Cedar Sweep Blood of a fool

He limped down the slope into the safety of the tree thickets like the forlorn mess he was. His encounter with the pale woman and her pup had left his throat burning, the blood that once flowed in rivulets down his neck now dried in rosetted clumps amongst the creamy ivory hairs that coated his underbelly. With eyes still glazed over in blind panic, the boy limped further into the brush, tiny black dots beginning to swim before his eyes at the physical exertion the short journey had presented him with. With a wobbly whimper, he called pitifully for anyone who, even remotely, knew how to heal.

Her belly ached, though the pain was quickly easing. Her tail lashed this way and that as her stomach gurgled and clenched, digesting the pine nuts and mint she'd feasted upon earlier that day. The pain was still there, of course, but the plants she'd eaten dulled it - along with the rest of her senses. Her body wasn't meant to take in such large amounts of plants, and that was all she'd been eating, lately. It should not have been enough to keep her going strong, but somehow, she found the will to press forward.

It was the madness that drove her, mostly. She did not where she was going, only that she had to go, and no amount of lethargy, whispering sweetly at the back of her mind, could keep her legs from moving, her ears from swiveling, her paws from skittering across the ground.

"At Tara in this fateful hour,
I place Heaven and all its power,
And the sun with its brightness,
And the snow with its whiteness - "

A desperate sound stopped her tongue, and she let the song slip abruptly to a close. Her ears pressed forward, twitching chaotically as she dropped into a more stealthy slink.

"Hail," she called as she drew closer to the source of the sound, the scent of blood swirling in the air, making her head go fuzzy with hunger long repressed. The sight of the male wolf did not ease the pangs, but brougth other feelings to the forefront of her mind. She crouched further to the ground and crept toward the bloody male, heart beating louder every second. "Hail," she said again, tail lashing as she greeted him, tongue darting out to taste the blood still so far from her muzzle. "Let me clean that for you. You'll be sick if it stays this way."

The arrival of another wolf was enough to put his mind at ease, for now at least. She was small, skinny to the point of lithe, and wore a pelt of molten grey and amber which was, to his surprise, quite foreign to his eyes. "Please do," he replied breathlessly to her comment, gulping for air before letting his body slide down onto its side with the gaping wound at his throat clearly visible. At this moment in time, he couldn't care less about her strange behaviour, the hungry look in her eyes as she slunk towards his breathless form, he just wanted the feelings of dizziness and nausea to be chased away into nothingness.

Hunger warred viciously in her mind with - with something else. His ragged, shallow breaths and prone, vulnerable position were all she needed to drop back into a slink, tongue darting out to lick the slaver off her muzzle. She was at his side all at once, nose pressing inquisitively into his side as she searched out the best place to tear in... Ears twitching in anticipation, teeth nipping experimentally at his blood-encrusted fur.

But when she looked at him, when she smelled past the blood and caught hints of the sweet-scented youth that still clung to him - her fangs were stopped. She laid down beside him and gave his cheek a soothing lick before examining the wound on his neck, no longer hungry, but worried for her poor, injured cub.

"I'll take care of you," she vowed, shifting closer and beginning to clean the blood from his fur. Her saliva would aide in the healing process, and when he was rested, she would take him to her den to recover. Perhaps she could hunt up some food for him when she went to gather lemongrass, which could be chewed up and packed against wounds to keep away infection.

For now, she cleaned up his pelt until his natural rosiness was revealed, instead of the coat of blood he'd been wearing. Her tail wagged as she thought about how much she looked like him - he truly took after her in build and coloration. She supposed her genes were more dominant than his father's. Or perhaps he looked the same as them; she couldn't remember.

"Do you want me to sing to you?" she asked her pup, giving his wound one last lick.

With sharp breaths, he let the vixen slide closer to his bleeding form, allowing a sigh to escape his lips as his eyes squeezed shut. Bluntly, he could feel her teeth scrape his chest fur as if inspecting a carcass yet the boy didn't mind. He was just grateful that someone had been compassionate enough to lend a paw. Jerking his head up in alarm, he let his lips peel back in a frightened snarl, the whites of his eyes flicking briefly as her canines snagged at the torn flesh on his throat. Yet something must have ticked in the mind of the fawn woman for she did not proceed to sink her fangs in and tear him apart, instead Shink watched with a careful gaze as she settled her figure beside his own and began to move her tongue across his wound in gentle strokes.

