He had been dozing in the room with the dead when Remi’s scream rang through the Attuned bond. White fur kept him warm in his fox shape while Isuma curled up against him on one side and the white lantern glowed softly beside him on the other. They were a pale, lonely little spot of light in the quiet dark, but someone needed to keep the deathwatch… and the company of the dead was easier to bear than that of the living just then.
Or at least, it had been. The mental cry had him leaping to his feet, snatching up the lantern and hooking it to a beltloop with a practiced gesture as he fled from the ice room and towards the entrance. He opened his mouth to call orders, but the words died in his throat, the sound failing him as he hit the door, slipping into the vestibule and jerking it roughly shut behind him before he faced the final protection between him and the dark.
Given the furrow that Caiside’s death had caused in his heart, he was less desirous of protection than revenge, and he didn’t even pause before he slipped outside and closed the door firmly behind him before (hopefully) anything could slip in past his lantern’s light. This way! He called to Remi , sending what he hoped was a pulse of direction for the other man to home in on. He had no idea what was going on in the garbled message the alchemist had sent, but he knew the words ‘luxere’ and ‘circle’ (and monster, never forget ‘monster’) and he found his voice at last. Not for humans, but for the antlered herd that protected them from the dark.
They hadn’t protected Caiside, though, had they?
His voice shivered at first but he was a professional and the notes firmed up swiftly as he raised his chin and sang defiantly against the dark, calling the luxere near and walking amongst the herd with confidence he did not feel, trying to coax them into a circle near the Guild door. The song was not one of his, but he’d found it written in a book in the Atheneum and he had set it to music in hopes of entertaining Ludo with it someday. Perhaps he still would, but for now he used it to calm and steer the luxere, holding fiercely to Isla’s memory and the day he’d met Amalia and how they had befriended the antlered guardians last year.
“The sunlight fast is dwindling
My little lamp needs kindling
Its beam shines far
In darkest night.
Dear lantern guard me
With your light.”
**The Lantern Song, from the Cincinnati Waldorf Songbook
Or at least, it had been. The mental cry had him leaping to his feet, snatching up the lantern and hooking it to a beltloop with a practiced gesture as he fled from the ice room and towards the entrance. He opened his mouth to call orders, but the words died in his throat, the sound failing him as he hit the door, slipping into the vestibule and jerking it roughly shut behind him before he faced the final protection between him and the dark.
Given the furrow that Caiside’s death had caused in his heart, he was less desirous of protection than revenge, and he didn’t even pause before he slipped outside and closed the door firmly behind him before (hopefully) anything could slip in past his lantern’s light. This way! He called to Remi , sending what he hoped was a pulse of direction for the other man to home in on. He had no idea what was going on in the garbled message the alchemist had sent, but he knew the words ‘luxere’ and ‘circle’ (and monster, never forget ‘monster’) and he found his voice at last. Not for humans, but for the antlered herd that protected them from the dark.
His voice shivered at first but he was a professional and the notes firmed up swiftly as he raised his chin and sang defiantly against the dark, calling the luxere near and walking amongst the herd with confidence he did not feel, trying to coax them into a circle near the Guild door. The song was not one of his, but he’d found it written in a book in the Atheneum and he had set it to music in hopes of entertaining Ludo with it someday. Perhaps he still would, but for now he used it to calm and steer the luxere, holding fiercely to Isla’s memory and the day he’d met Amalia and how they had befriended the antlered guardians last year.
“The sunlight fast is dwindling
My little lamp needs kindling
Its beam shines far
In darkest night.
Dear lantern guard me
With your light.”
**The Lantern Song, from the Cincinnati Waldorf Songbook
