judgement (Open)

There was an irony that the only way Mari was allowed out of the castle this far was if there was a raid or incursion on their lands. Dameon had brought her along to heal any injured that happened as a result of this fight and there would be a fight with how tense everything and everyone was. If she dared show her wings she'd have been fluttering them but she knew better than to do so. Not that it would do much good, she'd just flutter and fumble and fall or worse, stay connected by a chain of power like a kite.

She too wore armor like her daughters save that hers was only slightly brighter to denote her rank. Which was no say, none whatsoever on the field of battle. She had a sword strapped to her back but something told her she wouldn't be using it. She hoped she wouldn't have to shed blood, she hated it.

She didn't dare even give voice to the other thoughts in her head as she looked up at the sky longingly. Sorrow filling her face for a moment. Dameon mentally eyed her, wary she might make a break for it but she let the wistful thought die where it was. She couldn't abandon her child and she would never be able to explain to her what the truth of her origins really were.

She pushed her horse forward. She just needed to get away from the crowd. Dameon sided up to her and she bowed her head quietly as they rode together and spoke silently. He was making sure that she didn't try anything and if it wasn't for the fact that she would have been left unwatched he would have kept her home. Once he was calm she smiled softly, then with an impish gleam in her eye spurred her horse into action and broke formation pushing her horse in a playful gallop as she stuck her tongue out at Dameon and dared him to race her.

She set him on a merry chase, never out of his sight of course but enough to make him work to keep up. He finally caught her horse and grinned, wrapping the reigns over his own pummel then, knowing the rest would take a moment to catch them, kissed her before the crowd arrived. Sensing their arrival she settled down quietly once more.

Once they arrived at the tree line Mari grew anxious. She had separated from Dameon shortly after the kiss to let him lead as he needed to. She sensed death in the air and knew that they were in a bad tactical situation. Wide open space with a tree line. It was time to find a better position than this.

"Find the high ground." she murmured as she reached behind her and pulled out a bow. Wrapping her legs around the trunk of her warhorse and clicking a command to it so it would be ready to charge when the order was given. She might have to take out a few wolves in the process but she would do her best to send them to be judged quickly. War was something that never seemed to end and she hated being drawn into it at all.

Seeing her daughter riding next to her she nodded then chose her target. A wolf so evil his aura was oily with it. Aiming with her sacred bow she whispered a prayer than on the word launched her first volley with lightning fast accuracy. Changing targets while her warhorse rose up and fought back as the tree line broke and the charge met them with the clash of metal and the cry of battle.

With a grunt that was very unladylike Mari nodded as the battle was joined. She loosed a few more volleys into the mass of werewolves that were swarming around them. Her war horse neighed in outrage and kicked a werewolf square in the face, shattering its jaw as Mari reached around herself and beheaded it to put it out of its misery. Landing, her horse kicked its back legs into the side of a wolf that was trying to hamstring it and sent the beast flying.

The guards did their best to shield their queen from attack but just as it made Katia a target so too did it make Mari a target of rage and anger. Her horse waded through the mess of wolves and dying men and Mari panted with exhaustion as she continued to fight her way through to get to a better position. Seeing her daughter fall she began to panick and gestured for the guards, "Go! Move!" she called as she prepared to launch a volley to get the wolf off her daughter before it tore through her armor and killed her.

Just then she felt herself haulled off her horse she turned to see a werewolf's fighter on horseback as he laughed and slung her over his saddle like a sack of potatoes. Well if this wasn't the most humiliating thing ever. She squirmed and tried to fight back but the man used his strength to hold her in place as he kicked his horse into moving out of there as quick as he could. She could sense he was feeling quite smug that he had captured her but she was having a hard time moving with the armor weighing her down and the risk of falling and being trampled to death. Why was she always being kidnapped in battles? Did she wear a sign that said "Grab me!"?

She was bleeding profusely by the time that anyone showed up to help her. For the first time in her entire life she felt weak, she had never felt how powerless you were when you were losing blood before. The battlefield echoed over head, someone was shouting orders, someone else was shouting her name. It was all a blur, perhaps she was just dreaming that all of this was happening, but what she knew was real was the wolf on top of her. Giving one last useless push, she felt it go nowhere, so her body went incredibly limp in order to prepare for it.

However death never came, infact, a sword blow came instead that would sever the beasts head. Blood splattered everywhere, into her face, and the smell would reanimate her. With her strange black and silver eyes she would rise, looking as if she was some sort of monster. Standing perfectly still for a moment, it seemed as if she was never going to say anything. However her body suddenly lurched forward as if it were being pulled by puppet strings and attached it's self to a struggling wolf who had shifted back due to being wounded. Sinking her fangs in, Katia would drink until the light faded from the womans eyes.

Gasping loudly for breath, she turned back to Johnathan, seeing her mother there as well. Her armour and now mouth were covered in blood as if she had eaten the entire battlefield, giving her a terrifying image being only a small girl. "You figured right, what took you so long?" she demanded, coughing harshly as some of the blood that stained her lips spattered onto the ground, wolves blood was by far the worst thing she had ever ingested. Nodding slowly, Katia did one last sweep for her father, but saw nothing so she picked up her sword instead and moved forward.

Into the burned down village they would go, though the sounds of fighting still echoed from behind. There were bodies everywhere, as if there was some sort of dispute between the people who lived here and the small army of wolves that ambushed them. However following the trail of the torn cloth, it was almost apparent what they would find. All the way up to a small burned out home she followed it, but the reward for their effort was minimal this day. Tied to the front of the door was a young woman, one who had clearly been burned to death by the sun.

Staring at her ashen corpse for a long while, Katia couldn't bring herself to look away. Was this what it was like for the people she claimed to be one of? This was why they hide during the day, leaving her and her mother all alone in the Kingdom. They were so vulnerable, so weak, she had to protect them all, they were her subjects to command or kill. "We were too late to help her.." she said slowly, her tone sounded cold considerinig what she was seeing. The girl was no older than herself and had once been a playmate.