Post by twi on Feb 14, 2012 15:17:40 GMT -5
Kaodran felt Rae’s touch on his hock and briefly looked at her, exhaling into the humid, sultry air. Everything was so dark; he could barely see the mare on the ground, her dark cot blending into the night. All he could see was Sliene, still motionless, transfixed within the moonbeam. Rae’s words enter his awareness and he frowned slightly. “An idiot leopard? Sliene is many things, but idiocy is not one of her many quirks. She must have a reason for waiting out there in the rain like that. Still, while she’s insubstantial and ghostly, I’ve never known her to like the wet, even though I doubt she can even physically feel it. Odd…”
His voice trailed off as he looked at her, so felinely regal. He tried to connect to her, to contact her mentally, but sensed she was blocking him, deliberately ignoring his calls. Why?
He had almost commented on the fact to Rae, but before he could open his mouth, he felt a strange tingling sensation upon his neck. He twitched his skin, trying to rid himself of the feeling. Could Rae feel it too? The feeling continued, increasing in intensity, until he felt as though he mane was about to stand on end. A strange crackling sound met his ears and he realized with horror that his mane really was beginning to rise. He squealed with anger, rising onto her hind legs, striking out with his forelegs, trying to escape the electrical charge beginning to build.
He saw the bolt before it leap from heavens to earth, reaching out cautious tendrils to a high point on the ground. Please no, not the tree, were his first thoughts, but then he saw where it was reaching. Sliene.
Again, he tried to reach her but ran into a mental, inpenatrable wall. Desperately, he cried out to her aloud. “Slieneeeeee!”
She did not respond to his call with so much as a flick of a translucent ear.
And the lightning struck. One moment all was dark except the one shaft of moonlight and the next Kaodran’s eyes were blindingly dazzled, as his surroundings were lit up with a searing white light.
He cried out in pain, throwing himself to the ground, narrowly missing crushing Rae, still cowering beneath him.
When he next opened his eyes, the smell of burnt grass met his nostrils and he snorted in repulsion. The smoke burned his lungs and he coughed, getting to his feet to avoid the low-hanging smoke covering the ground like fog. His breath caught in his throat as he trotted forward, the ever-persistent rain still coming down around his ears, extinguishing the ring of flames around a curled form, right in the middle of the burnt soil.
“Sliene,” he whispered in horror, “oh Sliene.”
She lay motionless, the rain soaking her coat. Aside from the fact that she appeared lifeless, Kao immediately sensed something different about the Snow Leopard. What was it? Then she stirred and he forgot everything except that his patronus, his dear Sliene was alive.
She raised her head slowly, looking Kao in the eye.
“I thought I’d lost you, he said quietly, nuzzling her side.
She blinked and sneezed. Rising to her padded feet, she stood unsteadily as the thunder crashed around the pair. With renewed vigor, the rain’s intensity increased, sending water pouring down upon them. With an angry yowl, Sliene shook her water-logged coat, spraying droplets everywhere. Kao’s eyes widened as he realized what he had just witnessed. Before him stood a Snow Leopard, a real Snow Leopard, not just the apparition of one. He wanted to speak, wanted, to say something but did not know where to start. Sliene filled the silence with another hiss of rage as the rain continued to fall, thoroughly soaking them both.
“I’m. Wet.” The words were spoken aloud, the first tangible sentences Kaodran had ever heard from her. But what struck him about them was that they were laced with disgust, and a very feminine sort of horror. He laughed aloud as she bounded to cover, yowling as she went. She finally curled up in a ball, right under the tree where he had taken cover, casting the spitting sky murderous looks.
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719 words!!!!! oh yeah, oh yeah!!!! Who'd have thought I'd get that high on a Kao/Rae post??
