Ariadne (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
demonicbeauty) wrote2024-07-11 01:24 pm
demonicbeauty) wrote2024-07-11 01:24 pm
Entry tags:
When the sharpest words wanna cut me down...
For days, the forest night was alive, not just with the sound of crickets, but with the sound of cries. "Lief! Lief! Lief!" It was too dangerous to call out for him during the day. It was only at night that the Alastrians dared to pick up the search, hissing in their native language, hoping that it would be mistaken for birdsong or insects. The voices were mostly high. The desperate calls of children, including Ariadne, a skinny, small thing with hair the blue of candy floss and skin the green of the underside of a maple leaf. She moved with precision, her enormous, black wings never getting caught in the underbrush. This was Deleo. This was her home. And she knew every inch of it as well as she knew her own name. For seven years, it had been her shelter.
And her prison. But that wasn't the kind of thing she was permitted to say. It was forbidden. Just like the trips she sometimes took to the riverbed.
"Lief!" she whispered, more like a prayer than anything else. "Lief? Where are you? Why won't you answer us?"
The first night, she thought he was just playing a game. He was the best at hiding of all of them. The second night, she wondered if he'd gotten lost. Now, they knew better. They smelled Human in the air. And the forest floor had been trampled in places by their hunting parties. Still, Ariadne refused to assume the worst. It just wasn't in her. Surely, Lief was still out there. If he could answer, he would have. Maybe he was just too scared. Maybe he was further out, beyond the bounds of their camp. Maybe...
A shrill whistle cut through the night, deep into Ariadne's thoughts. She turned at once, like a setter who'd picked up a scent, her face turned in the direction of the sound. The riverbed. At once, she whipped around and started to race through the trees, grabbing a branch every now and then to swing herself forward, pushing off with her feet, landing gracefully and running again. Time itself lost all meaning until she abruptly burst through the tree line, churning the sand beneath her feet as she raced to the familiar scent of her father.
Feofan, like his daughter, had blue hair and kindly eyes. But those eyes were brimming with tears right now. He knelt in the dirt, his arms around a pale, shivering thing that Ariadne couldn't identify at first. For some reason, she thought it was the moon, fallen from the sky. One look up above told her that wasn't the case. The moon was right where it always was. So what was the glowing, bright sphere her father was cradling?
Before she could reach her father, the air above them both cracked with the sound of wings and her mother appeared, landing between them. Rotspine was a stern, sinewy woman with pale pink hair and a hard jawline that belied a lifetime of scowling. She hurried over to her mate, falling on the other side of him, blocking Ariadne's view. "Hunters?" she asked softly.
"Hunters," Feofan said.
"The others will be here soon. I don't want them to see."
"Ariadne's already here."
Rotspine turned over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, giving Ariadne only the briefest of glances, before she looked away. "I'll deal with Ariadne," she said. "And the others when they arrive. You hurry back to camp. Now."
Feofan was not a man to argue with his mate. He stood up, trying to angle his body away from Ariadne, to shield her view as he spread his own wings.
It didn't matter. She could see what he was holding now, she could smell the scent. And hear the faint moaning.
Lief. He was naked as the day he'd been born, dressed only in cuts and bruises. His head was completely bald. Like Ariadne and Feofan, he was born with blue hair. Soft and precious and fine. Now gone. She could see the nicks where the blades had cut carelessly into him. Alastrian hair was valuable, even if it was bloodied. The rest of an Alastrian was disposable. She only got the briefest of glances. But it was enough. She knew.
And judging from the look on Feofan's face, he understood that. Even as he took off into the night, holding Lief against his chest.
"Mother?" Ariadne said, taking half a step forward.
Rotspine wheeled around on Ariadne, her upper lip curling to reveal her gleaming, white teeth. "This is your fault, Ariadne!"
She blinked, taking a step back. "What? My fault?"
"You think I don't know what you and Lief get up to?" Rotspine asked, marching over to Ariadne, both fists curled at her side. "You think I can't smell the water on your skin when you come sneaking back home?"
Ariadne tried to back away further, but her back hit a tree trunk. "We stay far away from people," she said. "Just like you want us to."
"That isn't the point! I told you not to stray too far from home. You disobey me."
"We just want to see--"
"You. You just want to see the river. I know. But you keep dragging Lief along with you! It makes him bold. It makes both of you careless. You think that you're invincible! That nothing can hurt you!"
"I don't..."
"This is what happens to an Alastrian who leaves the pack behind." She gestured fiercely to where Lief had been found. "This is what happens when you go off on your own. And you. You put this idea in Lief's head. He was caught because of you!"
"No!"
"Not another word!" Rotspine growled, actually growled, baring her teeth again. "You will obey me. Or this will keep happening. Which one of your brothers do you want to sacrifice next? Galen? Or one of your sisters? Ravenica?"
"No!"
"This is the end, Ariadne. No more adventures!"
