A/N: Wow! Sorry for the lack of updating! School kind of ate my life. I love how when you are being eaten by work and don't have a moment to spare, you get bombarded with plot bunnies who were AWOL for months….I digress. Enjoy!
Peter could feel the blood furiously pump where the bridge of his nose intersected his forehead. The High King resisted the urge to massage it. "Continue the rounds every hour and make sure that the watchmen tonight are paired." He told the Elderly Gentleman, a large, scruffy cat who was head of the castle guard. "Those who aren't rotating on rounds need to be near where the…" The word escaped Peter's mind and he wordlessly shook his hand, as if that gesture would supply the forgotten word to his sleep deprived mind. "…the nobles and servants and the families of the guards…"
"The court, sire?" The cat commonly called E.G. for short quipped as the other officers went about their orders and Edmund spoke quietly with Oreius.
"Aye, where the court is huddled for safety. Hourly reports come to me. I want to know who is moving, who…and what is where. Safety is in numbers, I suppose."
"And you Sire, will be awake for these hourly reports?" E.G. wondered evenly, obliging an itch with his back leg.
"Dawn is but a few hours away. I see no need to retire."
The old cat's right ear flicked back for a moment, as if he was raising his eyebrows, and replied bluntly, "Nor did you feel the need last night, King Peter." Any other officer would add 'if I may be so bold' but the Elderly Gentleman was at the Pevensies' sides since about the very beginning. He felt no need to use such polite pretenses between him and his monarchs and they felt the same.
"We are being harassed by a spirit, E.G. Several Narnians are missing, three Narnians are dead and my youngest sister was attacked by something none but the dead can see. I am not asinine in not retiring." The Magnificent replied on a strained laugh as King Edmund approached them. The Elderly Gentleman regarded King Peter with amber eyes, reflecting on how it always surprised him how perfectly the High King's title described the young monarch.
"Peter," Edmund greeted, looking just as worn as his brother, "I'm going to check on the girls, see how they are fairing."
The High King nodded, "Aye, I'll accompany you." He paused and turned to the captain of the guard, regarding his orders. "E.G., let it be so."
"Here, now, child!" Fungus half whispered, half yelled to the young filly who had beckoned him from behind the millery, "What are you doing out in this damp, chill weather when King Edmund has decreed for the court to stay in close quarters? Your mother must be worried sick! How naught of you." He made his way slowly to where the young filly was. After traveling in the down pour, the small mammal was weary and his joints ached something terrible.
"Mother's worried." The filly echoed is a vague, spacey voice. Another voice, this of a young male echoed the filly's statement. His voice sounded muffled and upon turning the corner, Fungus noticed that the colt had buried his face in his sister's flanks.
"I want to go home." The colt pitifully stated.
"Now child," The old meerkat replied fondly, stepping closer. He felt an overwhelming helplessness from the two and despite the fact that he knew that survival was bleak if they stayed in the castle, Fungus spoke of hope. "Things just look hopeless because of the storm." He concluded.
The filly shook her head and replied to him, "She sees all that the moon does. Itzal says her roots are taken." She spoke quick and breathlessly, as if she were speaking more of whims than serious matters.
"Stop this kafuffle and return to your parents."
"Return to our parents, he bids us, Baldo." The filly informed the colt with her chin tilted towards him slightly. "Father is here, not so with mother."
"I am glad, Itzal had his father with him and soon we shall not be lonely anymore."
Although Fungus' mind bid him to run his feet would not move. It began to dawn on him that these were not earthly centaurs and he cursed himself for not pressing on until the castle's battlements were behind him.
"Itzal likes to play." Baldo continued with his head still buried in the filly's flank. "He is never lonely but I don't like playing with those that I might step on. Father will play with us soon, though. Won't he Ebele?" The colt lifted his head and Fungus' little eyes widened to the point of almost popping out of his head. The colt's face was a mass of exposed muscle and flesh too stubborn to peel off. Some of the muscle rotted in a green hue that smelled as bad as it looked. His brown eyes were no longer hooded by eyelids and stood out, unprotected by the skin. The skin on his neck was gone as well, exposing wind pipe but at his chest rested the skin that was pulled off of his face.
"Many others will be here besides Father now that the Mistress is housed in flesh." The Filly explained calmly.
Fungus willed his body to move away from the ghostly pair and for once it listened, sending his little legs past the two in a hurry. But no sooner did he scurry out from under the millery roof did he find himself in front to the two centaurs. They stood above him, their stern centaurian faces looking displeased. From his position, Fungus gasped at the sight of long slashed on the centaurs underbellies where he could see the places where their entrails should have been.
"You can not run when the Mistress needs use of you." The filly said to Fungus matter-of-factly.
Baldo reached down and grasped Fungus who could only gape at what the filly's long hair could not curtain. Her back was hollowed out of internal organs entirely, leaving only her ribs against skin. "Itzal is playing with those meerkat and chicken young but we will bring this meerkat to the Mistress." He explained to anyone who wished to hear it.
"Aye, she will want to feel his innards against her new skin. I believe she shall be pleased." The filly smiled a hollow smile as the three disappeared in the pouring rain, leaving behind a streak of lightning illuminating the spot the previously occupied.
Another A/N: Woot! This is a quickie but I feel its powerful. Leave it to Oreius' dead kids to be creepily cryptic. Do I get points for fitting in the word 'kafuffle' in an actual sentence? Anywhoo, this has not been through my beta because I just had to get it up! Forgive any typos you see. :) And now to sleep! Thank you for everyone who is checking, reading and reviewing! You all are superspecialawesome!