Someone get this collar off! (Kye, Jasper)

[Natsuki]

51st Summer 512AV

Another long cold night spent in this form. Not that Natsuki minded her wolf self, it was just that her jaw was beginning ache from carrying her heavy pack and her paws were cut and bleeding from all the walking she had been doing.

She had come across few villagers that were willing to help, most ran from or threw rocks at her. And asking hunters to help was out of the question. By now, Natsuki was wondering if she would be a wolf forever. She had tried just about everything to remove this damned collar; it was in a position that made it impossible to bite off and the leather was too strong for her to scratch through or rub off on a tree.

But she didn't have any hard feelings towards her previous master, who was the one who had placed the restrictive collar on her. Natsuki had been hired to protect his children while he left on business. She loved the kids, and they loved her. But all good things must end. And that situation couldn't have ended worse...

Natsuki's stomach growled interrupting her thoughts. She sighed, Natsuki was in a bad mood and wasn't up for hunting but what choice did she have?

Finding a hollow in the base of a tree, Natsuki stowed away her bag and stretched her sore muscles in preperation for the hunt.

She began to sniff around for a scent to follow. A rabbit or deer perhaps. Natsuki jumped up onto a fallen tree where she had a better view of the forest. Natsuki heard hooves pounding against the soft forest ground, it sounded like a doe but she wasn't sure.

Natsuki's ears twitched. Something had spooked the deer, but what?

[Kye Rivers]

Kye was much further south than he typically could be found. But this summer had been . . . interesting. He had taken on a job to go south from Zeltiva, and one job had led to another, and that to yet another, and he had decided to just follow his nose and go where it took him. This seemed to be down into Cyphrus. He’d been in the grasslands before, and he fully realized how dangerous the landbound sea could be. But life got boring, for him, always covering the same routes up north. This change of scenery made a nice break, and he would head north whenever it felt right to do so. The small party of merchants he had just accompanied in their quest to find the traveling city of tents, the mobile home of the Drykas, had parted company with him the day before. Some of the Drykas guards had intercepted them and taken them on, with the intent of leading them on to the hard to find ‘city.’ Kye and the other two guides hired on in Zeltiva would make their way back north sooner or later. There had been some desultory talk of heading to Riverfall, or even as far south as Eyktol. Kye wasn’t sure he was up for that. He had a healthy respect for the glassbeaks that roamed this plain. For now, they were camped out and taking their ease for a day or so before making a final plan. Always curious to know as much as he could about his surroundings, Kye had ventured off to scout out the lay of the land. They were near a fringe of wooded land, rising up gently in a swell. A stream meandered out from the thinning edge of trees and this was what he was following. As usual, Gem was with him, snuffling and coursing over the ground, alert and excited by all the various smells of life surrounding them. Kye hadn’t really been hunting, per se, but he held his bow at the ready, for both food and protection. When Gem started the doe out of her cover, Kye had immediately taken a bead on her. But in that same instant, he saw the dappled fawn by her side, almost perfectly blended into the camouflage of the leaves around it. Dropping his bow back to his side, he called Gem back to him, praised her, and then the two set out once more, walking quietly, though far from silently, through the deepening wood. Within a few more steps, the dog gave a quiet whine and it was clear that she had caught another scent, one that made her hackles rise between her shoulders. Kye raised his bow again, and began to move with much more caution through the trees.

[Jasper Rainsong]

Jasper dismounted from Maro and turned to face the large clutch of trees before her. She had heard from the Webbers that there had been some odd ripples flowing out from this point and she had wasted no time in investigating. Rubbing Maro's heavily muscled shoulder fondly she dipped her hand into on of the larger bags attacked to his Yvas and lifted out Pip, her small Sykanis pup. Maro snorted in irritation at the sight of him and turned, trotting away from them. Smiling Jas mentally thanked her bond mate and bent to place the struggling pup at her feet. The grass was shorter here because of the trees and she didn't have to worry about Pip becoming lost. Jasper drew her sword quietly as she walked forward into the trees. She was not silly enough to wonder around unarmed especially after the Djed Storm. Earlier that day she had overheard Hunters talking about wolves seen in the area and glassbeaks to the South. Pip sniffed along the ground and playfully pounced on a flowering weed. As she moved forward he made sure to keep close to his master, no doubt he knew that she was his only form of protection and without her he would quickly become food for whatever wondered across him first. Jasper ducked under a low hanging branch and peered around. It was much darker here and the smell of damp earth was all that she could make out. Pip on the other hand, seemed to smell something else. His nose was in the air and he was sniffing furiously. Giving a small yip of excitement he shot of, short legs moving quickly over the undergrowth. Jas took after him, cursing at his recklessness. Jasper came to a sudden stop, realizing the pup had stopped too and scoped him up, giving him a stern look. Taking a small step back into the shadow of a large tree she crouched and cast a careful eye over their surroundings, resting her sword across her knees. They were next to a stream near the edge of the woods. The stream gurgled by lazily and Jasper was just about to stand up when the snapping of a twig caught her attention.

