Divine Favour

Deerlegs and Embargo walked side-by-side through the rocky lahar forest that blanketed the eastern side of the volcanic Isla Pera, quiet as they wandered carefully between the trees. It was not too dissimilar to the dynamic that they had established when they had tried to force their way through the carnivorous jungle in the Atlantean’s subaquatic dome, but at least here, the plants did not want to kill them. Most of them, anyway, as islanders across the archipelago were still finding stray remnants from the oviraptor’s attempts to terraform the islands with their vicious, invasive plants. Deerlegs was almost certain that they were still secretly planting seeds across the islands despite being given part of Isla Kela to inhabit. Embargo did not disagree.

Dark clouds, almost the same colour as the blue-green armour that Deerlegs wore, rolled across the sky. The only sounds that passed between them were the rustle of their feet treading through leaf litter and bracken and the quiet rattle of metal plates sliding over and against one another.

Deerlegs was the one that bore the weight of the armour they had stolen from the Atlanteans, at Embargo’s insistence. It was slower going, having to pause occasionally for Deerlegs to catch her breath while she got used to the extra weight, but it was worth it in Embargo’s eyes. She still walked with a significant limp and if she was going to come with him while she was still healing from the wounds she had sustained in the dome, trekking across unfamiliar territory, delving into that hellscape, then she should be the one to wear the extra protection. It suited her better, anyway. His quills would have posed a problem with getting it to fit on him.

When Deerlegs paused again, Embargo was sure that it was because she needed to rest again. This time, though, her feather crests were raised in alert. Something was wrong.

Embargo straightened up, listening intently and looking around for any signs of trouble that he might have missed. He didn’t see or hear anything unusual, but he agreed with her silent assessment - something felt wrong.

Deerlegs continued surveying the woodland. Being a sentry was what she had chosen to do in the service of Highcliff - even beyond the herd’s territory, she was still on high alert, but whatever the cause of the uneasy feeling was, it did not seem to be a visible one. Neither did either of them hear anything strange, but when they scented the air… ozone.

Lightning flashed and thunder cracked almost immediately after Embargo raised his muzzle to the sky. The scent of instantly boiled, burned tree sap filled the air, the deafening crack of thunder almost masking the sound of a nearby tree spontaneously splitting and splintering to pieces. Sharp shards of wood shot away from the ruined trunk like bullets, burying themselves in the earth and other trees while other fragments clinked harmlessly off of stones and Deerlegs’s armour as she and Embargo scattered. The sounds of the crown of the tree snapping branches on its path to the ground only added to the sudden cataclysmic atmosphere.

Pebbles, earth, leaf litter, and scraps of ferns were thrown into the air as they raced through the forest, realising only after their initial panic that they were running from a storm. Deerlegs’s entire body was tingling after the strike, her heart beating erratically. For a moment, she was back in the dome, running for her life away from the banquet hall and leaving the screaming, dying masses behind her.

A grunt from Embargo drew her attention back to the present, but another flash of lightning and thunderous roar from the sky threatened to throw her off-kilter again in an instant.

“There!” was Embargo’s only call as he turned towards an exposed rock bluff. The bright flash of light had briefly illuminated it, and cast a sheltering overhang in deep shadows. Deerlegs gave a snort of agreement and followed him to the bluff as rain began to pour down. There was just enough room beneath the overhang for a pair of them, and then a little extra. They stood, panting, watching the rain fall as another bolt of lightning split the sky and thunder rapidly followed after. Embargo’s bioluminescence was suddenly the only real source of light through the darkness that the thick clouds brought, and illuminated the overhang with its soft blue-green glow.

“I guess we’ll wait then,” Deerlegs exhaled. Her hands, feet, and tail were still almost numb; her body felt like it was buzzing. What had happened?

Even over the roar of the storm, Embargo heard her voice shake. “Here,” he offered. He would help her out of the armour for now. There was no telling how long they would need to wait out the lightning before they could safely continue on.

“I’m okay,” Deerlegs countered, sounding a little more forcefully than she meant to.

Embargo paused briefly. “I just want to check your wounds.” Running like that had probably agitated them, especially with the padded blanket crushing her feathers into the raw flesh.

He watched as Deerlegs went through a series of thoughts, likely arguing with herself if the subtle shifting and twitching of her feather crests were anything to go by. The whole cursed set would have to come off for him to be able to inspect the ragged wound left behind by the iguanodon’s spike. But… if they were going to be stuck here for a while... 

Deerlegs relented. At the first sign that she was relaxing and receptive to his assistance, Embargo carefully got to work, a focused look in his softly glowing eyes.

