Completed Webs and Wolves [Hisoka]

[Vlodaru Ceiba]

Vlodaru noticed the shiver, and the way she covered her ears from the noise. He reached out with his long arms and grabbed the silken cloak on the ground. Then he wrapped it around her and placed his arm around her shoulders, keeping the cloak there.

"It'll be okay Sibeaka." He smiled down at her reassuringly. "It is getting late. We should sleep. And by morning, the storm will be over."

Lightning flashed outside as it began to rain. Slowly at first, but soon it became a torrential downpour. He took his sack and propped it behind his head. He repositioned himself to get comfortable. After he was content he glanced over at his Kelvic friend.

"And don't worry," he said as he set his spear against the wall next to him. "If anything happens, I'm right here."

[Hisoka]

Hisoka's ears rang with the echos, barely hearing Vlodaru speaking to her. She tensed, relaxing slightly when she realized that it was only the Symenestra attempting to place the piece of cloth around her shoulders. However, she was uncomfortable with close touch, other than her mother's, and so she leaned away slightly. When the lightning came, her eyes were already shut in pain from the continuous barrage of sound, caused by the thunder, that drew closer and closer, as the storm began to pick up. Her mind was blank, the echos blocking any thoughts that may have otherwise occurred. Hisoka had always been vulnerable to such things. At times like these, it left her completely vulnerable. She gave a very canine whimper, a high pitched whine emanating from her throat.

[Vlodaru Ceiba]

Vlodaru noticed how she shied away from him at his touch. Instead he crossed his arms in front of him. And with one leg stretched out and the other tucked in, Vlodaru closed his eyes and tilted his head down. He was very tired from his journey and was ready to fall asleep almost instantaneously, despite the storm outside. Her doglike wimper made him open one eye to take a look.

But then he heard something else. It was low. Thunder? No. Lightning struck again, illuminating the cave. He heard it again. And again. What is that? Vlodaru stood, spear in hand, and stepped away from the wall to the middle of the cave.

Peering out, it was hard to be sure of any details. The rain was coming down just too hard. He heard the noise three more times. It was loud, and seemed almost..excited? His eyes widened in terror, as he glanced back at the cowering figure against the wall. He knew the sound. Dogs. Hunting dogs.

Hunting her!

Quickly, he ran back to Hisoka. Kneeling in front of her, he placed both hands gently on her shoulders. His spear went clattering to the ground beside them.

"Hisoka! Hisoka listen to me! We have to move, now!" He shook her slightly, trying to snap her out of her terrified trance. "Hisoka! The slavers are coming!"

[Hisoka]

Absorbed in the sound of the thunder, she didn't hear him until he began to shake her. At the word "slavers", she flashed back to earlier that day, when she had been chased through the woods. Hisoka's head snapped up, eyes wide. Quickly, she grabbed all of her belongings and started to run out of the cave, into the raging storm. Within seconds, she was soaked, but she didn't care. Glancing over her shoulder, checked to see if Vlodaru was still there. Relieved that he was, she powered through the rain, her legs pumping in time with her racing heart. Dodging trees, jumping over logs and underbrush, she heard the dogs' voices fade more and more. Ahead, she saw a large tree with a branch, just within her reach. Sprinting over to it, she jumped, her bag between her teeth, catching the branch. However, her hands slipped, and she fell to the ground. Again, she tried, this time, attempting to find a groove or handhold, but again, she slipped. She heard the excited barks, and the growls of anticipation.

[Vlodaru Ceiba]

Though he shouldn't have been, Vlodaru was quite surprised by how fast Hisoka reacted. He barely had enough time to grab his spear and cloak chase after her.

"Hisoka! Hisoka where are you going!" He called as they ran through the downpour.

For a few moments, he lost track of her. Trying to peer through the rain he covered his head with the cloak. This let him at least keep the water out of his eyes enough to see a small figure repeatedly fall out of a tree. He ran closer to be sure, and indeed it was her.

"I'm going to put you on my back!" He called through the rain. Without giving her time to deny him, he grabbed her under the arms and slung her around to his back.

"Hold on!" He shouted. With one hand he held on to her, making sure she didnt slip. With the other, he made slow progress up the tree. Vlodaru was too focused on climbing that he did not notice when he had dropped his spear. But he was one third of the way up when the dogs arrived.