[Natsuki]

Natsuki let a soft growl escape her lips; the distinctive scent of dog reached her nose. Where there were dogs there were humans. Someone was in the forest. Hunters probably.

Her stomach rumbled, food, now she remembered. With incredible grace and stealth she jumped off the log and disappeared into the undergrowth, once again beginning her search for food.

She stopped again, listening carefully. Foot steps were approaching. The wolf crouched low and waited, her ears flattened and her tail twitched. Natsuki heard the snuffling of a domestic dog coming up the path, she figured that it was responsible for spooking the doe.

The dog stopped a few feet away, Natsuki gave a soft growl, a warning of sorts. The dog snarled in return. She heard the dogs master stepping closer.

Natsuki growled at the dog again, another less friendly warning. But domestic dogs were stupid. They would rather betray one of their own then betray their master.

The dog suddenly lunged forward, her strong jaws clasping hold of Natsuki's neck. The wolf yelped in surprise but was quick to recover. She dug her claws into the dogs side and kicked with as much force as she could gather. The dog pulled back, she took a swing at Natsuki's face but missed.

The annoyed wolf growled and made for the dogs throat. She was much faster than a typical canine and she had more experience fighting too. Natsuki felt her sharp teeth connect with the soft flesh of the dogs neck, the animal yelped and tried to pull away.

Natsuki let go of the dog, which scooted back out of the way, and turned her attention to it's master.

The young man was standing a few feet away, Natsuki snarled and prepared her next attack. She leaped up, catching the man's shoulder with her paws, the arrow slipped from it's place. Startled, the man lost his footing and fell, Natsuki fell with him.

Before the hunter could regain himself, Natsuki had taken off through the forest. She ignored the sharp pain that came with every stride and quickened her pace but there was no doubt that her injuries were slowing her down.

Branches tugged at her fur and sharp twigs stabbed at her already cut paws. Natsuki was tiring, she didn't know how much longer she could hold up. Hunger and fatigue were beginning to way her down, but she wanted to get as much distance as she could between her and the hunter.

[Kye Rivers]

Gem slipped into the underbrush and Kye slowed his steps, moving warily as he kept his eyes trained on where Gem’s tail had disappeared. Within moments, Kye heard the growl, and the return snarl, and he too slid between two trees, wondering what the dog had confronted and thinking that it was another canid, a wolf probably, by the sound of it. It took but a few steps for him to reach the spot in the copse where he could see the two shifting forms, one patches of light and dark, the other a smoky brindle that blended almost perfectly into the surrounding shadows and foliage. There was another warning growl, much more distinct to his lesser human hearing than the first, and then the unmistakable sound of Gem moving in, a vicious snarl that Kye had heard hundreds of times. He basically leapt the last few feet, bow at the ready, and came within just two paces of them, as they writhed and struggled on the forest floor, the sound of their battle fearsome to hear. Just as he came upon them, the wolf had its teeth in Gem’s neck, and Kye tried to draw a bead on it. But, as luck would have it, Gem was slightly on top of the wolf and closer to him, so he could not get off a shot without risking the arrow going through her. He hesitated, calling to Gem, calling her off her quarry, not wishing for her to be severely injured and thinking he could shoot the damn thing if Gem would just move. And then Kye did something stupid, something that could have cost him his life, though the gods saw fit not to let it play out that way. The wolf loosed its hold and Gem turned back to her owner, and Kye, seeing the blood that was flowing freely from her side and throat, was distracted. For only a moment, but it was enough. As his eyes turned back to the wolf, it was already moving towards him, lunging up to jump at him. He tried to raise his bow to an angle that would see it spitted on his arrow but it was too late. The bulk of the flying animal knocked against the bow and then its paws were on him and the weight was enough to make him stumble back. With the arrow’s end in his curled fingers, he was dropping his bow and reaching for his knife with his other hand, even as he fell backwards, preparing to have the wolf’s teeth closing in on his flesh at any moment, preparing to fight it off as best he could. But – the bite never came. Landing on his back, he looked up at the wolf with startled eyes, but it was already launching itself off of him and away. In an instant, it was gone, disappeared into the woods. Winded, he lay for just a moment. But a whimper brought him rolling up and, in a motion, he was kneeling by Gem’s side.

