The Tangle And an angel for my pain

Chacal moved stealthily through the tangle, following @Njord's scent. He tracked the blood-spattered path left behind by the woman who'd come to their borders, reeking of bearscent. She gritted her teeth together, pausing every now and again to listen for the crashing and crackling of brambles. In this close space, she thought perhaps the bear might give itself away well in advance. The wolves, however, could slip through, quietly. 

She moved with haste. If the bear was nearby, she would need to find Njord and herd him back to their cliffs. Going off in search of a bloodthirsty bear on his own? Reckless. She knew how much Meerkat feared losing Njord again, and she would not put her sister in a position to be fearful for her son and her husband. 

She'd drag the man back by his red tail even if it meant Sapphique would end up having two wolves with no tail. 

"Njord!!!" Her word was hushed, a dagger flicked into the air. Quiet but sharp, every as prickly as the thorny tangle that hid them in its labyrinth.

Njord's heartbeat pounded in his ears as he ran. With each stride he took deeper and deeper breaths, inhaling the scattered bloodtrail of the injured woman. His hackles prickled from nape to tail, cerulean irises framed by the bloodshot whites of his eyes.

The scent grew thicker. Njord stopped in a small, mossy glen to circle the area. This must have been where she had sheltered.

That was when Chacal caught up.

At first, Njord was pleased to see her. He thought the Tanzanite had followed to aide in the search for the lurking evil. Yet, by the look on her face, and the brevity in her voice, the redtail concluded that this wasn’t the case.

Njord’s stone-colored mask narrowed into a snarl – a look somewhere between frustration and contempt – as he made a poor attempt to gather what was left of his patience. At that moment, many problems came to a head and his deference towards his leader waned until it was no greater than a fishbone.

The deep ocean blue gaze of his darkened to stormswept sea currents. With a flash of his teeth he sent a grating snarl that bit like frost in the cold air. Chacal was shocked to see the man so changed from his usual disposition. Something had snapped beneath an emotional burden. 

But Chacal would not be broken beneath it too. She flattened her ears and took a stiff step forward, before she motioned back toward Sapphique with a savage flick of her muzzle. Her teeth chattered as she growled. Golden eyes flashed, gathering electricity from the tension in the air. 

”Njord. Home. Now.” She huffed between breaths, the last word slipping past unsheathed daggers.

Njord’s obstinancy was challenged with a direct order, laced with primitive displays of fang and fur. He felt the scalding burn of Chacal’s hawkish gaze and the commanding presence that radiated from her spirit.

The seafather’s jaw slackened in disbelief, but the knit of his brows did not release. He did not budge but simply shook his head in disappointment.

Chacal had been just a whelp when Shardik murdered three of their own.

Now, his son had been maimed.

And the grizzly’s latest quarry charted a bloodtrail right into Sapphique. Right to Meerkat!

“How can ye ask that of me,” the man retorted with a growl, body buzzing with impudence. “If ye willnae help me scout, then off with ye!” he added with a toss of his muzzle. Njord postured defiantly, red tail erect in a stiff wave. “I willnae wait for ‘im tae take us by surprise again,” he said with finality.

"Njord." 

Her voice struck one note- an odd thing for Chacal. Normally, names had a chime of notes- but this time, she flattened her tone, ironing out the melodic pattern that usually fell into his name. He shook his head, but not in resignation. He looked disappointed- Chacal stiffened. The fact that he would ask her to hunt down the creature apaled her. And his dismissal wounded her even more. 

For his duty to the pack, and the affection she held for Meerkat, she would give him words- more than she felt he deserved, at the moment. 

"One wolf cannot kill a bear.
If it finds you, it will kill you dere." She warned. 
"You turn your back on your sons an' wife,
when you gamble wid your own life."

She would not forgive him for this, if he left Meerkat a widow. She took a step toward him. 

"T'ink about it, an' tell me now-
what do you intend to do?"

Despite his defiance, Njord listened to Chacal’s reasoning and the empty tone in her voice. That was… until she used his family as ammunition against him.

Njord was just as mortal as he was a man.

The wound of guilt and shame from his absence had only just healed. Now, to insinuate he meant to purposely abandon them again with his actions sundered it anew. It was not he who turned his back!

The father’s eyes flared. His jaw twisted and jutted as he desperately tried to bottle all the ugly words inside. Deep breaths moved his shoulders in great motions – a radiator struggling to cool its red-hot engine.

