This Thread Is Going To The Dogs

Eligos made his way along at a ground-eating clip. Not far behind right now though sometimes they'd been racing ahead were the seemingly inexhaustible adolescent malinois. Both Kida and Cypher - names he'd given them, as they'd been too young and traumatized when he'd found them to remember the names they'd presumably have been given by their malinois parents - were frolicking madly in the dead grasses. Imagine what their reactions would be if it were snowing - which, as high north as this particular land was, was a distinct possibility as the season went on.

Kida sprinted ahead, followed closely by her brother, but before they got out of sight they both skidded to a stop and stared alertly at something ahead of them. They were gangly young things, but both managed to look almost elegant as they stood poised. Then their ears went back and their hackles went up, and both burst into a fury of barking, prompting him to put on speed.

What he saw when he came up next to them was a scene with grim possibilities. An older pup, alone, with a scavenged kill that had clearly attracted unwanted attention in the form of a pack of wild dogs. Luckily the malinois ferocious salvo of barking had attracted some attention away from the youthful wolf. He didn't like that he was making a habit of rescuing other wolves from predators, but he couldn't leave an unprotected pup at the mercy of nature. Unlike with Aurielle this was unlikely to help him in any way, but he found himself moving again anyway.

Without a word he bounded past the pups to the young stranger, followed closely by both Kida and Cypher, and he threw himself between her and the wild dogs. The odds had suddenly changed from four on one to four on four, but considering that three of his possible fighters were pups it wasn't great odds for him either, though if they could manage to make it difficult enough the dogs might seek prey elsewhere without too much of a fight.