Speed is of the Essence [Nehsmay & Seliarus]

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay smirked confident as she watched Nidae stand next to her. She dismounted and looked Shade straight in the eye. "I know you can understand me colt so listen here and listen good. If it seems the danger becomes too grave you run." The horse neighed as if saying no, but Nehsmay stopped him "Don't even dare. I can take care of myself, you're just a silly colt. Now go to the middle of the bridge." Shade nodded and headed towards his place. The Vantha then turned her attention to her friends, especially Seliarus who had turned into his Dhani form. She was mesmerized by the power he seemed to radiate in comparison to a tiny human like herself. She could understand why people feared Dhani, but fear led to misconception and she had no desire to hurt her friend by not trusting him. Meanwhile the beasts approached and stepped out of the shadows. They were wolves, dire wolves to be more precise and twelve at most in number. Nehsmay knew her friends were brave, but they were bound to run head first into danger and she didn't want them to get hurt. Lighting her torch she took her arrows from her quiver and one by one lit them on fire then placed them on a square rock on the bridge. The beasts were getting near, but they failed to notice the stave of dry wood they were standing next to. Grabbing a fire arrows she quickly unleashed it and hit the wood who took fire unleashing sparkles that caught themselves into a wolf's mane making it catch fire. The beast ran howling, spreading the fire to another wolf that was in its path. "Luckily the forest is wet from all the rain." Nehsmay mused to herself as she readied another arrow, because the remaining pack was fastly approaching.

[Seliarus]

Sel felt alive. A shiver traveling across his spine, as he was trying to get use to this form as soon as possible. His tongue shot out of his snout, hissing at the incoming wolves. So, he was right, with them being more than five. But, if he wouldn't think about the burning ones, there were still ten running towards them. His face grimaced to the snake-grin he lusted for so long, as he started to gather the poison from his fangs inside his mouth. And then, without warning, he bolted forward, with all of the speed his Dhani self could muster. But, then again, they weren't far from them, so he did not have a lot of time to move, before spitting the venom, that was mixed with his own saliva, at one of the wolves. Now, his aim was not exactly great, but the close distance was all that was needed to disorient the wolf, before he bended over, and took a giant bite in the blinded wolf's neck, that was growling and whining, then the venom got into his eyes. It wasn't a pretty sight, as the eleven foot tall Dhani lifted the still moving wolf in the air, with all of the strength he possessed. The wolf was in fatal pain, as blood started to drip Sel's slitted eyes and snout. The warm liquid. Pouring down on him like rain. The feeling of the fresh kill rejuvenated him. This is what life was about. Kill. And with that, he slammed his snout back on the ground. The Dire wolf, as big as he was, made one last sound, as the cracking of bones echoed trough the forest. As horrifying as it sounded, he knew there was no other way, even though he was scaring his Vantha friend. But this feeling was simply too good. One of the wolf's bones was already showing out of the fur, as the Dhani lifted himself back up. But as successful as he was in his last attack, his assault served as a taunt for the other wolves. And soon enough, two more jumped on his left and right, growling, barking, and one of them, specifically the one of the right, jumped on him, with it's mouth opened, as a row of sharp canine fangs buried themselves into Sel's arm. Growling in pain as that happened, he snapped out of his enjoyment. This fight was far from over. And as his own blood started to drip down his arm, he started to bite towards the wolf on his arm, and lifting his arm up to get into biting distance. But, as soon as his fangs touched the wolf's back, the other wolf, that was on his right, made his way to bite his back. The second bite was a bit too much, and the Dhani growled. He, even though the pain was enormous, started to bite on the wolf that was on his arm again. And again. Sel's blood was starting to soak the ground, as he finally managed to make the wolf on his hand let go, and, due to the bites, run away to recover. Sadly enough, venom was already in the wolf's blood, so it had not much time left. Now, when this happened, the wolf on his back released its grip again, and but then leaped back on him. Only this time, he managed to get prepared, and swipe the wolf with his tail. Now, he might of be seen that he was taking the fight well, but truth to be said, there already were two quite big bite marks. One on his right hand, and one on his back. And the second wolf did not have the intentions of running away. In the meantime, the rest of the wolves started to come closer, and Sel decided he should move back a bit, closer to the bridge. He then peered towards the direction on Nida, trying to see if she would need any help, but he quickly had to look back towards the wolf, as he was readying to attack again.

