Supply and Demand, 36 Summer, Mid Morning (Closed, REN)

[Eachann Marshall]

The Bronze Wood. A vast expanse of deciduous wilderness to the east of Syliras, nestled at the foot of the Cobalt Mountains and bordering the grasslands of Cyphrus. A strange place to a young man who had known nothing besides the Sea of Grass and the Pavilions of the Drykas his whole life, but he was young, and confident in his skill with his arms, and so he set off with Hafiz his 2 year old Akinva Deerstalker bitch in search of game to feed himself and to contribute to the Squires kitchen. It was the least he could do since the Knighthood had agreed to have him.

Hafiz was a trained warhound rather than a hunting companion, but she was a deerstalker in her blood, and that, her Master had always thought would win out in the end. The pair walked for a while in comfortable silence as they examined the woods, Eachann with his eyes and Hafiz with her nose. By the time that the son was properly up, they had happened upon a rock formation which dominated the surrounding growth, whose 'feet' were wreathed in a heavy deadfall. The pairs approach spooked some small game, a a flock of pheasant and the odd rabbit. With diffident benevolence, Eachann let them go, and Hafiz, sensing her masters action, followed his example. After circling the formation, the youth found a low overhang, not quite a cave but more than adequate as a shelter, and he set himself up in it.

He knelt with his left leg up and let his javelin rest across that knee, his right hand laid across the haft negligently.

“Alright Hafiz,” He said, his eyes locked onto the dogs and his speech deliberate and slow. The dog had learned Pavi at his feet, and he used it with her almost exclusively. “I'm going to wait here. Head out from here as straight as you can and circle back one side or the other, you're pick, and see what you can flush too me O.K.?” The dog barked once, a sign which Eachann had always taken for an affirmative, and he rubbed her ears like tousling a kids hair. “Good girl.” He said fondly. Before pointing with his left hand and ordering her to hunt. Silently, the dog turned and lopped off, her heavy shape disappearing easily into the shadows and underbrush easily due to her brindled coloration.

Eachann settled down to wait.

As he did so, he looked around him, observing all the things there were to see. He noted the return of the rabbits and pheasants he and Hafiz had startled earlier, and saw a hawk flash through the branches of the nearby trees and saw it dive into the undergrowth, coming up holding a struggling, squealing rabbit. Idly, he wondered if it had been one of the ones he had twice seen now, but gave no more thought to it as he turned his attention back to forest, seeking some sign of approaching prey.

Suddenly he became aware of the sound of something large crashing through the underbrush to his right, and he snatched his javelin off his knee, raising it to throw while turning toward the sound. It was along moment, during which the sound of his heart in his ears nearly obliterated the sound of the approaching prey before the animal finally came into view. It was a large buck, at least six points on it's rack, and near on two hundred pounds. It gave no sign of knowing he was there, or even in being in too much of a hurry despite the distant pursuit by Hafiz.

Breathe Eachann thought as he cocked his arm, twisting his down leg as he rose into a low crouch. Breathe . The deer had slowed to walk upon nearing the rock and as it crossed in front of him, the young man sprang, twisting his torso as his arm rotated forward, driving the javelin into the air. The foot of steel at the head glittered in the shafts of light it passed through, and the burst of blood from the stags torso as the weapon drove into it's viscera seemed to fall in slow motion. Startled the buck jerked and turned, leaping away and running several yards before the haft of the javelin rattled off a tree and came free in another fountain of blood. Eachann could not see, but it also ripped the animals side open cruelly as if exited. Gathering his other javelins, the squire made his way out of the shelter of the rock formation, advancing along the general line of the animals path, following the heavy splashes of blood which brightened the undergrowth. He retrieved his weapon when he came to it, idly inspecting it for damage as he continued to follow the trail left by the wounded (and dying) deer.

After climbing over a final downed tree, Eachann drew up, a relieved sigh answering the sight of the downed stag. It was a good sized animal, and would make for a lot of food. Now he just had to butcher it. With determined resignation, he set to the task.

