Ankyra Sound those darkened waters spur

all welcome!

a lunge, a snap, muscles tearing beneath sharp wicked teeth. erzulie came away with a mouthfull of blood, lips bruised from where her mouth had thudded dully into the tibia of a coyote straying too close to the shore for her liking. it was not alone, however, as its kind was wont to be — four more sprang from the brush to flank their injured leader, and in a moment the harlot found herself assailed.

*

erzulie inched with a painful crawl back onto the sands of ankyra sound, pelt sullied and filthy with saliva, nape torn. a mangling; her left fore-ankle was an unpromising mass of bone and blood, and her throat rasped with the scour of the seawater that had been swallowed. she had fallen, leapt ... thrown herself ... she could not remember.
rusalka had other healers, but she could not muster the strength to call for them, nor for @Rosalyn — quietly she watched her blood ebb onto the shoreline, licked by the eager roll of waves across her limp frame.

cue the hella confusion (w a dash of panic?)

Bound to the sound, perhaps the farthest he had yet to travel from home was to its outskirts, and even those visits were infrequent. Yet today he found himself making such a trek, as curiously as if he were still but a pup, straying from the whelping den for the very first time. He hardly expected to see much, perhaps a wayward sea lion or a directionally challenged animal from the woodlands or mountains. He certainly didn’t think he would come across someone broken and battered, the shore red with her blood—least of all someone that he had seen, in passing, within the realm of Rusalka.

Waves of panic washed over him, joined by concern. What was he supposed to do? He didn’t know the first thing of anything related to wounds and mending them—he never thought that he’d need to know! The only one he could think that might have a clue was @Cadeau (she was good at making things, so she had to know what to do here), and so he called for her. In the meantime, as he waited for her, he crept closer to and watched the female, searching for any signs of movement.

Cadeau wasn't feeling the best these few days in the pack but she willed her way through the storm of feelings best she could, even if uncertainty clouded every fiber of her being. So much was happening all at once, how was she going to survive here? Her old thoughts echoed in her mind like at the start of her journey this last winter, I don't belong anywhere, insecure and childish they lingered, Cadeau closed her eyes  It didn't help she longed for her friend, Cadeau knew she was being pitiful and pathetic, her father wouldn't want her to hold a candle like she was. She distracted her troubled thoughts by sorting through her herb store, trying to focus on what she loved to do instead. Cadeau sifted from flower to leaf many times, drilling their properties into her head until her brain felt raw at the ache of it.

Someone was summoning for her and Cadeau raised her head in confusion, the halfling staring dumbly before she bagged up her medications into her pitcher plant. Cadeau rushed her way to the scene, eyes wide as saucers at the sight of a bloody and hurt wolf. The female dropped her satchel to the ground without much prompting to begin her examination of the paitient. Muddled mind now focused on the wolf, Cadeau tried to see where the blood was stemming from and how to saunch it. "You'll be right as rain, miss." Cadeau soothed, knowing professional calmness was what everyone needed. She looked at Aningan, sheepishly realizing this was literally the first time she even met the guy who was now leader. Rusalka must go through leaders like used toy balls, Cadeau mused. "Can you tell me what in Sirius' name happened by any chance?

nausea lurched into her throat, but that was a fine thing. she must not drift into the bloodless cold that beckoned much too closely. it was not long before pawsteps announced the arrival of another. rusalka, such a churning place, but attentive to its wolves.
erzulie retched into the sand as her new leader called overhead for a woman she did not know. irony, that, and she turned painfully to lap at her dry lips and regard the she-wolf who had come up.
”coyotes. five of dem. alert de pack,” she ordered hoarsely, unwilling to let her battered form hold the focus while her children went unprotected. speech sapped whatever strength she had been able to muster; the harlot’s head fell back limply and she concentrated on her breathing, on the breath of the other woman, anything that might keep her present.

Thankfully, his call did not go unanswered. The woman appeared and seemed to jump right into things, although he was not able to escape questioning himself. His panic was momentarily put on hold and replaced with surprise, eyes wide and ears perked. What had happened? “I don’t know what happened,” he admitted; the coyotes had vanished before his arrival and Aningan, trapped in a state of oh-no-what-do-I-do?!, hadn’t thought to assess the situation at all prior to calling for Cadeau.

