Mud Monsters and Pack ghosts
05-26-2020, 04:51 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-26-2020, 04:52 AM by Malalia.)
Her ears flickered softly, quietly pleased that her friend was enraptured. She'd been terrified of this story as a child, and the similarity between the long grass of her own home and that of this story hadn't helped with that.
"The pack put a search party together, and they looked everywhere," she went on. "But it was if the pups had vanished into thin air, without a trace. It didn't take long to put two and two together, and not long after the pups went missing, they began to suspect Anya. After all, the creatures that died around her had been growing bigger and bigger. It was only a matter of time before she killed a wolf. Right?"
"Her parents denied the accusations. 'Not Anya,' they claimed. 'Not our daughter. She wouldn't harm a hair on those children's heads.' They still harbored their suspicions, of course, but the pack let her be."
As she told the tale, she slowly, subtly inched closer to Mortis, tail swept out behind her. "But on the third day, they found the only clue they needed: a splatter of blood belonging to one of the pups. And it just so happened to be nearest to Anya's den."
"Her parents could only protect her for so long. After this? The pack was enraged, and they started hunting the girl instead. They chased her, and chased her, until they came to the part of the land where the grass was the thickest and the longest. The pack lost sight of her for a moment, before she reappeared, caught in a pit of quicksand. She begged for their help, but the pack refused, and instead questioned her about the whereabouts of the pups. 'I don't know,' she kept repeating. 'I don't know.' And so, they left her there."
Mal paused here, humming absently as she licked some leftover dirt and plant matter from her paw. She looked into the fire, a light, strange smile on her lips. "Hours later, they found the two pups playing in an old badger den on the outskirts of the territory. They'd wandered off and fallen into a stream near Anya's den, and got themselves banged up pretty badly. It was the reason for the blood, the reason they couldn't find their scent at first. But they were alive."
"So the pack rushed back to the long grass, to the pit of quicksand they'd left the girl in. But she never resurfaced. The pack mourned her, and the grievous mistake they'd made. They put flowers at the foot of the pit, and begged their gods for forgiveness. Her parents left. But eventually, with the pups found, life went on, business as usual." The girl's ears planed back, and she closed her eyes to the firelight. "For a time."
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