Ravenshook Cliffs Lassie 2.0

@Towhee

When X rushed toward her and began to flail toward her, all she could understand from his frenetic gestures was that something had happened to Towhee. It had likely been infuriating for the bird, being misunderstood- as his command was to go guard Raven. But Niamh was still quite green when it came to understanding the hawk’s version of speaking- and even if she had understood him, she would likely have disobeyed him.

So when he finally took off, she made a beeline for the borders, crossed the river and picked up Towhee’s fading scent and followed it toward the coast. At one point she saw X wing by overhead, and she followed his course- but obviously could not go as quickly as him.


By the time she reached the cliffs, there was no one there. Scratched earth and spilled blood spattered the ground. Feathers had been pulled from X, and she whined as she sniffed them. The clawmarks in the earth led to the cliff- and into the vast emptiness beyond. Tentatively, she approached, but could not immediately look down, for fear she would see Towhee’s body strewn across the rocks below. But when she did, she saw her friend’s body curled up on a rocky ledge, ten feet or so below, with X. She whined; Towhee wouldn’t be able to hear her- so with one foot, she gently pushed a bit of dirt over the edge, hoping it miht grab Towhee’s attention.

Towhee was grateful that she'd stopped to rest before arriving at the cliff, as falling asleep on this narrow ledge seemed extremely precarious. She only wished she'd eaten too, not to mention taken a long drink. By the time the sun rose—affording Towhee her first view of the expansive ocean sprawling as far as the eye could see—her mouth was dry as a bone and her guts ached. She couldn't tell if it was true hunger or the anxiety of being trapped on this small, windswept shelf.

At least she was in good company. Although X had sustained a gash across his feathery breast, he had roused in the night and assumed an upright position, preening himself so that his plumage gleamed beneath the morning sun. Towhee watched his feathers rustle in the salty breeze and eyed his wings, which appeared to be unbroken. Yet the bird hadn't left their makeshift roost.

"How are your wings?" she wondered at last, shifting her weight. It was very hard to get comfortable here; the space was cramped and the ledge wasn't particularly smooth.

In response, X stretched them out, one after the other, displaying a host of bent and crooked flight feathers. Towhee knew these must affect his ability to fly but how badly? And for how long? If he could get airborne sometime soon, he could fly to the plateau and fetch help. Her lips moved as she prepared to ask, when the bird suddenly jerked his head upward, beak opening in an unheard cry.

Towhee looked up too and exclaimed, "Niamh!" She resisted the temptation to leap to her feet, lest she lose her balance and tumble into the sea to share Screech's watery grave. The Beta had never been so grateful to be disobeyed, nor happier to see a familiar face. -We're a little banged up but otherwise okay,- she signed, ignoring the twinge in her leg. -Just need a little help getting out of here...-

Her orange eyes dropped momentarily to look around the small escarpment, as if she might find some method to escape its small confines. She couldn't avoid looking down at the frothing surf below and wondering if she might have to jump, which reminded her... -Screech is gone,- she said, looking back up at Niamh's shining face.

When both of them lifted their heads to see her, Niamh breathed a massive sigh of relief; they were alive. From what she could assume, Screech had had some part in dragging them over the cliff, but he was nowhere to be seen. Towhee’s movements were stiff, but she confirmed that they were ok- which was encouraging. Getting both of them out of there would be taxing on them, and she still had to figure that out.

Towhee looked around and Niamh whined to herself- she couldn’t possibly reach them herself, and looking past them to the waters below...She wasn’t sure if a jump was the right option. There could be rocks beneath those waves that she might hit if she jumped- unless Niamh could check it out first, but swimming against that current would be hard enough.

-I’m thinking.-  She said, and looked around. She couldn’t see anything in the vicinity that would work, and then she looked back down at Towhee, trying the gauge the distance. -Too steep to climb,- She surmised, plus Towhee was tired and injured, and any misstep might take her over the edge. -I want to find something you can grab and I’ll pull you up?- She asked, open to any other idea Towhee had.

Her brow furrowed at her friend's proposed plan. Like what? she thought, though Towhee didn't say anything. She signed, -Okay,- and then mustered up the good humor to quip, -We'll wait here.- She even managed a smile, particularly when she remembered that a) she was alive, b) X was alive and c) Screech was dead.

While Niamh presumably wandered away to find some sort of utensil to help Towhee climb back onto the cliff proper, she looked down at the bird. "You can hitch a ride," she said unnecessarily, "all the way back home, if you need."

X looked back at her, then dipped forward and bowed a few times in acknowledgement. He then turned rapidly and began plucking at his feathers, likely trying to sort them out so he could attempt to fly in the near future.