But, hey, the older lady had an answer (he was taken aback by her voice at first—he hadn’t been sure whether or not she was actually alive before then)! He didn’t have long before her words registered and he perked back up. “Oh, right—okay!” Five coyotes. Pack member attacked. Threat, threat, threat. Swinging his head back, he let out a howl for the pack: @Raleska, @Rosalyn, @Kaertok, @Derg, @Dalia, @Velen (+ @Reyes & @Scarab since they might have ears, 12/10 cannot confirm tho kek). Beyond that, he was not so sure that he could do much more to help. Expectantly (and perhaps curiously, too), he looked to Cadeau for answers—how could he help?

a call rose, drawing scarab out of his search for more items to use to his menagerie. his ears cupped forth to attention atop the proud set of his crown, noting that it calls for all the pack and that there is an undeniable lilt of urgency to it. it has his too big paws switching his direction abruptly as he abandons his search and makes his way to where the call had risen from. it draws him to the beach and he lifts his muzzle minutely to draw in the scents that lay heavy beneath the salty seabrine.

what scarab smells causes his heart to momentarily stutter in his chest. it smells heavily of a sun of his life: erzulie, of the sharp, pungent metallic tang of blood and of sick. the scent of the others went unnoticed just as thoroughly as the wolves themselves went unacknowledged as he tries to hurry through the frustratingly shifting sands, skidding down a sand dune as he approaches the scene. mama! scarab calls with a tremble to his voice as he takes note of her crumbled in the sand. his heart pounds loud in his chest and he hurries to her side: only able to focus upon her and her state. scarab is young but he knows that something has happened and that she doesn't look well.

he hiccups with the sobs that threaten to wrack his body and he approaches her slowly with ears fluttering back to rest atop his skull. i'm here mama. he assures her with a trembling voice and abruptly lifts his head to look first at aningan and then to cadeau. he fixes them both in the best, most imperious look he can muster and demands, fix her. unconcerned with the fact that he's a child and that he's speaking to the new(est) alpha.

Cadeau listened to the older female explain what had happened, the halfling cocking her ears and scrunching her brows in a contemplative way. Alright, it seemed the first thing she needed to do was staunch the bleeding. Blood loss was a major concern right now, Cadeau dropped her satchel to the ground. "Miss I want you to stay with me, okay? Focus on my voice. My name is Cadeau, what is yours?" Cadeau reached into the pitcher plant with her paw and muzzle, tugging out a branch wadded in cob web and then some moss. She eyed the child who demand she fix his mother, Cadeau would do her best. 

"I'll patch her up, just keep her focused. I need your mother awake to make sure I tend to her correctly." Cadeau left out the part she was concerned if the wolfess fell unconscious it might mean there was too much blood lost. Cadeau didn't know of a herb that built up more blood... shaking her head, she began to press a clump of cob web into her wounds to soak the blood, replacing it with moss when the silk threads grew black with it. Cadeau put pressure, lowering her nose to her neck to check the pulse of the hurt female. Heart beat is fast, classic sign of blood loss and shock. "You're doing great," Cadeau murmured with a paitient smile at the bitch. "Keep your eyes on me and your son, even breaths now. I need you awake to take some medicine for me."

Potentially just a single post from me! Gonna say the coyotes fled, but Kaertok isn't following them / is protecting the border where their scent trail led. Feel free to skip and/or tag me back in if needed. :)

Kaertok heard the call from the latest alpha, and he was quick to answer it. The smell of blood and a wounded wolf was enough to let him know something was very, very wrong. He arrived on the scene alert and ready to fight whatever had hurt one of his pack mates, no matter that he hardly knew her. He didn't stop to chat or even gather any additional information. Instead, Kaertok picked up the trail of the offenders and shot off after the coyotes' scents.

He hoped for backup, but he wasn't holding his breath. It was possible they'd already departed the area and were no longer a threat, but that too could be a mistaken assumption. Their trail led beyond the sound, but Kaertok didn't follow it further. Instead, he began to stalk back and forth, eyes keenly seeking out any of the wily beasts who wished to try their luck with him.

The man answered the call of alarm in an instant -- after of course making sure Grezig and her young were safe. As much as he hated their father, he could reform the kids and make sure they don't turn out like him. 

He approached the scene, ready to meet whatever he saw with fangs. The scene didn't present an immediate threat though there were certainly signs of it. He followed Kaertok, going slightly over the borders to make sure they weren't reconciling to come back twofold. 
Once he was satisfied, he returned to Aningan in silence. Waiting for the next order.

single post for me, too! PP raleska if need be <3

She feared the worst when she heard that urgent howl -- gods, had Vercingetorix or worse, Drageda, come back? Raleska came upon them breathless, eyes scanning each of them with critical assessment; Cadeau bent over a bloodied Erzulie, Anigan looking to Cadeau, a young Scarab dutifully expecting his mother be fixed -- and Kaertok and Derg off, while the scent of coyote heavily permeated the air.

