Udo awoke one early morning in pain. How could this happen? His darkened muddy hand reached back to his shoulder before jerking his head back as he felt the missing weight at the sides of his skull. The white braids falling to his ears no longer wrapped around his now missing horns. Was it an attack?
Everything hurt as he tried to push himself up. What he was doing in a huge puddle of mudd he wasn't sure. The mud was thick and slippery so he fell forward after realizing his clothes were missing. Where were his robes? He wasn't sure he wanted to know what else he lost. His arm slid through the mud trying to pull himself to an edge. With the pain in his back he didn't have to guess what condition his wings were in. If there was any left on him was an unknown since his head was muffled. He could feel cold and pain without even moving. His hearing was dulled but that could be a result of head trauma. He could however, smell the blood mixing with the mud pit he was in.
He recalled of course the same thing happening to their leader, Maleficent. He had heard of her breathless cries as she used her power to queen herself in the land they now knew as a second home. The Moors were quite vast and the young ones sure enjoyed the new place. He lowered his face, hiding half in the mud. He wouldn't be able to fly with them now that his large white wings with soft flecks of black were gone perhaps forever.
Keeping his head tilted into the mud helped to hide the horrible hisses of pain as he got to the edge. Hands reaching out and searching for a chance at a stick for walking or at least a rock to pull himself into sitting. Neck snapping as he looked around he tried letting out a high pitched screech in search of help. Of course he would usually refrain from making such a loud sound (unless he was teaching the children about music) but right now he almost didn't care if he called a predator to himself. He listened carefully as he tried to wipe mud from his face and hair but choked feeling pain from moving. There also, was no sign of others hearing him.
Slowly he reached to his lips with his twitching fingers. His eyes welling but refusing to let anything else leave him as he found scraps of his robes. A thought came to him and he realized he had been hunted. The horns they had probably wanted, they may have sold his feathers or just left him like this for some twisted amusement. With that thought he stopped struggling and listened for a long while hoping not to hear sniggering or the sound of twigs snapping, water sloshing, getting close.
Maybe something, the hunter that must have attacked him was playing with him. Waiting for him to turn his back so they could hurt him more. No, he was not the one hurting. Their new leader, Maleficent would be most hurt from something like this. They had trouble before but now there might be more enemies then they knew.
He shivered as he tried to call to nearby trees for help but none listened. Had his control of power been lost with his wings and horns?
Moving was slow, even if he were as strong as the phoenix, he was sure this would still hurt. When he finally got somewhere recognizable he fell against a tree and hid in the large roots to wait for morning. A sleep, even a short one would help greatly. He wasn't falling asleep as much as passing out when he heard something land nearby. His eyes widened but the very shock that alerted him knocked him out. A large wooded man reached under and into the roots to pull Udo out carefully. He wrapped his branchy arms around the dark fairy knowing the other would most likely be in great pain and whatever protection he could provide was greatly needed. The queen of the moors would want to see the fallen fairy most likely. Also Maleficent would be most disturbed. This was going to be a long walk and if the fae woke he would most likely panic.