With a remorseful whimper he allowed his body to relax once more, listening as her voice faded into the background of the forest, pressing into her fur as the worst of the pain began to subside. Perhapse the memories of his youth that the moment brought up had made him agree, or maybe it was just sheer exhaustion; either way, he nodded eagerly in reply to her question, blissfully ignorant to her strange behaviour. He hoped that her initial efforts had encouraged his body to heal so he could soon be on his way, nevertheless, he was quite happy to rest until that time came.

The words came easily, flowing as freely as her poor puppy's blood had been. Though dissonant and broken, the verses poured from her as if it were a song she'd known from her youth.

"Akai knows your limbs are weary
the eaters have come and have gone
the blood and the moon have us fearing
the sun and the green are all gone

hush hush little angel
the soft and the sweet
will come again to woodland
as soon as you sleep

hush hush little angel
the woods where we weep
they promise us new life
they promise to keep..."

She let the song dift away, forgetting for a moment what she was doing here, and why she was singing to this strange wolf. But almost as soon as the clarity hit her, it was was gone, and the stranger was her child once more. She laid her head protectively over him, looking around for whatever had hurt him so badly. Poor, poor... who?

"I've forgotten your name," she said softly, horrified with herself. How could she forget his name? Her own flesh and blood, the child of her heart...

In the back of his mind questions and worries pounded as to why in the world this strange she wolf was beside him tending to his body. What was she doing here so close to him, a stranger taking advantage of her soft healing with no benefit to her. She could easily prey on his weakened figure without a second thought. Yet something was keeping here here. He listened in silence as her soothing voice rose to the heavens in song, watching cautiously as she ceased her singing and lowered her head to rest upon his weary shoulder. "Shink," he spoke quietly, filling in the empty silence. He gently slipped out of her grasp, twisting sideways so that his gaze was now looking down on her form, a flicker of confusion forming a sheen across his deep copper eyes. "And you are?" A stranger. Yet one that had helped him. He let his ears droop in uncertainty as his physical efforts finally ended in a bought of retching.

And you are?

His question echoed through the haze of hunger and madness, tendrils of it reaching out to touch the remains of the Before wolf. The real one. The one she used to be.

"I don't know," she realized, only to have that train of thought ripped away as her attention was drawn to his retching. She was quick to try and soothe him, fearful as she was for her young charge. If he perished, she didn't know what she would do.

We need to get out of here. It's not safe for a vulnerable wolf - back to the den would be best. Where there's yarrow and lemon grass and young, healthy rabbits. We can't stay. Jawbone is waiting at home...

She had to find a way to get Shink back to their den.

He knew something wasn't right. The way she comforted him like mother to son screamed wrong. His parents were dead, weren't they? "It's alright" Pain flared from the nick in his throat causing him to jerk back from her reach with a confused whine, his maw parting to allow his breath to come in short, sharp gasps. Though despite his physical rejections, the rosy boy found he couldn't crawl away from her comforts, his mind drawn by his youthful spirit back towards her fawn draped figure. "I...I think I can walk," he rasped, rising unsteadily to his paws, his eyes glazed in pain as his paws found their footing and he stepped forward, pressing his nose into her unfamiliar fur for a few brief moments.

"Be careful," she begged, watching anxiously as he struggled to his feet, clearly in pain. A whine of her own joined his, and she tried not to panic as she listened to his labored breaths. No, he couldn't walk anywhere. She wouldn't let him - not like this. "Maybe you shouldn't," she said uncertainly, bringing herself under his neck to help support him, if she could. It was hard to do that without jostling his wound, though, so she pulled away before she could hurt him.

She could only stare at him, helpless and afraid. He wasn't her son, no. But she knew him, right? Why else would she be talking to him, caring for him? He was someone she loved, and she had a responsibility to keep him safe. She was certain of that, even if she couldn't remember him - not even his name, though she thought she'd known at some point.

Still. He was hers to care for, and she would not be left alone again.

"My den is by the coast. I could take you there - there's a grove of red valerian not far from here, and if you eat of it, your pain will be eased. But we'd have to travel quickly after that. It will make you want to sleep," she explained, nervous that he would deny her and try to leave. But she would stop him if he tried - for his own good.

