Luna sighed as she reined her black Frisian stallion, Destan in. She was tired and having been out riding nearly all day, without any rest, was making her debate on wither a nap was either in store or could wait. Sighing, she looked up at the seemingly never ending fall foliage that the Fall Forest had. She was only a few miles from Summer Haven, her slowly rebuilding town, but she had no urge to head home just yet and turning her stallion, nudged him deeper into the forest.
As the hours went by, she continued to ride, never noticing that she was being followed and upon dismounting near the Laughing Stream, continued to be oblivious to the lurking danger when suddenly, the Black began to toss his head and looking up to him, Luna frowned before standing and moving back to him. "What's wrong Destan? What's..." she never finished as a dagger went through her side and rearing up, Destan screamed in fury while a blur of black scales raced back into the trees.
By now, Luna was barely able to stand, but never the less, she managed to pull herself up onto her mount's back and whimpering, leaned forward and rubbing the powerful neck, began to guide the agitated stallion, back in the direction they had come, hoping she was going in the right direction for Summer Haven. As the hours wore on though and as night began to fall, she soon passed out from blood loss, her great stallion halting near the edge of the pathway but turned his head when the faint sound of slithering crept to his ear and spying Theristral, the stallion whickered, alerting the copper colored Naga to his and his injured rider's presence. The sucked in wind, as Theristral gasped, spoke volumes as he slithered forward and then checked Luna over with a deep frown.
They were miles from her town, and it would only cause alarm if he brought her back injured and in his arms no less. Not many of Summer Haven liked his kind, fewer still loved them. Shaking his head, the tracker slowly lifted Luna into his arms and made haste for where he knew Malakite would be waiting for him to get back with news of the whereabouts of Almac, Malakite's brother, though Theristral had a good idea as to who had injured the girl he now carried. As night continued to fall, Theristral continued his steadily slithering towards the small Naga village, and once he spied the lit night watch fires, did he slow. He knew he'd not be stopped, even though he not only carried a human but had a trotting horse following him. Many had seen this odd behavior beforehand, and had learned to just shrug it off as normalness for him and his friend Malakite.
Malakite meanwhile looked up from Una's pestering. The village healer was complaining about his lack of listening to her when it came to putting something on his albino scales to prevent them from getting burned during the day. As usual, he hadn't listened and was now suffering with a mild burn up and down his pale human half. Hearing a loud snort, he looked past Una and frowned when he saw his friend halting before the small campfire, but what he saw next, made him gasp in horror. A young girl, no more than 24, with ebony hair, was now being laid to rest on several blankets, that Una's friends quickly laid down. Blood coated the girl's one side, and a dagger, to which Malakite recognized, lay embedded deep within her side. Looking to Una, who had quickly set to work, Malakite, carefully slithered to the other side, gently lifting the girl's hand as she came too with a faint whimper of pain and mumbled softly "My horse...is he okay?" Whimpered Luna, as Malakite looked over to the stallion then back to her and nodded, his pale hair falling over one shoulder. "He's fine as far as I can tell, but let's worry about getting you better." He replied softly as she nodded and slowly passed out again.
As the night wore on, Una worked tirelessly at first, stopping the bleeding, then carefully removing the dagger to which Malakite carefully inspected then, with a hiss, threw it into the ground. "Damn that brother of mine! He won't rest till he gets us all killed with his foolish behavior!" Sighing, Malakite picked up the snake handled dagger. It'd been a gift to his brother for his bravery at saving several Nagas when the Summer Haven Town had caught fire, and that fire had then spread into the surrounding forest. Several Nagas had then become trapped within a small area and his brother had simply dived through the flames and helped slither each Naga to safety. But since the fire, his brother had since changed, viewing nearly every human, as vile, evil beings, who needed to be destroyed. He didn't seem to understand that there were good humans as well as bad, just as there were good Nagas as well as bad. His own brother was starting to become, living, slithering, proof of that aspect.
Looking back to Una, he noticed she had not only finished her work, but had also quietly slithered back to her own small hut, leaving the girl in his care. This bothered him immensely as he had no idea, just what to do with her when she woke up, and he also remembered Una speaking of an ebony human girl coming to the village. She hadn't said when though, which was leaving him to speculate as to wither or not, this girl was the one from Una's visons or not. Sighing to himself, he gently covered her up with several heavy blankets, then curled up on the other side of her to keep watch.
Late the next morning, Luna began to slowly wake and as she moved to sit up, she stopped as a sharp pain went through her right side, though, the pain didn't stop there. She had a headache, and she felt as if she were going to be sick and sighing, she decided that staying laying down was most likely in her best interests even if she didn't like it. Malakite however, had sensed her waking up, long before she'd even opened her eyes, simply by her heart rate, which picked up slightly as she woke and by her increased breathing and sighing, he slithered towards her. "You're awake?" He whispered. It wasn't a question, more or less a statement of fact as Luna looked towards him, her eyes widening in both awe, fear and slight confusion as she nodded her head to confirm what he'd asked.
"Yes. Where am I? How'd I get here? Where's my horse and why do I hurt?" She was throwing the questions out, faster than what Malakite could answer and sighing he raised a hand, watching as she quickly quieted down. "You're in Fall Forest, home to a small village of Nagas. You were found by my tracker Theristral while he was coming back from finding out word about my...brother. Your horse I presume is that big black stallion, he is fine, and is being looked after as well. As for why you are hurting, I would guess it is because you were stabbed in the right. Your head most likely hurts because you are hungry and for some unknown reason, could be having a reaction to the herbs that were used to stop you from bleeding to death. I am sorry for that though. The reaction I mean. We didn't want you to die so we did what we thought was best." Finished Malakite as he watched as Luna nodded and sighing, she looked to him.
"I'm Luna. I guess you figured that out as my name is on some of my tack." She made the question more of a statement so Malakite could only nod his head in answer and watched as she laid back down. "You should rest. I will have our village healer Una, come to see you within a few hours with food, and so on. She can further explain the possible reaction and what we can do to help you get better so that you can go home." Stated Malakite as he paused then mumured. "I'm Malakite by the way." He stated as Luna smiled before mumuring sleepily. "Thanks for helping me Malakite." Smiling he nodded as he left the small hut.
As the afternoon wore on, Luna continued to rest. She finally met Una, and the two woman, managed to discuss an alternate herb for Luna to get better with. After Una had left to let her rest some more, Luna sight as she laid there, propped up on the pillows, simply thinking, her thoughts trailing to her father who she knew would most likely be worried but she had no way to inform him that she was 'ok'. Hearing the flap rustling she smiled when Malakite entered and tipped his head to the smile on her face. "I um need someone to tell my father Salem that I'm okay." She stated as he nodded and mumured "I'll send Theristral out once he wakes up. He'll have better luck getting into Summer Haven than myself or anyone else seeing as he's a tracker and all." Replied Malakite as he watched her nod. "How do you feel?" He asked as Luna sighed softly and mumured "Tired. Sore. The usual that seems to happen after being injured." She replied as he nodded turning to leave. "Rest some more and we'll talk later." He stated as she nodded and slowly rolled to her good side, her eyes slowly starting to close.