[Renalee]

The sun had risen and set three times since Ren had felt bones crush and muscles rip under her teeth and blood trickle down her throat. It had been three whole days since her last successful hunt and even longer since she had truly felt her belly full. A rabbit or a pheasant a day was food and it was certainly welcome, but it wasn’t enough to satisfy the puma and provide the necessary energy for both traveling and finding more food. Her human food had ran out long ago and she hadn’t thought to ask for more from the ones she had been traveling with down from Ravok. She was hungry - no, she was starving - and she was growing desperate.

The problem was that prey was smarter around Syliras - more used to hunters than the one in the wilderness. Both big and little critters ran more and hid more and simply refused to become the puma’s dinner, like the food chain demanded they did. Ren hadn’t shifted into her human form for days now just in case a sudden hunting opportunity presented itself and she needed to act quickly. It had been all for naught and by now the Kelvic was starting to feel the hunger taking its toll. She was tired, her usually lithe frame feeling heavy, her muscles disobedient. Her movements had become a bit slower and even her senses felt slightly duller than what they should have been.

This morning, Renalee was considering going into the city despite the fear that had been born in Ravok keeping her outside its gates so far. If she went in she would be able to buy food and she would no longer be in this predicament. But while hunger was a powerful motivator fear seamed to be even more so. She would hunt for one more day. One more day before she risked being captured and enslaved again.

It turned out one more day was plenty of time. Actually, three bells was all she needed. Having left her bag with her belongings behind, hidden between a bush and a rock in a clearing on the east side of the forest, the Kelvic’s movements weren’t constrained. She moved quicker, albeit still not at the speed and with the grace she was used to. What matter was that Ren was progressing through the forest when suddenly a day old scent caught her attention. It was deer!

The puma perked up, ears rapidly moving to catch any sound that might indicate the proximity of the animal, while her eyes scanned the ground and the lower bushes. Following the scent she was able to find a clearly visible, easy to follow trail. The smell was getting heavier, new and old layers mixing together. The deer lived in this part of the forest it seemed, going back and forth between locations. After this realization it got trickier tracking its movements, Ren often confusing an older scent for a newer, one her senses not as sharp as they could have been. The Kelvic persevered however, the thought of meat - and a lot of it too - pushing her forward like no promise of anything else could.

It took Renalee a couple more bells to successfully identify and follow the newest trail left by her prey. She was following it well, confident that she was closing in on the unsuspecting animal, until she passed through a large cluster of low bushes and lost it again. Growling in irritation the puma was just about to set on circling the place when the sound of something big crashing through trees and underbrush made her reconsider.

Ren tore in the direction of the sound a continuous stream of growling and hissing noises leaving her chest with every breath. There was no reason to be quiet - the deer seemed to already be on the run. The sounds she was following died down soon, but she had picked up the scent and was following that instead. The scent of deer and blood. Someone had gotten to her deer first. Ren let out a final angry roar before quieting and slowing down. She didn’t want to come running into a bigger, stronger predator and risking a fight she wasn’t sure she could win right now.

The smell of blood grew stronger as she neared the place where the animal had found its demise. For it was already dead like she could confirm with her own eyes, peaking through the shadows cast by trees. It was a human male that had taken down her prey, killed her kill and was planning on eating her meal. The puma’s eyes flashed angrily and her shoulders and legs tensed, preparing for the leap.

Now, Ren didn’t make it a habit of attacking humans or any of the other races that roamed the Sylira Region. She hunted animals - rabbits, deers, boars and anything else a puma that wasn’t also a Kelvic would hunt. Ren fought only if provoked or in danger and generally didn’t see a reason to change that.

That was not however, what she was thinking as her hind legs shot her flying over the short distance separating her from the man who had stolen what was rightfully hers. What made her slam her body into his and sent him to the ground as she landed on top of him was her hunger. The instinct to feed and to survive made her lunge for his throat and dig the sharp claws of one of her front paws into his left hip. Angry grows and hissing were breaking out of her chest as Ren fought to prove she was the the stronger predator. She wasn’t fighting for this deer - not really, not anymore - she was fighting for what she saw as her only chance at survival.

