Fishblight Mire Sueños

@Silvertongue <3

The moor turned into the mire. Dragging her through the muck had been no easy feat. He stopped on the edge, nearing the harsh ground that gave way to desert and sand and scorching sun. Soto might be near. Juárez would need to show his brother the prize he had won. 

The ruined star had been fed a healthy dosing of drugs. She had been staggering through fits of dreams and wakefulness for a time. The herbs always took her back. He had grown tired of some of her mutterings. Dragged her through the thick wet of the moor so that she did not have room for soft-spoken words about her visions. Those breaths would need to be spent keeping her alive. 

Juárez dropped her and scanned the area for food. A jungle cat's eyes in search.

a rabbit; untethered. she placed her feet in the marks left by his own and spoke of starclan, how they had appointed a shadowprince over their numbers. she told juárez how he had once been king of the sun. the heat grew hot, oppressive. cloying. it seemed she could not get a full breath. silvertongue hung her head among the swamp's ether, swallowing back bile as she tried to escape into her visions again. it felt good to be unraveled, as good as it felt horrible. between these lands silvertongue wandered a thin path, staring now at the monster as she panted. no longer did she speak except to ask him, once, to send her onto that balcony of dreams before he enjoyed himself again. whether or not he heard her did not matter. she grabbed another mouthful of sweltering air and swayed.

At least she had learned. She had learned that the drugs would give her sanctuary. It would take her where she wanted to go and to see whoever she wished to see. And the further they moved, the more she seemed to want it. Which was equal parts thrilling and satisfying. 

Need to feed you. Then you can have more, he grunted to her. Juárez had no intention of denying her the fix. He would make her need it. It would become impossible to live without it. And he would be her only tether to that sweet blissful world of dreams.

"what is he going to do with me?" she asked herself aloud. some things did not change; her attention to detail and preening, for instance. insensate as she was, silvertongue missed no chance to primp herself into presentability. this mire tried her skills and tainted her with the reek of fish. the courtesan judged juárez for it, and her eyes narrowed suddenly feline upon the jaguar-man. "and if i do not eat?" she managed mildly, just before the skies tilted sideways and her blood ran with the nightmare again.

You will eat. 

There was no room for debate or argument. She had tasted the drugs. She would crave them. The longer that he fed them to her, the more she would need them. And when it came to it, her body's natural response will be to do anything Juárez might ask of her to get them. Soto would like her, he thought. A wife to share between brothers. 

And then I will reward you with what you want, he reminded her in a growl.

"no sabes lo que quiero." her eyes shot around, looking. questing. the mire filled her nostrils and the substance lessened its hold on her — for a moment. silvertongue stumbled to one side and then as the thought occurred, tried to run back through the marsh, shuffling more slowly than she liked in the clasp of the slimy water.

Crowfeather... 

The jaguar rasped the name like a twisted prayer. And then, to worsen it, he lifted his chin upward and mimicked the fallen star's voice as she had muttered and moaned the name of her vision. 

Crowfeather... why did you come back? 

And he watched with heavy-lidded eyes as she tried to slop through the muck to flee again. Juárez waited a moment to see how she would respond to his words.

her voice. her words in that monstrous voice. twisted; twisted; and silvertongue froze where she was in the stinking mud. the glossed eyes turned toward juárez and for a moment she thought hate would break her. "never say his name," she commanded with all the palatial glory she had once wielded. "never! kill you!" she lunged back for him, path out forgotten as she tried to take her bloodied pound of vengeance out of his hide.