“You dare…” he seethed as he took a sharp shuffle towards her. “You don’t get tae say those things tae me.” Njord felt she had crossed a line.

He licked his dry lips.

“You’d rather tha bear follow that lassie’s trail, just as that man followed yours?” Did she genuinely think that was better? The edge of Njord’s tone turned icy, thinking about the wounds Rhaegal had incurred on her behalf.

“Have ye forgotten what happened last time?” he continued. Shardik had made mincemeat out of three of the strongest wolves to ever walk Sapphique. Now, their ranks were filled with the infirm, young, untrained, and old. Was her plan to have Njord and his family all die holding hands?

At least this way, Njord could lead the bear far away from their heart.

Apparently, a father's path was a lonely one.

He grit his teeth in a moment of clarity.

"If ye willnae let me go, then I want that woman out."

He challenged her notion, and would not be reasoned with. He seemed to find her audacious, which of course was true- but she was the Tanzanite. It did not mean she could dictate his life, but she had the interest of her packmates close to her heart, and she neither wished to lose Njord to the bear, nor have her packmates grieve the loss. The girl had left a blood-trail to the pack, but that could not be helped now. Casting her out wouldn't mean the bear would accept the sacrifice and leave the pack alone. 

She'd touched a nerve and she would again. He, in turn, struck one within her when he brought up Arric. 

"You dare.
I sought a man- you seek a bear.
Dese t'ings, dey do not compare."

He could try what he would, but the bear could not be commanded or reasoned with. A wolf could be fought off- as her packmates had shown. There was absolutely a danger in having to seek out a mate, but it was a man problem that there was a threat at all. The fact that he tried to displace his own foolish choice with an unintended suitor felt ridiculous. It soured her opinion of him even further that he would try to belittle her for seeking the bare minimum from a man, who had made his own choice to go after her and had paid the price.

But Njord was being as much of a fool as Arric, now- to pursue something that would rend him limb from limb if it got the chance. Such was the foil of men, it seemed. 

She breathed a slow, simmering breath. Her voice was low when it chimed again.

"Of course, I recall. I could not forget.
Njord...Do not do something you will not live to regret."

He tried to barter with her, which provoked a snarl. He'd earned her ire, and had lost any leverage he might have had when he chose to prod at the incident involving Arric. 

She shook her head. 

"And what good would that do? None.
She be in our lands, dis already be done. 
We cannot trust a bear to take a bait,
an' leave us in peace- dey do not negotiate. 
We should not provoke it more- let it hibernate."

She did not want to waste her time reasoning with the man while there was a potential threat in the area. He had turned his back on the pack- so if the bear came while he was gone, they would not have use of his strength to fend it off. Bears were unpredictable, and this one was proving to be exceptionally dangerous. 

She shook her head again.

"If you go, den go you must.
You 'ave already lost my trust."

The bear could deal with him first. He would have more to deal with if he survived.

Chacal’s last words spilled over Njord like a bucket of icewater.

He accepted being disliked or disdained… hated, threatened, or maimed. Anything for the protection of his kin and people.

But to lose her trust?

That one rare currency he toiled to earn back. The one thing that tied family and pack together. If her trust in him had been eroded by this one argument, then it must not have amounted to much in the first place.

Njord thought he possessed more, yet it was untrue.

And he wondered - why did he work so hard for the women who looked down on him, their brothers, and sons?

Njord fell silent and gawked at her. He would have never said such a thing. The tip of his tail flicked like a snake’s as he held in all the words too terrible to utter. He had nothing kind to say to a leader who compromised the safety of her own in such an obtuse way. They would become sitting ducks, especially Swordfish and Quennell who would be too injured to flee.

He stared at her a long while before taking one fleeting looking into the darkness of the Tangle.

And then he lets it go.

Njord walked to Chacal in icy silence, his sea-colored eyes filled with venom as he passes her, direction charted back towards Sapphique.

Writing with you is always such a pleasure <3

He sent her a seething glance, full of resentment but he trudged back toward their parklands. A dark viper in her soul begged for her to strike at him as he passed, to remind him that he should not speak like this to her- but she felt it would be best to consult her siblings, and deal with him in a way that was more fitting, later.

For now, she had at least kept him from running out to his own ruin. He might suffer more in Sapphique, but it was no less than he deserved at the moment.