She was fighting to live.

[Eachann Marshall]

The scream of the puma is widely regarded as one of the more terrifying sounds in the natural world, and it was all the warning that Eachann had before the cat plowed into him like a undersized linebacker. The impact was surprising, and the drkyas lost is knife in the freshly gutted stag. He twisted as he fell so that the Puma came down atop him. He cried out in surprise and fear, and no small part of pain as the cat's claws scored on his hip, shredding his trousers and digging into the flesh beneath. Her jaws darted for his throat, but Eachann's self preservative instincts cause his left arm to jerk up to intercept the bite. Thankfully his buckler met the cat's face and with a yowl of surprise and pain, she leaped off him. Relieved but no less afraid, the young man rolled to his left, away from the cat, his hands groping on the ground for one of his laid by javelins.

Shouting in relief as his fingers closed on one, the youth started to his feet, wincing as the weight he put on his left leg brought a flash of pain from the cat's scratch. “Shyke he hissed through clenched teeth, watching the predator as the pair faced each other. The puma was snarling and growling savagely in an attempt to intimidate him off the kill. But the youth had cleanly forgotten about the stag in favor of the fact that the cat had gone for him from the start. He wasn't familiar with the native predators of Sylira like he was of the ones of Cyphrus, so he didn't recognize that this cat was starving, and probably driven by desperation in her attack. He was left to assume that she was as savage as the glassbeaks, and so on that assumption the struggle became life and death instantly.

The two antagonists began to dodge and feint, each trying to get at the other, but the cat was agile and motivated, Eachann was trained but not in combating animals in the wild. The two circled each other for several moments, only minor scratches to either to s how. Suddenly, Eachann stumbled as he aimed a thrust, and the cat nimbly leapt and came down on his back. Her teeth and fangs slashing at his shoulders and hands as he sought to protect his vulnerable neck. Eachann began to fear that the cat would kill him when he heard the crash of something else large moving through the woods. Snarling and snapping, Hafiz plowed square into the cat on her masters back, and suddenly the squire found himself free. Staggering to his feet, fresh fear urging him upright. Hafiz and the cat were a blur of tawny and brindled fur, yowls, hisses, growls and viscous snapping told the story as the two animals battled back and forth. Unfortunately for the Puma, Hafiz was twice her size, and a trained war dog besides, shortly the akinva had her opponent on her back, jaws snapping inches from the cats face and neck as she sought to end the feline permanently.

[Renalee]

Ren let out a high growling yelp as the cold metal of the human’s buckler connected with her head, sending an immediate shooting pain through her jaw and down her neck. Startled and angered even further, the big cat pulled back snarling, trying to determine from which side she had the best chance of maiming the young man. He used the time to scramble to his feet and reach for the weapons which he must have discarded earlier.

Oh no he didn’t! Renalee made to leap at him again, but pulled back from the jump as the human got to his weapon first and lifted it in front of him, the sharp end of the javelin pointing directly at her chest. The puma hissed, ears pulled back, almost flat against her head and she made to circle her prey. Every now and again she’d attempt a slashing motion with one of her paws or even a sudden jump towards the youth, but while she did manage to land some minor scratches on his body she was always sent back by the threat of his weapon.

His blade managed to cut through her fur a couple of times and every time blood would be drawn the puma’s growls intensified and she made another lunge for his neck. It was during an attempt of the man’s to get her side that he slipped on the ground’s uneven surface. Ren let out a victorious roar as she seized the opportunity to leap on his back and dig her claws into his shoulders, scratching at his arms to establish a hold. She had him now!

Her jaws locked a centimeter away from his carotid when a massive form pummeled into her and brought her down from the human’s neck, sharp teeth digging into her shoulder and scraping against her shoulder blade. Ren only had a moment to realize she was being attacked by a huge dog before she found herself pinned under the canine’s heavy frame.

