Big Salmon Lake i imagine death so much, it feels more like a memory

A few days had passed since confronting Aure at her new borders. Presumably, Hydra had been kind enough to welcome them into Moonspear's ranks. I dunno, that thread's not finished yet. Either way, Verx lingered around the mountain, and found himself at the salmon lake today, looking for fish to catch. The water had swelled over the shores and lapped at the surrounding grasses; still, he was willing to do some wading for food.

Ankle-deep in the shallows, he prowled, eyes darting across the surface of the water, looking for movement that wasn't the ripples he created himself. Perhaps he just ought to remain still. Yeah, that would probably be a good move, you fucking bonehead.

He was still quite angry with how everything had gone down, but there was no use stewing over it any longer. What's done was done. Andraste had chosen to separate herself from her own flesh and blood and he was their sole parent, now. He'd bust his ass to provide for them; dwelling on anger, on negativity, got in the way of that goal. So fuck it.

his pursuit of the moonlit boy, his interlude with the naive, lovely girl — these things had engendered in merrick a deeper want for the marrow of the true prize, the sole event able to chase out the lingering cobwebs of indra’s death.
she had smelled of pack, he allowed himself to venture; surely by now they had found the strangled redfurred woman’s mouldering body.
the image conjured by such thoughts only confused merrick with their inability to satisfy him. hunter rose in the boy’s gorge; the scent of water drew him toward a swollen lake. 
not immediately noticing the man, merrick stepped into the shallows and began to drink. the last of his mother washed from his his chin with the gentle lapping, turning the waters ruddy; he peered at the fading color with a wan curiosity before lifting his muzzle to glance at the other wolf.
larger than he; scarred. heartstrings vibrating suddenly, merrick turned his gaze across the lake.
”you’re The Hunter,” came his hushed voice, soft with amazement and trilling along its edges with the anticipation of being recognized for who he was.

Blood. He caught the smell and saw the nearby crimson bloom; Verx lifted his head just as the voice came to him over the water. His muzzle dripped as he snarled, eyes turning to cold fire as he waded toward the young man. The monster.

You, Vercingetorix said in awful tones, and knew that water would be no place for him to fight at his best. He sidestepped suddenly (his head swam; god, he was so fucking weak right now, having not eaten) and found himself on dry ground. He stared daggers at the other wolf, pelt bristled out to the max.

Come and get me, motherfucker, he challenged, teeth and tongue clacking hard over the consonants. His rage had reached a fine point, needle-sharp, concentrated only on who stood before him.

merrick watched The Hunter’s display, full of rage and fire and swearing as he had been during their first meet. ”i don’t think i will,” the boy hummed, stepping back some
paces.
gaze quickly flicked ‘round, gathering stock of his surroundings. the man before him was vengeful, but not foolish, as evidenced by his claw for better ground. and merrick, though a killer, was no warrior. he would be quickly bested by the other, left to bleed out his too-young life at what was arguably its apex.
and so proud merrick refused The Hunter’s haunting, noble offer. ”i found you, a while back,” the boy revealed. ”kaistleoki, on a river. i didn’t know you also had a daughter,” merrick teased. ”such a pretty girl.” 
at any moment he expected the man to explode across the waters toward him; merrick balanced lightly upon his tensing paws.
”so what about it, daddy? shall i give her a taste too?”

Smart. The monster was no fool. Verx seethed as he spoke, his rage reaching near its peak as the other hissed, taunting him. Over my dead fucking body, the warrior responded, squaring himself. You'll have to get through me to get to her, and I don't like your chances.

Don't take the bait, you dumbass. Keep him in the water. Verx was prepared for a stand-off, and a long one, at that. Better him keep this devil occupied here rather than meet a certain end in the murky, flooded lake.

How'd you end up so fucked, anyway? he said, half-conversationally. You're just a kid. Hey. . .your mom wouldn't happen to be a woman named Caiaphas, would it? It would make perfect sense. Crazy begat crazy, usually. And it would be extra satisfactory to slay not only his son's tormentor but his enemy's son in one fell swoop.

