Redtail Rise when the arms yell, the laws are silent

set directly after this thread: http://wolf-rpg.com/showthread.php?tid=9478

Arion could not deny that his opponent had been skilled, strong, lethal and deadly but he had matched him strike by strike and teeth by teeth and in the end, he had won. If his father had been here, he would have been proud. He could feel a gentle wind swirling around him and could feel a bit of the pain ebb away, or perhaps it had been his imagination. After all, he had been taught that if the mind was strong, the body would be strong and could endure and endure if the mind did not break.

The stallion attempted to stand and he rose quite easily onto his paws and began limping towards the ridge, he limped through the tree line and into the woods where he almost suffocated beneath the thick canopies that blocked out the sky. But determination kept him moving and however much it hurt, he kept walking, even if he felt his bones had dissolved into water and tiredness swarmed his head.

Arion emerged on the other side and sat on his haunches at the bottom of the ridge, he really wasn't in the mood to climb up the hill now. He chose the easy way out, tilted his chocolate head back and howled for the only wolf he knew who had some knowledge about plants, @Reek and @Saena because she had to know about the trespasser.

Now that Saena had returned, the stress Reek felt had started to peel away. The process was slow, however his drop in paranoia ran parallel to the less time he was spending on patrol. For the first time since Saena's departure, Reek had stopped working... at least for a little while to spend time with his mate and to get his old self back in order. Today, he was on a self-granted extended break. Which in the bastards mind, was completely necessary.

Thankfully, he had expanded the den in the night, or else the herbs in his cache would have forced him and Wynter out into the open air. It was still a tight squeeze, but nevertheless, it was a comfortable place for a nap. And nap he did! There was so much sleep to catch up on from the previous week, that Reek had no idea where to begin. For a while, he had wondered if he had forgotten how to sleep in it's entirety. But now, he slept like a rock with his head rested on a fern.

Arion's pained howl broke Reek's mid-afternoon slumber. Rising to shaky legs, he pulled himself from his den and descended the ridge to find the source of Arion's cries. "Redhawk?" he asked quickly as he glanced over the extent of his injuries. The poor bastard looked rough. Turning back to his den, Reek took off to grab any herbs he could use from his cache.

Never a dull day in Redtail Rise.

When Arion's pained howl broke the canopy and echoed over the Rise, Saena immediately thought the worst. It took her a little while to pinpoint the aspiring Warrior's location and the going was slower than usual, which left her lots more time to think, oh shit, over and over and over. She had dared to hope that Fox would never find their pack and would never come this far to finish what she'd started, but it was the only reason the Alpha could think of that explained one of her members being hurt. Trespassers and unruly ruffians were the furthest thing from her mind.

When she arrived, it was just as Reek was whirling away. She looked after the aspiring Healer briefly and then turned to Arion. Concerned, she stepped close and lapped at his nearest wound, hoping to clear some of the blood and prevent infection from setting in. "Which one was it? What'd they look like?" she asked coldly between licks. It had to be Redhawk Caldera, and so she automatically assumed it was one of their wolves. She didn't know what all of them looked like, of course, but she could pick out Fox, Peregrine, their children and their Betas a mile away, so if it had been one of them to launch this attack on Arion, she would know it.

His howl was answered quickly by Reek who, after glancing at him, inquired if it had been a Redhawk Caldera wolf who had inflicted this wounds upon him. The chocolate warrior shook his head wearily, "Loner," he answered and watched with fierce falcon-like eyes as the ragged aspiring healer left to probably grab some herbs from his cache of plants. After the dark furred wolf's form vanished, Arion began awkwardly licking his own wounds.

Then Saena appeared, or that was the moment he sensed another presence nearby. Lifting his chocolate crown and pausing from the licks, he gazed as she stepped closer to him and began lapping at one of his injuries. Truthfully, Arion was rather surprised at what she was doing now, he had encountered various pack Alphas within his travels and none had showed much care to an injured subordinate. He was glad this one was different and furthered solidified his choice at joining and staying at the Redtail Rise.