The puma let out a startled mewing sound and managed to roll both of them over, but didn’t keep her dominant position for long. Her front paws buckled under the dog’s weight and she barely managed to land a bite or two of her own on its front legs and chest and scratch fruitlessly at its belly with her hind legs under the onslaught of precise bites the beast was delivering.

In that moment Renalee was sure she would die.

Her mind frantically sought something that could save her – anything she could have learned as a human or a feline that could get her out of this situation and for a moment there was nothing. Then a light shone through the darkness of her thoughts and a single desperate idea took shape.

If this worked she might be saved. If it didn’t she would die a quicker death – something which right at this moment seemed like a great thing. With one last bite to the dog’s chest Ren closed her eyes and forced her body to shift. Light and air danced together for a moment before the broken and battered naked form of a young woman replaced the puma. Her blonde hair was the golden color of the big cat’s fur and as caked with blood as the feline’s coat had been.

A whimper escaped her lips as she tried curling into a ball under the dog. At that moment she desperately wished that if any of the gods humans believed in existed one would come to her aid. Or that the man she had attacked would show mercy and call off his beast.

She didn’t want to die!

[Eachann Marshall]

Eachann had dropped again to one knee, letting his wounded left hip rest as he watched Hafiz and the cat roll around on the forest floor. The fight was a loud, ghastly thing, yowls and snarls from both animals rose into the air, and the snapping of jaws was audible even at this distance. Blood and saliva flew liberally, splashing the foliage around as the savage fight took a decided turn in Hafiz' favor. All around the woods came alive with the panicked sounds of local wildlife, the fluttering of bird wings and the distress calls of all manner of rodents and mammals as news of the fight spread. Eachann was quietly rooting for Hafiz to finish the cat so he could tend to the dogs wounds, and his own.

But that was when the whole thing went to hell.

Suddenly the tawny form of the cat changed into that of a very frightened looking young woman. And Eachann swore viciously. Lurching forward, and cursing again the pain in his hip, the squire called for Hafiz to stop. Unfortunately he was a second slow, and the girls attempt to protect herself left her with her left bicep in the deerstalkers mouth. Blood oozed from between the dog's teeth as she shook the trapped limb savagely. The girl screamed, and Eachann discarded his javelin again as he took hold of the dog by the neck, speaking rapidly but soothingly in Pavi.

Shortly the hound relinquished her grip on the limb and allowed herself to be guided back though even then she watched the kevlic with raised hackles and a low rumbling growl. For his part, Eachann made certain Hafiz was settled before turning back to where the woman lay, still in the fetal position, clutching her badly wounded arm. He cursed again at what he saw.

She was petite, half a foot shorter than him despite appearing older and much lighter. He calculated he would have no problem in lifting her easily. Her legs were long and lean, but with obvious musculature in her thighs and hips. Her stomach was toned as where her arms so she was clearly not a creature of leisure. Despite her fitness, he could easily detect her collarbone, hipbones and the lines of her ribs. Silently he called on Zulrav for guidance, and then he noted the faded remains of bruises on the wrist which was clutching her torn up bicep. Instantly he was reminded of Ayti, and he wondered if this girl had come from the same place. It made him sick in his stomach to think of it, and made the hatred he held for people he had never met burn that much brighter.

But his thoughts of Crusades and fiery vengeance were interrupted by the girls soft sounds of pain and distress, and he instantly dropped to his knees beside her, murmuring soothingly as he reached out to smooth the tangles of her hair away from her face.

"Shhh... he murmured in Common, his voice pitched low and soft. "We're not going to hurt you." The word, anymore he added in his head, feeling his stomach tighten at the various wounds he saw all over the womans body. Her left bicep was a mess from Hafiz's bite, if it wasn't broken it would be a miracle, if it was, it would be hell for her. The skin was torn, and likely the muscle too, he wondered how much movement she had in it. Worse, there were teeth marks on her shoulder near her neck, and on her ribs just beneath her right breast, the perkiness of which he attempted to ignore in his clinical examination of her wounds, but the flesh was bruising all the way up to her pale rose nipples, so it was difficult for him to be objective. Her eyes were blacking from where his buckler had hit her in the nose, and dozens of other scratches, scrapes and bruises were obvious all over her pale skin. In short, the woman looked a mess. Even her hair, long as it was hadn't escaped, as it was stuck to various wounds on her back and neck, staining the blonde locks strawberry. He couldn't tell her eyes color, because they were squeezed shut against the pain and the tears.

