The smell of blood is thick in the air.
For a sickening moment, Corrin is overcome by a visceral, instinctual hunger; she knows that the blood is human, and she has never, nor would she ever, eat human flesh, but her need for meat is so overwhelming that it makes her dizzy.
Focus,she reminds herself firmly, and the moment passes, her human disgust and fear prevailing over the dragon's needs.
She surveys the woods in absolute silence, listening, sensing. She can smell Laslow, but it's mixed with several other scents she's less intimately familiar with.
Friend or foe?she wonders, but only for a second. Her priority is finding her mate first.
Her talons dig into the dirt anxiously as she tries to sense his position. He's moved quite a bit, and she's sure he's lost blood along the way. Its smell is like a beacon to her, but at the moment it's confusing her.
Calm down, you know his scent better than anyone, she thinks, and a moment later she has it. But it's mingled with the scent of a stranger, more than one, and she realizes that wherever he is, his enemy is close.
She surrenders to her instincts as she hurries through the snow and trees; one minute half-gliding through a clearing, the next pounding through the forest on human feet. The changes are seamless, thoughtless, whatever will allow her to get to him faster.
Someone is in her way. She vaguely recognizes a somewhat familiar scent, but it's the drawn bow in the man's hands that catches her attention.
"No!" she cries, leaping forward in anger. She could have sworn she was just in her human form, but it's a dragons claws that are pinning him down now, her fangs bared. The stranger stares up at her in horror, too shocked to cry out.
A ninja,she thinks, but that thought is immediately replaced by fury. The man smells like Laslow's blood, and someone else's.
Without bothering to question him, she tears into his neck and tosses his body aside like a doll. She doesn't care if it's a Mokushujin or a Hoshidan ninja. Whoever they are, they are no friends of Nohr, and she is too upset to regret the spilled blood.
"Xander! Brother! Please, wake up!"
She pounded on the door with all her might, frantic, but it still took a few minutes for Prince Xander to answer.
"Azura?" he asked, stifling a yawn. His hair was disheveled, his eyes tired. "What in the world is the matter?"
"It's Corrin!" she cried. "She's left, and-"
"What?!" he demanded, suddenly alert. "What do you mean she's left?!"
"She left the astral plane! She said if she wasn't back in ten minutes-"
"Azura, slow down!" he said, taking hold of her shoulders. "Breathe, and explain what happened and why."
She did as he asked, but it was difficult.
"Corrin left to find Laslow," she began. "She said he went out on an errand and never came back."
"An errand?"
"I don't know what it was," she said, shaking her head. "All I know is that Corrin was waiting for him, but when he didn't return, she told me to find you and to prepare the army if she didn't return in ten minutes."
"She... She went alone?!" Xander shouted, and Azura couldn't blame him for the anger in his tone.
"Yes! We have to hurry! If she's right, she's fighting by herself out there!"
Xander didn't dawdle for a moment longer.
"Peri!" he shouted down the hall. The retainer peeked her head out of her door within seconds.
"Yes, milord?" she asked, sleepy but obviously trying to look alert.
"Sound the alarm, we're deploying this instant!"
"Yes, sir!" Still in her bedclothes, she rushed off down the hall to alert Prince Leo and Princess Camilla.
"Azura, go get Kaze," Xander said as he turned away from the door.
"Y-yes," she said, dread pounding in her ears as she threw herself down the corridor.
She had no idea how many men she killed. It could have been two, but it just as easily could have been ten. All she knew was that time was of the essence; there was far too much blood for second thoughts. She sensed that there were more ninja, hidden in the trees, but they didn't seem to have been counting on her appearance. Once she'd killed a fair number of them and they'd failed to so much as scratch her armor, they began to flee, and Corrin put them from her mind entirely.
"Laslow!" she cried as her scales fell away. He was lying on the ground, cheek pressed to the dirt, blood flowing freely from a deep wound in his shoulder. "Dear gods, gods!" she said in a horrified whisper as she knelt at his side and tried to staunch the bleeding. He was unconscious, but still breathing, his bow still clutched in one pale hand. Hands trembling, she pulled the torn fabric of his shirt from the wound and nearly hissed. The skin around it was oddly discolored, and the blood smelled strange, tainted.
Poison, she realized, her heart nearly stopping. Even if she managed to stop the bleeding, there was no way to know how long the poison had been in his system, and therefore no way to be sure how much time he had left. Still, she had to try something.
"Please don't die," she begged, throwing her hair over her shoulder and pressing her mouth to the wound.
It was not the first time she'd tasted Laslow's blood, but never had it felt so wrong as it did now. She had to fight the urge to vomit with each mouthful she took and spat, painfully aware that each time she was depriving him of precious lifeblood.
How much has he lost now?! she asked herself as she coughed violently a few minutes later, trying to clear her mouth of the awful taste. No matter how much she siphoned, it never seemed to taste right, and he was looking paler by the second. She raised a trembling hand to his throat; his heart still beat, but she couldn't say for how much longer.
"Just- Just one more, you'll be alright, I promise," she said shakily. Regardless of whether the next mouthful was still laced with poison, she would have to bind him up and take him back to the astral plane or risk killing him herself.
Kaze didn't need superhuman instincts to know that something was horribly wrong. A guard should have been the first to meet the small platoon of soldiers as they were magicked out of the fortress, but there was no one in the immediate area. It was also oddly quiet, and Kaze felt his hair standing on end.
"Who was supposed to be on guard duty?" Xander demanded, his blade drawn.
"Beruka," Camilla said. She glanced around the trees, obviously searching for her retainer. Kaze had rarely seen the eldest princess so unnerved.
