Wolf RPG

He'd managed to come this far, but it wasn't long before Dante was forced to stop and rest.  Koda had done a number on the alpha male, for their fight had been a surprisingly savage one in its brevity.  He had been tempted, at first, to call for aid... But no.  Memory served to remind him that she was with Osprey, and he had no right to interrupt for getting his ass handed to him in a challenge.

If his father could see him now... The shame he'd feel.  It was perhaps the only bright point in the defeated leader's thoughts right then.  Not only had he failed to defend his position over these lands... But in that moment, before Koda had left, there had been almost a sense of relief.  At last, he'd screwed up.  Now it was done.

Still that feeling was there, and its presence made him sick.  Guilt and self-deprecation weighed as heavily as his wounds, forcing him to a hunched seat beneath the trees, where he took a shuddering breath.

Despite the fact that Koda had chosen to abandon his victory, the truth was laid bare to Dante then.  A truth that Saena (and others) had hinted at many times, but that he had refused to acknowledge out of a hope that perhaps he could do what was best for the wolves of his pack.

He was not fit to lead.

Though a part of him wondered if it wouldn't be best for him to simply depart and let someone more suitable rise, it was a part that was quickly squashed.  Not only would that be the cowardly thing to do, but he recalled the hurt Peregrine's abrupt departure had caused.  He would not bring that upon anyone again, yet neither did he feel right acting as though nothing had happened.  It was a problem he did not have the energy to think about presently, so instead he sank down, exhausting bringing with it the welcome oblivion of sleep.

Harlyn had been doing her usual wanderings that day when something completely unexpected had taken her attention.  It was the sound of some sort of skirmish - not at all uncommon within the borders of a wolf pack.  She truthfully knew very little about the pack she'd resided with for the past few weeks, and so had assured herself that this was a normal occurrence and there was no need for concern.  Still, she'd lingered in the area, just out of curiosity and slight worry.  A battle meant potential injury, and as a healer, she found herself hard pressed to simply turn the other cheek.


When finally the roars had settled, Harlyn's better sense allowed her to follow the path towards blood that her nose had been eagerly nudging her towards.  She hadn't been certain what she would come across when she finally found the plateau's alpha lying bloody and broken upon the floor of his kingdom, but this had certainly been far down on her list.  With a gasp, she darted forward until she was within a few feet of him, slipping onto her belly and creeping closer, whining gently.  They had met only once, and so Harlyn couldn't be sure how the alpha would take her presence when he was in such a state.  But she did everything she could with her posture to communicate that she wasn't there to cause him harm, but to help, however she could.

It felt like he'd slept hours, though in reality it had been mere moments.  And still the rest seemed to do him no good.  Groggily he looked at the one who had woken him... Harlyn, their newest recruit, Mordecai's friend.  He offered no resistance as she inched closer, but his ears fell back.  A part of him wanted to tell her not to waste her time submitting... he wasn't worth the effort.  Not only would that be some serious moping, however, but he couldn't seem to summon the energy for the words. 

"Harlyn," he greeted her quietly instead, wincing as he shifted and rethinking his decision to rise immediately.  Instead he relaxed back down, gritting his teeth.  How the hell had he allowed himself to get so out of practice?  Fear was the only excuse, and it was one he couldn't accept any longer.

Harlyn stood still upon the ground, eyeing her alpha almost feverishly while she waited for him to respond to her presence.  When finally it came, her trepidation melted away and she crept close to her, her muzzle immediately setting to work sniffing and gently nosing the wounds upon his exhausted body.


"Dante," she said softly, concern apparent in her tone.  She wasn't sure what to say or to ask, though she had no doubt what it was she wanted to do.  She bit back those words however, instead putting herself to work cleaning his wounds as gently as she could with her rough tongue.  "What do you need, my friend?  Who can I call for you?" she asked after a moment.  She had no doubt that she was not the one that the alpha would have asked to see would he have had a choice, but she was the one he had for the moment. 

She was quick to set to cleaning the wounds, and he was grateful though the attention burned.  It was a necessity he had been unable to do for himself, for he was unable to reach the one on his side well.  "No one.  Don't worry about it."  He closed his eyes, laying his head back down, though he knew he wouldn't drift off again.

After a moment he spoke again.  "Thanks, though.  You know of anything to put on these?"  He vaguely remembered her mentioning that she knew a thing or two about healing, and he wasn't picky.  He was sure her knowledge would get the job done, for he had none himself.  Besides, she was there.  He would have risked infection, but it was better if he did not have to chance it.

