Character Gauntlet - Day 9

Word Count 760 - Whew!

                  Sul’hupkaar pushed King Sauric hard, the demon stallion pounding ground and turf alike under black hooves and throwing divots into the air in their haste. His lips were set in an angry scowl as they made for the Blue Mountains. While it would take a man nearly a week to reach the pass, but they would be there in two days.
                   It was a blessing to everything that lived that the world that men couldn’t grasp the true nature of existence. They relied too much on their belief in science to see what couldn’t be seen. The elves were able to see though and, now, Sul’hupkaar tapped into that energy. He pulled it into himself and King Sauric, giving the nightmarish horse strength no living horse could have.
                   Deer scattered as the black fusion of horse and rider flew across the meadow. The missive he received carried grave news and a warning. Loi’hupkaar’s ring told him it was either from a friend or the person ultimately responsible for her death. Death. How small men’s minds are to see it as the end and how ironic that very horseman and his pale horse had been unleashed on them again. Sul’hupkaar was sure Death had collected Loi’hupkaar’s energy and returned it to the River Styx, her soul made to drift the dark waters for eternity. No. There was no death, life was just the doorway to something else. It didn’t matter what you did here, in the energy transformed when this stage was over, it became much more.
                   The missive stated the third horseman, Famine, had been destroyed by the very assassin he was hunting. The assassin was seen to be heading back to Notsob through the pass. Destroyed. Killed. Either fate would have been better than the truth of it. Famine’s very essence, down to the molecules within the atoms that made up his life’s energy were scattered to every corner of the ever expanding universe. Every piece cognizant of the new Hell it reigned over, but was powerless to act on. This lowly human had rendered Famine to no more than a universal thought in the wind. Sul’hupkaar could feel Famine's energy dissipating even now.
                   Men tried to give everything meaning when the reality was there wasn’t any. The universe was just coagulated balls of energy. No purpose. No plan. It just was. Those that could see that learned how to draw on that immense power and, at times, could reanimate spent energy.
                   King Sauric began to slow as the sound of rushing water could be heard ahead. Reaching the far end of the meadow, they burst through a small copse of trees, birds leaping from the trees in alarm and King Sauric was a foot deep in a fast moving river an instant later. Sul’hupkaar leaned back slightly to roll with the stallion has it came up short then leaned forward and patted it on the neck.
                   “Easy, friend. We’ll have the assassin soon enough.” Sul’hupkaar reached into a saddle bag and retrieved a taffy covered piece of hardtack. There was nothing that could make the hardtack palatable, not even the sweet coating. Three bites later he bit into the stale hard center.
                   Though the horse wanted to run, its own rage burning at Famine’s loss, Sul’hupkaar kept him trotting for now. They needed a bridge to cross, water meant people eventually and people meant a crossing. They moved along the edge of the copse and meadow and it wasn’t long before Sul’hupkarr could see a narrow road on the other side. He turned King Sauric towards it.
                   As heavy hooves clomped onto the narrow road, Sul’hupkaar spotted a small rodent along its edge dragging a small branch behind it. What a useless existence, but even the woodchuck would be returned to energy when its time here was done. Sul'hupkaar tossed the hardtack to the woodchuck and watched as it dropped the branch, sat on its back legs and began to nibble at it. Jaws worked furiously for a moment before the creature shook his head and tossed it aside. The dark elf almost laughed, even a woodchuck wouldn’t eat the stuff.
                   The snarl returned to his face as he urged King Sauric on. The world was a large place, it would be easier to find his target in the pass’ narrows. This assassin didn’t know the true meaning of his existence yet, but Sul’hupkaar would make sure he did when he found him. Perhaps Loi’hupkaar will continue the lesson when the assassin swam in the Styx with her.