Private Tales Shallow Graves

[Leoric Stormcrowned]

Leoric brought the big Friesian around, iron-shod hooves striking sparks from the cobbles.

Chaos had erupted around them. Shouts and bodies diving aside. The gates ahead were already moving.

Aetheris reared, forelegs flashing, and Althea’s cry cut through the din. Leoric saw her slip, saw her lunge forward and press both hands to the mare’s neck.

Leoric’s heart slammed against his ribs. He pushed Astraeus harder, closing the gap.

"Hold on!" he bellowed over the thunder of hooves.

Leoric drew the warhammer in a single fluid motion. He swung down as Althea regained control. He broke a shoulder, cleared a path.

“Go!” she screamed, voice wild with panic over the thunder of hooves.

Althea shot past him like a white streak, hair whipping, the mare’s hooves scraping the stones as she ducked low under the bars. Leoric followed a heartbeat later, ducking so close the iron teeth raked across his greatcoat, tearing cloth but missing flesh.

They burst through into the open road beyond the walls, the roar of pursuit muffled behind the slamming gate.

 

[Althea]

This had to be the worst idea she’d ever had, and she’d had some truly catastrophic ones.

All she could do was cling on, thighs burning, fingers locked in the reins as she fought to keep the mare steady and forward. The world was noise and motion and fear, iron grinding overhead and men shouting behind her. She heard Leoric’s voice felt the thunder of another horse closing fast at her back.

Relief crashed through her so hard it almost stole her breath as she ducked low, folding herself over Aetheris’s neck as the gate screamed down inches above her back. Then they were through, Althea risked a glance over her shoulder just in time to see iron slam shut on their assailants..

She laughed then, half-hysterical, and slapped Aetheris’s neck with a shaking hand. “Good girl,” she gasped, still gripping like her life depended on it. Because it had.

With Astraeus pulling alongside her, Thea looked Leoric with wide eyes and a disbelieving shake of her head, breath puffing out in ragged bursts.

“That was..” she tried, then just laughed again, weak and breathless. Too close. Far, far too close.

They didn’t slow for a long while. Only when the road stretched empty behind them and the city had sunk back into the distance did they finally ease their mounts down to a walk, then turn off the road and into the thick green of the valley forest. Leaves swallowed sound. The air grew cool and damp and clean, so different from the Shallows it almost hurt to breathe it in.

By the time they reached the river, the adrenaline had burned itself out, leaving only ache and trembling in its wake. Althea tried to shift in the saddle and immediately hissed, pain flaring through her back and legs. It was too far a drop and she wasn't exactly sure how much control she had over her legs right now.

She stayed where she was, shoulders slumping, one hand resting against the mare’s neck.
“Thank you,, Leoric..” she said quietly, her voice stripped of its bite and bravado. “For coming back.. You didn't have to..”

 

[Leoric Stormcrowned]

Alliria outskirts

Leoric guided Astraeus to a gentle halt beside the riverbank, the big Friesian’s sides heaving but steady. He let the reins fall loose across the stallion’s neck and sat motionless for a moment, listening to the water murmur over stones and the distant call of a hawk overhead.

The pleasant and quiet and green swallowing the last echoes of pursuit.

He turned in the saddle when Althea spoke.

Her voice had lost its edge, stripped raw by the ride and the fear that still lingered in her wide eyes. The thanks landed soft, almost hesitant, like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to say it.

Leoric exhaled slowly, the sound rough in his throat. His darkened left hand flexed once, embers dim beneath the skin, then stilled.

She had laughed like a mad creature as she had continued her flight. Her defiance against Gav had bordered on suicidal..

Perhaps she was completely mad, but it felt right to do just a little good.

"You’re welcome," he said quietly.

He met her gaze, storm-blue eyes steady despite the fatigue carving lines around them.

"I used to stand up for people sometimes.

He glanced at the way she held herself—rigid, trembling, too proud or too sore to dismount—and his expression softened.

"You're probably bleeding. Let me help you down before you fall off that mare and undo every stitch I put in."

He swung his leg over Astraeus’s back and dropped to the ground with a soft thud, boots sinking into the mossy bank. The warhammer stayed hooked to the saddle; he made no move to reach for it. Instead he stepped to Aetheris’s near side, hands open and visible.

 

[Althea]

I used to stand up for people sometimes.

Thea’s lips curved into something soft at that. Well, she was glad that he had, in her case.

Any stubborn refusal she might’ve mustered withered as he came to her side. She let out a breath and reached for him, careful as her arms wound around his neck. She'd no doubt feel weightless in his arms, given that she was lighter than the weapon he chose to carry.

Pain bloomed and Thea hissed, a small, whimpered sound, forehead dropping briefly to his shoulder as he lifted her down. Her legs wobbled treacherously as her feet touched the ground, aching from clinging to the saddle, and she clung to him a second longer than necessary, embarrassed but unwilling to risk gravity just yet.

“Gods,” she muttered under her breath, then softer, again, “Thank you…”

She finally eased back enough to look up at him, cheeks flushed, eyes still bright with leftover adrenaline. The forest pressed close around them, green and alive and mercifully, indifferently calm.

“You think we’ll be safe to rest a while here?” she asked, hopeful but wary, glancing back through the trees the way they’d come. “Just for a little while. I don’t think my legs would forgive me if we tried to run again just yet.”

“I think I owe her a rest too.” she laughed under her breath with a glanced gratefully at the grey mare.