Harlyn was busily worrying at the wounds upon her alpha's body when he assured her that there was no one to call.  She paused for a brief moment, peering at his tired face as he told her not to worry.  She lifted her head for a moment, a whine slipping free from her tightened throat.  She angled her body then to run perpendicular to his, pressing herself softly but comfortingly against him as she focused her efforts towards cleaning the wounds nearer to his face.


"I do," she reassured him, though concern remained in her voice as she pulled her muzzle away from his bleeding owwies, "But I don't have the supplies that I need, Dante.  My stocks are poor.  What about this Blue Willow?  I can call her, perhaps she has the medicine that you need?"  She moved her muzzle to lap up more of his blood and nose aside his fur from his gaping wounds, "I will do all that I can, my friend.  Just tell me.. where are the deepest of your hurts?"  She meant those that were physical, but she knew very well that the deepest of his pain might have nothing to do with his physical body at all.

She brought up the one thing he was adamantly against, and he was quick to respond as a result.  "Please, don't... She is needed elsewhere." He couldn't say that for certain, but he did not want to risk that fact.  He'd scented her near Osprey, and heard the summons she had sent for Lasher.  It chilled him, but he tried not to dwell.  His mind avoided the thought altogether aside from the firm determination that he would not call her away.

He could feel his limbs beginning to tremble as mild shock set in, so he instinctually found himself pressing closer to the warm packmate beside him.  He knew his injuries weren't life threatening, but they were deep enough that they would likely need something more than a cleaning to stop the bleeding and keep away infection.  "She has stores in her den... Do you know where that is?"  If not he could tell her, or perhaps show, though he would need a bit to gather himself were that the case.

Her question he put off for the moment.

Dante was quick to discourage her from calling to Blue Willow, which Harlyn spared only a few seconds to wonder at.  There was a female in the pack that was pregnant - had she given birth?  In truth, it mattered little to the druid.  She did not know this other wolf (and her opinion of the woman was rather low anyway considering she was a subordinate with an illegitimate litter in her belly).  She did know Dante, and so her concern at that moment was only for him.

Harlyn could feel her leader begin to tremble, so she pressed closer to him just as he did to her.  For a moment, she paused in her cleaning of his wounds to simply nose comfortingly at his ears and cheek, worrying his fur with her tongue as she moved.  Her ears perked at his question - one to which she knew the answer.  "I do," she replied, "I can be there and back in ten, fifteen minutes.  Will you be alright?"  Harlyn bit her lip softly, uncertain of leaving him alone like this.  Silently, she said a prayer to her gods that they would send Mordecai to her to watch over the fallen alpha while she was gone.  There was no one else in the pack she trusted other than herself or her companion to do so, though Dante himself likely had a different opinion.

Thankfully she didn't argue with him... He wasn't much up to pressing the issue.  He knew he would be fine while she went for supplies, though he'd miss the comforting warmth for a little while.  The tremors were a betrayal of his body, a result of the wounds inflicted and the shock of the encounter.  He fought to relax, attempting to ease them.

"I'll be fine.  I won't go anywhere, promise."  A hint of a joke.  He couldn't if he wanted to.

He was grateful to her, though, and would ensure she knew that.  He did not know her terribly well yet, but she was rather easy to trust.  Something about her.  He was only glad Mordecai had stuck around into spring, resulting in her coming here.

Her alpha insisted that he would be fine, leaving Harlyn with little choice but to obey.  There was a jest upon his tongue as he urged her, yet Harlyn was only able to spare only the flicker of a smile.  With another nudge against the ridge of fur lining his cheek, she stood to take her leave.  "May the gods watch over you, Dante," she said solemnly, continuing the prayer in her mind as she silently slipped away from his side.


With as much speed as her body would allow, Harlyn dashed across the Plateau towards the den of the pack's beta female.  Now away from Dante, her mind began to travel across the many questions she had that there hadn't been time to ask.  First and foremost was.. What had happened?  Looking back, she ran across the evidence she'd gleaned from te scene without realizing it and quickly she became aware that his injuries had not been the result of some fall or hunting accident.  They'd been made by a wolf; one of their pack, at that.

The thought haunted her all the rest of the way to the beta's den, at which point Stevie becomes very vague as to what she experienced there because... Well, I have no idea what's happening there right now.  SO!  Moving on.  Harlyn made a speedy job of grabbing whatever materials she needed before sprinting back to her alpha's side.

