08-12-2015, 01:16 PM
L E I L A N D ( hestoni x scorch)
The victims screams and the tearing of flesh filled the air and chased after their small group. Never before had any of them heard such shrill calls of pain and fear. The smell of death and rot was even worse than before. It grew stronger as they fed and spread out wider, covering more land.
It made them move faster. Each moment that passed, they pushed themselves as hard as they could go, until their hearts were racing so fast their bodies shook and their lungs felt like they were on fire with each and every ragged breath they took. They ran as fast as they could until finally each of them began to slow. First Juliet, then Leiland, and then finally Elliot.
Slowing to a canter, and then a trot, the group finally realized that for now. If only for now.... They were out of harms way. Glances were exchanged as they continued to push forward until they finally caught up with the rest.
In silence they approached, heavy breaths and harsh wheezing the only noise that traced the surrounding air.
Leiland looked over them all and then slowly looked behind him, eyes wide as he looked over the mountains. There was not a trace of the horde in sight, yet he could hear their movement, and feeding echoing across the barren land. And then he realized this is what their life had become... A race to avoid the grisly deaths that many of the rest had already met. And it had only just began.
"We must move," growled in Juliet and Elliot's ears and when they made eye contact he knew they understood. Silently they pushed through the small crowd of others before finally they began to trot and then canter. Their race needed to continue. The break may only have lasted seconds but they needed to lose sight of the mountains, and of everything else.
And then they're running again. Pushing themselves even harder than before. The wind stung their eyes, causing tears to flow down their cheeks before finally one by one they began to drop again.
"Leiland!"
He heard his named shouted as Elijah crumpled to the ground and coming to a stop he turned to look at the Chestnut stallion.
"Leiland we must stop! We are going to run ourselves to death! We need to find food! Water! Anything! But most of all we need rest!" Her anger radiated towards him and it almost made the silver stallion recoil. Ever since he'd met the black mare he hadn't known for her to ever be the angry type even when things were at their worst.
With a cocked brow he stepped towards them, legs shaking as they struggled to hold his weight.
"There is nothing, Juliet. Nothing around here anyway. We will find something. But we must rest first. You are right. We can't continue. Not right now."
With a heavy sigh he looked down at Elliot who had laid down on his side, body outstretched as he wheezed ragged breaths and his chest rose and fell in shaky inconsistency. He had fallen asleep the moment his body had hit the ground.
"Go on Juliet. Lay Down. I will watch over you. If anything happens and we need to move, I will wake you both. I promise."
It took a few moments, but finally Juliet gave him a slight nod before laying next to Elliot and resting against his back. Neck outstretched she laid her head his copper shoulder before quickly falling asleep herself.
As they slept he watched the direction in which they had come, staring out across the land covered in ash and soot, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Elijah, I'm sorry," he whispered into the passing breeze.
Somehow he knew that his friend was still out there. Yet somehow he knew that Elijah was one of those things. He had seen how the bodies of those he loved and the rest had crawled from the earth after the fires had killed them. He had witnessed that bodies reanimated after they died. The stories their parents had told them in order to scare them to do right were finally coming true.
And like he knew the answer to Elijah, he knew that food and water were nowhere to be found. Common sense. That's all it took. To realize that the next weeks were going to be ones full of desperation and suffering.
--------------
Weeks passed and he had been right.
The trio had spent hours of the passing days in search of food and water resorting to chewing the bark off still standing trees. Even though it had been burnt, it helped to satiate their hunger if only for a little while, yet still they grew weaker and more malnourished.
Starving, weak, dying of thirst.
Three pangs that began to dull and become a part of every day life as they all continued to wander aimlessly.
Then it was Elliot who fell first. Knees hit the ground and a soft grunt escaped his lips as he began to allow himself to lay down on the ground. He was done. And he was ready to end this. In honesty he had been done when they were able to escape. The fear had already killed his spirit. And without it he had known then, he wouldn't make it through this. He was weak, and he was ready to admit he couldn't do it.
