Fern is out wandering among the runestones, the sun shining brightly from its perch high in the sky. It has been such a nice day and the gray girl had decided to go exploring and had dragged Puff along for an adventure. The stoat sits between her shoulder blades, peering out at the strange, rune inscribed stones. Her small voice pipes up, “This place is creepy.” A small chuckle is released as the gray wolf says, “I thought it was cool. Who knows how long they have been here? Who built them? They are mysterious and old.” Puff’s small brows furrow as she looks over a fallen pillar, saying, “Yeah well, ‘mysterious and old’ to you are ‘creepy and unnatural’ to me. Can be please move on?” Fern rolls her eyes but moves to leave the strange rocks behind, saying, “Alright Puff, we’ll go. Just don’t expect…”

She cuts her sentence off as the wind suddenly shifts, bring to her nostrils the scent of a feline. Spinning around quickly, Fern sees the lithe figure of a cheetah racing straight at her. Shit! Where had it come from? Releasing a panicked howl for help, the gray wolf dodges behind a rock as her stoat grips the fur at the shoulders to keep from falling off. Light paws race through the stone yard as she yells, “Hold on Puff!” The stoat grimly follows the order, turning to look at the cat that is giving chase, shouting, “It is getting closer!” Just as Puff shouts about the approaching cheetah, another feline bursts from the tall grass straight ahead of the pair. Shit! How many are there?

Fern changes course, working to put the stones between her and the cheetahs. Shit, shit, shit! They are so fast! With two hot on her tail, a third one appears on her right and the gray girl alters course again. Not good! Not! Good! As she runs loops and zig-zags, Fern hopes that help will arrive soon and curses the fact that she had left her sword back at the castle.


WC: 344

"Fern Lark" | "Puff"

When Bowen went off for a bit of alone time, she hadn't expected to be saving someone's life, let alone the life of her brother's girlfriend. A call for help rang through the stony landscape and the russet and cream woman wasted no time in answering that call. Bowen was small, but she was very speedy and made short time of locating the wolf that required aid. Emerald eyes saw the running form of Fern before shifting to see what was giving chase. A cheetah? Here? It was incredibly strange, but she believed what her eyes were seeing.

Inhaling deeply, Bowen let out her air long and slow, steeling herself for what was to come. The woman planted her hind paws against one of the stones and, as Fern rushed past her, Bowen rocketed forward, colliding hard with the oncoming feline. The cat screeched as it thudded to the ground, the small wolf flying along with it as they rolled. Bo pushed off of the cat, getting as much distance between herself and its claws as she could manage. The collision didn't take too much strength out of her, which was a good thing. She was going to need to be able to run.

As Bowen rose, she noted several other felines coming in hot as though they would avenge their fallen comrade. A comrade who was already back on its feet and rushing to regroup with its family. Taking the opportunity to put distance between herself and the cats, Bowen rushed after Fern, catching up with the larger woman and urging her on. "There are a lot of them. We need to get back home, fast!"

The pair of wolves ran as fast as their legs would carry them, but they were no match for the cheetahs. The long, lean cats were speed on legs and they could run circles around the women, which they began to do. Some were toying with the wolves, but others were intent on making a kill. "Try to stick together!" Bowen called out, panting hard at the sheer exertion of their flight. She hoped that someone else had heard the call. Three against seven cheetah's would still be a long shot. Their only hope was getting back to the castle. Hopefully in one piece.

WC-381
Total-725/1500

"Bowen"

It seemed with the long night well past recent dates Serenity was no longer scared and secluding herself in the castle walls. It was still a pretty traumatic experience, but as the days went on she felt better and back to her normal everyday life and personality. Of course that still didn't get her down off the walls very often.

She was out just scouting, looking for notable herbs or prey herds to report back to The Hallows. It had brought her pretty far south, farther than she had been in a while but it was nice. Nice until she heard the familiar call of Fern not too far off at the runestones. Serenity felt panicked at the urgency in the call, and without a second thought she sprinted towards her troubled friend.