"Bring her to the Grotto and do not let her sleep," Raleska commanded immediately, her heart in her throat and her stomach clenched tight at the sight of her friend so heavily indisposed. She knew nothing of healing, or of how to stem the blood -- but there was a reason she spoke of the Grotto then. "Caiaphas had some herbs there -- and we can tend to her better with no risk of reinjury." Cadeau was likely a fine healer, but Raleska did not know how much herbs the healer's pitcher plant held -- and in the cool safety of the Grotto, they could likely tend to the chai-furred woman better. Raleska heart was racing as she took stock of the scuffle around them. Erzulie had done her part admirably, but she was not safe here.

Letting loose a furious howl, Raleska swung after Kaertok and Derg, swearing she would douse the beach with every fucking coyote's blood, and do to them worse things than what they had done to Erzulie.

it was not until their new alpha raised his muzzle to summon the others that erzulie relented to the tending of the healer. and though she was only half-conscious; though her breathing laboured and she sprawled beneath the other's caring, she kept up a steady blink through it all, to communicate that the accursed dogs who had ripped her flesh had not stolen her life.
ti gason an lò; scarab was here, and erzulie smiled inwardly to hear his voice risen up and demanding even in the face of his confusion and fear. a prince, that one; of course she was biased, and of course she did not care. her sluggish attention belonged presently to the woman hovering over her, and the harlot gave a slow nod. she was awake, she was present.

Cadeau was still new to this territory even though she lived it, she didn't know of this Grotto but Cadeau trusted Raleska's word. The halfling cast her eyes to the she-wolf, watching as she and some others rushed off into action to get rid of the scourge that caused the female wolf harm. Cadeau hadn't the heart for violence, even if revenge was deserved. She pinned her ears and looked to anyone big and nearby. "You heard Raleska!" Cadeau exclaimed, sounding firm for the first time in awhile. She had wits, Cadeau looked around the area for anything useful. Almond eyes lighting up, Cadeau hurried off to grab at a large broken branch, its leaves full and luxurious. Her teeth holding the base as she dragged the limb and its leafy plumes, she continued. "I need one of you bigger guys to put her on this and start dragging her to the Grotto." 

She let go of it to hurry towards the injured bitch again, Cadeau reaching for more cobweb and wrapping it against the wound, using some twine and vine to make sure it would hold tight. "That should hold her for transfer..." She said, eying her herb stock. She would wait to admission any drugs until they saw what Caiaphas had stored. She didn't want to risk an overdose.

just a cameo!

when aningan’s summon came, velen was lying in the den he shared with @Dalia, watching their children lurch about in their round bodies. a frown crossed his features, but he was nothing if not a guardian, and one intent on making himself useful to rusalka and their new leader. 
and so he left his little family, approaching the gathering on the sand without hesitation. the scent of blood struck his nostrils; the woman downed was not one he had met personally, though he knew her to be rosalyn’s wife.
velen had arrived in time to hear raleska’s order, and stepped forward to help the healer, tugging erzulie onto the litter as gently as was possible. the stench of coyotes was thick in the air, pooling around the wounded woman; once she had been loaded, velen began the slow process of tugging her in the direction indicated, hopefully aided by the others.

Raleska’s arrival on the scene put him at ease if only just a little bit; where he was panicked and at a loss, she seemed to handle the situation better. She gave orders effortlessly and the healing woman responded, even going so far as to prepare a method of transport awhile. The second things were better stabilised and the injured able to be moved, Aningan got to work; he was gentle in how he tugged at her body, and grateful when another male appeared. He paid extra close attention to her wounds, unintentionally doubting the integrity of the bandages that marked them. And while he did not share these thoughts aloud, the constant drift of his gaze back to her injuries was as clear as day.

Once Erzulie was situated over the branch, he stole a quick glance at Velen to make sure he was ready, and then grasped tight to the branch wherever he could; to tug in sync was no easy feat, bringing him to settle for close-enough-is-good-enough. All that mattered was that she reaches the destination as quickly as they could manage without toppling over.

last from me <3

if she was pulled she did not know it; if she was prodded there was no pain. erzulie fixed in her mind the last glimpse of scarab she would have for some time, then drew into her wounded bosom the sense of her other children, whose names she whispered along with that of rosalyn until darkness finally crept to claim her.