"Leiland,"
Elliot's voiced whispered quietly towards the silver stallion and with a slow look behind him, Leiland found himself turning unsteadily towards the chestnut. "Elliot, you have to get up. You can't give up." The once muscular stallion, had become a pile of skin and bones. His eyes seemed to bulge from his skull due to the way the skin around them sunk down into his face and every time he shifted or moved in the slightest of ways, you could hear the young man's bones creak and grind against each other. 'Is that what I look like?' The thought danced through Leiland's mind as he desperately looked over Elliot. "Elliot, get up. Please. We're going to find water, and food. It will happen. It can't all be gone. We just got to keep going!"
He tried his hardest to encourage the copper colored stallion the best he could with a crackling voice, worn from the lack of water and misuse.
"I can't! I just can't anymore. I need to lay down! I need to rest! I just want to sle---" suddenly Elliot found himself being cut short by Juliet whose voice shrilly rang towards them.
"OH SHUT UP!" breathing heavily, her sides spread in and out as she breathed heavily. Sweat coated her body in a soft milky foam down her neck and over her shoulders. For the last hour it had been spreading. The heat that had started in her head began to take hold over her body, slowly moving from one end to the other. Her head was splitting and the sound of Elliot's exhausted and weak voice was driving her mad. "Do you ever stop complaining? Jesus Christ, man. You are the most pathetic fucking moron I have ever fucking met!"
Staring at Juliet in shock, Leiland found himself quickly pinning his ears as he glared in her direction. "What the hell is WRONG with you, Juliet?! The man is clearly spent. We are all tired and exhausted. But that doesn't mean you have a right to be a downright ass about it." Snorting shortly he pursed his dry and cracking lips as he stepped towards her, "It's not like you can force him to do anything. You are not the leader here." Turning completely he found himself between Elliot and Juliet, standing over the copper man protectively.
It was her laugh that made Leiland realize something right. It was hysterical, uneven, obnoxiously loud. It was the laugh of someone having a manic episode unable to control their actions. And it was this that made him take a step back, a look of worry passing for only seconds across his features. "Juliet, are you... Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright, silly."
Her tone. It had changed. Deepened somehow, almost as though it had began to decay. Her nose was running, her breath became rank. When it had done that he wasn't sure but from atleast five feet away the silver man could smell it's putrid stench float through the air towards him and Elliot whenever she spoke.
That smell was so familiar. One that he knew he'd never forget when it had first reached him all those weeks ago. Every morning it danced across the charred lands of Beqanna being carried from the Horde.
And that's when he realized what was going on. Though at the same time he realized it she started to slink towards Elliot, the smallest of devilish smiles playing across her lips. "I can help you," she cooed to him. "I can make it all go away." Her promises were weak, and even though Elliot was ready to submit to grim reapers grip he wasn't ready to meet him by another's hands and he knew almost instantly what Juliet was wanting to do. "Juliet, no."
Slowly he stretched his front legs out infront of him and struggled to push himself up. Muscles strained, legs shook, but before he could get up he found himself looking up at Juliet as she rose her upper body up into the air and lashed her front hooves out. One met with his face, causing Elliot to let out a hoarse yell of surprise as it widely split open his left cheek, while the other met with his left leg. It was this blow that caused him to scream shrilly as bone broke under hoof. Tears streaming down his face he looked up at Juliet pleadingly "Juliet stop! Please stop!"
He wasn't sure how he did it. One moment she was standing infront of him laughing and the next she was behind him, causing the shrill screams that shook Leiland out of his daze. Looking behind him, he turned around as quickly as he could and found himself stumbling towards Juliet. "What are you doing?! Stop! Juliet, stop!" He shouted before pushing her with his shoulder. Every step he took seemed to have no effect. Somehow her strength was returning, or so it seemed. But he continued to try.
The memories of Elijah being torn apart danced through his mind as he struggled to push Juliet away from Elliot. "Juliet, please stop. This isn't you, stop, please." His voice became more pleading as he tried to push harder, his breathing becoming laboured as he was forced to follow her in the circles she paced around Elliot. He was almost grateful when she stopped to stare at Elliot. For a few fleeting seconds he was convinced she was going to leave him alone until he noticed one thing.
She was staring at Elliot with a hunger unlike he had ever seen anyone wear. "Juliet," and she snapped. Suddenly she was rushing forward, her hindquarters turning and with quick but twitchy movements she kicked Elliot in the head knocking him cold. But it didn't stop there. Slowly she turned. Almost like she was a cat getting to make the final pounce. And before Leiland could make it she reared up just enough for her hooves to come raining down on Elliot's skull. Over and over she did this, occasionally skirting away from leiland inbetween his pleas and desperate attempts to push her away.