Now came the issue of finding something long but sturdy enough to haul Towhee and X up over the slope. All she could think of to use would be a branch, but finding one sturdy enough would be tough. The trees that were in the vicinity were fairly scraggly, worn down from the sea breeze.

She had to go further away, back toward the woodlands which took a fair amount of time. Towhee, she hoped, would stay put and be fine- she knew Towhee would wait, as there was nothing that could keep Niamh from returning. 

None of the branches were long enough though- and the long ones that had fallen already were dry and brittle. She eyed a young alder, but had her reservations. It was long enough, though a bit thin toward the top, but as wide through, at least, as her foreleg at its base. And it was alive. There was no other way to go about it but bite and chew- so she did her best.

Her gums were bleeding and sore by the time she finally gave up. She chose another alder, then, and attacked it by digging at its base. It was taller, anyway, and thicker- so she dug through the dirt at its base and gnawed at the roots, spitting out dirt- but she was successful, chewing through enough that she could pull the tree free. It would have to do.

Tired and dirty, and with a jaw that was already sore she dragged the 12 foot alder back to the coast. She peered over the edge and barked, hoping to catch X’s attention. Hours had passed- but she was back.

As she watched the bird rearrange his bent feathers, Towhee fell into something of a trance. When she suddenly resurfaced with a blink, some time had passed; the sun had moved quite a ways in the sky. Suddenly aware of how stiff she felt, she carefully shifted her weight to make herself more comfortable. It was a relative term, considering how little room there was on the rocky ledge.

More time passed, with Towhee drifting in and out of awareness as she stared over the open ocean, mesmerized. This time, a sharp pinch to her shoulder caused her to glance at X, then upward to see Niamh hovering over the edge of the cliff. She didn't say anything, waiting instead for Niamh to relay the status of her rescue strategy.

When X heard her, he promptly alerter Towhee, who looked fairly restful. She herself was exhausted and her jaws were sore, but she knew the hardest part was yet to come. She took a moment, laying down with her paws draped over the edge and briefly signed -Need break- and allowed herself to catch her breath, flicking her tongue over her sore teeth. While she wanted to get Towhee out as soon as possible, she could not be too tired to do so, or she might jeopardize her friend’s life.

-Got a tree. Will lower it down. You grab, I pull, you climb.- She said. -Could try with X first,- She said, figuring it’d be easier for the bird to latch onto the tree rather than onto Towhee’s pelt. It would give her an idea, as well, of how hard this would be.

Towhee nodded when Niamh signaled that she needed a break. She was itching to get off this tiny shelf, yet she understood the effort her friend must have put into figuring out an escape plan. While she waited, she cast her orange eyes out to sea again. It was a rather breathtaking view, though Towhee would honestly be all right if she never saw the ocean again after today. She just wanted to go home to the plateau and preferably never leave home again.

When Niamh was finally ready, she used ptero to describe her plan. Towhee's ears splayed dubiously. She was pretty sure she outweighed her friend, so would she just end up dragging them both down until they were hurtling into the water like Screech? She eyeballed the side of the cliff, trying to assess how likely she was to find purchase. She supposed the uneven surface, plus the slightest gradient, would allow her some footholds. But it was going to be a strenuous, risky endeavor.

Towhee's eyes turned pensively to her feathered companion. As soon as they made eye contact, he spread his wings and leaped onto her shoulder. Rather that perch to one side (usually her right), X shifted until he was square between her shoulder blades. He then beat his wings even as he dug his talons into her back. Towhee clenched her teeth, prepared to yell at him to tell him he was hurting her. And then she realized what he was trying to do.

"Let's do this!" she called up to Niamh.

Like her ever faithful companion, X refused to go first and leave Towhee behind- and instead, gripped Towhee by the fur square between her shoulder and began to flap, as though to pull her upwards. She wasn’t sure it would work or help- but if he could pull a salmon out of running water, he could maybe alleviate some of Towhee’s weight. She needed all the help she could get.

At Towhee’s bidding, Niamh grabbed the alder tree and lowered the top end down to Towhee, so that she held the base by just above the roots. Those scraggly roots she kept against the ground as a brace, and would catch on the rough surface and help her if she needed a break or slipped. Once the tree was in place, she waited for Towhee to latch on, and then she began the most difficult game of tug-o-war she would ever play in her life.

The yearling stepped to the side to make room for the alder as Niamh lowered it, her heart nearly stopping when her hind foot slipped over the edge. She recovered quickly, though her heart was still racing as the branch came to rest beside her. Towhee felt X's talons dig even deeper into her flesh and she grabbed onto the branch, clenching her teeth against the pain.