[Nidassasyae]

OOCI'll leave the decision of their deaths to you then, Nehs, since you came up with them Nidassasyae covered the way to the bridge with her body, making sure that no wolves could get to Nehsmay. To her great surprise, two of the wolves caught on fire, brought down by the Vantha's fire arrows. Nida eyed the flaming wolves nervously, but didn't move from her stance. Although she knew that fire was sometimes a good thing, it always made her nervous, especially when let loose in a forest. Luckily the burning wolves didn't seem to be minding the combat as they struggled with the consuming fire that ate itself through their skin. The Kelvic stood her ground, resisting the desire to spring at the wolves. No, she needed to protect her friends, that would be a foolish move. For like what seemed the first time in her life, Nida took the logical path. But the wolves had no such inhibitions. One of the closest ones sprang at her, and she reared up onto her hind paws to meet him head on. There was no chance to back up, nor to pace around him. The only way she could attack was head on, it was not a fighting style that cats preferred. She could feel his claws dig into her shoulders, and sunk her own into his. Feline and canine bit and scratched at one another, neither able to gain any ground. But suddenly she could feel the enormous pain coming from the Bond. Sel!, she screamed in the feline tongue, the wolf flattening it's ears against its skull at the shrillness of the sound. Red started to leak into the corners of her vision as Nida gave in to the bloodlust, tearing at the wolf before her. She moved one paw farther down, raking at the wolf's belly. He howled in pain, digging his claws deeper into her as she struggled, off balance. In that brief moment of his hesitation, the snow leopard pushed all her weight against him, pinning him to the ground. There was a sharp crack as he fell, and Nida wasn't sure if that could be his neck. It seemed dead enough, but she only watched for a second before turning to Sel's second attacker. If it wasn't dead, she'd pay the consequences. But for now, it didn't matter. The second wolf leaped at Sel, but her Bondmate was ready, whacking the wolf out of the air with his powerful tail. In an instant, the leopard was ontop of the fallen wolf, attempting to close her jaws on his throat.

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay inhaled sharply as each of the remaining beasts chose a target and sprung. Her second arrow was already in its place and the Vantha woman released it, missing one of her foes by only a couple of inches. "Curse!" she cried out and grabbed another one just as Nidae sprang upon the wolves. Seeing about half of the foes heading towards Sel's direction the third arrow wheezed through the air and hit one of the wolves in its side, his fur slowly catching fire as he howled in pain and tried to roll on the ground to extinguish the flames. However the arrow must have struck a vital place as blood flew rapidly from the wound and in mere moments the beat's howls died out. Smirking, Nehsmay did a quick count: three had fallen to her arrows, Sel took care of two more and Nidae of two. That was seven in total which left five more. Terrific... Two of said wolves were heading straight her way taking advantage of the snow leopard's absence. Nehsmay stepped backwards a few steps until she reached the middle of the bridge distancing herself from the predators. A new arrow stood in its place as the first wolf advanced on the bridge. "Great! Remember what you learned back home, Nehs!" The Vantha muttered to herself as she unleashed the arrow. The wolf leaped and dodged it, growling menacingly. Her fire arrows were all spent and the torch had remained at her previous spot. The Vantha's eyes widened in disbelief as she shot the second arrow and hit the wolf in its paw. Howling maddeningly the wolf turned tails and ran just as its partner approached Nehsmay and sprang. The Vantha turned around and jumped to her left to avoid the wolf. She was a moment too late, as the wolf's claws grazed her arm leaving behind angry stripes oozing blood. She landed on the side of the bridge standing face to face with the predator that was preparing to leap again. The Vantha took another step backward, but lost her footing and slipped in the icy river. The water was cold, but thankfully not very deep; the sudden disappearance of its prey confused the wolf giving Nehsmay time to grasp her bow and pull another arrow from her quiver. Shivering, she rose to her feet hissing angrily and shot the last wolf in the neck... he fell in a puddle of blood.

