The moon was a pale thing, high in the wintery sky as the lilac wolf stepped through the deep snow. One paw after another, head down as she concentrated on the most important thing of all. Moving. She knew if she succumbed to the alluring warmth of the snow beneath her she wouldn't open her eyes again. Her steps were staggered, uneven things. Her zigzag course was highlighted by ruby red, crimson and stark against the white snow.  


Harder yet to see was the white creature that stalked the plains behind her. Invisible against the pale terrain as it came ever closer. Chasing the scent of blood.


the blood stained girl made it a few more feet before her bidding betrayed her. She stumbled, and hit the snow hard. Instead of rising, she lay there, panting in the cold. A flurry of heavy paws sounded behind her, and then pain. Agonising pain,  so much worse then the whips that had scoured her back and legs. She screamed once, loud and hoarse, and fell silent.

Oleander looked up at the pale moon hanging above him. It would be the perfect time to catch the ripest fattest seal to gather its stores of lard for his salves. They'll be sleeping on the shores hopefully if they weren't sleeping under the ice. He had to be cautious though, Polar Bears frequent the area in droves, regardless of how many he'd taken down now, two? Two. He'd rather not take one on by himself, the youth wasn't stupid, was reckless stupid? Bas would probably think so.

His thoughts would nag at him until the smell of bear and blood reached his senses. The blood was canine... Then a blood curdling scream split the air. His paws churned the snow toward it, like a flurry of snow himself he arrived at the massacre. A bear ripping into a girls back. With a snarl, he launched himself at the bear's face, his talons unsheathed and gleaming as he made for the eye of the bear and attempted to rend its ear from its head. The bear easily swung at him and threw him against a snow bank, but Ollie was undeterred. Shaking it off, huffing and a little winded he gathered himself up and made another attempt at smacking the bear back. He was relentless, snarling and biting the air in front of it. He leaped to stand over the girl as it bear moved toward her, his fur bristling and teeth snarling.

The bear finally decided that this wasn't as easy a meal as it thought and turned to run while Ollie jumped forward at it a few times to scare it off.

Panting he turned toward the strange woman in the snow. Her back is a mess not just from a bear mauling... Where those... The slashes had an interesting mark, almost like deep slices from a cat but the trajectory was wrong.

"I got ya, you're gonna be all right." He said quietly to her. He looked around to see if the bear was sticking around in the background. He couldn't leave her alone out here like this to get his supplies. So he motioned for his raven to come closer, and gave Eterna some instructions. He waited patiently next to his new patient while the bird flew back to the Armada.

"Speech!"

Code © Skelle/Witchdogtor DO NOT USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

She had no fight left to give. The only blessing was that consciousness escaped her. She slipped under, falling into the sky. Free, free at last. She found she had less regrets than she expected…


Someone was touching her, their warmth pulling her consciousness out from whatever dark corner it had crawled to. Death was more painful then it had any right to be. She heard their words, but their meaning didn't penetrate. Not yet. All she knew was that it was another wolf. She wasn't dead after all. It was so much worse, she had been found. “No, won't go back, I can't, I promised” her hoarse voice was a dry raspy whisper. Delirious, and while her eyes were open she wasn't really seeing the wolf there with her.


"Speech"

Damn, she hadn't seen any of his cool moves while trying to defend her? It became increasingly obvious that she was in far too much pain and distress to remain conscious for long.

He carefully sifted through the sliced and half-chewed meat that was the remains of her back. Were any of her bones compromised? It seemed most of it was surface level meat grinding, poor thing. She mumbled about not going back and it pricked his ears. Wherever she was from he didn't think it was a good idea to go back to it anyway.

"Don't worry," He soothed confidently, "I won't let them take you back." Whether that was true wasn't quite his concern yet, He was taking this girl as his patient and Bas can knock some sense into him later.

While he was distracted with checking her wounds he heard the sounds of someone approaching behind him. He assumed it was his raccoon and raven returning,
"Ah, good, pass me the..." Hot breath made his neck hairs stand up as he turned to find the bear about to snap him up again.