"You there, take a few men and search the area for Beruka," Xander ordered one of the captains. "The rest of you are to search for Corrin and her husband. If you find them, send a messenger. And take care to remain as inconspicuous as possible."
"Yes, sir." Most of the men dispersed into the woods, leaving only Xander, Camilla, Selena, and Kaze in the clearing.
"Selena, come, we're joining the search for Beruka," Camilla said, and Kaze distinctly saw Selena waver.
"M-milady, I..." she stammered, uncertain.
"Are you questioning my order, Selena?!" Camilla barked. Selena froze, eyes wide and hurt.
"N-no, milady, I just... Laslow is..." she said. She only wore one piercing, a silver earring on her left ear, and she clutched it fearfully in her fingers.
Camilla suddenly seemed to regret raising her tone. "Oh, darling, I forgot..." she said, hesitating. "If... if you prefer, you may search for Laslow instead..."
Selena glanced toward the woods on the right, a frightened sort of longing in her expression.
"N... no," she finally said, setting her teeth. "It's my sworn duty to protect you, Lady Camilla. Especially if Beruka is missing."
Camilla pulled the girl into an embrace.
"Thank you, Selena," she said, and Kaze looked away, aware that it was a private moment.
"Milord," he said, turning to Xander. "Shall I accompany you? Or should I join the search?"
"I think my sister would be very upset to find out we didn't put your abilities to their most efficient use. She's furious enough to have been left behind."
"It was for her safety," Kaze said stiffly. His cheek still burned from where Azura had slapped him when he insisted she stay home. It was only when Xander ordered her to remain that she gave in, though she was understandably surly afterward. "It couldn't be helped. She's too far along now to risk danger like this."
"Hmm," Xander mused. "Best find Corrin quickly then," he muttered to himself. Kaze had no idea what he meant by it.
"Milady, perhaps you should rest-"
"How can I rest at a time like this?!" Azura shouted, pacing back and forth just outside the fortress gate. Mozu and Lilith watched her go, weary and concerned.
"I'm sure Laslow is doin' fine, milady," Mozu ventured slowly. "It's bad for your health, standin' round in this cold. Why dont'cha join Lady Elise 'n Lord Leo in the mess hall instead?"
"I can't sit still," Azura snapped, hugging herself tightly as she walked.
"They may take quite some time to return," Lilith said, curled up in the snow like a cat, her orb nestled against her side. Her golden eyes followed Azura's progress carefully. "Pacing can be done indoors, milady."
Azura made an irritated noise, disregarding the sensibility of Lilith's words. No one seemed to understand the danger. Everyone was worried about Laslow, but it was Corrin that Azura needed to see home and safe. She had a terrible, awful premonition burning in the pit of her stomach, like death itself was standing at her shoulder.
They didn't need to search long. She was found with Laslow's body slumped over her shoulder, trying to get to safety.
"He's been poisoned," she said hoarsely as the men hurried forward to take him from her. "I tried to get it out of his bloodstream, but-"
Kaze felt a shiver run down his spine as he took in her words. She hardly resembled the Princess Corrin he'd known as a child, much less the young woman leading the army. Her skin was pale as snow, her husband's blood smeared across her face like some ghastly demon from Hoshidan folklore. When she spoke, her teeth shone red in the moonlight streaming through the trees.
"How long since it was administered?" he asked, finally coming back to his senses. She shook her head frantically.
"I don't know, I don't know!" she said. "I can hear his heart beating still, but his blood tastes wrong!" she cried suddenly, trying to cleanse her tongue of the flavor on her sleeve. Tears of frustration and fear were gathered in the corner of her eyes, but she didn't seem to be entirely lucid anymore. "It's wrong! I have to clean it, I have to-!"
"Lady Corrin!" Kaze barked, taking her shoulders. "Did you ingest any of the poison?!"
"I DON'T KNOW! I HAVE TO HELP, I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!" she cried, struggling to free herself.
He closed his eyes.
"Forgive me for this, milady," he grimaced, giving the back of her neck a quick jab. She fell over unconscious almost immediately, and Kaze let her down to the ground gently.
He pressed a hand to her forehead; just as he'd feared, he felt the heat of a fever. He didn't know if it was a sign of poisoning or of stress, but Kaze couldn't afford to wait to find out.
"Take them both to the fortress, quickly!" he ordered. As they were both carried away, Kaze scanned the woods behind them. He was sure he'd felt someone watching him, but their presence had vanished as soon as it arrived.
Azura is still waiting when they start coming back. She hurries toward the group, but they push her aside urgently, and she only just manages to catch a glimpse of Corrin being carried on Effie's back, unconscious and covered in blood.
"Corrin!" she cries, terrified, but they won't let her through.
"Azura, let them pass!" Xander orders, and Azura has no choice but to step aside.
"What happened?!" she asks, grabbing his arm.
"They were attacked," he says, his mouth a thin, grim line. "Beruka is dead. Another guard was found murdered along with her."
Behind him, she's vaguely aware of Camilla and Selena, red eyed and tear-streaked.
"And Corrin?!" she asks.
"Alive, but possibly poisoned. She tried to suck the poison out of Laslow's wound by herself. Kaze says she is unstable, but he doesn't know if it's shock or the poison."
Azura nearly pierces Xander's skin with her nails.
"Will she be alright?!" she asks meaningfully, desperately. Even if she survives poisoning, there's no guarantee her child will, and a miscarriage in a weakened condition only raises the risk that Corrin won't live to see daylight.
Xander seems to deflate somewhat under her frantic gaze.
"I don't know, little princess. I just don't know. Both Laslow and Corrin are in the hands of the gods now."
But Azura knows better than to trust in gods.
Notes:
Don't mind me, I'm just lying here like a half-dead potato.