Dante really did not have much to fear, in fact, perhaps he would come to fear Arcus through a different process altogether -- simply by being accepted without the typical showy bravado every local testosterone-juiced stallion around here seemed to have. The Ridge was not the most perfect or complete home to him or to any of the mares who chose to stay here on their own; Bleu had run to his home in the middle of the night, Evanthe had wandered in with him curiously, and Alacran had decided to follow him wherever it was the older horse wished to go -- kind of like an irritating young sister that Arcus patiently allowed himself to be followed by. It was a sprawling landscape that was average with it's vegetation and all the fresh water an animal could ever need was just a steep rocky hillside away. It was where he often disappeared to, crawling the rocks down to the freshwater beach just down below -- a trail that if he followed it for a day or so, would lead him to exactly nowhere he knew about. If there were secrets about the Ridge -- Arcus had yet to discover them.

Dante was a quick find for his sharp green eyes for the Atlantis Ridge was a very flat, treeless land with very few places to hide. Here is where the wind culled every smell it could find at the edges and brought it into the heartland through a steady and very constant current of wind. Dante was just a simple little blip of darkness along the corner of the Ridge where Arcus first spotted him coming in and so he gathered himself and pulled himself into a slow walk. Arcus was confident with himself enough to know that if he had to protect the caravan then he would do so when the situation arose, no need to boast here - no, Arcus was as calm as the verdent green of his eyes.

"--You came in from upper Atlantis I see," observed Arcus calmly, eyes moving past Dante to double check his coordinates off of landmarks he had plotted out for his own navigational purposes. "Nasty storm we had there a few days ago -- I was sure everyone got blown away with that wind we had. One of my girls went missing, still haven't recovered her." Perhaps this is why Dante had come, Arcus had thrown the common courtesy at Dante just to see how it would stick to him or perhaps roll off of him and make him fear the strange kindness Arcus already had for him. Either way, it was difficult to determine whether or not Arcus was baiting the stallion or being genuine. That in regard, he turned some to offer a wordless invite into the territory, his one and only ear tipped towards the heartland where he had come from as he lead the way in.

A R C U S

"I think you look on death as your friend," she murmured.
"That is a strange friend for a young man to have."

"The only faithful friend in this world," he said bitterly.
"Death is always sure to be at your side."