Two of them, by the sound of it. He thought without looking down. The dogs barked and yipped excitedly, clawing near the base of the tree when a booming voice was heard through the storm.

"Here doggie!" It called mockingly, "Be a good girl and come down here, and I just might not kill you!

[Hisoka]

Though it was quite rare, there were times when wolves hunted, catching their prey unaware from above. However, in this case, the wolf was using this as a way of escape.

Hisoka clung to Vlodaru's arm, though not quite tight enough to cause any pain. She looked down, her frightened blue eyes cutting through the darkness. She could see the two hounds, tails swishing rapidly back and forth, their yips and barks full of anticipation. The sound of the voice sent shivers down her spin. It was one of them... one of the ones who had taken her mother.

She was in their room, playing a new tune that her mother had just finished teaching her, the flute in her hands singing sweetly under her fingers. Then, the door slammed open and men came in. They smelled of anger, causing Hisoka to back into a corner. However, the moment they grabbed her mother, she ran at them, letting out the guttural growls of her lupine species. They merely laughed, striking her aside with a blow to her temple. She fell unconscious, witnessing as her mother tried to reach her before everything went black.

Returning to the moment, Hisoka's eyes took on an icy quality, here eyes clear, piercing through the storm to where the man stood. She let out the same anger as she had in that room, though it was now more ferocious, a feral sound that would cause a man to tremble. "Why do I have to be prey to this creature who is so weak that he needs to use the likes of them?!", she thought as she change her glare to the two dogs bellow. The moment they met her gaze, they whimpered, tails tucked between their legs. She was consumed in an emotion that she had not felt before. All she could think was, "...They hurt mother...", and see the image of her mother's body when she returned to consciousness.

She was in her canine form, when she returned to her senses. Rolling onto her stomach, slightly disorientated, and saw her mother lying on the floor by the door. Rising slowly on unsteady legs, she moved towards the crumpled form, and nudged her with her nose. Her mother did not stir as she usually did. Hisoka looked at her, tilting her head, seeing dark blotches of color covering her mother's skin. Again, she tried to wake her mother, pawing her shoulder. Still no movement. At this, she dipped her head to her mother's face. She did not hear a whisper of sound from her mother's lips, nor her nose. "This is not mother", she thought. "Mother breaths. Men took her.. somewhere? I will find her." With this, she began gathering things into a bag.

"Now, is that anyway to behave to your keeper?", came the mocking voice of the man below, though his is voice trembled slightly with nervousness.

[Vlodaru Ceiba]

Rain beat against the silken cloak, wrapped around him. Vlodaru wracked his brain trying to think of a solution. His spear hand was empty, and he was trapped in a tree by two dogs and slave driver. Trapped with a runaway slave girl he didn't know. He didn't understand how he got himself into this mess. Why did I help her? What good will it do me?

And then he thought back what had happened in the cave. The way she was fascinated by him. By his armor. By the strange abilities his race had. He thought of the strange abilities her race had. How she could shift effortlessly from human to beast. Of how she reacted to being called 'Sibeaka'. Then he remembered of how she shook at the first sight of him. Of how she cowered from a storm, and took off into the night when he warned her of her pursuers. He looked down at the man and his dogs below. She was scared.

The man was tall, but only slightly shorter than Vlodaru was. Dressed in all elegant hunting clothes. The man obviously had money. He sat atop what Vlodaru could assume was his fastest horse, with a wicked grin of amusement and triumph.

Hisoka was outmatched. She was outnumbered and overpowered. Instantly he knew why he had helped this girl. Why he risked his own life to save hers. He did it because it was right. The girl on his back was someones friend, someones daughter and granddaughter. And someday, she may become someones mother. She deserved to be free. To live her own life, not the was this wicked man wanted, but how she wanted.

He had an idea. Quickly he grabbed Hisoka and set her on a branch in front of her. His purple eyes drilled into hers with fierce determination. I will protect this girl! His voice was low and strong. It resonated with his will to defend her from this fate.

"Hisoka, do you trust me?"

