And so the pale wraith moved onward, having cleansed the scent of her 'family' from her fur until she carried the scent of a loner, of wind and earth and canine. Confident in her ability to keep her Isle home a complete secret from others, she had decided to go a little further. No packs she had seen so far, the largest number of canines together she had seen had been a group of three scraggly coyotes, who she had left promptly alone. She was no longer the type to kill just for the fun of it, she had discovered.
Odd.
But now she had chanced upon the scent of wolves, a small group, like her own. She slowed her pace, slipping between maples like a phantom, hiding among the shadows. Had her coat been one of night, this would have been easier, but she was an adept spy, and was not seen immediately, it seemed. When she had reached a meadow, a break in the trees, she stepped from her hiding place, bending her muzzle to drink from one of the streams that rippled through the glade. Her movements were graceful, with an odd feline quality, and her lithe figure was but a ghost in the woods.
Aspen was trailing through there new home not as much exploring as she was protecting their fresh scent borders. She wanted to make sure no wolves took advantage while they were just getting on their feet.
Almost as if to prove her point about how important these patrols were Aspen caught scent of a lone wolf. Is this wolves nose broken or something or are they just ignorant she thought to herself quietly before following the scent to find a wolf weaving between the trees of there kingdom.
Aspen let out a low but audible growl as she stood very dominant as she approached the rogue female. "I don't know if you noticed but you're on pack lands," she stated bluntly anger present within her tone. She did not take kindly to ignorance or strangers who thought they owned whatever land they set their paws on. Taking no mind to the fact they are on pack turf.
Ah, there she was. Finally. Aeronwyn lifted her muzzle from the clear stream, watching the female with eyes as polished and emotionless as stone. The other's stance was dominant, but Aeronwyn did not change from her relaxed, neutral stance. Pack lands, were they? Aeronwyn wanted to laugh at that but didn't. This femme was obviously no diplomat as Burke was, and she did not deserve the respect she offered to him.
She made no move toward the female, but simply stated in a smooth tone, "Had you done a better job at marking your territory, perhaps you would not have found me in it. Alas, you gave it a half-assed attempt." Sshe surveyed the woman with her eyes, beautiful features emotionless and indifferent. "If your attempt at claiming land is anything to go by, I doubt you'll survive here very long."
She simply couldn't help it. Arrogant, dominant wolves annoyed her.
Aspen felt a small pit of fire beginning to form in her pelt. This wolf had ZERO respect whatsoever. For anything. Aspen, the pack lands, hierarchy, anything.
Aspens ears flicked as the wolf insulted her border marking abilities. Not only hers but that of her mate and the other wolves that lived here. Aspen dare not say they had only been here a short time because that gave this wolf all the more advantage. "I did not do a half assed job I would have you know the wolves here are very hard working and we work to keep our borders free of people like you," she emphasis ed the last word. She was by no means in any sort of mood to take crap from wolves right now.
" I will also have you know we are very well founded here and have every intention of lasting a long while so don't go getting any ideas sweetheart," she said angrily tail twitching as she let out another low growl. "Leave, Now" she demanded.
Ah, yes. Hardworking, loyal, blah, blah, blah. That was until they realized the shit they had gotten themselves into and fled. She listened with boredom as the woman spoke, eyes dull. That was, until she said the word 'sweetheart'. Then something inside the assassin snapped, as it had with the girl, then her mother, the grey male and the halfbreed. She turned her muzzle, very slowly, in the direction of the rather dull grey femme.
"You may find, girl, that I am anything but a sweetheart. Especially, you see, when I am angry." Her back legs tensed, her claws gouged the earthy skin of the ground. "And you, being a rather dull and ignorant individual, have upset me quite a bit."
And with that, she sprang...right for the other's face. Her fangs would close on whatever presented itself to her; be it muzzle, head, throat or shoulder. She wasn't too picky at the moment.
Charley could sense it in his soul, it seemed, when he was needed: luck or perhaps fate pointed him in the Queen's direction, and that way he charged. Something was wrong, and as he neared a break in the trees he could hear it, the growl of his goddess warning off someone. When he caught sight of them, the pale stranger was crouching to spring. If Charley had anything to do with it, not a claw would be laid on his one and only. He was too far to attack, but he could defend well enough, jumping in front of Aspen and taking Aerowyns bite full to the shoulder.
It hurt, yes, it hurt like fucking hell. Blood oozed into his fur and stained it deep red, but he bit through the pain: literally, spinning his neck towards her and spinning as if chasing his tail to back the woman away from Aspen. He snapped his jaws and aimed for the strangers - no, enemies - shoulder. If he got his hit, he would do his damnest to rip and tear until she backed away. It was easy to let himself snap, to go for blood: other than the constant travel and tedious settling work, there was little in his thoughts to push away the fact that his best friend, as he would always see Reek Hiram, was across the world and may never see him again.
"You do not touch my Queen, peasant!"
