Meggan (Amalthea) and Angelo (El Santo) (Backdated)

[x-meggan.livejournal.com]

Believing themselves to be Lady Amalthea and El Santo, Meggan and Angelo conjure up a spirit to help them find the Red Bull. Once it’s possessed Angelo, he leads the way--and points her in the general direction for what turned out to be Kyle after the log has come to a close.



Angelo had hopped down from the cart as it slowed down, and was now walking back towards the beginning. However, there was something entirely different about the way he was moving and holding himself, since he'd got onto the cart at the beginning of the hay ride. He looked over at his companion and grinned.

"Havin' a little dress-up?"

Meggan, or rather the Unicorn, tilted her head, confused for a brief moment. She was also moving differently, more fluidly than she had earlier. She looked down at herself, before looking back to Angelo. “I could ask you the same, since I’ve always appeared as you see before you,” she replied. A hesitant smile emerged, as she tried to work out why he would ask such a thing. “Have you a name, Sir? I am the Lady Amalthea," she offered. If introductions were to be made, then she would use the name Schmendrick had given to her. It was as good a name as any other, and the only one that she knew.

"Lady Amalthea it is", he said with a nod, bowing slightly to her. "Pretty name. You can call me El Santo."

“Thank you. It is a great pleasure to meet you, El Santo,” she replied with a smile. Schmendrick was really the one who should be thanked, for his taste in choosing the name. She knew it likely wasn’t correct form to return the bow, but she did so anyway. A thought struck her, and she studied him carefully. “Few see me as I truly am—it’s usually as a mare to be bridled. You saw my horn, I know you did. Are you a wizard, then, such as Schmendrick?” She hoped he was much more adept at the craft than her friend if he was, in fact, a wizard. And not just a mortal, able to see what most could not.

"Those people are fools to see you as any ordinary horse", he said smoothly. "The term we use is santero, for santeria magic, but I have ways."

“Fools? Not always, but some can be. Sometimes,” she laughed. “Perhaps no longer holding the innocence they once did, and believing we are—that I am—a fairy tale.” She remembered now, she was trying to find her sisters, so she wouldn’t be the only one in the world. More for the fact they were in constant danger. She knew she wasn’t the last. “If they don’t believe, they can’t see,” she concluded. Meggan nodded at his explanation.

“Santero, then." Hopefully, she continued, "Are you able to use your santeria magic to track the creature that traps my sisters?” All she knew was where they were driven to, not where the one who held them made his home.

"Perhaps." He tilted his head. "Perhaps not. But I can try. If the orishas will it, we will know."

She had time, she would try to be patient. Unicorns always had time, so she shouldn’t be so desperate to do this now. “Good. Are there any herbs we should gather, or rituals we must do before it will work?” The name of the creature would be required, she wasn’t sure if his magic would pull it from the air. “The one we seek is called The Red Bull.”

"The Red Bull." He considered. "It would be better with an altar, but even without one... I'd only need the ritual, and some small offering."

“An offering.” She pondered that, wondering what she could give. Not blood. Using her blood might only locate her sisters through a family link, and not the Red Bull. She needed to rescue them, not join them in their captivity beneath the waves. “You may use a lock taken from my mane or a sliver from a piece of my hoof, if it’s required for the ritual.” She showed him her white hair, perfectly willing to cut off a piece--or yank it out, if they didn't have scissors. It was easier to remove that, she knew. She hoped it worked, and they could find the way to the Red Bull.

"That would help, to forge a link with you. And perhaps some fruit or vegetables for the spirit - this is a farm, after all, I'm sure the horses won't mind the theft of just a little food."

A pair of old, slightly rusty shears lay nearby almost hidden from view, not too blunt to perform the work she required. Even if it did require a few swift yanks for the blade to open, then cut through the hair. She silently handed him the lock of hair. She looked around them, then, spotting a pumpkin sitting nearest to the cart. Perhaps it would work, even if it had been carved out, with a jaunty expression on the outside. If not, she took three apples for the spell, not enough to deny any horse on the farm its rightful meal. Not enough to do any damage. “Would these work? I was unsure of the decorative pumpkin. It was hollow inside.”

"The apples will be better", he said decisively. "The pumpkin might amuse them, but they do like something to eat. Now, you mustn't be alarmed if I change during the ritual, it will only be the orisha riding me and it will do you no harm."

A mere pumpkin shell wouldn’t be filling for the spirits, so she understood the choice of apples was a wise one. “I will not grow fearful, but I thank you for the warning. Do as you will, El Santo,” She stepped back, so he could perform the ritual. If his weaving of spells were like Schmendrick’s ways, he would need plenty of room to gesture. She was ready, and hopeful.