[Seliarus]

The Dhani was getting tired. And not just because of the cold that was slowly returning to him, but also because of the blood he had lost thanks to them giant starving wolves who's blood just happened to taste extremely sweet, and nice. His snout was covered with that blood, so he could have the taste on his tongue for a while more. Back in the fight, the wolf that he striked with the tail ran away, back in the forest, a bit afraid of what was standing there in front of him. Even though it was starving, and crazed from the bloodrage, just like the Dhani himself, he never seen something like him. The wolf had more chances of eating after the battle, where his pack was so mercilessly slaughtered. But, then again, three of the pack were slowly getting closer too him, starting to encircle him, and then move around in the circle, trying to find a good timing to simply pounce on and beat the snake monster to the ground. Sel could feel their animalistic rage, and that filled him up with adrenaline. Even though, as many would wait for the wolves to make the first attack, Sel did not. Suddenly, he rushed to his left, where one of the wolves was, and, with all the speed he could gather due to his injuries, rammed into it snout first, fangs exposed. The wolf's claws managed to scratch the place where his collar bone was, but that did not stop the striking Dhani. With the wolf in his snout, he rammed himself in a near-by tree, and then inserting his venom into the wolf's body. After releasing the wolf from his grip, all it did was fall limb on the ground. While he was still alive, it had problems getting over the initial shock of being poisoned, and already feeling the venom taking effect. But, as much as he wanted to celebrate, he had to turn around, where the two remaining wolves were readying themselves for a strike. The Dhani was cornered, back first to a tree, and on each of his sides, a wolf was approaching. He was too tired to run, or jump away. He was already breathing heavily, and the vision in his eyes became blurred. NO. Not yet. Not now. He muttered to himself in his Dhani tongue, which sounded more like hissing than anything else. Using his tail as a whip, he whipped in front of him, as a taunt, yet hoping the wolves would see him as a superior beast, and back off. Sadly though, they were far too vicious to do such a thing. So the Dhani had to do the only thing he could do in that moment. And it wasn't running away. He threw himself into the two wild beasts, slashing his tail, bitting at them, even though slower than before, causing the two wolves to be able to dodge most of his attacks. But in addition, he was receiving more and more damage himself, and due to the two big bite marks he received earlier, he just couldn't take on much more. With the last bit of his resources, he bit one of the two wolves, before getting tackled by the second one. After that, he simply fell to the ground, as the wolf who tackled him started to get closer and closer, growling at him, and making ready to strike the Dhani down. Once and for all. The first wolf also joined the second one, but due to the bite, it could hardly even move. But, poisoned or not, it was not giving up.

[Nidassasyae]

Nidassasyae felt the satisfying crack as the wolf's neck snapped. She opened her jaws, letting the limp corpse fall upon the blood soaked earth. The leopard had moved closer to Sel when she had tried to help him fight, leaving a gap that easily led towards the Vantha. Too late she realized her mistake, two furry blurs raced past her, before she could block them with her body. "No!" she screeched in feline, and before she could turn and defend her Vantha friend, she saw a wolf tackle Seliarus out of the corner of her eye. Torn between her Bondmate and the Girl-who-was-like-a-sister, Nidae hesitated for the briefest moment. In the space of that one second, she witnessed Nehsmay topple back into the river. "Nehsmay!" Nidassasyae wailed, thinking that she had just seen her best friend die. She wanted to tear those wolves apart, slowly, watching the life fade from their eyes! She wanted to smash them into a bloody pulp! She wanted to... No, she could feel the exhaustion coming through the Bond. She'd grieve later, now she had to protect Sel. Without him... well, she didn't want to think about that. With a roar, the Dire Leopard sprang towards her Bondmate, standing over him, shielding him with her own body. There was only one able wolf left, the other was slowly succumbing to Seliarus' poison. Pure and undiluted hate settled like a film over her vision, coursing through her veins. "You'll pay a thousandfold for what you've done!" she hissed, knowing full well that the wolves couldn't understand her. With a bloodthirsty growl, she slashed at the wolf with her claws, inflicting deep gashes on the canine. It howled in pain, legs buckling for the briefest of seconds. She paid no heed to the poisoned wolf, as it had long lost any potential of danger, lying twitching on the ground, the deadly viper's poison attacking its body. The remaining wolf and leopard snapped and growled at each other. It paced in front of Nida, trying to distract her. The Kelvic never moved from her position, intent on protecting her Bondmate. With a snarl, it leaped, jaws aiming for her throat. It missed, the wolf's teeth clamping onto her shoulder instead. With a wail of pain, Nida was pushed away from Seliarus by the force of the attack. Her paws gave way beneath her, already weak from traveling and blood loss. They rolled on the grass, snapping at each other's throats, claws digging into soft bellies. Channeling all of her hate and desperation, Nida managed to clamp her jaws on the wolf's throat, hanging on until its death throes had ceased, hearing its last breath rattle in its empty lungs. Panting heavily, the wounded leopard dragged herself to Seliarus' side. She summoned up the last of her strength and adrenaline, and pushed herself to her very limits to make the transformation. The warhorse-size leopard disappeared in a swirl of lights, and a small young woman sat in it's place. Dizzy from exhaustion, bleeding from over a dozen wounds, her hold on consciousness faint, the girl clutched at Sel's hands. "Dammit Sel, don't you die on me!" she cried. "Don't you dare die on me!" Tears streamed down her cheeks, pooling in the grass around her. She straddled the Dhani's half snake, half man body, weakly and gently shaking at his shoulders. "I can't lose you," she sobbed quietly.