”oh?” merrick purled. ”you weren’t even around when i took your son.” tongue rose to caress his teeth. ”i’ve not heard of caiaphas. my mother was a woman named indra.”
he gazed almost affectionately at the seething Hunter, for soon they would clash, he knew; the blight of merrick was far too insidious to be long resisted.
”she met a bad end, my mother,” the yearling went on, ever casual even in the face of jaws that might savage his head from his very body if the hotblood was given his chance. ”didn’t even fight. imagine that.”
merrick’s eyes burned across the risen waters toward the man; he blinked once, gently. ”when i had him, he didn’t cry for you, not once,” ghosted his murmur. ”only his mother. where were you, dad?”
tadec tadec tadec
where did you go
silence in the waiting.

His breathing was coming hard and fast, hard and fast. He stared at the monster, eyes burning. Monster. Evil incarnate. The words that came his way hurt more than any wound would; he winced, flayed by speech, teeth sinking into his lower lip. He could be lying. He's trying to bait you.

I'm here now, Vercingetorix responded curtly, lifting his chin. He was bigger, he was stronger, he was wiser. He had the upper hand here. Weak as he was, how could he lose?

Just stay on land, he thought, and with a start he realized that the advice came in his brother Gavriel's voice, calm and steady. And Helix. . . Don't let him get to you. They were with him, even though he was a natrona. They would always be with him, at least within his mind.

his barbed words had found their mark — merrick lifted his chin, a low laugh spiraling out from his chest. mocking; it assured The Hunter that they each knew he had failed the boy.
what merrick and astara had done to the pup would not be forgotten. they had left their stamp upon his small body, upon his mind —
tadec
his own deceitful sire embodied in the enraged form of the hunter.
”he came so willingly with me,” merrick marveled, ”like he’d always known my face. thought his mother had sent me.”
tongue lashing slowly along the edge of his mouth —
”— a man he clearly knew. so was that what was going on? you’re not even around and,”
— laughter, laughter, cascading
”i just plucked him up like a weed because his mom was being fucked by this complete rando?”
”father of the year,” merrick purred, hoping that what he had gathered piecemeal was the truth, and would lodge in the other’s craw a wormwood arrow.

R.O.F.L. If the monster thought he'd get to Verx by mentioning infidelity, he'd find himself sorely mistaken. I don't give a fuck who their mother puts out for, he responded blithely, rolling his eyes. You think you're gonna hurt me by rehashing shit I've already punished myself for? Come on, boy, drop the act and come face me like a fucking man if you think you're so tough.

He went as far as stepping forward to the edge of the water, placing his paw in and sending a splash of water toward the ruddy young man, a stupid kid playing in a pool. Fucking coward, he called out, laughing without humor. Fucking coward picking on kids. Come face a real man, you little shit.

The laughter continued, bubbling over like uncorked champagne. It was tinged with rage and so more like a volcano, like what had erupted to the northeast. Drageda's old home, ironically enough. Well, he felt more like kru now than he had in a very long time.

his insults this time did not have the intended effect, but they did wreak a change in the man, sporadic, vehement guffawing that spelled an unhinging of the hunter.
unperturbed by the attempted slights to his manhood, merrick watched silently as the posturing began again, answering only with his stoic quietude, the smirk that unfurled ugly and taunting across his slim muzzle.
so much had been unveiled: the heart of his dark opponent’s insecurity, the truth of what had occurred, the need for the older wolf to redeem himself through brutality, a language merrick spoke in other ways. it was infuriating, saddening. a sigh arcing out. 
”but i’m not facing a man,” he replied simply, before spitting into the waters between them and meeting The Hunter’s eyes with a mingled expression of disdain and pity.

Stupid kid. Stupid fucking kid. He wanted to fight, needed to fight, and if he wasn't acutely aware of what his body was doing in every moment, every heartbeat, he would charge. You're right, Verx agreed, wagging his tail in almost cheerful fashion. You're facing your worst fucking nightmare.

He mock yawned, glancing up at the sky. We could do this all day, nomajoka, he remarked, returning his bicolored gaze to the monster. I've got all the time in the world for you. He crooned it almost like a lover, even as the hatred rumbled in his chest. A hate fuck, then.

