Moonspear the twelve labours

✴       The children were growing day by day, which was expected. Revui grew physically more-so than mentally, which didn't exactly mean he was stupid but he certainly didn't acquire some of the skills the others boasted. He did not speak, for one. Perhaps this was a malady of some form which had been left untreated; perhaps he was just one of those bestial things upon which language did not root itself? It was clear by the way he reacted to the voices of his parents or the shrieks of his siblings that he could hear, that he could understand, but there was no effort made to accept the gift of speech and cultivate it for his own use. He was much more fond of other things.

Other things such as the scouting of the borders (under watch of an adult most often), the chasing of birds and squirrels when he spotted them (which did not amount to much besides being out of breath), and of course, eating things. He had always been an insatiable fiend when it came to meal time—bullying his siblings away from extra rations had earned him some girth. So much so that, at this half-way point of his life, Revui was nearly full grown and he had been experiencing a growth spurt that outclassed his littermates. Whether it persisted for much longer was a mystery. With this new-found size advantage he was an even greater terror, but at the very least it gave him more power with which to chase his quarry.

Such as he was doing now. 

Revui had left the rendezvous site without even trying to conceal himself; he even left behind an eager @Arcturus who had wished to tag along, a rare moment of separation between the titan and his beloved shadow. He passed by @Yama on his way — they were playing with a pelt of some kind — (although it could have been @Yami, they were twins after all and he wasn't exactly a bright child) but the glimpse did not garner his attention for long, and he continued.

The mountain slopes were cut haphazardly by the paths of the adults; some were clearly marked and headed along the borders, others petered out across the hillside to groves or open spaces he had yet to explore. He took a breath, chose a path, and then bolted along the wolf-sized corridor between the many plant-things. Whatever he found he would happily investigate, but he desperately hoped it would be something he could sink his teeth in to. 

5 months old, equates to being a preteen / on the cusp of adolescence.

HAH! u thought u could give me the slip.. i think not!

arcturus had learned to recognize the tempest that swayed revui; the subtle shift in his brother's posture that called back to something restless, and recognizable. he had seen the boy's shift in demeanor and watched him out of the corner of his eye as he left. sharing a fleet look with the yams, arcturus stole after the mini-titan in quiet steps.

their progress carried them out of the stone-tumbled rendezvous, and the trail spilled out into land that was only passingly familiar to the boy. he kept close to revui's heels, silently following the boy wherever his whim carried them.

The larger her siblings became, the more she had come to enjoy them; such had been the way with Jarilo and Vela, and such was also the way with her present siblings. Of her siblings, she enjoyed the males the most—the twins she had hoped more from, but they were not the most interesting to her. Revui and Arcturus were, and she had a preference for the latter. But the former was never ignored. 

She caught his scent and followed it. Her ankle smarted from a recent fall, and she moved with a limp; her sister had advised her she take a break from patrols and her typical work ethic to rest. Still, habits died hard; even though she stepped down from leadership for the time to recover, she could not find it in her to do nothing. 

Hydra followed him, and now Arcturus, into the cavern with a chuff. She wondered what had led him into such an enclosed space; it was uncomfortable and unnatural, and she herself did not enjoy it. But maybe he had found something interesting; perhaps this was why Arcturus followed, but time would tell.

✴       Where usually the slopes were dangerous and the trees grew in an angular fashion to compensate, the section of foreign forest that Revui had discovered was somewhat different. The slope had petered out. The landscape flattened and straightened, and while he could not feel the stoneworks underfoot, Revui had come upon an enclosed plateau upon which the trees stood tall. They were immense as a byproduct of their location; rather than reaching along the slopes or being blocked out by older forest, these trees had found succor in the rich soil and had formed a nearly impenetrable fortress of thick oak, pine and elm, enough so that scrub could not survive in the thick darkness beneath the boughs. The smallest gaps became home to bugs—notably spider nests which left tangled heaps of floss criss-crossing between the stands in the lot.

Revui happened to cross through a plethora of these wild tangles as he bludgeoned his way along the path. He only stopped when he had to, and found himself faced with the immense wall of forest that bordered every other route. As he lurched to a stop he heard a skittering from behind himself—so he wheeled about, and caught sight of his bright-eyed brother trying to keep up. He would have otherwise been irritated to have his attempt at pure independence flouted, but he was at his core quite pleased to see Arcturus. He snorted softly as his brother came close, scooped his nose through the fur of his scruff, and then pulled away to investigate.

