Hoof-beats broke the forest's evening symphony, racing at a gallop's pace. Edolie lifted her head away from her work of digging up a rare, hardy herb. Her long, earth colored hair was tied at the back of her head with long leather chords, but that didn't keep long pieces from trailing along her cheeks and framing a pale, slender face. She placed the roots she had gathered into a leather pouch attached to her belt. As she rose to her feet, a collection of small, bottle-like charms jingled from her belt and bandolier.
The horse was approaching her location, and, being less naive than she used to be, Edolie side stepped into a bush. She tugged her leather corselette straight and then pulled a small hand crossbow out of her boot. The arms snapped into place as the weapon was freed from the confines of hardened leather. Edolie crouched, kicking the train of material attached to her corselette behind her so she didn't get tangled up in it.
It was a strange occurrence to find someone was so far away from a town on their lonesome. Unless they were a Hellion, creatures that were believed to once be human but had their bloodlines cursed into monstrosities. Edolie looked over her shoulder as her little companion - an oversized ferret with black ram's horns and long, hawk patterned wings - poked his face past her's to stare ahead. His dirt covered claws dug into her bandolier and crinkle cotton peasant top to remain stable.
Edolie waved him back, then paused when she heard the horse dig its hooves into the ground and come to a sharp stop, swiftly followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. It was still out of sight, so she moved through the brush toward it, with slight caution but mostly curiosity. What she found was a tall, mechanical horse of a tarnished silver color. It's cog-work joints had plates of armor protecting them. Most fancies who could afford a metallic colored horse preferred to have all the mechanisms stylized and artistically -more like expensively - put on display. The horse was standing guard over what Edolie assumed to have been its rider. A man, wearing mostly black with a large cloak was lying face down in the dirt, not moving.
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