ooc:  Feel free to describe the gray male's companion, I figure whoever it is could be Eisleif's opponent. Whatcha think?

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

A light morning fog rolled in as Éldi dug into his breakfast. He'd had the luck to fell another turkey and was intent on gorging himself for the journey ahead. He had miles to go if he wanted to reach this beach of black sand he'd heard about from another loner. It sounded like the sort of territory that might be worth investigating.  Pausing to lick the blood off his feet he narrowed his eyes, ears swiveling about his head. Éldi had the sneaking suspicion that he was being watched. He gazed about himself though and saw no one until he heard a dark chuckle off to his left.  Éldi's hackles rose, his ears pinning back as he stood defensively over his kill. A large gray male with golden eyes emerged from the mist. He was easily as big as Éldi but older and he didn't look the least bit friendly.  

A dark shape lingered behind him, while Éldi couldn't make out the details he knew the other was a wolf. Ah shit… two on one. "Now, boy. You seem the type to respect your elders. Run along like a good whelp and leave that bird to me. No sense getting maimed or killed over that scrap of a kill."

Éldi snarled. "If it's such a scrap then surely it doesn't interest you."

The older man's hackles rose. "I ain't gonna tell you again, squirt. Beat it!"

Eisleif’s paws thundered upon the land she had been born to for the first time in years. The striped she Viking raced over the frosty earth, alone for the time being. She enjoyed the freedom and the cold wind on her face as her Northern home was returned to. Eisleif didn’t play, her run was a determined gait, however the small smirk on her lips proved she enjoyed herself. The landscape changed, giant pines began to spring up and the sun was concealed by their mighty boughs. She would have continued running, but the scent of strangers made her halt. Her gait slowed to a creep as she approached the clearing. Three wolves surrounded a turkey carcass, two seemed to be intent on stealing said bird from the younger wolf that protected his kill. Eisleif felt her sense of morality flare, stealing was wrong especially from one that was younger than you. If they could bully this boy why couldn’t they take their own kill? She felt a quiet growl bubble up in her throat as she appeared from the underbrush by a large white male who had remained silent thus far. ”Vhat filth.” She growled in her heavy accent. ”Stealin’ a kill from a boy? You shoul’ both be asheemed.” She looked back to the wolf standing over his kill. ”Shoul’ ve teach ‘em a lesson?” ""

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Éldi and the strange gray wolf were at a stand off, growling at each other as the man's companion, a large, black-pelted male, strode on the scene. "He's not moving, Fitz, I think it's time to teach him a valuable lesson about the food chain." The dark man let out a laugh and Fitz coiled himself, ready to spring when a strange and beautiful woman appeared on the scene. Éldi wasn't sure what to make of her at first but he was grateful someone was going to be on his side. His ears perked at her accent. Was she of the far north as well?  He grinned at her and nodded his head sharply. "You bet, milady! I won't let my name be tarnished by cowardice."

"Stupid bitch. Put her in the dirt Josah, I'll take care of our snippy whelp."

Josah nodded. "Be my pleasure to remind her of her place in this world."

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the dark colored man, Josah, launch himself toward the woman but he didn't have time to watch. Éldi swiftly set his defenses as the gray male, Fitz, launched himself toward the younger male.

She couldn’t help the grin that spread over her dark features as the assaulted male took no time in agreeing with her. Play wasn’t in her vocabulary, but it was because she never had more fun than when she was shedding the blood of her enemies. The darker male took her as a target while the lighter wolf kept his attention on the yearling. Eisleif instinctively pinned her ears to her skull and narrowed her eyes to slits. The fur on her back went up as she revealed her gleaming white teeth to her opponent. Her elbows and knees bent and she evenly distributed her weight between all four legs. She tucked her chin and rolled her shoulders forward, with her stub of a tail she didn’t get much added balance but still she tucked it close to her body to protect what she could. Her claws gripped the earth as her opponent charged at her menacingly. The rest of the world disappeared and for a few moments only she and this thug Josah existed. He ate up the ground like it was the kill he was trying to steal. Eisleif was lighter and faster though. The male attempted to barrel his chest into her waiting right shoulder, with practiced grace Eisleif sidestepped. He brushed her striped right hip as he tried to grab at her haunches with his iron like jaws. She barely slipped past him, but her right hind leg was caught up by his left sideswipe. Eisleif stumbled slightly as she turned around 180 degrees. Ruthlessly she aimed for the Achilles tendon on his right hind leg. Wanting to wrap her top and bottom jaw around the leg and pull as she followed up with a slam into his inner right thigh with the middle point of her left shoulder. In addition she would attempt to use that same left paw to wrap around the inner base of his paw and completely pull the leg from underneath him. ""

