Was there any point to not doing patrols?  Even when Rudy wasn’t patrolling he’d run into bears.  Twice!  Rudy needed to build up his stamina so he’d decided to patrol the border, though at his own pace.  As day lengthened and he was about halfway through he’d moved to a lazier pace.  Every now and then a shoulder dipped low when his foot protested the length of the walk.  Rudy ignored it, so long as he could walk then he’d keep moving.  

The motley boy was determined to never again be some helpless victim.  He’d never again have a wolf making a mockery of him as it casually tore off parts of his body.  Rudy blinked away the awful memory and continued on in his walk.  The endless grass stretched out endlessly it seemed like but as he neared the northwestern most edge he could see the path that in time would lead to the bridge that would take one to Boreas.  He could imagine the path and remember how it had been to roam the path alone.  Memories drifted to him so that it took him a few moments to realize he wasn’t the only predator out this way.  In the grass, moving his direction was a tiger, and unfortunately, it had spotted him also.  The large cat was moving his direction and Rudy backed up a stride, ears flicking back and teeth showing.

He stalled himself from snarling long enough to let out a howl for assistance.  He wasn’t charging in but neither was he leaving.  Hopefully, someone was close enough to get here fast as the cat didn’t seem to like being watched and was giving him an appraising look.  It seemed like things would be fine and he’d get time to wait for assistance.  Then the cat suddenly charged and Rudy was forced into fighting before he wanted.   His first move was simply escaping the charging cat.  He spun about trying to get a bite of its back leg but the cat was quicker and the best he could do was avoid the return strike.

"Speech"

Romulus had been out on his own half of the patrol route, partly securing the Hallows' border and partly enjoying the return of the sunshine, when he heard a familiar voice howl for backup. Slate-tipped ears pricked up to Rudy's call, and then the Armadan wolf was sprinting across the plains in the direction of his pack mate. Large paws thundered across the plains, charging over hills until he crested one and came upon the battle site. Rudyard was engaged with a tiger, both predators baring teeth and facing off in close proximity. Oh that's not good, Roman thought and ran at the tiger. Fortunately, he and Lillith had just fought and killed a tiger together not long ago, so this would be more like a repeat performance for him.

While the large cat was distracted with the motley monochrome wolf, Romulus lunged at it with a snarl, catching the feline off guard. He threw himself onto the tiger's back, claws digging into the flesh on its thinly furred back while he sunk his fangs into the tiger's shoulder joint. The tiger yowled in pain and thrashed around, trying to throw the wolf from its back. Roman held on for as long a she could, tugging his head back and forth to rip and tear at the tiger's joint hoping to cripple it some. Unfortunately, the tiger was smarter and threw itself onto its back, slamming Romulus into the ground and dislodging him before standing and advancing on the toppled wolf.

"Romulus Armada"

Rudy ran towards the tiger the moment Romulus came in.  The cat had a handful with the large wolf on its back ripping into it.  Rudy ran in to offer up support but Romulus had that cat moving in some crazy patterns as it tried to throw him. Rudy kept half lunging in to try and bite a bit in but that cat was twisting about so fast it was hard to get a good aim on a target.

Then the tiger got the wolf off its back but it came with a new problem.  For a moment the tiger was on its belly and Rudy was ready. He lunged in, wanting to get to the tiger’s throat but its head was tucked in protecting it.  Rudy grabbed a leg that was in the air and started thrashing it about.  No surprise the tiger was already rolling to get up and Rudy suddenly had to let go and swerve away not to get clawed in the face.  

Even if Rudy had to back off the tiger now had a nasty shoulder injury from Rom and the leg itself didn’t look too good.  The tiger wouldn’t be getting away.  The tiger no longer had a chance and Rudyard was willing to bet the tiger knew that as well.