It took a moment to maneuver into position, though finally she felt ready. "Pull!" she called, voice probably indecipherable between her naturally clunky cadence and the branch currently jammed in her mouth. Once she felt the limb begin to shift, Towhee braced herself. When it cleared the ledge, she reared up onto her hind feet, scrabbling for anchorage.

Meanwhile, X resumed the beating of his wings. There was no way he would ever lift Towhee, though his feathers caught some of the updraft and there was the tiniest semblance of lift. Simultaneously, the burly she-wolf attempted to scale the sheer rock wall while maintaining her clutch on the branch and avoiding allowing her full weight to drag on it, lest she yank Niamh over the cliff. It was quite the exigent balancing act (literally).

By some miraculous stroke of fortune worthy of a Disney film, they managed. Towhee was suddenly up and over the cliff's edge, clinging to the ground and drawing in hitching breaths around the alder, which she couldn't seem to let go. X had released his own grip on her back—she could feel trickles of warm blood, sticky in her fur, likely staining her white streaks—and settled nearby, neatly folding his wings, his own bloodied breast puffed up triumphantly.

As soon as Towhee gripped the top part of the tree and grunted something Niamh couldn’t understand, Niamh began to pull. It was an arduous effort, and she constantly battled against losing her footing and being drawn too close to the cliffside. Her grip did not lessen- having the rooted end gave her an advantage, as the bulk of it pressed against her cheek and gave her leverage. 

Slowly, though, she made progress, and just in time. Her teeth felt as though they were being ripped from her skull and it was only when X’s wings appeared above the edge of the cliff that she completely forgot her pain and gripped tighter, pulling until she saw Towhee grip the edge and lurch over it. Niamh fell backwards, still clamping onto the tree. Blood dripped from her mouth and when she finally let go, and looked down, she saw one of her canines on the ground. Adrenaline kept the pain quiet, but the taste of metallic blood as it dripped freely from the empty socket on the upper left side mesmerized her for a moment. 

Still in a state of shock, she moved toward Towhee with staggering steps- muscles completely spent and vibrating from the strain. She was still hanging onto the alder’s thin, limber trunk, so Niamh gently nudged the top of her head before she lay down beside her friend, practically crumpling to the ground, unable still to comprehend what had just happened.

As soon as she could focus properly, Towhee let go of the alder (her jaw creaked audibly, though she was unaware). She glanced at X, then scooted closer to Niamh as she buckled next to her. The Beta began nosing and nudging her friend, tail tapping gently against the hard ground. She glanced down at the bib of blood, not to mention the broken tooth, and quickly threw up a mental wall when it triggered a flashback.

"Thank you," Towhee said quietly after a moment, resting her nose on the other wolf's shoulder. "You're my hero." She smiled faintly, then asked, "Is there anything I can do? Let's get you cleaned up," she suggested, then thought to add, "as soon as you're feeling ready." She knew Niamh had put quite the strain on herself in this endeavor.

FINALLY on a computer with internet!!

Towhee seemed to perk up as she flopped beside her, and immediately offered to help, but Niamh didn't exactly care what she looked like. "S'jus' blood," She said, wincing at the pain that was caused by any touch of her tongue to the roof of her mouth. Fortunately, with Towhee, it wouldn't be much of a problem, as they could simply speak in ptero. Her voice was thick and sticky with blood anyway, so she was actually relieved to have a different method of communication. 

She rested beside her friend, withut having the energy to dissuade her friend if she should decide to start cleaning some of Niamh's wounds, but eventually, once the fog enveloping her mind cleared, she turned to do the same to Towhee. She had a number of gashes, including the clawmarks on her shoulders. She tended to what she could, before she nodded. -"Let's go home."- She signed, rising wearily to her feet, ready to go back to the plateau and sleep for a decade.

Woo! I'll wrap. :D

There wasn't much Towhee could do for her friend (without sticking her tongue inside Niamh's mouth, which seemed a strange thing to do), aside from offer companionship, comfort and, of course, gratitude—particularly when the Gamma took it upon herself to tend to the fresh gashes on her back. The broken skin stung under Niamh's ministrations, though Towhee sat as still as she could and kept her jaw clenched against any protests that might escape.

Eventually, her friend signed that she wanted to head home. Towhee merely nodded, then clicked her tongue at X. Keeping her belly slung low, she waited for the bird to awkwardly arrange himself on the swell of her buttock, giving the wounds plenty of breathing room. She then slowly rose to her full height and tipped her head to Niamh, the three of them plodding away from the cliffs without so much as a backward glance.