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Éldi and Fitz collided in a tangle of snarls and fur. Éldi countered the man's attack and seized the left side of his face. In the struggle he lost his grip and tripped. Stumbling back to his feet Fitz was right on top of him, jaws heading straight for Éldi's throat when an earth shattering roar broke through the din and brought both him and his opponent to a halt. Éldi swore he could feel the hot breath of the beast before he turned his head to see a massive polar bear standing on its hind legs, staring down at the wolves. Fitz screamed, turned tail and ran. Éldi was frozen, he could barely bring himself to stand.

The polar bear was growling, low and threatening when it suddenly swung at him. Éldi turned around and tried to leap out of the way but he leapt to late. The bear knocked his feet out from under him as he face planted in the snow. Fruious, he scrambled to his feet, whirling around to face it. He had enough of getting kicked around. But was anyone going to face the bear with him?

Eisleif was mid attack when the roar disturbed all of the wolves in the clearing. She turned to face her new opponent as the coward she knew he was turned tail and ran off. She didn’t have time to grumble about his inferior personality traits. Her bright eyes fell on the monstrosity that was the angered polar bear, it seemed just as determined to steal the young man’s kill as the two previous wolves. She felt herself sigh internally, but she’d already been denied one fight she wasn’t about to back down from another. The young wolf who was defending his kill was just as eager as she was even though he had been knocked flat once. Bears were not a creature to be trifled with, but Eisleif felt confident in her abilities. She too turned to face the monster next to her new battle partner. The Viking woman let out a determined roar of her own in defiance of the massive creature. She didn’t want to give it much time to think, and bound to action as it returned to its paws. Narrowing her eyes, tucking her chin, raising her hackles, pulled her lips back to show her teeth, and pulled her ears to her skull as she coiled her legs and leapt at the bear. She wanted to bite and retreat, aiming to tear at the bear’s throat right under its chin and leap away before it’s nasty claws could catch her quick form. ""

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Fitz's partner ran off with his tail between his legs but the tail-less woman stood by him for which Éldi was grateful. Now here was a brave, warrior of a woman. He watched as the woman set her defenses and then he quickly went about setting his. He supposed it would be much like fighting a wolf, at least in terms of the defenses he could put up but the attack strategy was going to be something else. She raced for the bears throat just as it stood on its hind legs and let out a deafening roar. Éldi felt fear race through him but instead of letting it push him back he dove forward, teeth latching onto the bears right foot but he didn't stay there long. He felt the woman had the right idea and he hung on just long enough to leave puncture wounds, stumbling back just in time to miss getting a face full of claws.

Eisleif gave as much attention to her partner as was necessary, she kept him in her peripherals, but mostly focused on not dying. She tasted the large creature’s blood in her mouth and quickly let go to gain space from the enraged creature. The woman did notice the creature favoring its paw, surely from the young man’s attack. The left would swipe towards her, and nimbly she jumped from its path. She took the moment to roar back again as she went for the creature’s elbow before it swung its legs back again. She kept her gaze narrowed and hackles raised, but she put her front paws up to the bears’s flesh as well. She tried to tear with tooth and claw both as she leapt back, pushing off the back of its paw. She regained her balance, distributing her weight evenly to all of her paws as she rolled her shoulders and tucked her chin. She bent her knees and readied herself for the next attack. ""

Éldi was determined for this to go better than the last time he'd had to fight a bear. He'd been sore for weeks and hunting had been a difficult endeavor. He watched the woman for a moment, marveling at her impressive acrobatics. He was not so agile himself. Sizing up the bear he charged for it's right hind leg but as he dove for it the bear whirled around causing the yearling to skid to a halt, just short of snapping jaws. He switched tactics, trying for the other side but the bear followed him, keeping itself head to head with him. Éldi grinned and glanced at the woman before shuffling to his right, seeking to keep the bear focused on him in the hopes that it would present a vulnerable side to the woman who could then draw more of its blood.