Arion continued licking at his deepest wound, the one on his chest. The fur had been torn away and only flesh was visible on that wound, other than that, the others weren't too serious, in his opinion at least. Saena wasted no time asking him about the attacker, however, she had the wrong idea. He knew she was probably thinking it was a Caldera wolf who attacked him from her choice of words. 'Which one was it' and 'what'd they look like,'

The stallion shook his head. "It was a loner," he said once more. "Not a Redhawk Caldera wolf, there was absolutely no pack scent on that bastard." Still, Arion described the trespasser. "The loner's an agouti, with a typical black mask, covered in golds, cinnamon, grey, ebony and browns. His legs are burnt, there are only tufts of fur lingering. Brawny and tall. Amber eyes." A smirk then graced his features. "Half his left ear is missing, I tore it off."

The raggedy healer tore though the cache in his den with reckless abandon. Pieces of plant matter flew every which way as he flung ferns and flowers about.  His disorganization would be his downfall, as the time it took Reek to find and prepare the plants he needed would be far longer than necessary. Reek had not expected disaster to happen so soon, or else he would have been more prepared to handle the situation.

But finally, he had found what he was looking for.  He took his dried alum root and splayed it across a wide leaf, and then he began crush it into a fine powder with a rock.  He then wrapped the powder in the leaf, bound the remaining poppy seeds he had (as Arion had blown though the extract), picked his haul up with his mouth, and took off toward his injured friend.

Reek dropped his load beside Arion as he finished describing his assailant.  "Which way did he go?"  He then turned to Saena and asked, "Should we send someone after him?"  No wolf that hurt one of the Rise would get away with it clean.

The form of medicine that Reek practiced tended to be quite crude.  It wasn't for lack of knowledge per say, but more personal preference. In a way, it was sort of a tough love method.  Rubbing salad in wounds tended to help, however, the basics could't be beat.  The raggedy medic unrolled the poppy seeds and dropped them in Arion's mouth for the pain.  "Eat,"  he commanded curtly.  Reek then moved to the largest gash in Arion's side.  The bleeding would have to be stopped and infection had to be prevented. Why not kill two birds with one stone?

"Alum root," he began to explain, "is an anti-stringent and anti-septic.  It'll tighten the skin, stop the bleeding, and clean the wound... but we'll have wash you out after.  You're not gonna want this stuff to stay in.  Oh, and by the way, this is going to hurt, a lot."  Carefully cupping the leaf with his jaws, he poured the beige powder into his wound.

Reek was back in a flash, soon enough to hear Arion's description of the lone wolf. Saena breathed a sigh of relief to know it wasn't some sort of assassination attempt, not that she believed Fox would ever stoop to that level. Still, it wasn't comforting to know someone would disrespect their borders and wolves so readily. In response to Reek's question, she pursed her lips and said, "should we? What if whoever we send gets hurt, too? If he comes back, he's dead, but I'm not sure if risking someone else's injury is worth going after a lowlife like that. What would you do, Arion?"

As far as she was concerned, so long as the creep wasn't anywhere near her doorstep, he could have his life. If he came back, though, it wouldn't be just one Warden he encountered, it would be the whole damn pack, and his life would not be his to gamble with any longer. Still, she valued the input of both of the males, but it was Arion she asked because Arion was a Warrior and would know the best course of action, as well as the chances they stood.

Silently, she watched as Reek began to work. She hadn't noticed at first, but when he set the leaf down, she spotted a fine tan powder nestled in the vein. She didn't understand how he'd procured it, being not a healer and a practical wolf all at once, but he seemed sure that it was effective. The way he applied it was something Saena had never seen before, either, and she found herself craning her neck to watch. When it touched Arion's wounds, she winced as well, imagining the pain that something so resembling sand might cause in a raw wound.

"He turned and ran away, fled like the coward he was," Arion said, scowling for a moment. "I did not see where he went, but he ran quickly away from the borders." Inwardly though, the chocolate wolf was cursing himself for not looking in the direction where this Heron Bloodclaw ran, it might have mattered. But it was too late, and like his father Janus always said, you couldn't go back in the past and correct your mistakes. What's done is done and you shouldn't waste time brooding over what could have been instead of what had been.

Saena then spoke, stating some reasonable doubts but she surprised him by asking for his opinion. Arion wasn't a leader, he wasn't the Beta or Alpha of the pack and he sure as hell was no Counselor. He was simply a warrior, a wolf who fought using teeth and claw, not some diplomatic wise level headed piece of shit who the leader should trust and ask for opinions. But all the same, it wasn't like the Greek could refuse to state what he thought.

