Cleanup Crew

Although Emersyn still didn't fully know where she fit in with the pack of wolves that had so graciously adopted her, she was still doing her best to be as useful as possible wherever she could. There weren't many talents a former slave-turned-gladiator could offer, but what she did was help secure the lands with regular patrols. The Hallows lived a mostly quiet existence from what she could tell. Which was why when the alpha's son came rushed back to the castle with a large bloody wound and a small vulpine-like lady telling a tale of sabertooth tigers lurking in the groves to the north, Em knew what she had to do. One of the younglings in the pack had been injured by a very deadly threat, and she had the ability to make sure it didn't happen again.

Em didn't wait for Indigo or anyone else to come with her. She strode briskly past the crew of wolves tending to the young boy and sprinted across the plains to the grove in the north. Duo-toned eyes narrowed with deadly focus when she dashed over the border and into the thicket of trees. The grove was quiet, save for a few songbirds, and in the bright summer day, it felt like nothing could be wrong here. The heavy scent of coppery blood in the air betrayed that false sense however. Stalking through the grove, Em quickly found the bloody aftermath of the battle that had taken place. A saber cat with a shredded throat lying in a pool of blood. The grasses a short distance away also soaked with the red fluid, thick and sticky as it coagulated. That must have been the boy's. At least it looked like he had taken the tiger down with him. She prayed he survived.

Em had been moments away from turning away after seeing the saber cat's corpse when she heard a low rumbling growl from the brush. Her body froze, her hackles raising as her nerves became electrified. She was not alone. Emersyn didn't need to turn around to feel the cat's eyes boring into the back of her skull. Instead she waited, listening for another growl. And then there was an explosion of foliage behind her. Emersyn dove to the side just as a bolt of furry lightning launched past where she had been standing seconds ago. The second saber cat turned on its heels to fix her with a predatory glare, showing off its sharp fangs with a vicious growl. Emersyn locked glares with it and snarled back, squaring her feet and settling into the familiar posture of a warrior.

All of her old skills and former lifestyle came back in an instant, her athletic body pacing around the cat as it tried to circle her in turn. Memories came rushing back to her. Circling opponents in a sandy arena, listening to the cheers and jeers of a lively crowd, the smell of blood and shit and death clinging to the air like a macabre incense. Indigo had told her that she wasn't meant for that life, and maybe she wasn't... but she had gotten damn good at it. The cat leaped for her, making the first move. Em pivoted her hips out of the way of its swinging claws, lunging with a snap of jaws to grab the cat by its scruff and began to savage it, jerking her head back and forth with razor sharp teeth cutting through its skin. The cat yowled in pain and swung for the wolf to dislodge her from its scruff. Emersyn relented, then lunged down and upward to snag the cat's throat in her jaws. Teeth sunk through flesh, and then she squeezed.

There was a pop of cartilage and a burst of thick, rich blood in her mouth. The saber cat released a gurgling cry as its throat was crushed, bringing its paws back to push the wolf off of it, but by then it was already too late. Emersyn rolled across the ground and spring back to her paws, watching the tiger stumble while a waterfall of blood oozed down its chest from the gaping wound in its throat. The cat struggled to take a few more steps towards her, its eyes going glassy and disoriented as blood loss began to claim it. Emersyn wasn't a merciless warrior though. The creature was as good as dead, and letting it suffer a slower death would have just been cruel.

She took a few quick strides around its side, then ran forward and slammed her body into the cat's side to topple it over. The tiger fell with ease, and then Emersyn jumped over it to wrap her jaws around the tiger's neck. Her strong jaws held it steady while her paws grabbed the cat's head, watching its paws flail weakly to try and push her away, but this fight was already over. With a snarl and a sharp twist of paws, she snapped the feline's neck, feeling the vertebrae pop out of place between her teeth. The saber cat's body jerked as it died, then fell still with a final, blood-choked death rattle. Emersyn dropped the cat's lifeless corpse, glancing between it and the other body in the grove. Hopefully that would be the end of them, or at least enough to send a message to any other predators that might come too close to Hallowed lands.

Heaving a sigh while she caught her breath, Emersyn began a slow patrol of the grove. She would make a circuit, maybe two to make sure it was clear, then head back home. Indigo might have thought her previous life was horrible, and in many ways he was right, but it had also given her the tools she needed to survive and to protect the wolves that mattered to her. This was just one example of that, and she could never regret being able to save the ones she loved.

WC: 996 / 800

"Emersyn"