[Nehsmay]

Nehsmay staggered on her feet as she made her way out of the river and saw wolf corpses lying everywhere around. Her wound stung painfully, blood still flowing freely from it, but she chose to ignore it for the moment. She heard Nidae's cry and ran to her two friends hoping now to be too late. Sel was lying on the snow which was now stained crimson. The Vantha whistled softly and the sound of hooves rang in the air. She sat down on the snow next to her friends and quickly glanced at both Nidae and Seliarus. She was no healer, but she knew a bit about scrapes and wounds and that was all she needed in the situation. Nidae looked battered and bruised, but from what she could see most of them were shallow wounds. Sel also had many scratches all around him, but what concerned the Vantha were the two bite marks. "He'll be ok." she tried to reassure Nidae and grabbed her bag from Shade's reins, then set it in the snow. Her left wrist was throbbing painfully having fallen on it, but luckily it was not broken so she was able to use it. Nehsmay grabbed her herbal kit and some bandages... her brother and sister usually came all battered from fights so she had to help her mom patch them up without having to resort to a healer. "The wounds just need cleaning, some herbs and a tight bandage. Should I...?" she trailed off unsure how to the Dhani would react to her treatment.

[Seliarus]

The Dhani's anger was gone. His bloodlust was sated, and all the pain from the jump in the river, the cold, and the wolves slowly started to come back. His body was hurting from the lying in the snow, and from the wounds he received from the fight. But, he was calm. He did not rage at his defeat, then, technically speaking, he didn't lose the fight. And he managed to release the anger that was building up in him for a while now. A hissing sigh escaped from his snout, as he tilted his head a bit up, observing the Kelvic's fight with the wolf. What a shame, that it wasn't him who could help his companions. Shame, that he had to be rescued just like someone useless. But, it happened, and making a fuss about it wouldn't make anything less wrong that it was. From a distance, he heard a voice calling him. Even though, he could feel someone near him, the voice seemed so far away. Heck, he couldn't even see who it was, then his vision was still a bit blurry. But, he did not need no eyes to recognize the voice, or the touch he received. And to think about this, his Bondmate was crying over him. A snow leopard shown that much care towards him. He started to realize how much the bond really meant to him . Even though the bonding was still fresh in the memory, he could now truly understand the concept. Protect until death, and care for more than a mother cares for her clutch. He rose his healthy hand up, the one without the bite, and placed his scaled palm softly on Nida's forehead. His slitted eyes looking into the feline girl, and simply shook his head. "You sssilly hatcsshling, you..." He spoke, almost in a playful matter. The last few kills affected him like a drug. "It will take more than a few wolvesss to bring me down." He nodded at his own words, forcing himself not to think on the wounds 'the few wolves' did to him. "Besssides, I like it here too mucssh to leave jussst yet." And with that, he laid his head back on the ground. He could things more clearly now, and did hear the question the Vantha asked. Nehs must be okay then. Safe, like Nida was. That made him feel even better, seeing that they just managed to defeat a pack without any casualties...Other than his ego, that is. But that was never that big, so the Dhani could live without it. For now. He closed his eyes, as he was unable to move away now, he managed to simply shift into his human form there on the spot. It would make it easier for the two to move him, if he wouldn't be twice the size of a human. "Bad ssstomacssh? Look away...Pleassse." He only gave a warning, before he started to shift. And the process was almost creepy. Out of the bald head he had, his hair started to grow back, the scales were leaving his body, and showing the pale skin of a human the two knew him by. But, that wasn't the worst part. His bones started to reform, shrinking, reforming, and taking new positions. His tail started to defuse, and from the tail, his legs were formed. One could actually see every bone in his legs re-arranging , and starting to look like a human's leg would. And, when the shifting was complete, the human was back, taking the Dhani form's place, only this time, naked, then the rest of his clothes were washed away by the river. Now, he still had the bite mark on his back, and on his hand. His body was still filled with scratches, and bruisers from the fight , but he did force himself to simply sit down properly, letting another sigh escape his lips. But hey, it could be worse, and he would be without his hand. He was still feeling dizzy, but he gathered enough focus to remain sitting. And afterwords peered up, looking at the two companions that were there. "A fire...Jussst...A fire." He managed to say, nodding once. It was getting colder, and than red snow underneath him was not the most warm, of clean place to lie in.

