((Ah, you've reached your last year? Congratulations Jag! I hope it isn't as hard as my last year was...))
Ahote
Male | 46 | Fighter
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Ahote plodded forward, head down in concentration and trusting that Attican was corralling the stragglers so that no one would be left behind. There was an overwhelming sense of malaise falling over him, and no matter how he tried to concentrate on his duties, he couldn't shake it. Resin's prints were clear in front of him, and it should have been a simple matter of following them, but he kept being drawn away, his eyes warily wandering the forest on either side as though he expected something to leap out at him at any moment.
Unfortunately for Ahote, that was exactly what happened, as Xani suddenly appeared before him in a huff and a spray of snow. Startling back, a growl arose in his throat before he recognized her, and he quickly ducked his head to show he meant no offense to the Beta. However, it seemed as though she was in far too much of hurry to even notice the sleight, and Ahote's eyes grew wide as she delivered her message. In response, he nodded sharply and she immediately set off once again. His fears realized, and now even more worried about those he knew were still out there, he could feel the fur on the back of his neck begin to stand on end. Resin was among those missing, and it would be a lie to say his heart didn't beat cold in his cheat at the thought.
Taking one quick look behind him, Ahote wordlessly turned off the path Resin had left, heading up hill and towards the jagged peaks that stood stark against the blue sky. Behind him, Xani's howl lifted up and he shook his head, knowing well enough that she would do all she could to distract them from the rest of the pack, the same way Resin had done after the fire. Having also heard her howl, the pup Raka made his way up to him again, and questioned him as he ducked through the trees and looked for footing as the ground grew steeper. It seemed as though the pup had already deduced their predicament, and he doubted the rest of the pack could be far behind him. Taking a deep breath, he met Raka's eyes for a moment before speaking,
"Yes, that is what Xani said... We need to keep moving, and stay silent. Can you help me with that Raka? Pass back word that we must be quiet and not wander, not for anything," he said, trusting the little black pup would do what he could.
A commotion behind him reached Ahote's ears, and they tilted back towards it, listening but unwilling to look back. The sound quickly died down though, and was replaced by the sound of quick moving paws, and the Fighter inwardly kicked himself, wondering just who it could be that was coming up to the front. As the sound grew closer, he turned to face whoever it was, getting ready to tell them to keep quiet, but upon seeing it was Attican, he closed his mouth with a click.
The Keepers words hit Ahote like a stone, and he skidded to a halt, his eyes growing wide. Swinging his head to look Attican in the face, his pair of golden orbs meeting the Keeper's one with a look of disbelief.
"What?!" he blurted out, and then quickly swallowed his words, quieting his voice.
"How could you..." he began again, but upon taking in Attican's posture for the first time, he just shook his head. If anyone would know, it would be Attican.
"Whatever, it doesn't matter... I'll go after her," he replied, as his heart gave him no other option. There was no way he could willingly keep moving away from Resin when she needed him. Already his fur was on edge, and Ahote's voice dropped into a growl. A former alpha and a fighter for many years, he was anything but small, and his angered posture made him look even larger.
"Keep them moving upwards, I doubt the two-leggers would go that way. It must be hard to climb with only two feet to hold you up.""Don't let them stop, not for anything. The two-legged monsters are clever and they may look for weakness and try to separate anyone who falls behind," Ahote said, turning back towards the pack. Pausing before Vali, he looked over his shoulder at Attican, his eyes holding a dangerous glint.
"Send out the hunters, and leave none alive. We have shown mercy, and yet they still seek to kill. Show them the same brutality," he said, his words aberrantly dark for the normally humble and gentle wolf.
With that, Ahote bolted back through the pack, sending startled wolves skittering in his wake. There would be no holding him back now, and he hardly noticed the pull of the skin that was tight against his flank. As his pace increased, his gait would break and he would skip for a few steps before putting his rear leg back down, but he stubbornly forced it there, digging his claws in for purchase against the partially melted snow.
Lani
Female | 57 | Hunter
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Having successfully located Pilot, Lani moved onward, easily picking up Raigho's scent on the wind and heading towards it. The golden fea readily agreed to help her look and that was good enough for Lani, but before she could answer, a howl split the air around them and she came to a sudden halt. There was no mistaking Xani's voice, that brutish Beta could sing like no other, and almost instantly her ears pressed down to the back of her skull. She was calling someone, something out to follow her, and that could only mean that the pack was in danger. Turning to look at Pilot, she shook her head,
"I don't know, but we should find Raigho quickly and get the heck out of here," she said, and quickly turned, moving once again towards her fellow Hunter's scent.
