices felt loud to his sensitive ears, hearing enhanced over the years, a skill yielded by constantly straining to hear more... Now he wished only to make them quiet, despite the seeming importance of what they had to say.

I'm sorry Sir. I did not mean to sneak up on you. Just wanted to see if you were okay.

First to loosen the tongue's bond was the fledgling child, her voice feeble yet the words strong for one so young. It would appear that a good head was developing under her ears, in time she might even be known as wise... For now she seemed only eager for punishment in his mind, and while the facade remained impassive as he faced her there was a spark of amusement lighting within the depths of his soul.

I do not need to prove my worth to the likes of you, a stranger. Besides I know my way to safety.

Without being able to see her stature, to many it would be hard to make a guess at her age, but the shade had found other ways of estimating such things. The way she stood on the ground, lithe and thin, almost weightless by his side and as easily swept aside as a dry leaf in the wind told him about her lacking age while a dusty scent of feathers and milk whispered of her lineage and loneliness. Her courage was impressive, the tone undaunted as she spoke back to the older mare. Was it wisdom or folly? It all depended on whether it would get her killed, he supposed.

She is right. I was told there are bad creatures. There are caves that bring safety. I can lead you there if you would like?

Humor, indeed. Her words almost lured a smile to the lips of the shaman, the brazen cockiness of this juvenile almost as amusing as the poisoned riddles of the other. From him, however, this filly would receive a flick of the tail - and nothing more.

In comparison to her young voice the crone sounded so much older and so impure that the dread-named stallion made the faintest inclination backwards, a reckless revelation of his sudden desire to recoil. And this he had allowed so close, without staying on his guard? No wonder things had been going downward for him lately.

When a queen rules, the traitors to the monarchy will be dead.

He was accustomed to death and decay, yet never had he come across something so foul as the voice of this viper, this deadly adder with her sweet and toxic promises. They were alluring, tempting like a mirage of water in the desert - he would not deny that. For one who had never had anything, the promise of plenty is hard to resist; and she offered so much. Power, strength, righteousness. What youngling would he be if he didn't feel tempted, if he didn't try to imagine what it would be like to stand at the top for once, tall before the bowing masses that never were to lay a hand on him again...

It was the sound of the girls voice that made him hesitate, holding his tongue where otherwise he might have sung a delightful yes to this query and bound himself body and soul to a, as she so eloquently put it, crusade he felt nothing for. Would it be as easy to leave as it seemed to join in on this cause? Somehow he doubted it, and thus the strider was able to keep his head cool despite the seductive words wrapped around him. Upon her revelation of her name and plans he made a gesture with the elegant head, a figure blacker than night itself stirring in poorly masked disdain; the long spears sliced through air like a knife as the neck jerked upwards, and even in blindness he managed to convey the expression of one rolling their eyes.

"And this you tell to every stranger that cross your path?" he mocked sardonically, flicking an ear at this Confutatis. "Demons and tyrants and living dead - how is this supposed to persuade me? You will have to do a better job than that if you want a kingdom and a crown - not that I know of such things." The deep voice was biting as he let words drop from the lips, not sweet like the honey the daughter of death tried to serve but rather crisp and bitter like water squeezed from soaked lichen.

The towering brute stirred, inclining forward as he pushed himself into motion and resumed his meandering down whatever invisible path he had drawn in his mind. There was a look of dismissal to his back as he slipped past the two dames, not, perhaps of their warnings, but rather the tiring buzz of their voices and the blunt and poorly thought through offer extended.

"Girl!" he called after a few steps, not bothering to turn the head around - what use would it be, when it wouldn't let him see her any more. "You said you could lead the way. So lead, and get us all to safety."

"As for you" he inclined with a brief gesture to the wicked harridan, "I will give you another chance to tempt me. Come, walk here and tell me more about yourself."

It never occurred to him that they might not obey. There was no room for questioning in his voice, nor did he give them a chance to object. Before either could answer the towering youngster had begun to move, his high-kneed march bringing him steadily further west, drawn like a magnet towards the snow-capped mountain peaks veiled in darkness and distance.