Doe be crazy af

Hell she is! xD

His eyes filled with pity as his body yearned to escape her pressing actions, groping their way through her mask of insanity to see the confused figure of a young wolf. He did not know what was causing her to behave so strangely, perhapse it was hunger or something internal that had twisted to form her veil. Whatever it was, he forced his paws to remain steady as he lowered his head in hope to conceal the battle raging between body and mind. "I...perhapse there are herbs round here that are just as good as red valerian," he spoke breathlessly, not certain about wanting to embark on yet another journey into the unknown. The excuse came out almost without falter as he reclined back onto his haunches, cringing as a slow dribble of scarlet liquid began to emerge once again from the wound, yet maybe it wasn't an excuse at all but rather the truth. Again, he was confused and uncertain. But he didn't want the strange woman to go away.

He can slip off while she's gone, if you want to be rid of her.

Doe looked around, her ears swivelling as she tried to detect any signs of danger. "It's not far from here," she said distantly, ears still searching. "I'll bring you some. You don't have to be in so much pain."

She paused only long enough to bump her nose against his before darting away, wanting to be back before anything else found him. She did not want to leave him alone, but neither could she allow her friend (brother-child-stranger) succumb to his injury. So it was with haste that she made her way to the red valerian grove, and came back again with her maw filled with the flowers and roots - that and marigold flowers. She had to do everything in her power to help.

"I'm back," she called as she drew nearer, ears twitching as she listened for her companion.

Gonna feel really bad about doing this to poor Doe. Perhapse they could thread again sometime in the future

He watched in silence as her fawn figurine slipped off through the trees, allowing his tail to wag in encouragement to her fretful worry. Once he was sure she was out of earshot, he let out a long, shaky sigh as his mind struggled against what he was planning to do next. With deep shuddering gasps, he forced his eyes to travel up from his paws and reside upon the red flesh on his throat. Now that he had braved his resent, the wound didn't look too bad; the teeth marks the pale woman had inflicted going no deeper than a light puncture. Thinking about it, the reason it had bled so much was probably down to his sheer panic and physical effort of manoeuvring his body away from the rise and down into the confines of the forest. He shook his head, annoyed at the buzzing thoughts probing his mind as he plucked a single leaf from the forest floor, giving the raw flesh a quick lick before pressing the foliage onto it. With any hope it would hold its place until he could find his way out of the trees and away from the strange vixen. Her voice whistled through brush signalling her return, creating some relief within the muddled wolf yet he let out a quiet snarl as if in an attempt to silence his thoughts. With a shaky sigh, the boy once again rose to his paws and forced his legs to carry him west, ignoring the pangs of guilt that wracked his every step.

Maybe one day! Thanks for threading. She needed it for her trade.

"Hello?" she called, stepping into the little hollow where she'd left him. Left who? A boy, her little son... no. Someone else. Someone she needed, but... The wolf gave a nervous whine and shook her head to clear it of such ramblings. "Hello," she called more firmly, trotting around the surrounding area, now. "Please, say something so I can find you."

Dread coiled low in her belly, and she spat out the precious herbs she'd brought to heal - someone. "Where are you?" she cried, darting through the trees, now. All she could smell was his blood, all around the hollow and stuck to her very tongue. Had she killed him? Had something else? She couldn't remember, but she knew - without really knowing - that he'd been alive when she left.

"Friend!" she wailed, trotting in wider and wider circles as she searched every nook and cranny of the area. In bushes, up trees, under rocks - for she did not know what her friend had been. Bird, climber, buzzer, wolf? All she could do was cry for him - "Friend! Please, my friend!" - her voice was a shrill, piping alarm call, sounding again and again through the trees.

She did not know how long she searched. Time seemed to blur together, all parched throat and torn paws, laughing darkness and silent, silent, silent woods.

Sleep took her, eventually - the herbs she'd gathered for someone now working against her. She didn't have the presence of mind to fight it, but laid down where she stood and closed her eyes. The wolf dreamed of blood and bones, both chasing after and fleeing before her, and when she awoke, she knew no more of the stranger wolf from the day before, who had strengthened her with his blood as she had tried to strengthen him with her saliva. She knew only that the loneliness was more oppressive than ever before, that her body felt stronger than it had in days, and that Shink was waiting for her at the den, where she'd left him buried under dirt and rabbit pellets.