To say the landscape was black as pitch was, of course, wrong. There was a graying light throughout this strange hollow, and when there came an occasional updraft of summer air, the glimmering of the sun did filter down among them. Revui was periodically cast with dappled gold light. Such moments lent enough illumination for Revui to gather his wits. He could see that the expanse of almost-darkness was about ten feet across or thereabouts, but beyond that it was difficult to tell where the terrain ebbed or where branches might've obscured things. It was enough to know he could move around but, the question remained—was there anything here to explore? Had they merely found a hollow on the mountain that held nothing of note?

Revui stepped away from his brother as he pondered, his head down-cast and nose roaming across the ridges in the dirt, and he could've sworn he smelled something—it was musky, and it brought to mind the moment he had found an exposed cache and Jarilo had stopped him from ruining it. It was a similar deep, earthy, animal scent. He lifted his head after following the trail towards a pit of blackness on the fringe of his vision, and looked over to Arcturus, as if to say "What is that?"

the trail they followed panned out into a grove of splintered stone, which in turn yielded to a dark and unexplored cavern which set its scowling face eastward. arcturus paused at the yawning mouth before he dove in after revui's swiftly bobbing tail - which was promptly swallowed by darkness.

he heard the concealed tread of someone behind him; his ear turned back as hydra's shadow loomed over him, both at once imposing yet reassuring. drawing into the void, arcturus felt himself instinctively flatten though the measure was unneeded. they scrabbled and soon the space opened up.

arcturus swayed as his eyes adjusted; feeling his brother alongside him he peered into the monochromatic view; his eyes were slow to adjust but slowly color was restored to his vision, but he was keenly aware of revui pulling away from him.

it took several seconds for the boy to detect the scent that had drawn revui; but once he detected it, it was unmistakable -- curious but tentative, arcturus peered after revui with his nose twitching.

Hydra followed them quietly. When they emerged into this other place, she was surprised to see that the mountain held anything within it at all; she had not imagined any portion of it to be hollow, and yet here they were. It was an interesting sight, and one that she observed by watching her brothers. Her tail swayed behind her as they uncovered the place, though the scent they investigated came to her. 

The Ostrega drew nearer to them, until her own snout hovered above the point Revui had uncovered. Abandoned by another, not wolf. It's begun to rot, recently abandoned, then. Her ears flicked. The environment was good for predators to live in, but there was nothing mountain cat or bear to this scent. Hydra moved away from them to gaze at the walls, catching sight of claw-marks scoring the walls, though they were small and insignificant.

✴       Revui did not consider that they might've been in danger. He felt fully capable of many things, and entirely safe in the middle of the range where his family ruled. The shifting darkness soon composed itself in the shape of a wolf, and the sight of Hydra among them was startling, more-so than the arrival of Arcturus or the discovery of the hollow in earnest. The boy felt himself puff and his fur spike, and with a lashing tail he calmed himself, then continued his investigation. Their older sister spoke and so Revui listened but said nothing in return; he gathered what information she was sharing, and inevitably traced his attention alongside her own to the point where he spied the claw marks. They were very old.

He crept along once again, and soon found himself squared-off against an embankment that was too small for his growing body to fit through. So, with a pause and a backward step, he looked for his brother. Arcturus was growing too but he was more athletic in build; he was slightly smaller and more streamlined, like their mother. Perhaps he could fit. Revui called to him with a deep hum, and then pressed himself in to the shadows to let his brother pass around him. It wasn't really a question of will you help me, more like an expectation—but Revui knew his brother, he knew how skeptical Arcturus was of the world. He was not as bold as the silver boy.

The wait was too much for him, though. No sooner had he called to Arcturus did the leviathan grow impatient and try to take his place, working his way along the shadows and in to the gap that posed such an issue. As soon as his body blocked the way there was a shriek — but it did not come from Revui. The sound caught in the earth just beyond where the boy was standing, and he was reversing backwards with his teeth bared.