There were better hate fucks than this, though. He always did prefer pussy, although blood ran a close second. And blood he'd have today.

he was beginning to chafe with boredom. nothing he had truly prepared was effective; the man remained rooted, jeering, splashing. any weakness of merrick’s was not readily apparent, for they had first circled indra, and now only astara.
but monotony he could not abide. jaws split into an answering yawn. ”i unfortunately don’t have all day,” merrick admitted with a faux wistfulness.
”you see, i’ve already proven what i can do,” the boy continued with a confidence he did not feel; in its absence, irritation.
”i can do whatever i’d like to your son, find you whenever i please. i can keep you in one place as long as i like, and now,” merrick snarled pleasantly, copperburn eye deepening into a single flame, ”i’m going to track down your pretty little girl, like i did before, and ... what did you say? have her face ‘a real man.’ not the sniveling little bitch her dad is,” merrick cut.
”this was disappointing,” cast the yearling’s lament as he began to turn away from The Hunter, slowly, flank presented under a vacant expression.

alright my man time to be a dumbass

Ok, the boy was smart. He wasn't taking the bait, either. Instead, he shot off his mouth some more and then turned, leaving Vercingetorix to watch him walk away. The turn was deliberate, a flank exposed -- Verx knew what he was doing. Maybe not so smart after all, you little shit.

The former cheka yawned for real and rolled his shoulders, and then lunged toward the ruddy monster, clearing the water between them and coming down with a splash. His jaws were open and aimed right for the leg opposite of the one presented to him, hoping to throw the smaller wolf off balance.

merrick had calculated for the onslaught, but not the true target. pain seared into his body; he bellowed in a paroxysm of agony and rage — relief that it was finally beginning — and swung his muzzle, snapping for the other’s lips, ears, any part reachable.
it was however unsatisfactory, the lingering sensation that he had not truly taunted the man into an attack. it stung far more to know this than anything The Hunter had spat at him; fangs naked, the yearling found himself dragged down.
but the waters remained, and he thrashed within them like a serpent, willingly a sacrifice to the man’s teeth if only for the present.

There were tiny bursts of superficial pain over his body as the young man's nips found purchase here and there, but Verx kept his hold, beginning to back his ass up and head for the shore and hopefully taking his opponent with him. That was all he needed to do: keep his footing and keep hold of this leg. He couldn't let himself get dragged farther out.

In the meantime, he withstood any blows given, although one of the demon's bites landed particularly close to an eye, and another tore through the flesh of his nose. It burst open and blood began to trickle fast from his nostrils. . .but he kept going. This little shit had to deal with the fact that he was up against one stubborn motherfucker.

panic was beginning to rise in merrick’s chest; he fixed the face of his beloved shadow within the eye of his mind and renewed his assault upon the dragging jaws locked around his limb.
lashing out at the man’s throat, underbelly, flanks, with the remaining three, merrick scrabbled wildly in the silt beneath his spine, kicking pawfuls of it up toward the burning eyes much as he himself had earlier been taunted with water.
the deeper lake loomed inches from reach 
daddy don’t
and within its depths, the stone faces he had spied earlier
merrick gave a great twisting arch in the man’s jaws in an attempt to tear free.

Splish, splash. The water hit Verx's eyes and he squeezed them shut, inhaling blood and snot. Fuckin' hell. The boy was slippery, he'd give him that, and he was aiming some pretty good blows here and there, even just missing the place where Caiaphas had gone for before. He was alive, but his strength was waning; the famine had taken its toll on even his impressive musculature.

And then, before he knew it, his jaws were empty -- the demon had worked himself free. In a slight panic, Vercingetorix opened his eyes (they stung, badly) and tried to find purchase elsewhere. . .perhaps upon the skinny neck. In rearing up, he left his belly vulnerable, though he thought he might be able to seize his opponent again before it became a factor.

Just one bite to the spine, he thought, and it would be over. This evil fuck would be dead and gone, and not a bother anymore.

merrick felt the grip relax; he ripped from the man in a tumult of rage and fear. he had pitted himself against a child, a boy, a girl, a woman — even with the world’s starvation hanging from The Hunter like a millstone, merrick was no match.
snakelike all the same, he twirled in the waters and snapped for the revealed sodden undercarriage of the man, another bite glancing across one thin shoulderblade — he curled himself between the powerful legs and cut his jaws up and up
and up, leg screaming, mind screaming, a shriek of vengeful fear that went on and on forever.

No. It wasn't quick enough. Even as Verx felt himself come down upon the monster, he felt jaws between his legs, felt teeth, rake, tear, seize --

Oh, Dragomir, he thought ruefully, as the arterial hemorrhage began.