Tracking was second nature to Lani, and she was just starting to fall into her own when she was suddenly stopped cold. The scent that met her nose was suddenly mixed with the bitter scent of two-leggers. Strange as it was, she knew it well as it had clung to Attican's fur for days after his encounter, and her lips curled up in distaste. Silently, she motioned for Pilot to move off into the underbrush, the way she would when they were close to their target on a hunt. Let the hunters become hunted, it would be best to not be seen.
Creeping forward silently, with her belly nearly touching the snow, Lani slowly followed Raigho's trail, a sense of foreboding settling in over her. Every errant noise, a misplaced footstep even a simple sigh of wind caused her to freeze, stomach pressed to the ground while her ears swiveled this way and that, straining for any hint of being followed. The last thing she wanted to do was walk into an attack, and as a hunter, she knew all to well that those she was trying to avoid may be lying in wait for her, unseen, and unnoticed until it was too late. Lani's only defense was her sensitive nose, and she alternated between lowering it to follow Raigho's trail and lifting it high to scent the shifting air for signs of danger.
Trusting Pilot to both follow and to keep on the trail on her own, Lani focused totally on the task ahead of her. She was almost painfully careful, and swung wide whenever the two-legged's scent became strong in the air, or she came across a track or mark, even if it was days old, and from the patter Raigho had taken, it appeared that he had done the same thing. Almost imperceptibly, the trees around them began to thin, and Lani came to a halt as she spotted cracks of blue sky showing through the trees ahead of her. Never in her life had se been so afraid of the sun. Her entire life, she had hunted with nothing more than her white pelt and the heaves in the ice to hide her approach, but the prospect of leaving the dense pines suddenly seemed terrifying.
By now, the scent of the two-leggers was strong in all directions, and Lani was having trouble focusing on keeping track of Raigho, but it certainly seemed as though he had passed out under the protection of the trees and towards the clearing. Carefully, she crept towards the edge, ducking her head to see what was through the trees. The sight that met her eyes made her breath catch in her throat. The monsters had Resin, and she was trapped in some sort of strange conglomeration of tree-parts and thorns. The stench of them was everywhere, and though there seemed to be no tracks, she had no doubt they were still nearby. After all, Resin didn't put herself in that thing. However, one question remained: where was Raigho? Had he been captured as well, or had he somehow managed to escape? Lani dearly hoped for the latter, as they would need all the help they could get if they were to rescue Resin.
Quickly backing up from the edge of the clearing, she looked to Pilot for a moment, longing to converse with the little golden wolf and come up with a plan as to what to do. Lani dare not speak though and instead she moved off again into the trees. Trying to think, she began to circle the clearing slowly, trying always to stay hidden, though it pained her as she seemed to move away from Raigho's scent. Fortunately, just as she was about to give up hope and move back towards the clearing, she caught a glimpse of his stony grey and cream pelt through the trees. Not wanting to risk calling out to him and knowing that he would hear them coming, she sidled up to him.
Barely able to stifle her relief, Lani greeted the stoic brute with a nudge to the shoulder and a tightly reigned in tail before setting in next to him to once again look out on Resin where she stood. Looking back to Pilot and then to Raigho, Lani wondered just what to do now. It was obvious that running to their Alpha's aide would be suicide, but at the same time, they couldn't just stand by and do nothing. If only they knew where the monsters were exactly, they could circle back and come up upon them from behind.
Wolf
Male | 20 | Straggler
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Plodding along like the good little solder he was trying to be, Wolf was fairly oblivious to the tribulations of those who were attempting to lead him. As always, he had been caught up in his own thoughts, and hardly noticed when they turned off the trail they had been following to move upwards towards the mountain peaks. Even Xani's distant howl only penetrated so far into his absent-minded daydreaming, causing a ghost of a smile to pass over his maw before once again disappearing into his accustomed introspection.
Suddenly, a large wolf went charging past him, causing him to startle and finally breaking him out of his thoughts. Looking around, Wolf was just finally beginning to notice the unease around him when another wolf came running at him, forcing him to dive out of the way. Thoroughly perturbed and confused, he shook out his pelt and made his way up towards the font where the ones that seemed to be in charge were gathering. Spotting the big one with one eye, he made his way up to him, looking about at all the frightened faces around him. It was clear that he had missed something important, and though he felt a little sheepish about that, he hadn't the pride to wound by asking stupid questions.
Evening his pace with the elder's, Wolf looked at him with a sidelong glance for a moment. He hardly knew him, but it was clear that something had him up in tooth, and he hoped his questions wouldn't be taken the wrong way.