And then the laughter turned into screams and she found herself shaking as they passed through her lips. Shrill screaming calls paired with the different blows at different parts of the chestnut's body. And then it happened...
Leiland watched as Juliet, sweet innocent and always optimistic, Juliet, lowered her head down to Elliot's throat. Her lips brushed against the bottom of his neck before suddenly her head twitched and her teeth dug into his throat. With one swift movement she tore the chestnut's esophagus clear out of his throat. With wide and crazed eyes she slowly looked towards Leiland and when they finally made eye contact she smiled before beginning to chew as though nothing she was doing was out of the ordinary.
Pure Horror.
Pure Shock.
Two things that could perfectly describe what was going through Leiland's head. He stood there frozen as he watched Juliet eat away at Elliot until finally it seemed as though she grew full, or even at this rate, bored with the meal that lay infront of her. Covered in her victims blood Juliet turned towards Leiland.
Through the haze of the shock, it took him a few moments to realize the black mare was staring at him with dark and unblinking eyes and slowly he took a step back. Deep down he knew there was no outrunning her. There was no escaping. Somehow he was stuck again, desperate, afraid, and alone. Once again, he was without understanding of what to do next.
"Juliet, it's me. It's Leiland. I'm your friend. Don't you remember me?" It was then she began to move towards him. Her body had began the similar twitching of the horde and a gutteral growl came up and slowly passed inbetween her lips as she bared her teeth and creeped towards him.
Taking a step backwards, he used these moments of separation to decide what to do. He knew he didn't have the strength to run. Or the ability to fight back for long. But it would be his best chance, though he knew logically he would most likely die at the hand of the once kind and gentle mare.
It took seconds. She was next to him, her hindquarters turned towards his shoulder and then she bucked. Hooves met bone and skin and with a sharp gasp and grit of the teeth, Leiland fell to his knee before slowly pushing himself back up.
Pacing. Pacing. Pacing.
She seemed to be spinning circles around him before she started to sneak in from behind like the snake she was becoming. And then he kicked... Leiland sent a sharp blow to her chin before trotting away from her quickly. Turning back towards her, he stared at her bulging eyes and then her dry, cracked and swollen lips. He watched as the blood dripped off her chin and he realized with regret and even deeper fear that there was nothing he was going to be able to do. Even after he fought his hardest, she would take him down.
And so he did. He fought against her for those he had lost to rest. But especially for Elijah and Elliot. Rushing forward, he pushed himself to barrel into her chest, and push her aside before turning and giving her a square kick in the chest. With each blow she tried to deliver he did his best to dodge and avoid until finally started taking the hits due to his lack of strength and quick patterns of exhaustion. He was too weak to keep up with her growing strength.
Hit after hit, his body shook.
She directed her blows to his chest, taking the idea from him before chasing him back. Pushing him towards Elliot. Like the copper stallion, she was going to take him too. And so she continued on until finally a sharp blow to the center of his chest caused him to fall down onto his knees and slowly fall over on his side. His body shook and his eyes widened as he looked up at Juliet as she stepped up and stood over him. Her saliva dripped down onto his cheek, and grimacing slightly, he groaned from the pain that shook throughout his body.
Silence once more took over him as he lay there trembling, accepting his fate. Eyes closing slowly he stretched out his chin before she rose into the air until the ground began to shake. Eyes opening suddenly, he watched as the earth began to split and disappear from beneath and behind Juliet.
And then it took seconds for him to realize it was all shattering. It had happened quicker than he realized. She hadn't been the only one to be swallowed and spit away into a completely foreign place. When he opened his eyes once more, he looked for her. He searched for Juliet before taking in his surroundings and with a sigh of relief, he realized her far away screeches and screams were the result of her disappearing farther and farther away. Somehow the universe had separated them at just the right moment.
It was now he realized he was basically floating and staring at the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Constellations, nebulas, large stars... The colors were so bright and beautiful. And for so long he had been devoid of beauty. Beqanna had become a death pit. As he stared in awe at all that surrounded him, he enjoyed the silence, the peace. He wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, but he knew he wasn't sure if he was ready to leave. It was as he felt the peace of this deafeningly quiet place that the voice came to him. 'Pick a number...', it instructed and with calm decision he whispered quietly, "one."