"Speech"

Romulus saw the tiger get up, saw the massive clawed paw swinging down for him, and flinched in time to feel—nothing. He heard the tiger yowl in pain and heard Rudyard's snarls of fury, peeking open a silver eye to find his pack mate had intercepted the tiger's strike in the nick of time to save him. The tiger swung for Rudy and the monochrome wolf narrowly avoided getting clawed in the face. The big cat was hobbling now, its shoulder rent and joint eviscerated. There would be no retreat for the feline and it clearly knew it. The tiger was prepared to fight the wolves to the death; only one party would be leaving this skirmish alive, and Roman didn't intend for them to be on the losing side.

With the tiger's attention drawn on Rudy, Roman rolled to his paws and sprung back into the fight. His body ached from where he'd been body slammed by the full weight of the tiger, but it was nothing he couldn't manage. Adrenaline kept him going and pushed the ache in his muscles to the back of his mind. He had his steely sights set on his next target: the tiger's back leg. With murderous intent, Romulus lunged alongside the distracted tiger and managed to sink his fangs into the tiger's thigh muscle, thrashing once more to shred femoral muscle.

The tiger yowled, hot blood gushed into the wolf's mouth again, and suddenly the tiger's own massive weight became its downfall. Unable to keep itself propped up and stable on its own legs, the tiger collapsed sideways. Romulus narrowly managed to skirt back and avoid being squished a second time, but now the tiger's soft underbelly was exposed to Rudy. Romulus had created a lethal opening for his partner to seize the opportunity and end this fight.

"Romulus Armada"

The tiger’s attention suddenly went from Rudyard to Romulus as the wolf managed to attack the tiger’s back leg and the damage guaranteed the wolf's victory. There was no need to think on what to do as he saw the tiger falling. Rudy rushed in, still mindful of thrashing big paws as his teeth bit into the belly, a good bite and rip before darting away as two sets of legs were coming in his direction.  The tiger couldn’t seem to decide if it was struggling to try and get to its feet or just keep Rudyard away from its belly.

Rudyard looked at the damage done, the bite to the belly was true, there was blood leaking out but was it enough done?  Had he gotten into the organs?  Rudy crept back closer and the tiger froze, legs tucked in to protect the stomach but the big cat didn’t dare try to move his legs to get up without Rudy getting a chance to really open him up.  All he needed was a few seconds.  His gaze twitched from belly to tiger throat and smirked as the tiger roared in an attempt to be intimidating.  

Arrogance seeped out as Rudyard imagined the pain and fear the cat might be in and let out a sigh.  Yeah, no slow deaths.  They’d make sure it died cleanly instead of waiting days for death to come.  Rudyard glanced up to Romulus, a silent request for the wolf to distract the cat once more.  It was this or the throat and Rudyard would prefer just to finish off with the soft belly when it was so close.

"Speech"

With the tiger distracted and losing blood, it became an easy task for Rudyard to get a lunge in and sink his fangs into the tiger’s soft underbelly. Romulus was a little surprised at the choice of target; he probably would’ve gone for the throat or femoral artery. Rudy, it seemed, wanted a painful death for the large feline. The silver-slate wolf frowned. He didn’t exactly approve of the slower method of killing, but who was he to criticize a member of the Vanguard? The tiger rose once more, blood pouring from its lacerated belly, but it hadn’t been disemboweled yet and was very much still alive, but very much in agony.

Roman caught glimpse of Rudy’s nod to him to occupy the tiger’s attention one more time. He was hesitant, afraid that doing so would just allow the Carpathian to continue to toy with their opponent, but the alternative was to do nothing and sentence the tiger to a slow, agonizing death. So Roman nodded back and whistled, catching the tiger’s attention once more. He zipped in directly for the feline, looking as if he were going to charge it head-on—and then at the last second feigning the attack and dodging to the side, deftly avoiding a swipe of the dying tiger’s claws. He maneuvered the tiger around like this while it struggled to remain standing, unsure what sort of opening Rudy was looking for, but trusting the fellow lupine to seize it when he saw it.

"Romulus Armada"