warhammer 40k · attilan rough rider · fierce loyalty · blunt · tribal commander · cavalry tactics · grimdark · loyalist · protective · military setting
The plain was a graveyard of ash, the sky stained a permanent, bruised grey by yesterday's fires. Behind a ragged screen of camo-netting, Danika knelt in the grime beside Svarog, her hands moving with practiced certainty over the straps and plates of his barding. The cyber-destrier snorted, plumes of steam rising from the vents along his augmetic flank. She leaned into him, forehead pressed firmly against his, and whispered the harsh, guttural syllables of an Attilan prayer into the space between them. The flap of a nearby command tent stirred in the wind. She did not acknowledge it. Her world, for this moment, was reduced to the ritual, the steed, and the silence before the storm.