[Nidassasyae]

"I- you're alive!" cried Nidassasyae, the tears flowing even more freely now. Immense relief, and also guilt flooded through the Bond. She should have protected him better. It should have been her that was lying on the grass, though she was pretty close to that anyways. Her eyelids fluttered briefly as she felt his comforting touch on her forehead. No! she screamed at herself, internally. Fall asleep, and who will guard Sel? "Nehsmay?" gasped Nida, certain that she had seen the Vantha fall to her death. It wasn't a long drop from the bridge, but the Kelvic had thought that the wolves had killed her, and that she had fallen backwards into the water. "I- You're- I thought you died!" From her current position, straddling the Dhani's waist, the Kelvic reached out towards Nehsmay, trying to see if she was indeed, real. This wasn't her ghost, she had to be real! She couldn't be dead! With that small hope, Nida needed to make sure that it was real. Dizzy and off-balance, the girl toppled into the snow. It should have been a harmless fall, what with being so close to the ground, but a sudden and sharp pain in her stomach caught her off guard. She gave a cry, but quickly covered the wound with her hands. It was a deep gash, caused by that last wolf when he had clawed at her. "Yeah, just fix him up," she growled, gritting her teeth together. She lifted her hand from her stomach for a split second, only to find it covered in blood. Wincing at the sight, she quickly covered the wound again. Obviously Nehsmay could see the wound, she wasn't stupid. But Nida needed to make sure that Sel was cared for first. If that required a terrible attempt at hiding the wound, then so be it. At least it got the message across. She hadn't noticed the wound until now. But then, she had thought that both her friends were about to die, so one might say she'd been a little distracted, what with wailing over Sel's body and all. Hunched over in the snow, right beside Sel, Nida had no intention of looking away. If he was going to be sick, then she should at least help him sit up. But it seemed that he had no intention of being sick. Rather, he was shifting back into human form. The Kelvic watched, she could not tear her gaze away from what was happening before her. Every tiny change in his body was deliberate, reshaping itself into something completely different. A tired surprise filled her, but not disgust. Never disgust. When he had finished, Sel looked up at both she and Nehs. Nidae met his gaze, giving him a faint smile. "I'll get the fire," Nida hissed. Rising unsteadily on two feet, she clutched at the wound with one hand, the other reaching for the saddlebags that she had been carrying. She whimpered slightly, sinking to her knees in front of the leather packs, rummaging through them one-handed, looking for flint.

[Nehsmay]

"Yeah, I'm alive." Nehsmay smiled at her friend's hopeful look. Only then she noticed the sheer exhaustion and pain that filled the leopard's face. And the blood... though Nidae had tried to cover the wound quickly, Nehsmay had seen it and that wound looked worse that Seliarus' two bite marks. The Vantha's own wounds fell into oblivion as concern replaced the pain. She watched in awe Seliarus' shift then turned her attention towards Nidae who supposedly wanted to gather wood when she had a gash across her stomach. "You will do no such thing." Nehsmay put her hand on the Kelvic's shoulder and motioned her to return next to Sel. "I can't take care of you two unless you're in the same place. I will gather the wood and make the fire. You will stand next to that tree and let me take care of your wound which is worse than Sel's. Rub some ice there to clean the wound, who knows where those scumbag' s claws have been than press this herbs to the wound." She gave the herbs to Nidae and turned to Seliarus and handed him another pack. "They should be good for you too, although not necessary since the blood stopped flowing. I'll go gather some wood than bandage Nidae." The Vantha whistled and Shade came to her tilting his head to one side as if asking what happened. "I don't know if you can understand me, but go find some wood." The horse looked at her uncertain until she saw her pick up twigs and dry pieces of wood to make a fire. She brought enough to start a fire back and let the rest to Shade. Piling them together, she set them on fire and blowed until the fire grew digger. Turning towards her two friends, glaring at Nidae in the process she asked softly. "Can I bandage your wounds?" The question was mostly for Sel as in Nehsmay's mind Nidae had no right to argue."