The set was composed of dozens of metal plates, and spiked in a way that was reminiscent of the osteoderms on euoplocephalus. All were secured to each other and to Deerlegs’s body with sturdy leather straps. While tedious and time consuming to remove for anything that was not one of the Atlantean Queen's primates, they made due. The armour was heavy, and tedious to put on and take off, and it compressed her feathers to her body, and pinched in some places, but it was… She clenched her jaw, then relaxed as Embargo pulled the first few plates off, the relief its removal brought, immediate.

Another bright flash of lightning glared off of the plates, sharply illuminating the trident on the plate which had covered her thigh. The mark of the Atlanteans. It left a sour taste in her mouth to bear their mark as they traveled across the islands, yet at the same time, it was a mark of resistance. A symbol that they had survived the bloody banquet, that they had escaped the Atlantean’s choking, murderous clutches. They had prevailed. And now she would use the stolen armour as protection as they traveled to one of the most terrifying places across the islands: the Alpha lab and its subterranean levels. They would have to reach at least the second level to reach the seed stores and edible plants that Embargo had promised.

“Raise your arms,” Embargo murmured, just loud enough to be heard over the rain. It was pouring down so heavily that even their shelter was starting to flood as water stood in growing puddles. Mist sprayed beneath the overhang, clinging to scales, feathers, metal and cloth.

Deerlegs obliged and Embargo carefully lifted more plates from her body. He winced when he stretched up to his fullest height, a motion that Deerlegs did not miss.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, immediately concerned. Embargo grunted quietly.

“Just some splinters. It’s nothing serious.”

Deerlegs snorted and nudged Embargo’s hands away. Embargo sighed, but let her inspect him. While the armour had protected her, some of the wooden shards scattered by the exploded tree had found their mark in his hide. He was fortunate that most of them were small. They itched fiercely, but would not do him any lasting damage.

“Shattered shells, Embargo!” Deerlegs cursed quietly. “And you were worried about me!”

Embargo exhaled. He still was. “We’ll finish getting the armour off. Then deal with this.” Then he’d check her own injuries as he first intended and make sure that they hadn't torn open again after that mad dash.

Deerlegs wrinkled her muzzle, her feather crests flat in annoyance, but they flicked up again shortly after. A compromise - it suited her well enough.

He continued helping her out of the armour as the rain continued to fall, lightning and thunder sporadically lighting the sky in spectacular, violent displays. Somewhere, uncomfortably close, a clap of thunder was echoed by an earth-shattering crack and the sound of rocks grinding and crashing against each other as part of the bluff collapsed.

This was maybe not the safest place to wait out the storm - but it was better than the alternative. At least by now Deerlegs’s fingers had stopped tingling.

When the last piece of armour was removed and Embargo helped her out of the blanket and collar, Deerlegs shook out her feathers. It was a relief to be free again, but the feeling was tempered by the knowledge that Embargo was still hurting. “Lay down,” she ordered him.

Embargo huffed under his breath, almost amused. There was a certain tone of voice that Deerlegs used sometimes that was not to be argued with, and this was one of those times. He laid down on his side while Deerlegs dared to poke her head out from under their shelter into the heavy rain to retrieve some moss that was growing on the rock face. She was drenched almost immediately, but it was worth it to have something to pack the wounds if they were too deep to stop bleeding on their own.

“You should have said something sooner,” she scolded as she sat down beside him.

There was the smallest amount of a smile in Embargo’s tone as he watched the puddles outside slowly turn into small rivers. “The plates would have gotten in the way of your hands.”

Deerlegs tilted her head and gave him an unamused look, but still began to extract the splinters as carefully as she could. Some were thicker than others. Embargo didn’t move as she worked, except the slightest curl of his lip when she pulled out the larger chunks and silently pressed moss into the wounds. The soft glow coming off of the spots on his hide and a few of the long quills along his back made it easy to see the splinters still stuck in him. The blood, too.

For a while, the wind, rain, and thunder were the only sounds between them, until Embargo broke the silence. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Deerlegs glanced up from her work. Embargo had argued against her coming with him, at first, but she was stubborn and persistent. She was not going to let him go back to that place alone to look for seeds that may or may not be there. Not when she had gotten a glimpse of how things were in the upwalker facilities inside the Atlantis dome. Not when it was her who asked if he knew of any seeds to plant drought-hardy foods in the first place.

She turned her attention back to his wounds, her touch gentle as she applied more moss to one of the deeper punctures. “Better not tell me to stay at Highcliff again,” she muttered, but there was no bite in her voice this time.

Embargo snorted quietly, gazing at her instead of the rain. No, he wouldn’t dream of it.