"Sweet Zulrav.." he breathed after reviewing the woman's injuries. "You need a doctor."

[Renalee]

Pain.

Ren had never thought much about it back in Sunberth, which through the stained glass of memories seemed like the ‘happier, simpler times’. She had had her fair share of injuries, the scar of the worst one of them still visible as a pale line on her neck, but they had all seemed minor and if they had brought pain Ren could no longer remember. She carried the mentality of a child in the way that she quickly forgot most bad things that happened to her. Her soul was bright and not big enough to carry the burdens of vile memories. It was perhaps strange, considering her nature of a predator, but it was as much part of her as was the taste of blood and the thrill of the hunt.

Pain.

The first time she could remember thinking about it outside the abstract and vague thoughts her mind held was when she got captured, just off the road that linked Sunberth with Syliras. Slave traders. They had been cruel. They had put a collar on her and bracelets around her wrists made out of metal to prevent her from shifting into her animal form. They had beaten her and starved her thinking it would break her will and make her submit to them. But even the memories of the torturously long journey to Ravok with them were already fading away. It was all smoke, and mirrors, and abstract.

Pain.

Ren screamed as the powerful teeth of the hound sunk deep into her tender and weak human flesh. They tore through skin and muscle with an ease that should have been familiar to the predator Kelvic, but felt as foreign as the stars, or Gods, or what lay on the other side of the vast sea. She screamed as her flesh broke under the animal’s violent assault, feeling every move of its giant head like the stab of a white-hot, dull iron blade. Her arm was burning and tearing and pulsing with every fresh gush of crimson liquid. The smell of blood – her own blood! - was drowning her, drowning her scream until her vocal chords refused to work. She could only whimper as the dog finally let her go and she snatched at her destroyed arm, cradling it to her chest.

The only thing in her mind was blazing, searing, punishing…

Pain.

The girl didn’t know when the onslaught from the beast had come to an end. At some point sharp teeth were destroying her flesh and in the next they were gone. Something was trying to make it through the haze of agony in her mind. Words. Words she understood. Pavi. The name of the language she had spent many nights studying with her father came as a whisper. Part of Ren knew that it was over; The part that was a little girl, sitting next to her dad by the too-big table, trying to speak the language of the horsemen. The human was saving her. The human was ordering his beast back. The part of her that knew that was swallowed into the fog of pain.

The next thing that made it into Ren’s consciousness was a touch. A sudden and immediate horror, far greater and more urgent than the agony that held her in its clutches took over and made her flinch, made her pull back. The movement upset her arm and the fear evaporated. She cried out, voice hoarse by now, and whimpered again, breaths tearing from her lungs as painful as any other movement.

And then there was a voice – the human’s voice – which was murmuring softly, gently to her. She clung to it – to the sound of it rather than the words the voice carried - desperately holding on to the comfort it offered. It was the sound which spoke directly to her core where she was truest to her nature, where there was only a Kelvic and nothing more, and nothing less. It was the part of her that knew that one day there would be someone she would be prepared to die for, one who would cherish her as more than an animal and want to protect her. That knowledge was comfort. The boy’s voice was comfort.

It was his voice that helped her mind move from a state of fogginess into a state that was attempting to separate sensations and create order. It was his voice and the hand in her hair that was acting as an anchor that eventually gave her the courage to open her eyes. Everything was blurry for some reason and the sides of her face felt wet. A sudden horrified thought passed through her mind - Oh no! Did the dog get to my eyes? – before Ren realized she was crying. It was a strange, unfamiliar sensation and the girl decided she didn’t like it.

