Bog winces against the stinging bright light and slowly opens his eyes. He's not sure what happened but one minute he was savoring the last few seconds with his mate and the next, screams filled the air as amber light erupted around them. He had clung to Marianne, refusing to let her be separated from him but while he heard the rush of power, nothing knocked against them.
Hope stirs within his heart as he sees that the fog is completely gone from the kingdom and the mid-summer sun shines radiantly in the cloudless sky. Before he can assume that it is all over, Bog notices the mountain fae a short distance away and he can't help the smirk that forms at their distressed figures.
Whatever happened was not their doing. The four large dogs are whimpering as they scratch at their eyes, Am Fear Liath Mor is wailing softly with his large hands covering his face as his giant hairy figure crouches against the ground, and the pooka has the front half of his black-furred rabbit body stuffed in the hollow space that acted as the stage of the festival grounds' amphitheater.
Bog quickly searches for the others and nearly panics at their missing forms until a gasp from Marianne causes him to look down. He blinks once, twice, and a third time as he tries to process what his eyes are telling him. They are all still in the same place they were when the amber light flashed except...they aren't.
Maybe he's unconscious. He's heard tell that the dying envisioned weird things.
Marianne touches his face hesitantly and he flinches slightly as her long fingers wipe blood away from a shallow cut on his cheek. It couldn't be a vision if he could feel the pain. But this doesn't make any sense and it makes even less sense as he takes a good look at the figure within his arms.
The fiery amber eyes staring in shock at him are the same, as is the shaded brown hair that the jeweled wooden crown sits upon. In fact, everything is the same...except her wings are gone and she's also at least five feet taller.
"Bog?" Marianne questions.
"Aye, it's me," Bog mutters, turning his attention to look at his own altered appearance.
At first glance, it doesn't seem that he changed that much different besides the obvious change in size as the still-shorter-than-him Marianne gazes up at him but he soon notices that his wings are gone as well. His carapace also feels weird, almost like it is no longer part of him, his claws are replaced by short blunt nails, and he jumps slightly as Marianne reaches up to comb through the hair entrapped by his wooden jeweled crown.
"Okay, so we look...different and I have no idea how but I vote we figure it out later," Marianne suggests, swinging her enlarged royal sword as she moves out of his embrace.
Bog grins as he twirls his enlarged royal scepter before turning to the red-eyed dogs staring at them. He easily takes a step over the shocked crowd at their feet and one more step brings him in striking distance.
"Agreed!" he growls, swinging his royal scepter down against Black Shuck and relishing in its cry of pain.
He grins savagely as the tables are turned and now the mountain fae are taking the defensive as Marianne joins the attack, her blade nicking a Cwn Annwn's side and painting the white fur the same red as its red-furred ears. The dogs had the advantage of size and concealment before but not anymore.
The cheering behind them makes him question the Light Field fighters' survival instinct but he could understand why they didn't want to take cover now. They fought these monsters until they ran out of hope and they weren't about to miss retribution.
Noticing Am Fear Liath Mor's sluggish movements toward the fighting Marianne, Bog quickly disconnects the sporran chain from the kilt belt before removing it from the belt loop on his sporran and he slams the iron chain against the giant's reaching hand as he also swings his royal scepter against an approaching Cwn Annwn. Both attacks have their desired effect and he twirls the chain in warning against another sneak attack.
Am Fear Liath Mor moans at the pain and barely manages to not hold the iron-afflicted appendage to himself as he stumbles away from the threat. Without his full-sight, he's at a severe disadvantage and he curses that amber light for driving away the spelled fog. They should have waited for nightfall like they originally planned but how could they have known that this lesser fae had so much power! Cu-Sith spoke only of the iron-water and nothing of such magic that was strong enough to restrain all of their combined power.
"I'll not forgive you for what you've done, you cursed hound," Marianne growls, barely missing a whimpering Black Shuck with her blade.
"How dare you invade my lands and destroy my home!" Bog adds, barely missing a yelping Cwn Annwn with the iron chain. "How dare you attack and kill my people!"
"Look out behind you!" Dawn screams.
Bog swings his royal scepter on instinct but he's forced to duck as the great dog jumps over both the weapon and him. He quickly turns to face the new threat and moves to shield Marianne from the green eyes staring back at them.
"Oh, spirits, no!" Marianne groans in dismay.
Just as he's about to reassure her that he will not let Cu-Sith near her again, Bog notices that she's staring in the direction that the death hound had come from and his heart plummets at the sight of the Light Field palace.
No. It couldn't be.
But what other answer was there as to why the signal flares weren't lit than that those evacuated to the palace never made it.
Bog pays no mind to Cu-Sith's cowering posture and whimpers of submission. He ignores as the injured black-furred and white-furred dogs take cover behind the crouching Am Fear Liath Mor. All he feels is a heartbroken-fueled rage, a rage echoed by Marianne as they both raise their weapons to attack.
"Marianne, Bog, stop!" Dagda yells.