It made them move faster. Each moment that passed, they pushed themselves as hard as they could go, until their hearts were racing so fast their bodies shook and their lungs felt like they were on fire with each and every ragged breath they took. They ran as fast as they could until finally each of them began to slow. First Juliet, then Leiland, and then finally Elliot.
Slowing to a canter, and then a trot, the group finally realized that for now. If only for now.... They were out of harms way. Glances were exchanged as they continued to push forward until they finally caught up with the rest.
In silence they approached, heavy breaths and harsh wheezing the only noise that traced the surrounding air.
Leiland looked over them all and then slowly looked behind him, eyes wide as he looked over the mountains. There was not a trace of the horde in sight, yet he could hear their movement, and feeding echoing across the barren land. And then he realized this is what their life had become... A race to avoid the grisly deaths that many of the rest had already met. And it had only just began.
"We must move," growled in Juliet and Elliot's ears and when they made eye contact he knew they understood. Silently they pushed through the small crowd of others before finally they began to trot and then canter. Their race needed to continue. The break may only have lasted seconds but they needed to lose sight of the mountains, and of everything else.
And then they're running again. Pushing themselves even harder than before. The wind stung their eyes, causing tears to flow down their cheeks before finally one by one they began to drop again.
"Leiland!"
He heard his named shouted as Elijah crumpled to the ground and coming to a stop he turned to look at the Chestnut stallion.
"Leiland we must stop! We are going to run ourselves to death! We need to find food! Water! Anything! But most of all we need rest!" Her anger radiated towards him and it almost made the silver stallion recoil. Ever since he'd met the black mare he hadn't known for her to ever be the angry type even when things were at their worst.
With a cocked brow he stepped towards them, legs shaking as they struggled to hold his weight.
"There is nothing, Juliet. Nothing around here anyway. We will find something. But we must rest first. You are right. We can't continue. Not right now."
With a heavy sigh he looked down at Elliot who had laid down on his side, body outstretched as he wheezed ragged breaths and his chest rose and fell in shaky inconsistency. He had fallen asleep the moment his body had hit the ground.
"Go on Juliet. Lay Down. I will watch over you. If anything happens and we need to move, I will wake you both. I promise."
It took a few moments, but finally Juliet gave him a slight nod before laying next to Elliot and resting against his back. Neck outstretched she laid her head his copper shoulder before quickly falling asleep herself.
As they slept he watched the direction in which they had come, staring out across the land covered in ash and soot, tears rolling down his cheeks. "Elijah, I'm sorry," he whispered into the passing breeze.
Somehow he knew that his friend was still out there. Yet somehow he knew that Elijah was one of those things. He had seen how the bodies of those he loved and the rest had crawled from the earth after the fires had killed them. He had witnessed that bodies reanimated after they died. The stories their parents had told them in order to scare them to do right were finally coming true.
And like he knew the answer to Elijah, he knew that food and water were nowhere to be found. Common sense. That's all it took. To realize that the next weeks were going to be ones full of desperation and suffering.
Weeks passed and he had been right.
The trio had spent hours of the passing days in search of food and water resorting to chewing the bark off still standing trees. Even though it had been burnt, it helped to satiate their hunger if only for a little while, yet still they grew weaker and more malnourished.
Starving, weak, dying of thirst.
Three pangs that began to dull and become a part of every day life as they all continued to wander aimlessly.
Then it was Elliot who fell first. Knees hit the ground and a soft grunt escaped his lips as he began to allow himself to lay down on the ground. He was done. And he was ready to end this. In honesty he had been done when they were able to escape. The fear had already killed his spirit. And without it he had known then, he wouldn't make it through this. He was weak, and he was ready to admit he couldn't do it.
"Leiland,"
Elliot's voiced whispered quietly towards the silver stallion and with a slow look behind him, Leiland found himself turning unsteadily towards the chestnut. "Elliot, you have to get up. You can't give up." The once muscular stallion, had become a pile of skin and bones. His eyes seemed to bulge from his skull due to the way the skin around them sunk down into his face and every time he shifted or moved in the slightest of ways, you could hear the young man's bones creak and grind against each other. 'Is that what I look like?' The thought danced through Leiland's mind as he desperately looked over Elliot. "Elliot, get up. Please. We're going to find water, and food. It will happen. It can't all be gone. We just got to keep going!"
