I'm writing a little thing for @amielot's horse girl AU, and since it's the most recent thing I've worked on, and what I felt like working on tonight, here's a sneak peek, that is definitely more than a hundred or so words 😅
Dream turns, aiming now to rush to Hob's aid, but just as he gets close to where they're fighting, the man with the gun ends up behind Hob and then wraps an arm around Hob’s neck. He grins cruelly at Dream as Hob struggles beneath his hold. Dream whinnies angrily, but he can’t move any further. He's furiously close, and yet not close enough to reach Hob in time, even if he gallops, even if he runs.
Then the man points the gun directly at Hob's head.
Hob doesn’t let him get any further with the threat. He lurches his entire body backwards, the force of the movement knocking them both off balance. While the man is distracted and trying to rebalance himself, Hob frees one of his hands and repositions the barrel directly underneath the man’s chin. He pulls the trigger before the man can react.
The resulting bang! rings loudly in the other quiet forest, and Dream winces as the sound thunders through his sensitive ears. There’s a high pitched whine that follows soon after, and Dream staggers, his entire equilibrium now thrown off balance. He can smell blood and smoke and death. Everything is suddenly too loud; the rustling of the leaves, the screech of the birds as they flee from nearby branches, the sound of his own heartbeat.
Dream shuts his eyes, trying to will the nausea that overtakes him to go away. He barely registers the remaining two men from Burgess’s group running off in the opposite direction, leaving him and Hob alone.
Hob. Dream can’t hear Hob, not over the loud, pulsing, ringing in his ears. While he was certain Hob wasn’t dead, Dream still had to see proof of life with his own eyes.
Groaning in pain, Dream forces himself to take a few steadying breaths to calm himself, his entire body shaking uncontrollably. Breathing feels like he's swallowing glass, but it gets easier with each slow inhale and exhale. His heart eventually calms, and Dream feels somewhat proud that he's been able to remain upright the entire time.
When he’s able to open his eyes again, the first thing he sees is the man with the gun lying dead just inches away from Hob, his entire face blown clean off. Blood and viscera, and what Dream assumes are bits of the man’s brain, are scattered on the forest floor. When Dream lifts his gaze to finally look up at Hob, his eyes widen and he feels his pulse jump as the sight.
The majority of Hob’s face and upper body is covered in blood and bits of flesh that slowly drip down the man’s clothes, bathing him in a sea of red. Dream notices that some small fragments of bone have stuck to Hob’s hair, likely parts of the other man’s skull. Hob is panting heavily, but then he suddenly collapses next to the disfigured remains of his assailant, as if whatever invisible force holding him upright had suddenly cut loose its strings. He groans, burying his face in bloodied hands, smearing it across the rest of his face. Hob doesn’t even seem to notice the state he’s in, he’s likely too preoccupied with the same kind of nausea Dream had been feeling just moments ago. Dream imagines whatever ringing Hob must hear in his head is likely even worse than what Dream experienced, due to the man’s proximity to the weapon when it fired.
