Lupus in Fabula

In those mint eyes he treasured more than precious gemstones, Kane could already see the uncertainty and hesitation in Tamsyn's mind. This was far riskier than either of them had anticipated. But Kane had come too far to give up now. He had to see this through one way or another. He half expected her to argue with him or try to convince him to turn back and let go of his need for vengeance. What he hadn't been expecting was for Tamsyn to reaffirm that she was coming with him. In truth, he'd worried a bit for her wellbeing. Although she tried to hide it, he'd seen the way she'd been getting queasy at seemingly random intervals, how she no longer drank wine with dinner, and how she'd been seeing Gwynevere on a semi regular basis. Today she'd seemed okay, but her general shift in demeanor did have him more than a little anxious. Surely if something was wrong with her though, she'd tell him, right? She wouldn't willingly put herself in a dangerous situation if she wasn't feeling 100%, would she?

Kane hesitated, considering her words with great severity. Then he released a sigh and nodded. "Okay. But you promise you'll be extremely careful. And if something starts to go wrong... you run home, okay? Promise me you'll keep yourself safe for me." Even if it means leaving me. He didn't say the words aloud, but it was heavily implied. Giving her a guarded smile, Kane closed the gap between his muzzle and hers for one last quick, deep kiss before turning and heading into the thick bamboo maze. The hunt had begun...

In the mass of bamboo, it was significantly darker, the already cloud-laden sky obscured by the rising walls of thick grasses and canopies of leaves. The rain sounded little more than a distant echo all around him, warping his sense of hearing while he stalked through the maze in search of his quarry. Brown nose twitched to catch the scent of the wolf, following it deeper and deeper into the grove. He followed the scent turn by turn. With each step, the smell grew stronger, until it was virtually all around him. Now his sense of smell could no longer be trusted either. Kane dropped to the ground, closing his eyes to focus his hearing while he pressed a paw to the cool, damp earth. Beneath sensitive paw pads, the hunter felt the vibrations of the earth. For a while, there was nothing but stillness. The rain continued to fall, fat drops occasionally breaking through the leaves overhead to pelt his damp coat. Somewhere in the distance, a clap of thunder rumbled over the land, indicating a stronger storm front on the way.

Then he felt it. A vibration of something heavy moving close by. Steely hazel eyes snapped open and he turned his head in the direction of a snapping sound. Kane glanced back over his shoulder to Tamsyn and gestured in the direction wordlessly, silent as a shadow while he prowled through the bamboo, slipping between the dense clusters of grass that made veritable walls all around them. Kane still couldn't hear anything discernible yet, but the more he moved, the more he became aware of little things. He saw some bamboo stalks bowed outward, like something massive and heavy had pushed its way through on a consistent basis. He came across a few stray deer bones, remnants of meals. The final clue was when he pushed into a small clearing and was greeted by the stench of decay and death. It didn't take him long to locate the source: a dead dire wolf crumpled in a slump of torn flesh and bloody fur. Flies buzzed around the corpse, and it looked like some scavengers had begun taking pieces from it. He must have been here for a while.

Kane approached the body's studying the wounds. They ere familiar—far too familiar. Deep and ragged and lethal. His primordial dire wolf had done this. Turning back to look at Tam, he motioned for her to stay close, remaining silent all the while—until a snap from just ahead made his heart stop. The hunter didn't even have a chance to turn around before a massive form burst from the wall of bamboo with a ferocious roar, leaping at him like a massive wall of muscle. Kane braced himself, but was still taken off his paws by the sheer force of the dire wolf's charge, its head slamming into his chest and sending him flying backwards until he smacked into a cluster of hardened bamboo, collapsing to the ground with a thunder and a breathless groan. The dire wolf snarled, its tawny patchwork coat covered in dried blood, yellowed fangs dripping with spittle while it glared daggers at Kane and Tamsyn. "Stupid wolves. I've seen you watching me! You followed me, now you die!" the dire wolf snapped, then rushed Kane again, seeing him as the greater threat than the tiny woman.

Kane was back on his paws just as the dire wolf was upon him, bearing down on him with fangs going for his neck. Kane fought back, ramming his paws as hard as he could into the primeval dire's chest to try and get some space. The two dire wolves began to gnash at one another, Kane's sabers cutting viciously at the other wolf's muzzle and neck, but unable to score any damaging blows. The larger dire simply grunted off the pain and caught Kane upside the head with a blow from a massive paw, sending the hunter reeling. Kane saw stars—and then he saw the dire wolf going for his neck again, intent on ending the fight as quickly as it began. Kane growled and lunged forward, managing only to get the dire's fangs to grab his scruff instead of his whole neck. Instead of a killing blow, the giant dire hauled Kane off his paws, shaking him around like a rag doll for a few moments before chucking him across the clearing again to slam into another wall of bamboo. This time, Kane felt something in his chest snap and an excruciating pain exploded out from where he'd impacted the bamboo and then the ground. Kane gasped as the air was knocked completely out of his lungs, leaving the hunter sprawled across the ground while he gasped and struggled for air, trying to ignore the searing pain in his chest while the dire wolf rounded on him once more, closing the gap between them with slow, lumbering strides.

"Kaneonuskatew"