Like a Stone

Once he made it in through the entrance of the cave, he stopped. His eyes still needed to adjust, the southern sun making it hard for him to see in the dark immediately. So far his ears had detected nothing, but in all honesty- he wasn't being as aware as he should have been being. He was distracted, heavily influenced by the desire to get back to his family in Lirim. He watched as Vale moved past him and continued to explore the caverns, and Elias took the opportunity to shake the sand from his pelt.

During that shake, Elias missed the sound of the big cat's pawsteps as Vale seemed to go in deeper. He whispered out, "Vale, I wanted to--" words were stopped short as the cat emitted a heinous growl. Elias' eyes widened slightly from the sudden adrenaline rush that was washing over him as he listened to Vale release another growl of his own. He wasn't prepared to allow his friend to fight when they just got his fucking wound seen by a healer.

He was acting on instinct, his paws moving him forward as Vale and the cougar started their little dance. He squared his stance and aligned his head with his spine just as Vale did, though the cat seemed pretty honed in on dat ass as Vale moved to present it. Once the cat made its move and launched into Vale's hind leg, Elias lunged at the right side of its neck toward the middle, a little low. He wanted to pinch the creature's windpipe, but he would probably need to reposition his hold to accomplish such considering their positioning.

The cat let go of Vale and cried out from the pain the two wolves were giving it, and Elias met those roars with a low and fiendish growling of his own as he confirmed they would not be letting the cat go, no matter how much it cried. It already pissed Elias off, and there was no turning back. When the cougar stopped crying, it seemed set on thrashing it's weight around to remove Elias from its neck. Elias tensed his jaw muscles and anchored his ass to the ground, but the heavy impact of the cat's sudden paw colliding with Elias' left ribcage knocked the wind out of him. Elias let go as he felt the sting of knives slicing into his side, moderate lacerations beginning to bleed. Luckily, Elias curved his body toward Vale and away from the cat's arm in time to prevent him from being able to latch a hold on Elias and those knives continued to carve down the man's side. He felt them finally release from his flesh and then lunged right back at the cat- ready for another attack while the cat stood in the afterglow of his own.

Elias quickly lowered his torso to the ground and watched for an opportunity to get to the beast's neck. It seemed to be switching its attention to Vale for now, but Elias would match it step by step if he could to keep himself in the trajectory of his target- the beast's trachea.

Vale and Elias VS. Big Black Cougar (220 lbs)
Round 1/3
Height: 42 inches
Build: Medium