"I gave him a couple of serious wounds to think about and by the looks of that bastard, he's a brainless fighter and probably won't know healing. If he knows whats best for him and isn't the crazy maniac I first pinned him for, he'll stay away until he's better and then come again. By then, we'll easily slaughter him. If he comes back now, well, it'll just be easier to kill him." Arion half smiled. "I say we should just let him be, he isn't worth sending someone and if we do, well he's pretty bloodthirsty and he's got nothing to lose." Heron didn't seem like the type to care if he lived or died.

Having given his input, the warrior turned his attention to the homely healer, listening as Reek informed him about the herbs, he cocked his head sideways as his friend informed him that it was going to hurt a lot and began pouring the powder into his wound. Apparently, the ragged male hadn't been joking whatsoever. "Fuckity fucking fuck," he swore through gritted teeth but otherwise, made no sound. It wasn't in his nature to admit weakness or pain, and so, it came naturally to him to remain silent, however much it hurt.

Noticing Saena craning her head to watch, Arion flashed her a half pained smile, "It feels like a massage," he told her in a sarcastically amused manner. "You should try it someday."

I know it's Reek's turn but I'm posting to help draw this to a close, since it's been a month since the last post. ^^ With this post, it has 8 replies—maybe you can I can wrap it up,  Will?

Saena listened intently to all that Arion had to say, then bobbed her head in agreement. "That seems best," she acknowledged, glancing to Reek for confirmation from him as well. These two wolves, along with herself, made up the core of Redtail Rise, and she knew all three of them would fight for their home. If the loner dared to tempt their borders again, he was definitely dead. They would all see to that.

She flung back her ears and winced when Arion ground his teeth together and grit out a stream of profanities. She wanted to laugh, inexplicably, not because of his pain but because of his cursing, but somehow she managed to quell the urge long enough to get past the initial outburst. The warrior wolf addressed her then and the alpha tilted her head closer, for a moment partially believing him, but then she cracked a grin and said, "next time."

"Besides," she added, "I don't quite deserve a massage yet. I haven't fought off anyone. This one's allllll yours to enjoy." She didn't envy him, not one bit. What Reek was doing was probably more painful than Arion would admit. To her, it all looked like magic and voodoo—he may as well have poured dirt in Arion's wound for all she understood of it—but she knew that even licking wounds was painful. She couldn't imagine putting the equivalent of sand in one.

One more post from you and we can archive this :)

The next time the chocolate stallion and the insane loner met, it would be a spar to the death. And Arion was sure he would not be the one to die, he could feel it in his bones, the certainty that that fight was a fight he would definitely win. He hadn't had that feeling for a long time, but whenever he did, he always, always won no matter what. And this time, no, next time they met would be no different. Arion hoped that he would never meet that Bloodclaw wolf again though, partly because the other wolf was just batshit crazy, and partly because he didn't really like taking lives.

Saena grinned at his comment before adding a few of her own which somehow made him smile crookedly despite the immense pain he was going through. Ahh, it seems like she too had a good sense of humor. Good, he had been wondering if him and Reek were the only jokesters around in the region. Saena might not be as extreme as the two of them in their playful banter, but at least she knew how to appreciate it.

"Thanks a lot," he half laughed, half grumbled.

As Reek finished his painstaking work and Arion and Saena bantered to take the wounded warrior's mind off it, the sun began to steadily sink in the sky. Soon enough they were wrapped in a shroud of orange and red as sunset fell on them. Saena's eyes went to the sky. "It'll be nice tomorrow," she said quietly, wincing as Reek moved suddenly to grab one of his other herbs or implements. She watched for a moment, then snorted in response to Arion.

"No prob, anytime," she said with a well-meaning smirk. She shook herself and stretched, then waved her short tail joyfully. "I'm going to check on the borders, make sure that dumb fuck isn't still hanging around somewhere," she said, beginning to step in that direction. "Make sure Reek keeps up his nice massage for you," she said with a grin. Then she loped away, leaving the two males to play doctor and patient a little while longer.