But Vercingetorix was a fighter, and he'd fight until the end and beyond that, if allowed. He twisted and kicked and used the last of his earthly seconds to the fullest. He opened his mouth wide and pushed his head downward, toward that scrawny neck -- he needed to grab it, to snap it --

There were black spots in his vision, muddying further the image of flailing legs and bloodied water. With the final vestiges of his strength, he closed his mighty jaws. Only the sharp crack of severed vertebrae, a sound he'd heard many times before in much different circumstances, would tell him if he was successful.

a high, child’s scream as the last crush of the leviathan’s jaws sheared away half merrick’s left ear: an homage to his missing right eye. blood began to pour in a blinding sheet; he wailed and struggled out from under the cascade of gut-dark crimson that raked down from the man’s mortal wound.
desperately, anguished drumbeats reverberating in his skull, merrick scrabbled away from the torn wolf and hunched some feet away. his eye burned hatefully toward the creature who had humiliated him, reduced the boy to a choking, piss-fearful child; even now he quaked to think the mountain might rally.
no satisfaction in delivering a fatal blow; it had all been done in the scrape of terror, its animal reeking.
merrick; he panted and snarled, daring the tooth-scored muzzle to swing for him again.

No luck. He found purchase but it was only an ear; the taste of blood was little compared to what he needed. He. . .needed to re-rally. Needed to find that neck. He could do it, right?

Verx wheeled, looking for -- there. The bloodied shadow. He lurched toward the demon, snarling, his vision blurred. Stumbled and fell to his knees with a groan. No, fucking, NO! He needed to get to him! Verx writhed toward the opponent, dragging himself along through the shallows, the mud and the grass.

He'd never been afraid of dying because he never had anything to lose. Now he faced the last glimpses of a world without him, a world where this monster still lived and breathed and his children lie in danger. He couldn't protect them. He'd failed.

Soaked as he was, the tears coursing down his cheeks were nothing, and the sobs that left his ruined throat could have been roars of anguish. Well. . .they were. The fatal injury barely registered; all he could think about was the fact that he was abandoning Drago and Isi, even though he'd promised them --

He'd promised them!! And now their mother was gone, and he was going, and they were alone --

They could go to Praimfaya --

Heda. No, not her. Heda, his Heda; she'd died in the water too and was coming for him now. He saw her slate gray eyes, her dark bulk. He'd failed her as well, and Drageda; he was natrona -- Blodreina, crushed by rocks, he by water, it was punishment --

Let me live, he whispered in Trigedasleng, eyes wide, desperate. Somewhere in the corner of his vision, his mother shook her head.

Dragomir. Isilmë. He hoped they were safe. He hoped they remained safe. He hoped that someone would find him and let them know that he didn't leave them, that he died for their sake and would die a thousand times more if it meant keeping them from harm.

I'm sorry, the warrior breathed, but it was gurgled, his mouth half beneath the water. He heard but did not see, and soon he did not hear. The last sensation was dark and silent water before there was nothing altogether. There were no escape routes. There were no twists. Only death.

Surrounded by billowing blood, the body went limp, and Vercingetorix was now very fucking dead.

loved you buddy

Common · Trigedasleng

for a long series of moments after The Hunter went still, merrick did not move. copperlight eye fixed with singular worry to the unbreathing bulk in the water, the boy began to tremble bodily. the dead would not see the abject transformation of his murderer into something dissociative and poignant with the weight of what he had wrought.
lips quivered; at length he drew a shaking breath and rose up on tremouring legs. the bleeding of his shorn ear had staunched itself and although the pain remained, he would see it always as a mark of his failure.
no triumph in this, though he was somehow urged to stand over the cooling body, lower his muzzle, search for any sign of breath. "fuck you," merrick hissed in answer to the man's last words. there was not even the desire to defile — he stared at the spiraling tendrils of blood in the water before turning and hobbling his aching self away.
away from this cursed place; he had left astara behind, and now he wanted only her, only her, only her
tadec, indra
mother and father-stead, killed
only the sister remained, fierce, silvered
not while the snows threatened, but in his heart merrick now fixed the visage of the dead predator's daughter as he inched toward the home held in astara's embrace.