She gazed up at the young man, as if seeking some more of the comfort his voice brought. But as his blue eyes looked down at her, mirroring her own fear, Ren realized there was none left. The words he spoke next only confirmed that.

"Sweet Zulrav... You need a doctor."

The terror of an injured animal, an animal that wanted to hide away from other creatures and the light of the sun to lick its wounds and heal in peace settled inside of her. That same animal that thrashed and protested at the closeness of even that man, ignoring the part of Ren that needed him to be there. But he was enough. One was enough.

“No doctors.” the voice that made it past the blonde’s lips didn’t sound like her own. It was hoarse and broken from the screaming and was barely above a whisper. It frightened her, but she pushed herself to say what she needed to. ”The forest… there are herbs…” She could taste blood on her tongue.

In a gesture of desperation Ren raised her right hand, attempting not to disturb her injured arm, and let her fingers fist into the soft material of the boy’s green shirt. The red of blood stood out against the soft color of the material and drew her attention for a moment. Was it her blood? Was it his? The girl let her eyes return to his before she breathed:

“Please?”

[Eachann Marshall]

Eachann felt his stomach knot up as the girl grabbed his shirt with her good arm, staring plaintively into his eyes before breathing an impassioned plea against a doctor. But if he was anything, the young man was self aware, and so he gently untangled the girls fingers.

“I'm sorry,” he said softly, “you're in no condition to go looking for those herbs, and i'd probably pick something that would kill you by mistake. You need a doctor.” Thusly determined, he dropped to one knee and wormed his arms beneath the girls naked body, lifting her in a cradle against his chest.

“Lets get you somewhere safe first.” He said as he turned, whistling for Hafiz to heel he began the return trip to the stone shelter he had 'camped' in earlier, reasoning it was the safest place he had seen all morning, much better than leaving a bleeding woman exposed in the open forest. The trip took longer back than it did out, because even as light as she was, the girl still made an armful (and a pleasant one as well he fought to avoid noticing) and it was just hard to walk through the woods when you couldn't see your feet. When they came to it at last the final few feet through the deadfall proved the hardest, but with a few minutes persistence he managed to get himself and his burden through it and into the make shift shelter.

“Here we go,” He said, laying the girl down against a dry spot on the stone wall. “Just let me make some accommodations for your comfort before I go.” Eachann had a one person tent in his pack and he set it up now, pausing to shift the girl into it's confines as soon as it was up, reasoning that the cleaner she stayed the better it would be for the doctor. The deadfall provided plenty of blown down wood, so he also built a small fire near the mouth of the shelter, and he also retrieved some water from a trickle-spring in one corner that he had failed to notice before, providing a drink for the woman.

“Alright,” he said, self critically as he examined his preparations. “It's the best I can do in a hurry, and you need that doctor sooner rather than later.” He knelt next to her and leaned closer to look in her eyes and reassuringly stroke her forehead again. “Hold on dear,' He said soothingly. “I'll be back with help in a bit. And i'm leaving Hafiz to keep the predators away, you'll be safe.” Impulsively he leaned in and kissed her forehead, noting that her skin was cool and clammy before he turned and made his way out of the shelter and back into the open woods. First he had to retrieve his weapons and his hunting knife, and then he had to get back to Sylira as quickly as possible.

“Hafiz,” he said to the dog who was waiting outside the deadfall (it was a natural barrier to the dog) “you stay here and make sure nothing and no one gets into that cave but me or whose with me ok?” Hafiz barked once before settling down watchfully under a convenient shade tree, which gave a view of the cave entire. That out of the way, the young man set off at a jog into the woods, back towards the dead deer, and then on back to the city.

[Renalee]

Renalee’s injured arm shifted as the human lifted her into his arms with ease. Her eyes squeezed shut again and she buried her face into his chest, shutting out the world and the pain. The only thing left was the smell of the young man, one she found strangely comforting, in much the same way she had done his voice earlier. She wasn’t entirely sure what was happening, just that he had refused her plea and was now taking her somewhere. Ren didn’t want to go. She didn’t want to move. But for now it seemed alright to lose herself in his smell and pretend that she could have freed herself from his arms if she had wanted to.