The Finnvi didn’t even feel bad about the kid becoming the bait to this boss fight. While she had the creature’s blood staining her lips the bear’s focus remained on the brave young man. He posed the possibility of taking on two large wolves for a turkey, and he faced the bear with the same ferocity. Both he and their massive opponent drifted to the right as the bear prepared to strike again. Eisleif situated herself in the bear’s blind spot as it focused entirely on her partner. The mighty creature lifted its left arm high above its head for another blow, but Eisleif chose her mark. Coiling her limbs and springing up she aimed her jaws at the inner joint of its arm and torso. She wanted to tear at the thinner skin and hope to catch an important artery with her destructive jaws. As her teeth connected the bob tailed she wolf pushed off the side of the enraged animal to help get as much distance from it as she could. As soon as her paws had traction in the dirt she jumped backwards again, hopefully far enough to dodge a return blow. ""

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Éldi continued to maneuver himself out of the way of the bear's claws, he was clearly beginning to frustrate the beast. Suddenly, it put on a burst of speed that took the yearling by surprise. He never imagined a bear could move so fast. It swept the legs out from under him as he tried to shuffle out of the way, it's claws clipping his left hind leg. He fell to his belly and was on his feet in a moment but not before the bear raised it's left arm high above its head, ready to deal him a fatal blow. The woman came out of nowhere, seizing hold of the bears arm. Her fangs pierced into it' flesh and he saw red. Before the bear could retaliate the woman was away and the bear was furious. It stood on its hind legs then pounded the ground with a roar, head twisting back and forth as it tried to fend off the wolves. The bear took a step back, clearly uncertain about the fight. One more push and the could drive it off.

Éldi grinned at the woman and with a battle cry he charged at the bear. The bear shuffled back, clearly surprised by the yearlings tactics. As it's fangs lunged toward him, Éldi ducked, the bear's jaws just grazing the top of his head as he sank his fangs into the underside of the bears throat. There was too much there to get any sort of fatal blow. The bear was packed with fur, fat and muscle but that was fine. He hadn't really be expecting to do serious or fatal damage. He just wanted to startle this bear. Show just how aggressive he and his new friend were and push the point that the bear was not going to push the pair into submission.

Eisleif’s attack was timed perfectly as the bear had thrown her companion on the ground. She managed to evade it as the beast protested vocally and found itself undecided between which wolf it needed to focus on. Eldi grabbed her bright blue eyes as he roared his battle cry and went for the beast. Eisleif took his lead and gave a cry of her own as she too leapt at the bear’s neck. She opened her jaws wide and grasped at the creatures thick skin. While it focused on the boy she took the opportunity to shake her head and tear at its flesh with her deadly teeth. Again she avoided its anger by mere inches as she retreated to relative safety. She growled deeply as she looked over the creature, blood stained its white fur as it decided if the fight was really worth continuing after such a beating. ""

dark mists are cloaking what the eyes can see

Éldi thrashed and writhed as the bear howled in pain, clearly stunned by this turn of events as Eisleif took another bite out of the creature. Éldi let go just in time to avoid another swipe of its mighty paw. The yearling felt a chill on top of his head and knew he was bleeding. He could tend to the wound later, right now he needed to focus on the bear. The bear stumbled back and shook its head. Splatters of blood stained the snow as the creature groaned once more before retreating. The meager meal of a turkey was not worth dealing with two aggressive, deranged wolves.

Éldi let out a cheer as the beast ran off before he bounded over to Eisleif. "That was incredible! I can't believe we just chased off a polar bear. My name is Éldi, by the way, Éldi Rudolfrson. You're welcome to some of my kill as thanks for the assistance."

The rush of adrenaline ran through her whole body as the polar bear’s blood soaked into her fur. She took in breath deeply, but hurried as she sought more oxygen in her lungs. Her heartbeat heavily in her chest as she stood coiled, ready to leap away should the next wave arrive. Their opponent hesitated, dripping crimson as it debated its work to reward ratio. Eisleif stared back hard before the beast decided to turn away. A sense of Victory took her as it lumbered off in the opposite direction. A grin came to cover her features as her gaze returned to her partner as he celebrated as well. She couldn’t tell his own wounds to the bear’s blood that fell on his pelt. She held her head high feeling the rush of accomplishment take on an adrenaline like feel of its own. He offered words of disbelief, but Eisleif had been confident in their combined ability. She just grinned in response to that as he gave her a name, Éldi Rudolfrson she committed it to memory. She wondered with his name, he sounded northern. ”Eisleif Finnvi, it would be a pleasure to dine with you.” He was young, but he was a courageous warrior. The woman looked back to where the Turkey lay, such a ruckus over the bird. She hoped it taste as good as battle had. ""