"Umm... Yes, hello there... I umm... Was wondering where we were going? The mountains here are very tall, we'll never make it across this way," he said, his voice faltering at the end, as though he were unsure of himself. Really, Wolf had no right to tell them what they could and couldn't do, but he had tried to climb many of them during his years of boredom, and never got much higher than the place where the trees ended. Having said his bit, Wolf looked at the other expectantly, clearly curious. The fear of the others had not yet touched him, and all he wanted to do was help.
Ahote
Male | 46 | Fighter
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Charging back the way they had come, Ahote soon reached the point where they had split off from Resin's trail. He was furious, and his blood pounded in his ears as he ran. How dare they come after his pack and his Alpha. Growling silently under his breath, he swore that they would pay, should they so much as harm one hair on her pelt, he would make them pay. It had been a long time since Ahote had felt such fury, such consuming fire, that it pushed him harder. He has spent so many years wallowing in his guilt and sorrow that he had forgotten what real anger felt like.
Struggling not to let the emotion blind him, Ahote followed Resin's trail only up until the point where Xani and Hrafn had split off of it. Making a snap decision, he went the opposite direction they had taken and slipped into the woods. Far too large to move as silently as one of the hunters, he could still track his quarry and his nose topped to the ground in search of trail. His worry over Resin had made his choice for him, and there was no going back now, and keeping her safe meant eliminating the enemies of ScarPaw. Thus it was not her trail he sought, but that of the two-leggers, and it was not long before he caught wind of that which he searched for.
The creature had taken pains to cover their tracks in the snow, dragging something behind them in much the way Lani, Hrafn and Pilot had when they helped the pack escape the first time. Unfortunately for them, this did absolutely nothing to cover their scent and Ahote was able to follow them as well as if they had left a sign telling him which way they had gone. The scent grew stronger, and he could hear the creature's shuffling footsteps ahead of him. Immediately, the Fighter sunk down to the ground and crept forward silently, letting each twig and needle of the undergrowth slide along his pelt, moving like a ghost through the trees.
Soon enough the monster was in sight, and Ahote stopped, eyes locked on the creature. This one was female, and smaller than the ones he had faced with Resin and Attican. Her strange, elongated paws were busy twisting a long length of fiber this way and that, making it longer with each pass, leaving the sharpened piece of antler that she had laying uselessly on the ground beside her. She made no indiction that she felt his presence, and Ahote crept closer, ears pinning back when she began to hum. The scene may have been interesting, had he not been determined to end her life.
Without uttering the slightest sound, Ahote leapt from cover and was on the monster before she could let out a sound. Nearly twice her weight, his jaws quickly found their mark and with a with nothing more than a wet sounding crunch, she was ended. Standing up, Ahote licked the blood from his lips and turned away. He had no intention of eating this creature, though their blood tasted just the same as any other animal's. He had more work to do.
Once again Ahote set off, leaving the carcass behind him as he searched for a new trail. It seemed as though several of them had traveled together from this point, and he soon found himself following another warm track. Slowing as he felt he was drawing near, he once and stalked through the trees, moving quietly towards a clearing. Though he was upwind from the site, the wind changed just enough to bring him Resin's scent along with that of three of ScarPaw's hunters. This made his heart pound in his chest, and as he drew closer his eyes grew wide at the sight that met him.
Resin was trapped, surrounded by more of that wood that the female had been shaping. There were pin-pricks of blood on her pelt and a wound on her shoulder, and the sight of her blood brought Ahote's heart up into his throat. Every nerve in his body urged him to go to her, to see that she was alright, but he stopped himself. The trail had clearly led him to this point, and the monsters that had left it could not be far away.
Suddenly unsure of what to do, Ahote sunk slowly to the ground, being sure to remain hidden. It was tearing him apart inside to see Resin trapped the way she was, and he had just about convinced himself to damm the consequences and go to her when a flicker of movement caught his attention. One would have never seen it, a flicker of white fur between the bark of a tree and the snow beyond, had he not known to look for it. He knew that pelt anywhere: Lani.
Searching the underbrush with his eyes, it wasn't easy to spot the three hunters where they hid across the clearing from him, but he eventually managed to catch Lani's eye. Making certain that she could see him, he nodded slowly, the movement of his blood-stained muzzle barely perceivable against the thicket in which he hid. One of them was going to have to flush them out, and of them all, he had the best chance of holding his own until they could attack. Taking a deep breath, Ahote prepared himself, locking eyes with the wolves across from him and hoping that they understood.
