Northstar Vale That man is not your maker

When Riley had first been welcomed to his new keep, Ira had told him of a sisterpack in the wilds. Riley found the notion strange, but after a few days of growing comfortable in the riverglen, he began to get restless. Remembering Ira had mentioned checking in on them, Riley found himself wandering.

Having been a wolf who spent much of his early life alone once he left Easthollow, Riley's nose was keen. It did not take him long to find a footpath often traveled, the scents so intermingled it was clear they belonged to a conglomerate rather than a few passing loners. 

Riley would have passed by the cave without a single glance, if it weren't for hearing a yelp and splashing noises. In truth, he nearly missed the opening -- but the sound of trickling water and disturbed ripples turned his ear. The noises were easy enough to follow, but unease spread through the Redleaf as he craned an ear into the cave.

He was reluctant to step in -- the opening was dark, and he couldn't see much beyond it. Wavering indecisively at the mouth, Riley felt a chill rake down his spine as a strange sense of foreboding seized him. He could just keep walking... He could pretend he hadn't heard whatever dark thing that was that had gone thump in the dark...

Until he caught scent of him. Between the broken blades of grass and freshly disturbed earth was the clean and clear scent of the male Riley had scented around that puppy in the glade. His fur was on complete end now, and terror seized his heart.

That puppy -- that puppy had...

He thought of the mother, of his mother -- of Mal -- he thought of how he had so casually offered to help the father track down his daughter's assailant, and now he was here.. Quailing like a little bitch.

Riley felt his legs tremble in apprehension.

He had to do it. He had to .. to end whatever was happening in there, to attack this man -- or at least get a good look at him, so he could go running to Ira and tell him all he knew.

Gulping in a huge breath and hoping he'd find some sort of courage, Riley ducked under the overhang and into the cave.

The first thing he saw when his eyes adjusted was the bent back of a male. His eyes trickled downward, horrified, as he began to piece together what was happening. At the end of the man's reach was a puppy with its head underwater. Being held underwater.

Instantly, Riley's mind leapt back to the earliest memory he recalled. He was underwater, watching as ringlets of bubbles broke from his mouth. He was fighting, fighting against the cold river bank -- against the stones that scraped his back and the water that poured unwelcome into his burning throat -- and there before his eyes was a long red arm, forcing, holding, coercing him down...

Before he was aware of it, Riley was moving. Silent, furious, shaking -- as he came down upon the hunched form of Takeshi. Quivering, terrified, besieged by grief -- the Redleaf dove for the back of Takeshi's scruff in a panicked fumble fueled by desperation. If he managed to grip the male's snowy ruff, Riley would rip him backwards with as much force as he could muster. Hopefully he hadn't been heard; in the end Riley didn't care what happened to him, as long as that little girl ( he had only been a little boy, a little boy when Auntie had drowned him ) had a chance to get away.