[Hisoka]

She was still glaring at the animals below, the unnerved human and the whimpering dogs. The horse the hunter was saddled on, showed the whites of its eyes, foaming at the mouth as it smelled her sent. Wolf.
Still, though she displayed such hostility, in truth, she was terrified of the man below.

When Vlodaru set her down, Hisoka looked up at him, squinting through the rain. His faced expressed a deep decision, or rather, a strong determination, for what, she did not know. She tilted her head slightly, into a position where the water from the sky wasn't hammering her eyes.
Then he asked "Hisoka, do you trust me?"

"Trust?", she thought. No, she didn't trust anyone. However, did she believe that he would help her? Yes, she did. So instead of replying with speech, she nodded, staring him straight in the eyes. Agreeing to nothing, but acknowledging with what seemed to be agreement, a trick she had learned from humans.

She waited for his next movements, unsure of what he intended to do.

[Vlodaru Ceiba]

Vlodaru nodded back. "Good." was all he said before he turned away. He made his way down the tree until he was but two branches above the dogs. They barked and yipped violently but Vlodaru ignored them. The man eyed him curiously.

"Good day sir. Is there anything I can help you with?" He said. His voice was calm and confident.

"It seems you have something that belongs to me, pale man. I want it back." He spoke curtly. But something in the mans eyes told Vlodaru that something was off. His voice was strong, but the way he kept looking from the dogs to Hisoka didn't seem...right.

Vlodaru glanced upwards at the girl in the tree. Then looking back at the man he spoke.

"It? I don't see anything but a young girl." He looked up again. His eyes squinted as if he was trying to see something specific. "No...she doesn't look like she belongs to you either." He laughed sarcastically. "No she ran away from you if I remember right. In fact, she even offered to be my slave instead. Perhaps if you called off your mutts we could make a deal?"

Vlodaru flashed his fangs at the man with a smile. The slavers eyes narrowed. He grimaced and muddered somethings before making a loud whistle. The dogs reluctantly stopped their antics and backed away from the base of the tree. Vlodaru stepped down and removed his hood. His hair was instantly drenched but he didn't mind. He knelt down and picked up his spear. He tested the balance nonchalantly and looked it over. The slaver grew impatient fast.

"What's you're price!" He shouted angrily.

"Now now. No need to rush things. She is caught in the tree. It's not like she will be going anywhere soon." Vlodaru didn't look the man in the eyes. He simply watched as he twirled his spear from one hand to the other slowly.

"So help me I'll - Oohf" He had drawn his sword and began to get off his horse. But Vlordaru quickly grabbed his spear tight and drove it into the mans side. The man fell off his horse with a wet thud and laid there for a moment. Instantly the dogs began their barking again, and Vlodaru hurried back up the tree. Holding his side the man blindly rushed in the direction Vlodaru was, meeting only the tree and a spear.

Vlodaru had positioned himself to look as though he was sitting on a branch. In fact he was only on his own feet on the side of the tree, sitting up to hold on with his off-hand as well. With the other, he held his spear downward, poised to strike at the mans throat.

"You little...!" the slaver mumbled, but Vlodaru was too busy laughing to hear the rest.

"The deal is off." Vlodaru laughed again, arrogantly mocking the man. Then he looked up at Hisoka to make sure she was still okay.

[Hisoka]

Hisoka thought it odd that the dogs' behavior changed so quickly, from submissive and frightened to violent and edgy. "They are strange...", she thought to herself, "Humans... did something to them...?" She observed warily as the slaver called them off.

Looking back towards the two men, she heard Vlodaru's words,

In fact, she even offered to be my slave instead. Perhaps if you called off your mutts we could make a deal?"

At this, she tensed waiting for them to seal the deal. She was slightly surprised when Vlodaru, had quite effectively, stalled the slaver's advances with his spear. Her gaze kept flickering between the two, still clutching her bag through the entire ordeal.

Again, Vlodaru had demonstrated his kind's abilities in scaling vertical surfaces, but her attention was still focused on the slaver and the dogs. A small part of her realized the Symenestra had created the ploy to regain his pointy stick (spear), but her attention was still mainly focused on they're adversaries. She was fully aware that Vlodaru, though he had repossessed his stick, had also angered the slaver even further, and she did not know how he would react next.