He tried his hardest to encourage the copper colored stallion the best he could with a crackling voice, worn from the lack of water and misuse.
"I can't! I just can't anymore. I need to lay down! I need to rest! I just want to sle---" suddenly Elliot found himself being cut short by Juliet whose voice shrilly rang towards them.
"OH SHUT UP!" breathing heavily, her sides spread in and out as she breathed heavily. Sweat coated her body in a soft milky foam down her neck and over her shoulders. For the last hour it had been spreading. The heat that had started in her head began to take hold over her body, slowly moving from one end to the other. Her head was splitting and the sound of Elliot's exhausted and weak voice was driving her mad. "Do you ever stop complaining? Jesus Christ, man. You are the most pathetic fucking moron I have ever fucking met!"
Staring at Juliet in shock, Leiland found himself quickly pinning his ears as he glared in her direction. "What the hell is WRONG with you, Juliet?! The man is clearly spent. We are all tired and exhausted. But that doesn't mean you have a right to be a downright ass about it." Snorting shortly he pursed his dry and cracking lips as he stepped towards her, "It's not like you can force him to do anything. You are not the leader here." Turning completely he found himself between Elliot and Juliet, standing over the copper man protectively.
It was her laugh that made Leiland realize something right. It was hysterical, uneven, obnoxiously loud. It was the laugh of someone having a manic episode unable to control their actions. And it was this that made him take a step back, a look of worry passing for only seconds across his features. "Juliet, are you... Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright, silly."
Her tone. It had changed. Deepened somehow, almost as though it had began to decay. Her nose was running, her breath became rank. When it had done that he wasn't sure but from atleast five feet away the silver man could smell it's putrid stench float through the air towards him and Elliot whenever she spoke.
That smell was so familiar. One that he knew he'd never forget when it had first reached him all those weeks ago. Every morning it danced across the charred lands of Beqanna being carried from the Horde.
And that's when he realized what was going on. Though at the same time he realized it she started to slink towards Elliot, the smallest of devilish smiles playing across her lips. "I can help you," she cooed to him. "I can make it all go away." Her promises were weak, and even though Elliot was ready to submit to grim reapers grip he wasn't ready to meet him by another's hands and he knew almost instantly what Juliet was wanting to do. "Juliet, no."
Slowly he stretched his front legs out infront of him and struggled to push himself up. Muscles strained, legs shook, but before he could get up he found himself looking up at Juliet as she rose her upper body up into the air and lashed her front hooves out. One met with his face, causing Elliot to let out a hoarse yell of surprise as it widely split open his left cheek, while the other met with his left leg. It was this blow that caused him to scream shrilly as bone broke under hoof. Tears streaming down his face he looked up at Juliet pleadingly "Juliet stop! Please stop!"
He wasn't sure how he did it. One moment she was standing infront of him laughing and the next she was behind him, causing the shrill screams that shook Leiland out of his daze. Looking behind him, he turned around as quickly as he could and found himself stumbling towards Juliet. "What are you doing?! Stop! Juliet, stop!" He shouted before pushing her with his shoulder. Every step he took seemed to have no effect. Somehow her strength was returning, or so it seemed. But he continued to try.
The memories of Elijah being torn apart danced through his mind as he struggled to push Juliet away from Elliot. "Juliet, please stop. This isn't you, stop, please." His voice became more pleading as he tried to push harder, his breathing becoming laboured as he was forced to follow her in the circles she paced around Elliot. He was almost grateful when she stopped to stare at Elliot. For a few fleeting seconds he was convinced she was going to leave him alone until he noticed one thing.
She was staring at Elliot with a hunger unlike he had ever seen anyone wear. "Juliet," and she snapped. Suddenly she was rushing forward, her hindquarters turning and with quick but twitchy movements she kicked Elliot in the head knocking him cold. But it didn't stop there. Slowly she turned. Almost like she was a cat getting to make the final pounce. And before Leiland could make it she reared up just enough for her hooves to come raining down on Elliot's skull. Over and over she did this, occasionally skirting away from leiland inbetween his pleas and desperate attempts to push her away.