The scent of cats filled the air around her as she was trailing where the felines had traveled and seemed to be hunting Fern. She picked up the pace but also tried to save her energy if she had to use it to fight off the cats, depending on how many of them there were.

By the time she made it to the scene, Bowen was also there. A woman she didn't know, but had seen around the castle from her perch as she did every resident of The Hallows. She ran up behind the group of cats, lingering as they seemed to be playing with their food. Taking them by surprise, Sereinty ran forward past one cheetah and grabbed the second by it's tail, throwing it off balance and knocking over one or two of it's comrades in the process. She joined up with the other two Hallowed wolves, "We may be able to lose them in the Cathedral." The place was dense and they may have been able to move around like a maze and get the cat's confused through their movements. And hopefully come out the other side and make the cut for home.

Fighting Seasonal Prompt
Total Word Count: 1055 words
Word Count Goal: 1500 words
"Serenity"

Death nips at Fern’s heels, terrifying the girl. She runs as fast as she can, weaving around the stones in a vain attempt to slow the incoming felines. Mind turns as fast as her paws strike the ground wondering how the hell she managed to find a group of cheetahs! The universe must be playing some kind of sick cosmic joke is her, just when she is ready to marry Rudy! Just when she is finding happiness. Fear drives the thoughts from her head one of the cheetahs gets a little too close and she feels the whisper of claws ghost over the fur near her right hip. The closeness of the cat, the near miss has the gray wolf dropping her head and putting all her energy into her legs. A mantra starts to repeat inside of her head as she moves, ‘just a little further, help will be here soon’.

Yet, as the moments drag on and help has yet to appear, Fern feels the icy fingers of fear wrap around her throat and the air suddenly seems thicker. She feels her already oxygen deprived lungs trying pull in deep breaths working harder and harder to pull in the air she so desperately requires. The world narrows to a single point as the gray girl dances with death, trying (and failing) to pull away from the swift hunters and reach safety. The group of cheetahs’ herds her through the runestones, toying with the wolf and her stoat, giving opens and closing off retreats. Realization finally sinks in that is where she is going to die, that these cats are going to take her life. But, she does not lay down and die, her primal instinct may tell her to flee but it is the need to protect Puff that keeps her fighting.

A grim determination settles into the gray girl as she runs, ready to fight for inch of ground. Fern rushes past a pillar and, to her great surprise, sees a streak of caramel rocketing out toward the charging felines. Something tells the gray girl that she knows that caramel blurr and indecision slows her frantic gallop. Ocean-hued eyes cast a quick glance back toward the hunting cheetah, catching sight of a downed cat and the wolf that interceded on her behalf. Bowen is racing up toward her and Fern groans inwardly as she turns her eyes back to the front, the fact that Rudyard’s sister is in danger because of her has Fern’s resolve to live strengthening. The smaller wolf’s words are met with firm nod as the gray girl moves to stick close to and match pace with Bowen. The cats begin to circle, playing with their food.

Then there are sounds of a commotion from behind the pair and Serenity is suddenly joining them. Hope flickers to life in Fern’s chest as the thought that the three of them can make it out of this together has the gray girl giving a tight smile. She adjusts course for the Cathedral, barking out, “Bowen lead the way! Serenity take Bowen’s right! I got her left!” Fern allows Bowen to pull slightly ahead of their small group, falling into rhythm with Serenity as they take up their respective positions. Puff deftly adjusts her own position on her friend, moving to watch the felines at the women’s backs. Her small voice shouts, “Fern! Coming up from behind! Left hip!”

The girl gray drops back a few more paces and skids to stop suddenly, stunning the swift feline for a moment and in its to turn and bite the wolf, causes it over shoots its target and trip over its own paws. Fern is already running back to her spot at Bowen’s side when Puff once again shouts, “Serenity! Incoming straight at right hip!”


WC: 636
Total WC: 1691/1500
"Fern Lark" | "Puff"