The Hunters

Valkyra lounged at the foot of the bed like a cat, wise grey eyes watching over the sleeping girl. “What did Hasan say?” she asked Tyrus in a voice barely louder than a whisper.

He shook his head and sat on the floor. “She’s not doing well. She almost died just days before we got here.”

“She’s strong.”

“That’s what I said. But Hasan’s right—she can’t fight this forever.”

“He thinks she'll die soon?"

Tyrus couldn't speak with the lump that had lodged in his throat and just nodded instead.

“And what do you think?” Valkyra asked gently.

Tyrus looked at Alena’s peaceful face and fought the tears that stung his eyes, waiting until he had control of his emotions to answer Valkyra’s question. “I don’t know. Hasan thinks I should stay here until she—” His eyes burned again, and he took a breath. “I don’t know what to do. I don’t want to give up on finding a cure, but I don’t want her to be alone when it happens.”
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Here we have Tyrus and Valkyra, the antagonists of my fantasy novel-in-progress. A long time ago, I saw this piece: fadeddreams5.deviantart.com/ar…
And my first thought was, "Oh my gosh! That pose would be so perfect for Silas and Valkyrus!" (Back when Tyrus was a much older man named Silas, and Valkyra was male). So yeah, I kind of stole the pose, because it's perfect for them. Valkyra is constantly sitting on or hovering over Tyrus' shoulder.

I love these guys so much. Seriously, I don't think I've ever loved any of my antagonists so much. They're easy for me to write and get inside their heads, which really helps. And I love their character arcs. It's fun to finally have some art of them. I tried to make Valkyra not-totally-white, but now I think she's a little too gray. I also got lazy with her fur, but....she was the last thing I colored and I think we all know by now how lazy I get when I'm at the end of a piece and just hurrying to finish. In my head, she's a lot prettier and more elegant but, meh. This works.

Background patterns taken from this: downloads.bbc.co.uk/rmhttp/sch…