Aspen's ears twitched as the wolf spoke now directly to her and rather angrily at that, it seemed Aspen may have dug herself a hole that she couldn't easily get out of and yet she had done nothing wrong. Sure she hadn't exactly been polite to this wolf but when a wolf walks in and crosses borders, problem number one, and then proceeds to insult your work, problem number two. Why the heck did she have to be nice.
She watched as the wolf crouched and launched herself towards her slender figure, Aspen braced herself for the wolves jaws but before the wolf had chance to hit her target she had hit Charley instead. Charley had darted right infront of Aspen and taken the hit for her giving Aspen a split second to think. She saw that the fae had gotten Charley's shoulder and had in fact made it bleed. Aspen let out a fully fledged growl this time. She was happy that Charley had stepped in because no way she would have been able to handle the wolf on her own, she outsized and outskilled her. At the same time, he had now been injured on her behalf and she felt bad about it.
"You trespassed on pack lands, you insult our work, and now you have injured my mate, that was the last straw missy," she seethed. Aspen didn't want a fight but it seems they had no choice, the enemy had made the first move and had injured Charley in the process. Aspen quickly darted around Charley's body and lunged for the wolf as did he, trying to get grips on whatever she could.
Another male came in, and Aeronwyn smirked. He lunged at her, and that was expected, though the other did too. She slipped out the way, earning nothing more than painful gashes down her side which adrenaline canceled out. Still, they stung, but she slipped out of their way and spun on her heel, putting a couple meters of distance between the two. "You two seem like stuck-up fools to me. You can not simply anoint yourself king and everyone else pheasant and claim any land you wish to. Not until you have proved yourselves worthy of such a title, and proved others not"
Really? A pheasant? Aeronwyn was far from a pheasant, though this she did not share. This situation was becoming rather difficult, as she had to escape from here and return to Two Rivers before they could track her. She knew many ways to make her trail near invisible, many ways to disappear for a while. But now she tensed, tail lashing, and waited for them to make their move.
"Watch me, wench! I do as I please! These lands are MINE, and the next time I see you here you'll lose more than blood."
Roaring in anger, Charley did not relent in his attack to this tresspasser, charging forward like a tank. He was fully aware of the presesnce of his wife, and his efforts doubled in an attempt to keep her safe. Flinging himself at the pale wraith beside Aspen, he aimed to do more damage or drive her out: there was no in between in his mind, not now. She'd disrespected him, Aspen, their land (however new it was), and now was not heeding the many warnings to leave.
Heh, it was her funeral.
Aspen let out another growl as the wolf didn't seem to know when it was probably a good time to shut her maw. Nope instead this wolf decided to keep talking shouting out more insults and claiming that we had not earned the rights to our titles and that we sounded stuck up. Aspen refused to believe any words that crawled from this wolf's maw were true, for this wolf was no friend. She was enemy.
Aspen could not let this wolf get away with whatever plot she had in mind and with that Aspen lunged for the flank. She knew she couldn't take this wolf head on that was a battle she would surely loose due to size and lack of experience. This wolf looked like a warrior and Aspen was still learning so for now she would inflict what damage she could from the sides or the rear.
The both charged at her, and Aeronwyn thought that she may do well to get out of this situation. The male charged right at her, the female going for her hind end. This surprised the woman; did she not know the difference between a tail and a throat? Her poor choice of attack marked her as one who may not have the best skills as a warrior, the wraith would use that too her advantage.
Twisting away from the barreling brute and earning but a gash on her side, the made to sink her fangs into the female as she tried to get Aeronwyn's flank. Her open maw drove straight for her throat, powerful legs propelling her forward, side burning from the false king's attack. Luckily, the wound was shallow and should not affect her too much. With the proper care it would heal well.
Slight PP of Aspen with permission :P Cant see this lasting too much longer without Aero getting hurt tbh, so can we wrap this up soon?
She turned from him, and though teeth ripped at her ribs, the silver woman went for Aspen. His Queen was beside him, but it proved him useless as the tresspasser lunged for her. Snarling, he was not quick enough to stop the damage done to Aspen, but he did react in time to keep her from true harm. Stepping between the two women and pushing his lover behind him, Charley again charged forward. His aim was to push her from the borders, maybe do damage to her chest or shoulder, but wholly to get her away from his family. If she was too stupid to run, then, she was too stupid to live. It wasn't his problem at that point.
Teeth snagged in her shoulder, the exact same one that had been injured time and time again. With a vicious snarl, she tore away, the resulting wound staining her pelt with red. Again, shallow, but large, and she was in no mood for more scars in this one-sided battle. And so, with a last snarl at the conceited couple, she spun on her heel and fell into a lope, headed at a fast pace toward the border, though sure that the male would stay mind to look after the "queen" she had lunged at.
Still, she ran, past the border, where she slowed in the slightest, but continued her fast past, starting to enjoy the run and the rush of adrenaline battle offered to her. It would not be the last time she "visited" the court, however, fierce dislike of the inhabitants already growing within her as she made her may in a twisting path home, disguising her scent along waterways and wild garlic as she went, resulting in her being almost un-trackable. Perhaps, one day she would meet the pair again, but not for many, many weeks.