With a snarl, Oleander pushed against the ground and thudded his sharp angular shoulder blades up into the bear's chin.
"I thought I told you to fuck off!" Growled the youth as he spun over the girl and stood over her. He wasn't going to give her up easily. The bear made to swipe at him and he ducked under the powerful paw, then launched himself at the bear's armpit, a frequent tactic he was starting to master on these damn beasts. He raked his sharp cat-like claws over its belly as it roared above him and he sank his teeth hard into the flesh of the flap of skin where the arm met the torso.

"Speech"

She wasn’t sure what the stranger was doing, but she could feel the occasional shift or tug on her back as he examined her. Only, to her so much as a breath over her back right now sent agony through her system. She wished that darkness would keep her, but it refused to swallow her whole again. Instead, she stayed conscious as his words reached her. won’t let? a strange thing for a slaver to say.

The ice around her slowly began to numb the pain, or perhaps she was losing feeling in her body. Moving seemed like a very bad idea, but as a commotion happened around her, she struggled, shifting and groaning until she had turned enough of herself for her head to flop in the direction of the wolf that had found her, and the bear that had mauled her.

Which actually led her mostly to looking upwards. The wolf was the same soft tone as the snow, though there was no softness in his manner now. He was like a blizzard, moving with purpose as he fought the much larger, much more powerful bear. Why? She wasn’t worth enough for that. She knew it, she was told it day after day.

"Speech"

The bear took his opposite paw and shoved Ollie away. But he was latched on tightly to the fragile skin flap and it roared as his teeth rendered the flap of skin to ribbons as he was thrown aside. The snow-white wolf was prepared for the throw and rolled into a soft landing before bolting back up on his feet.

He snarled as he placed himself between the girl and the bear. Finally, the ursine got the message and galloped heavily away with a significant bleeding limp.

Ollie licked his lips and began to pant, breathing heavily as his adversary finally retreated. He sank his subtly shaking limbs into the snow. Now was not the time for fatigue! Someone needs his help still and before she bleeds out!

A minute went by and finally, a cracking croak above him signaled that Eterna had returned with aid, and ambling quickly behind her on the ground Jace, a pale raccoon, carried a kit strapped to his back.
"Good job guys, now let's get this gal some help." He took the offered kit from Jace and sidled back to the grievously injured woman.
"Okay, hang on now, I got some nice numbing salve, I'll stitch you up and get you somewhere safe." He said as he opened the kit. A nice hardened honey stick was part of the kit and he smiled and shook his head at it before putting it into his mouth. Was that Wylan? Or did Jace and Eterna have the wherewithal to add that nice little nutritious treat to help him recover from the fight?

Regardless, he began to apply the numbing solution around her wounds and trickle styptic tincture into the bleediest places to constrict the vessels and staunch the flow. He quickly sewed up the deepest slashed places, a lot of the area was too wide for stitches and would need a plaster to keep it clean and treated. He needed to take her home.

"I'm going to try carrying you home now." He told her, letting her know his actions in case she was still conscious.

He dug under the snow and slipped his agile and skinny body underneath her to get her draped over his back. Jace helped to steady her body on his back.

After one look around to make sure the coast was clear and no bear was thinking about trailing them, the little party slowly began to head to the Armada.

"Speech"

Vesper couldn’t feel the pain any longer. She wasn’t sure if the snow had numbed everything away, or if she was dying. Perhaps it was a little bit of both. She didn’t regret dying, in fact, she had already thought herself dead once today. What was the difference in a second round?

She looked up at the white wolf who seemed oddly determined to save her. Expending time and energy to one who was not worthy of it. She had been a drain on the resources of her owner - or so they had told her again and again. She found herself simply watching this green eyed man as he worked. It was easier to concentrate on him then think of the awful mess of her back. She didn’t want to look, and see the blood and bones, and mass that had once been skin and fur. “There's no place like home.” She whispered, more delirious than she realised. “You have such pretty eyes for a monster.” Was she still talking? Her thoughts seemed to be dripping from her mouth without her knowing. He was moving then, digging under, pulling her up. Apparently, she had just enough feeling for that to pull at the tendons of ripped flesh. She screamed once as he pulled her onto her back with the shortest, carefulest movements he could. At last, that sweet blackness took her again.

"Speech"