The human boy brought her to a natural stone shelter where he deposited her gently on the ground and set on making the small space more comfortable. Ren kept her eyes on him as he duck in and out from the cover of the stones, considering what her chances of convincing him that a doctor wasn’t needed were. One human was enough. More than enough. Still she kept quiet and watched.

Ren couldn’t really understand why the man was trying to help her. She had attacked him and injured him. She would have killed him, if his monster hadn’t appeared when it did, and she wouldn’t have thought twice about it. It was the order of things - when two predators wanted the same thing they fought, and most often than not one of them died – the weaker one. Ren should have died today. It would have been enough if the human had spared her life. He could have left her there to survive or die on her own merit as the order said he should.

But humans didn’t follow nature’s order. They had their own which was much more complex and confusing and often – without sense at all. The Kelvic had tried understanding concepts like compassion, generosity and guilt many times before. In a way she did understand what they entailed and what behavior they brought on, but when it came to the motivation or thought behind them she got confused and lost. Still, she thought she recognized one of those in the boy’s actions towards her. Really, humans were unnecessarily complicated.

He was returning again, bringing some water with him which she accepted with the urgency and unquenchable thirst of those who had lost a lot of blood. He kneeled next to her again and she could have believed he was planning on staying there, forgetting about doctors and humans of other kinds, if not for his words. ”Please," Ren tried again, but knew her words were falling on deaf ears. The boy was determined and that was one thing she could understand and relate to.

And while the way things were going was making the puma anything but happy, his voice was soothing again so she reached out with her uninjured arm and took a hold of his hand. The promise that he would be back was worth so much more than any promise about doctors. Couldn’t he see she would be even happier if he just stayed there? But he was making promises again – ones of safety and he was leaning down to plant a soft kiss to her forehead and she did feel safer until… No! Ren’s eyes widened in horror, fingers tightening their grip on his hand as he calmly pronounced her death sentence – the canine would be staying behind too.

“You can’t!” The exclamation was hurried and desperate, the expression on the Kelvic’s face both terrified and pleading. “Please don’t!” Suddenly she felt as scared as she had been in that clearing, the dog’s teeth tearing through her flesh. ”You have to take it away. You have to. You don’t even need to help me anymore. Just go, but take it with you.”

He was as gentle as he had ever been as he carefully pried her fingers open and freed his hand from her hold, but his expression was set and his eyes were stern as he shook his head. He would be doing what he had set his mind to and nothing that Ren did or said would change that. With a final touch to her hair he left the tent and the shelter without looking back.

“Don’t leave me here alone with it,” the blonde wailed desperately after the young man, but received no response.

Ren seemed to freeze in the stillness that followed, trying to catch any sign that the monster was making its way towards her. The tension spread through her body immediately, hardening her muscles and sharpening her senses, and the resolve to stay alive in the eventuality of a second fight with the dog pushed the pain and the physical discomfort away.

Yet, the feeling that the door of a trap had just fallen shut wouldn’t go away.

[Chevalier]

Eachann

LORE

• Breath Control
• Forcing a Dog to Disengage

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Hunting	1
Javelin	2
Stealth	1
Observation	2
Buckler	1
Animal Husbandry	3
Persuasion	1

Renalee

LORE

• Tracking Deer By Scent
• Combat Technique: Pouncing Tackle

EXPERIENCE

Skill	XP Earned
Tracking	2
Observation	2
Stealth	1
Unarmed Combat	2
Acrobatics	1
Persuasion	2

Storyteller Notes

Secret :

Alright, now that’s the kind of thread I like to see. You guys were descriptive and very active in all of your posts. You moved things alonged and had plenty of explanations about what you were doing, and that in turn got you some dang good experience considering the brevity of the thread itself. For Eachann when it comes to ordering animals around and what not, I go with Animal Husbandry since it works with raising and training them, etc.