From the depths of the hollow came another agitated, animal scream. Then, charging after him, was a silver-streaked creature of middling proportions; its brown fur looked black in the dim light, and its face was crowned with an off-yellow masking. The wolverine's claws scrambled across the soil but even though it struggled, it was making a bee-line for the startled Revui. Where the light caught upon its face, one could easily make out the grimace of its fearful defense — as well as the gossamer blue-gray of eyes which had lost their use.

a dark quality seemed to settle about their shoulders; arcturus watched as his brother ruminated, an ear tilted towards his elder sister as she spoke. he did not respond -- often the two boys shared a language in silence, and arcturus spoke seldom, though his tongue was certainly capable of it. hydra had said all there was needed; he simply nodded. in truth, he preferred watching and listening to speaking; it was a strange quality in a wolf so young, but alongside revui, was not entirely surprising.

he obliged his brother's request to investigate the slim crack in the stone quarry -- yet no sooner had he lifted a paw to assist, his brother had squashed his own body into the crevice. arcturus hung back, bemused -- until a cry pierced the suffocating air that was not in revui's tongue.

every fur bladed on edge as he pressed towards his brother, only to be met by the grim apparition of a scything, clawing beast -- arcturus was drawn to its eyes, which had no vision, and possessed a milky, terrifying sheen he was innately uncomfortable witnessing.

yet this was no time for faltering; with a growl he protectively flanked his brother, muzzle low and teeth bared with a snap.

Hydra heard the cry of the creature and knew at once whose mouth it befell having heard it before. Her own hackles lifted, and a growl slipped from her throat. She shifted her weight, but upon seeing the sheen of its eyes she settled. Wolverine's were creatures not easy to best, but its age went against it. Their indomitable spirit would be put to contest against the kindred spirit of Revui. 

It is blind, but perhaps it can still hear. Test it, she advised. She would assist as they needed, but she would train them from afar; she could aid them in the take-down if need be. They are vicious. But I think you two can best it, she encouraged with the lash of her tail. Revui was a bulldozer; Arcturus premeditated and was dutiful in accomplishing things given to him. She was confident in their ability.

✴       The creature was old but it moved devilishly quick, and its teeth and claws were ready to do harm. All that Revui had to do was step back and avoid it; but the snap of Arcturus' teeth and his growling appeared to lure the creature to one side.

Revui saw his chance and thoughtlessly dove in to grab at some part of the animal. His aim was off. His movement was characterized as boorish on a good day, and in typical bulldozer fashion he was putting too much emphasis behind his assault. He over-shot and ended up snapping at the air; it was at this point that Hydra's words clicked in his head. But it might've been a little late.

The creature loosed another shriek and spun to face this new sound. It swiped with its dulled claws and caught Revui on the leg. There was pain but no blood—evidently the creature was blind and could not orient itself well enough to do much. The sensation enraged the silver boy though; he was eager to about-face and rip the creature a new one.

by his lonesome, arcturus might have been compelled to heed the wolverine's defensive mutterings, and make for graceful exit. armed with company, however, the boy was bolder, more impulsive - and as revui lunged and hydra instructed it was easy for him to slip into a more primal, distant demeanor in which he had not known he was capable of.

revui was first to harry the beleaguered beast, which slung great claws at his brother's legs and snarled in fear. arcturus lead the defense with a growl, and threw himself upon the berserk creature; much in the manner holy water would be thrown upon a thing possessed.

he had little experience, and it cost him greatly, for the wolverine turned its attention upon its nearest assailant (a bumbling, clumsy assailant which it could feel and hear in such close proximity) and scythed once, twice, thrice -- until arcturus weakly wheeled back, stupefied and bloody.

Hydra observed in the background, her tail waving. They both moved against it, Revui fortunate and Arcturus bloodied. This she expected; they had yet to partake in hunts to know what exactly it was they needed to do. This was a good lesson for them, though. Even prey could strike when they needed to; they would need to be quick on their feet, and quick-thinking, too.

Blind, but not deaf. Revui, strike from the left, quiet; Arcturus, the right, loud—not too close, she instructed swiftly, licking her chops. She smelled the blood of her brother, but did not fear for him; Lyra would aid him after, and the age of this beast meant its tenacity was different than those younger of its species. It would falter faster, exhaust easier—but it was still dangerous, and Hydra lurked in the background should the wolverine get the better of her brothers.

wrapping up <3

outside the den, cacophony reigned. inside, a flurry of fur, wolverine, and the cold command of their sister -- arcturus and revui parried and thrust, dodged and connected -- a stone and a shadow, interconnected yet remote as they danced with the shrill fury of a beast which fought for its life.

they closed in on it, and muttering it backed up fearfully -- as their shadows descended across it a scream rose -- and then all was silent.

later, the three of them exited the den; arcturus and revui bloodied, and hydra a looming, sovereign presence that appeared to look over them with stern approval.