Tonight We Are Victorious

Aerndis followed behind Valentine, panting. Her companion, Rudolph, flew through the sky above her. She was tired and walked with a slight limp, favoring her left hind leg that had been injured in battle. She had numerous cuts and bruises and mentally she was still digesting her first experience of an all out battle. She'd sparred with her brothers and had a few scrapes now and then with loners but nothing like what she'd just been through. She'd never seen such violence nor had she ever been the cause of such bloodshed against a fellow wolf. The only way she'd been able to get through the battle mentally was to imagine her foes as prey. In truth she was a bit shaken but she didn't want to show it. Everyone else seemed to be enjoying themselves and she didn't want her grandfather to think of her as weak. Aerndis did think the slavers deserved it. They were wretched creatures and an awful threat that needed to be eliminated. In truth they deserved no less than to be slaughtered like sheep. So why did she feel so like this?

Valentine settled on a hill and Aerndis moved to join him. She sat down heavily and began to lick at the wound on her left hind paw. She paused to smile softly at Valentine before returning to clean her injury which had broken open again. Every time she thought the bleeding had stopped it would start up again. While leaping after a slaver one of his compatriots had seized her hind limb in his jaws. She was lucky to get away without any broken bones.