He sat down, legs crossed under him on the ground, and closed his eyes, the three apples balanced on his outstretched hands. As it turned out, what followed was less gesturing and more chanting in an unfamiliar language.

She would not pace while she waited. The spirits were like as not to frown on such as that, and turn against them and her purposes in a single heart’s beating. So she remained still, watching with curious eyes for any sign, any change. Waiting in anticipation as she listened to the unfamiliar words.

His eyes snapped open, at length, and the change was clear as they shone yellow, studying the apples before looking at her. "I like your offering", said a warm deep voice. "What would you have of me, Lady Unicorn?"

A success, then, so far. The eyes were unsettling, but this was obviously the magic at work. “Knowledge. I wish to know the path to take. I humbly request that you tell me where the Red Bull has made his hiding place,” she said firmly. She tried to word it in such a way that the spirit would not be offended or do something unwelcome. If it lied, it would all be a wild bull chase, so to speak.

"The Red Bull", said the thing speaking through El Santo, consideringly. "This creature is your enemy?"

”Yes. He holds my sisters,” she explained. “They are trapped beneath the waves, held prisoner until he is gone. I wish to free them, and defeat him if I may. If I am able.” King Haggard wasn’t in the picture anymore. He was gone, the Red Bull remained to torment the unicorns. She didn’t know how she knew that, she just did. His castle had crumbled, but his creature remained. “Oh, spirit, do you know where the Red Bull is?”

"I do", was the solemn response. "He is not far from here, as it happens."

She paused, surprised at the nearness, even if she was almost relieved. Was he tracking her, the same as she was doing to him? “On the farm grounds? Will you point the way, then, spirit, so that I may find him?”

"I will lead you to him", the spirit told her, taking a healthy bite from one of the apples. "I may remain here to eat this fine fruit, so I have time."

”Please do.” She was near to begging, and not sure if it would anger him or not. If he needed to eat, then she shouldn’t rush him in his words. “I thank you…and I would not wish to disturb your meal now that you have begun. Please enjoy it,” she smiled. She assumed it must be a rare thing indeed to get a physical meal if one was a spirit. “I am eternally in your debt—and El Santo’s, for bringing you.”

"I can eat and walk, little unicorn", he assured her with a smile. "And talk too, in between. Your kind are rare enough in this time, I may just give in to the urge to linger."

“Your company would be a welcome thing as I travel my path, whether it be in spirit or physical form,” she assured him with a pleased smile. If the lingering meant remaining within El Santo’s body permanently, she remained uncertain if he would agree with the situation. The spirit likely meant without a physical form, floating in the ether and observing. It wouldn't be lonely. “Lead on, if you would be so kind.”

"I'll be keeping an eye on you one way or the other", he promised, starting to walk. "Physical form can only be with a willing servant, such as the one you call El Santo, but perhaps sometimes."

She followed, remaining close to his side. She remained watchful in case she saw the telltale red glow of flames from the Red Bull. Could he be hiding somewhere in the distance? “That is comforting to know. We must talk from time to time, when we are able, when there is a willing host.” Knowing that was, indeed, a great relief to her. “How near to us would you say the Red Bull must be? Is he bringing pain and suffering to other beings, while holding my kind?” It was a disturbing thought, but she needed to know.

"I do not sense any pain or suffering close by", he told her, focusing forward. "If that is his way, perhaps he is biding his time."

She nodded, thankful for that small bite of good news as they walked. No others should suffer from the destruction it left in its wake. “It could be that that is the reason. Or he has not been pointed in someone else’s direction like a hound for its master, found the right thing to stoke the anger within him just yet.” The sound of noise in the distance drew her interest, then. She looked to the spirit within El Santo, a question in her eyes.

"Yes." He nodded. "That way. There are others around him, but he is there."

As they neared where the Red Bull must be with the chaos looming ahead, she looked back to him once more. She supposed one did not shake hands with a spirit, no matter how much one wanted to. Besides, he was still eating. “Thank you. I’m afraid that this is where our ways must part for a time as I do what must be done, but it was a great pleasure to speak with you, through El Santo.” Both had been a great boon to her, and she would not forget them.

The Red Bull may appear differently if he were surrounded by others. Magic was always afoot in the world, and an illusion may have been cast, a spell woven strangely by another magician to make others believe him to be like them until he struck. She would know those horns no matter the likeness attached; she would not be fooled, and she would fight her hardest.

"As you will." He stopped, letting her continue, and stepped back. "My pleasure also, Lady Amalthea. We will meet again."