[Jasper Rainsong]

Jasper strained her ears listening to the snapping and snarling of a dog fight. Leaning forward slightly Jasper set the terrified and struggling Pip down. The young pup whimpered and turned tail to hid under a nearby bush, peering back at her with big, fearful eyes. A large tree, its trunk thick and old blocked her view further down the stream. The sound of an approaching animal caught her ears. Straightening slightly, though with her legs still bent at the knees, Jasper readied her blade and peered around the old tree. A wolf was stumbling along, weaving through the trees and brambles. Its paws were torn and bloodied, trailing blood with each step and it seemed to be moving with difficulty, stumbling along tiredly. Jasper stepped back and wondered what to do. To the Drykas every life was sacred, weather it be a wolf or a human. In the eyes of the Drykas they were all equally important. But would it not be merciful to put an injured animal out of its misery? Jasper reasoned with herself. Especially when they have attacked a human as this one appears to have done. Sighing Jasper leaned back into the dappled shadows once more and decided to wait and see what the wolf would do.

[Natsuki]

Natsuki stopped by the stream, quickly lapping up the cool water. Her paws throbbed and the bites from the dog stung, lowering her mood further.

Once her thirst was quenched, the wolf lay down and began licking the blood from her fur knowing that the scent of her blood would attract more unwanted creatures.

Although this place seemed safe and danger free, Natsuki could sense the presence of another. She sniffed the air but the smell of water and damp earth over powered the surrounding scents.

But, beneath the strong earth smell Natsuki picked up the faintest scent of dog. A puppy really. Her ears flicked forward and she sniffed again. The scent was fresh, most likely the animal was still here or somewhere close by.

And it wasn't alone. Laying along side the puppy smell was the distinct scent of human.

Natsuki remained still and waited.

[Kye Rivers]

A quick inventory told him what he needed to know. Long tears in Gem’s side were bleeding but not terribly deep. The throat wound was more problematic. Gem lay quietly, whining softly, as Kye gently explored with his fingers touching the rent flesh. Again, there was quite a bit of blood but he couldn’t see any exposed bone, nor did it seem like any of the major vessels had been torn. Sitting back on his heels, he sighed with some relief, thinking that she would probably heal alright, if he could stem the blood flow and keep the wounds clean. The ones on her sides she could normally clean herself, with her own tongue. But he realized that kind of motion was going to severely aggravate the clotting and scabbing and coming back together of the neck muscles and skin. And there would be no way for the poor dog to tend to those with her tongue, none whatsoever. Still, it seemed the first step was to get her back to the camp and try to rig up some bandaging. Kye rose to retrieve his bow and the arrow he had dropped, and carefully slung them over his back and shoulder. Kneeling back down, he eased his arms under Gem’s frame, using his voice to reassure her. As smoothly as he could, he lifted her into his arms and against his chest, and that was no small feat. She wasn’t the biggest Akinva he’d ever seen, but she easily weighed over one hundred pounds. Getting her back even the short distance to the camp was going to be slow and arduous. Luckily, Gem trusted him completely and she didn’t struggle, despite the novelty of being carried. Staggering under her dead weight, Kye turned his steps back down the bank of the stream.

[Jasper Rainsong]

Jasper gazed at the wolf, adrenaline rushing through her veins. There was something odd about the animal, it was too quiet, too calm. Perhaps it was close to death. As Jas was studying it she noticed something about its neck. A collar! Who in their right mind is crazy enough to even think about putting a collar on such a dangerous animal! Jasper frowned at the odd situation. But, i suppose it could have been tamed. That would explain why it is calm. Lowering her sword slightly Jasper made to test her theory, straightening fully and taking a deep, calming breath before steeping forward slowly, ever wary and eyes fixed on the wolf.

[Natsuki]

Natsuki looked around as a girl stepped into view. Her hair was long and dark, her eyes a strange grey colour. She was quite beautiful.

The girls eyes were fixed on her, Natsuki watched as she stepped closer. The wolf thought about attacking but this girl didn't seem like much of a threat, although her steps were cautious it was clear she didn't mean to harm the wolf.

Natsuki got up and flattened her ears. What did this girl want?