Death reined in Despair, causing the horse to snort and paw at the ground in agitation at the abrupt halt. Death patted Despair's wisp of a mane as he twisted in the saddle to look up at Dust circling overhead, "Dust! Get down here." Death held out an arm and watched as the crow dove out of the sky to land on his forearm.
Dust walked up Death's arm until he was on the Nephilim's shoulder, where he ruffled his feathers and let out a short squawk, as if to echo Despair's sentiments about the sudden halt.
Death turned his head so that he could fix his gaze on one of Dust's beady little eyes. Seeing that the bird appeared to be listening and paying attention, he spoke, "When I told you to find a path, I don't believe I meant a path that was convenient to you." Death had brought Despair to a halt at the edge of a cliff. One that the bottom could not be seen.
Dust looked at the horseman as if wondering why it mattered that it was a cliff. After all, Dust had found a path, as asked by the horsemen. The path, of course, was across the cliff, but Dust didn't see the problem. Smug little bastard that he was, Dust tilted his head to look down the endless darkness of the cliff with what could have been bored indifference. After that, Dust turned his head back to stare at Death with one eye, and let out a faint hiss of air, as if impatient that the Rider found the cliff to be an issue.
Death found the crow to be entertaining, but didn't want to encourage the bird's behavior. Instead, Death held his other hand near his shoulder for Dust to hop on,"Did smacking into the face of a cliff a few days ago addle that small brain of yours? Is that why you believe this to be a decent route around the rocky terrain of this area?"
Dust's talons dug into Death's shoulder as the bird took to the air, one wing dipping down to clip the back of Death's head in the approximation of a slap. Not that either methods would have caused Death any harm. Dust was just making it clear that he didn't appreciate cracks at his intelligence.
Death watched the offended bird climb higher into the sky, still amused with Dust's actions. After a moment, he called up to the bird, "If that isn't the problem, then go find a path that will allow Despair to cross without having to leap far distances."
Dust let out a screech of irritation but flew around as asked, though the crow didn't seem too happy about it. In fact, he could see a few potential bridges from the height he was currently flying at, and seemed quite content to delay leading Death to any of them.
Death turned Despair about with a gentle tug on the reigns. Despair moved at a trot, following along after Dust after briefly tossing his head in what seemed like impatience to get going.
Death smiled at his traveling companion's moodiness, and spoke up after awhile to his horse, "You could have made that jump if you had been approaching it at a gallop."
Despair gave no response but had started to trot faster in a way that seemed to be almost smug.
"I thought as much. You just didn't feel like it and felt that Dust should do a little work for a change. Isn't that right?"
This time, Despair gave a spectral wicker that appeared to be in agreement with his master, who was grinning behind the mask once more.
Dust, circling around overhead in search of bridges, heard low laughter emitting from Death. Dust tilted his head as he glided along for a brief moment, as he considered the implications of leading the Rider by way of a rickety bridge.
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I like Dust and Despair. I might do more chapters with them.
I'm also assuming that people like this/are ok with it, so I'll just keep updating it when I come up with ideas.