He hadn't meant to, and had thought himself safe from doing so, but after she left it was so easy to drift off.  He only hovered on the edge of darkness though, fear and adrenaline stopping him from truly sinking below. He wasn't positive on the extend of his hurts and knew staying conscious was better than allowing sleep, even if it was such a large temptation.

His ears twitched restlessly, alerting him into waking with a start to anyone approaching. Though his head felt hazy, the good thing about such light sleep was that it did not bring grogginess with it. Once his wounds were dealt with, he would find a drink and a spot to curl up. His previous sleeping place was not one he wished to return to due to the unknown situation going on there, so his little cave would do.

Harlyn felt her heart ease the moment she spotted Dante's frame upon the earth right where she'd left him.  She dropped the herbs she'd taken from Blue Willow's den at his side before she set to work looking him over.  She whispered another thank-you to the spirits for watching over him while she was gone.  After a quick inspection of his wounds and a reassuring few licks to his forehead, she set to work fixing him up.


"This may sting a bit, Dante," she warned him before snatching up some of the herbs in her mouth and chewing them into a fine pulp.  She shifted the chewed herbs onto her tongue and slathered the medicine into his torn skin, pressing them deep so that they could do their magic. 

She returned rather promptly, and he gratefully shifted so that she would have an easier time, saying nothing as she warned of the pain. His breath hissed in an exhale though as she applied pressure, and claws dug lightly into the soil as the area began to burn from both the contact and the herbs she applied.

"A bit," he responded, the words a tidge choked but good natured, for he knew the pain to be an unhappy necessity. He could not stop his side from twitching as she worked, though, though willing it to still helped a bit. The pain did clear his mind a bit, though, rousing him more to the present and helping him to focus. He turned his head to look at her progress from his periphery, wondering what it was she had retrieved to use.

Harlyn ignore his flinching as she slathered the medicine upon his wounds.  She knew that it would hurt him, but it was a price she was willing to make him pay.  The salve the pressed into his wounds might very well save his life.  A few moments of extreme discomfort was a fine price to pay for survival.


The Cinderloch continued her work for a while, meticulous going over each cut to clean and medicate them all.  When she finished, she stepped around him in order to face him, frowning still as concern contorted her expression.  "You need rest now," she stated, "Is it far to your den?  Is there somewhere closer I can take you?  Or you can sleep right here.  I'll watch over you for as long as you need."  Even once she'd placed him in a den, she had no intention of moving from his side.  The location was for his comfort only - his company was already decided.

When she finished, he listened, and after she spoke he heaved himself painfully to his feet. Though his head spun a bit, it soon leveled, and he knew he would manage at least the walk to his shelter. "It isn't far, just by the stream." He'd definitely be stopping to take a drink though, his throat felt like sand. "That way." He indicated the direction, then began the slow process of hauling his shabby self home. He heavily favored his injured leg and side, and if Harlyn came alongside for support, he would accept it gratefully. This was no time to allow himself further harm by giving in to foolish pride. He'd already had enough embarrassment for today and he hardly though this amount of weakness would be much worse.

"Thanks," he added, sure he had already said it but unable to remember at the moment. He was glad she had been there, and that she had the knowledge necessary. He'd be in a rougher spot right now if she hadn't been.

The spirits were kind even in their cruelty, for while they had struck down the Plateau's prince, they had at least had the courtesy of doing so within range of his home.  Harlyn nodded to reassure him that she understood, moving to position herself beside him as he aimed towards the stream.  As he began to walk, she did as well, pressing herself to his side for assistance.


She did not leave him even when they'd arrived at his den and he'd settled down for some desperately needed rest.  Harlyn laid beside him for a little while as he fell fast asleep, lending her warmth to him.  As the hours passed, she stood and exited his den to sit just outside, her gaze lifting to the moon that had risen high over them.  She watched it for a few moments in silence before shutting her eyes and taking a deep breath.  "Oh sister moon," she whispered quietly in earnest, "Please send your children, the stars, across the Plateau tonight.  Watch over this family while their father sleeps."

The druid turned her gaze back towards the wolf's sleeping form, watching as his sides rose and fell.  The Plateau would need the spirits to watch over them tonight...  Perhaps for longer, Harlyn began to wonder before silencing it.  In the morning, Harlyn would allow her other misgivings their turn to share their voices.  But for now, this night, Dante needed every one of her prayers.