And then the laughter turned into screams and she found herself shaking as they passed through her lips. Shrill screaming calls paired with the different blows at different parts of the chestnut's body. And then it happened...
Leiland watched as Juliet, sweet innocent and always optimistic, Juliet, lowered her head down to Elliot's throat. Her lips brushed against the bottom of his neck before suddenly her head twitched and her teeth dug into his throat. With one swift movement she tore the chestnut's esophagus clear out of his throat. With wide and crazed eyes she slowly looked towards Leiland and when they finally made eye contact she smiled before beginning to chew as though nothing she was doing was out of the ordinary.
Pure Horror.
Pure Shock.
Two things that could perfectly describe what was going through Leiland's head. He stood there frozen as he watched Juliet eat away at Elliot until finally it seemed as though she grew full, or even at this rate, bored with the meal that lay infront of her. Covered in her victims blood Juliet turned towards Leiland.
Through the haze of the shock, it took him a few moments to realize the black mare was staring at him with dark and unblinking eyes and slowly he took a step back. Deep down he knew there was no outrunning her. There was no escaping. Somehow he was stuck again, desperate, afraid, and alone. Once again, he was without understanding of what to do next.
"Juliet, it's me. It's Leiland. I'm your friend. Don't you remember me?" It was then she began to move towards him. Her body had began the similar twitching of the horde and a gutteral growl came up and slowly passed inbetween her lips as she bared her teeth and creeped towards him.
Taking a step backwards, he used these moments of separation to decide what to do. He knew he didn't have the strength to run. Or the ability to fight back for long. But it would be his best chance, though he knew logically he would most likely die at the hand of the once kind and gentle mare.
It took seconds. She was next to him, her hindquarters turned towards his shoulder and then she bucked. Hooves met bone and skin and with a sharp gasp and grit of the teeth, Leiland fell to his knee before slowly pushing himself back up.
Pacing. Pacing. Pacing.
She seemed to be spinning circles around him before she started to sneak in from behind like the snake she was becoming. And then he kicked... Leiland sent a sharp blow to her chin before trotting away from her quickly. Turning back towards her, he stared at her bulging eyes and then her dry, cracked and swollen lips. He watched as the blood dripped off her chin and he realized with regret and even deeper fear that there was nothing he was going to be able to do. Even after he fought his hardest, she would take him down.
And so he did. He fought against her for those he had lost to rest. But especially for Elijah and Elliot. Rushing forward, he pushed himself to barrel into her chest, and push her aside before turning and giving her a square kick in the chest. With each blow she tried to deliver he did his best to dodge and avoid until finally started taking the hits due to his lack of strength and quick patterns of exhaustion. He was too weak to keep up with her growing strength.
Hit after hit, his body shook.
She directed her blows to his chest, taking the idea from him before chasing him back. Pushing him towards Elliot. Like the copper stallion, she was going to take him too. And so she continued on until finally a sharp blow to the center of his chest caused him to fall down onto his knees and slowly fall over on his side. His body shook and his eyes widened as he looked up at Juliet as she stepped up and stood over him. Her saliva dripped down onto his cheek, and grimacing slightly, he groaned from the pain that shook throughout his body.
Silence once more took over him as he lay there trembling, accepting his fate. Eyes closing slowly he stretched out his chin before she rose into the air until the ground began to shake. Eyes opening suddenly, he watched as the earth began to split and disappear from beneath and behind Juliet.
And then it took seconds for him to realize it was all shattering. It had happened quicker than he realized. She hadn't been the only one to be swallowed and spit away into a completely foreign place. When he opened his eyes once more, he looked for her. He searched for Juliet before taking in his surroundings and with a sigh of relief, he realized her far away screeches and screams were the result of her disappearing farther and farther away. Somehow the universe had separated them at just the right moment.
It was now he realized he was basically floating and staring at the most beautiful sights he had ever seen. Constellations, nebulas, large stars... The colors were so bright and beautiful. And for so long he had been devoid of beauty. Beqanna had become a death pit. As he stared in awe at all that surrounded him, he enjoyed the silence, the peace. He wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, but he knew he wasn't sure if he was ready to leave. It was as he felt the peace of this deafeningly quiet place that the voice came to him. 'Pick a number...', it instructed and with calm decision he whispered quietly, "one."
the silver prince of the amazons