Torito

I froze, the strange spotted Courser's knife to my neck. I couldn't remember the last time someone had genuinely beaten me in a fight. I looked at her as she said "Enough." My tiredness faded away as I looked into her deep brown eyes, replaced with a casual flirtatiousness that came to me as easily as breathing. I stepped backwards, removing the threat of her blade. "Well, hey there gorgeous."
She rolled her eyes at me and snorted, before turning to the other Courser, the one who had lunged at Madoc. "Wulfe, you good?"
Ah. So it was Wulfe. I thought I'd recognised him, but hadn't been sure in the chaos. Madoc shot me a wide-eyed glance, and I could see that he had made the connection. Wulfe stepped backwards, allowing the spotted Courser to sheath her weapon, but his face was still darkened with rage.
He looked at my white markings on my face, and I saw him make the connection.
"So Bull, what are you doing rifling through my things? Eating my food?" He snarled, his voice thick with menace.
Two could play at that. "Well, Prince, I didn't see your name on it."
Oddly, at his title, Wulfe glanced towards the spotted Courser, as though he were worried. Strange.
Both myself and Wulfe had begun to puff ourselves up during this brief exchange, but before another fight could break out, the spotted Courser let out a growl. I turned to her and said "I'm guessing that makes you a Princess?"
She looked at me as though I was a lunatic. It was quite endearing.
"What on earth are you talking ab- you know what, it doesn't even matter. You guys clearly know each other, is this gonna be an issue, or will you be able to be civil for more than ten seconds at a time?"
The look she gave Wulfe and me was withering. Both of our mouths were slightly ajar, neither of us used to being spoken to this way. I realised then and there that she had no idea who I was, or who Wulfe was.
Wulfe turned his nose up and said "I can if he can."
"Likewise." Came my reply.
"Okay then. You two clearly already know Wulfe, and I'm Kraken. And you two are..?" She paused, waiting for someone to introduce us. Madoc shook himself and cleared his throat. "Apologies, Kraken, for our rudeness. I am Madoc, and this is the Bull."
I watched her as Madoc said this. There was no recognition of my name in her face. How refreshing. And her name, Kraken? It oddly suited her. Just like the creature of the ocean, she seemed fierce and capable. My tiredness suddenly caught up to me once more, and I swayed on my feet. I saw concern flash across her face.
"Nice to meet you both. In the nicest possible way, you both look like you haven't slept in a long while." She took my grimace as a confirmation. "So, this room seems to be safe, and hardly anyone seems to head this way. So pick a wall, shore up against it, and sleep. We can talk more once you're rested."
Wulfe had headed over to his bags and was beginning to settle down for the night, so I picked a spot on a wall a good distance away. I was watching him carefully - I'd heard tales of what a good fighter he was, and couldn't help but think that perhaps I was lucky that Kraken had intervened. Because I was watching him, I saw him realise that Kraken didn't seem to be settling down for the night like the rest of us. Well, I say the rest of us - Madoc wasn't settling down, he was already fully asleep, snoring and everything.
He called out to her. "Kraken, what are you doing?"
She answered without even glancing back, making her way to a nearby exit. "I'm fed up of being lost. I'm going to check out each exit and then at least we can mark the ones we've already tried."
It made sense. I felt sleep washing over me as I watched her head to the doorway marking the exit, stick her head inside and then scrape her hoof down the side, leaving a white mark to apparently indicate that she'd already tried that one. My head was almost on the floor when she moved to the next exit. I could see a little way through that doorway, and within I could see a room that Madoc and I had passed long ago, a room that held cells filled with Courser skeletons. A room that - oh damn.
"KRAKEN, NO." I shouted at the exact same moment that her hoof came down just on the wrong side of the door, triggering the trap waiting within.