"Battle?" The man shrugged some, "Well, there was gonna be something with this Puck guy... but that never happened. Worked out for the best, all said and told." He shrugged again.

And realized he should probably make a decision one way or the other about what to do if he ever met the critter.

Oh, well.

"But there's always another war on the horizon. Mebbe we'll even go out and meet it, eh?" He gave the horse an affectionate knock on the jaw. "You and me, like old times."

Fuck, what old times. Had he turned into that guy?

"Wait. What 'other one'?"

The horse looked around and took in the peaceful surroundings. Hmm must have missed. This is not a land where Horses are revered.

He flicked his tail, then snorted Curly fur, smelled of chestnuts in winter and echoed of that other one, your friend.

Morgan shrugged a little and thought about what the horse said before just laughing. "Yeah. Yeah, that'd be the Magus. Good sort of guy. Man, when I see him next, he'll have a good chuckle about this." He smiled a bit and took a couple steps back to the beach. "And even if they don't revere, they'll respect. And if they don't?" He tapped the horse's scar with a chuckle. "I bet they'll learn, eh?"

Been a long trek. The horse sagged a little, and it was true. it looked a lot more worn down than before, it had to take a lot to make a dead horse look like it had seen better days.

I was sent back. For a reason. I used to sleep... he clipped his ears a little.

Morgan frowned then, still stroking the horse's muzzle. "I believe it. Across years and years and leagues and leagues and all the places I've been... You poor bastard. Come on. I've got some sausages. Not a lot of fresh stuff around, but I'll keep an eye out for you."

Taking a step away from the horse, he frowned a little, "So. Sent back? By the Lord?"

The horse bared his yellowed teeth for a moment, sharp and nasty. I ate. In the battle. fresh and warm. but the tail flick was a tired one, and the hooves almost dragged the sand as it started to walk.

They were worn down, the legs swollen and sore.

There was a reason. it flicked the ears, then blew some air through its nostrils. Can't remember. Not important.

"Hey, I'm not saying you can't feed yourself. You were doing fine with that before they slit your throat and coming back has only made you better." He smiled a bit and sighed. "Come on. Got a house on the edge of town. Family again. Playing that game as long as it holds up." He looked over at the horse, "There's places to run around while you wait for the next war 'cause fuck knows it's coming."

"Promise not to trample my kids, and at least you'll have somewhere to rest. You look like you just walked your way from one side of the ocean to t'other."

More little foals. The horse sounded almost admiring, as a horse it was important to have offspring and a flock, and it seemed that Morgan was doing alright in that regard.

Something dragged me in. When I ran across. Something that was... the horse flicked its ears, distracted by a fly. It could be a bit forgetful at the ebst of times, it did not care about things the way that people did.

"Yeah. One of these nights I'll run out of seed and then what'll they do with me?" He laughed a little, patting the horse on the shoulder.

"Something that was what? Big? Angry? Covered in a big hard shell?"

'Cause if there really was a monster in the depths, he just knew it was gonna be one of those creepy, titanic turtles.

Soft. Unformed. There was a cave. With sigils. Not sure, I ran. No use fighting things that do not bleed. But they knew you. Of you.

The horse sniffed the air, ears folding back. They chased me back too far.