Ariadne opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. Just a small, strangled noise. It was lost under the sound of a couple of her sisters arriving, slashing noisily through the brush. Above, her older brother Galen started to descend by the riverbed. Rotspine turned away from Ariadne, quickly moving to gather up all of her children, whispering that Lief had been found, that everything would be well, that they needed to flee back into the jungle, back into the darkness, back into the pack. Numbly, Ariadne followed the rest of them, afraid to look at her mother.
She couldn't weather another of Rotspine's glares.
It would just end her.
And her prison. But that wasn't the kind of thing she was permitted to say. It was forbidden. Just like the trips she sometimes took to the riverbed.
"Lief!" she whispered, more like a prayer than anything else. "Lief? Where are you? Why won't you answer us?"
The first night, she thought he was just playing a game. He was the best at hiding of all of them. The second night, she wondered if he'd gotten lost. Now, they knew better. They smelled Human in the air. And the forest floor had been trampled in places by their hunting parties. Still, Ariadne refused to assume the worst. It just wasn't in her. Surely, Lief was still out there. If he could answer, he would have. Maybe he was just too scared. Maybe he was further out, beyond the bounds of their camp. Maybe...
A shrill whistle cut through the night, deep into Ariadne's thoughts. She turned at once, like a setter who'd picked up a scent, her face turned in the direction of the sound. The riverbed. At once, she whipped around and started to race through the trees, grabbing a branch every now and then to swing herself forward, pushing off with her feet, landing gracefully and running again. Time itself lost all meaning until she abruptly burst through the tree line, churning the sand beneath her feet as she raced to the familiar scent of her father.
Feofan, like his daughter, had blue hair and kindly eyes. But those eyes were brimming with tears right now. He knelt in the dirt, his arms around a pale, shivering thing that Ariadne couldn't identify at first. For some reason, she thought it was the moon, fallen from the sky. One look up above told her that wasn't the case. The moon was right where it always was. So what was the glowing, bright sphere her father was cradling?
Before she could reach her father, the air above them both cracked with the sound of wings and her mother appeared, landing between them. Rotspine was a stern, sinewy woman with pale pink hair and a hard jawline that belied a lifetime of scowling. She hurried over to her mate, falling on the other side of him, blocking Ariadne's view. "Hunters?" she asked softly.
"Hunters," Feofan said.
"The others will be here soon. I don't want them to see."
"Ariadne's already here."
Rotspine turned over her shoulder. Her eyes narrowed, giving Ariadne only the briefest of glances, before she looked away. "I'll deal with Ariadne," she said. "And the others when they arrive. You hurry back to camp. Now."
Feofan was not a man to argue with his mate. He stood up, trying to angle his body away from Ariadne, to shield her view as he spread his own wings.
It didn't matter. She could see what he was holding now, she could smell the scent. And hear the faint moaning.
Lief. He was naked as the day he'd been born, dressed only in cuts and bruises. His head was completely bald. Like Ariadne and Feofan, he was born with blue hair. Soft and precious and fine. Now gone. She could see the nicks where the blades had cut carelessly into him. Alastrian hair was valuable, even if it was bloodied. The rest of an Alastrian was disposable. She only got the briefest of glances. But it was enough. She knew.
And judging from the look on Feofan's face, he understood that. Even as he took off into the night, holding Lief against his chest.
"Mother?" Ariadne said, taking half a step forward.
Rotspine wheeled around on Ariadne, her upper lip curling to reveal her gleaming, white teeth. "This is your fault, Ariadne!"
She blinked, taking a step back. "What? My fault?"
"You think I don't know what you and Lief get up to?" Rotspine asked, marching over to Ariadne, both fists curled at her side. "You think I can't smell the water on your skin when you come sneaking back home?"
Ariadne tried to back away further, but her back hit a tree trunk. "We stay far away from people," she said. "Just like you want us to."
"That isn't the point! I told you not to stray too far from home. You disobey me."
"We just want to see--"
"You. You just want to see the river. I know. But you keep dragging Lief along with you! It makes him bold. It makes both of you careless. You think that you're invincible! That nothing can hurt you!"
"I don't..."
"This is what happens to an Alastrian who leaves the pack behind." She gestured fiercely to where Lief had been found. "This is what happens when you go off on your own. And you. You put this idea in Lief's head. He was caught because of you!"
"No!"
"Not another word!" Rotspine growled, actually growled, baring her teeth again. "You will obey me. Or this will keep happening. Which one of your brothers do you want to sacrifice next? Galen? Or one of your sisters? Ravenica?"
"No!"
"This is the end, Ariadne. No more adventures!"
Ariadne opened her mouth, but nothing would come out. Just a small, strangled noise. It was lost under the sound of a couple of her sisters arriving, slashing noisily through the brush. Above, her older brother Galen started to descend by the riverbed. Rotspine turned away from Ariadne, quickly moving to gather up all of her children, whispering that Lief had been found, that everything would be well, that they needed to flee back into the jungle, back into the darkness, back into the pack. Numbly, Ariadne followed the rest of them, afraid to look at her mother.
She couldn't weather another of Rotspine's glares.
It would just end her.