Ravensblood Forest insidious

The dreams were like a spiritual plague, ravaging her by night and haunting her by day, robbing her of proper rest. Chronically exhausted, she withdrew from everyone else in Sapphique and spent what little energy she possessed on distracting herself through hunting. Haunt couldn't help but wonder if she might exhaust herself to the point where she stopped dreaming altogether, which made her push herself all the harder despite how weary she felt.

One day, her ventures led her west along the coast in pursuit of the Broken Antler herd, whose range was either growing or moving entirely. Either way, she followed them, then found herself too tired to make the trip back home. She slept on the dunes and, for the first night in many weeks, the nightmare did not come.

She woke rested, refreshed and reeling. Haunt lingered there another day and night, wondering if the black she-wolf would return now that she wasn't quite as exhausted. But she passed another night in peace, which left the yearling to wonder if it was the change of scenery that finally compelled the nightmares to stop.

Presently, she continued loitering on the coast. It was kind of hard to force herself back to Sapphique, with the the threat of the bad dreams hanging over her head. She didn't know what to do, so she padded along the sands a while before deciding to move further inland, following a river which led her into a deep, dark forest nestled between two mountains.

For once in their life, Sadbh was out. Unconscious. Not even their ever so helpful yet ever so temperamental shrike chirping directly into their ear had woken them up. Not that Cabhrach didn’t try their damndest to get them up and moving again, including yanking hairs out of their ears and twittering like the forest was on fire around them.

But no forest fires would wake them today. Nope. They would burn, and go happily to that biggest nap in the sky. Cabhrach wouldn’t be satisfied, however, until they were up and moving again. Damndest shrike, going for sensitive areas. At the first jab of a sharp little beak into the pad of their nose, Sadbh twitched. At the next, which got them right in the nostril, they shot up with a yowl, throwing the bird into the air as they aggressively shook their head, swiping a foreleg down their face.

You damn bird! One o’these days I’ll be eat’n yer cold corpse!

She stopped in the gloomy shade beneath the trees. You need to turn around and go home, one part of Haunt's conscience told her. Meanwhile, another part of her recoiled from the thought of inviting the dream to return. Not only was it an incredible relief to catch up on sleep for the first time in weeks, she didn't feel so frightened. Out here, away from Sapphique and Raleska's revenant (if that's who and what it was), the problem felt remote.

Haunt still stood rooted to the spot when a voice in the distance made her tense. "You damn bird! One o’these days I’ll be eat’n yer cold corpse!" It didn't sound at all like Njord, though the accent immediately made her think of her recently returned pack mate. Intrigued and eager for a distraction from her plight, the yearling began padding deeper into the woods.

Sadbh and the shrike were in the middle of a staring contest. The bird perched on a light nose, the wolf barely keeping in a snarl as they stared each other down. Unlike most wolves with bird companions, it could definitely be said that Sadbh and Cabhrach were disagreeing more than they were being friendly to each other. 

Definitely frenemies.

Sadbh eventually sighed like an over aggrieved parent faced with a room full of finger painted walls and a child who’d been colored with a marker by the other, and spoke again with the same tone as someone who desperately needed a drink.

Alright, bird. Wha’dya need sa badly. Cabhrach, immensely pleased, sang a shrill note and hopped up onto the head of the blue toned wolf, settling there with a happy peep. Sadbh snorted.

The once druidleader of their circle, reduced to a bird’s bed. How low they have fallen.

She heard the voice again, speaking a little more softly now. Haunt perked her single ear, eyes roving the trees as she moved in its direction. She paused when she noticed something red and sticky on a nearby trunk. It looked like blood, though she guessed it must be some variety of sap. For some reason, a shudder went down her spine. She dropped her yellow eyes and kept moving.

But before she ever caught sight of the speaker—a wolf, presumably—an unearthly scream ripped through the gloomy woods. Haunt instantly froze and crouched, trying to figure out the direction and source of the sound. Every single blade of fur on her body raised as her pale toes dug into the soil, preparing to make a run for it.

Unearthly screams were kinda their jam.

Okay not really, they were a rather superstitious thing with deep set beliefs and that right there? That wasn’t a good omen.

With an emphatic Shite, Sadbh practically leapt to their feet, dislodging their shrike, who promptly tittered and trilled angrily in their ear, but the little blue and white shape didn’t much care for it at the moment.

Quiet, Cabhrach, b’fore I shut your beak for good! They hissed at the bird, who showed very, very little regard for what they asked of him and continued to trill angrily.

When she heard the voice a third time, Haunt unlocked her limbs and slunk toward it, certain she would find a fellow wolf. Instinctively seeking safety in numbers, her yellow eyes scoured the gloomy forestry for a sign of the stranger.

She'd just spotted a small, silvery figure when another wretched scream pierced the air. Haunt tucked tail and scrambled toward the other wolf, swiveling rapidly to face the direction of the cry and letting out a small gasp when a young cougar materialized from the undergrowth.

A white flash brought their head around to face the oncoming wolf with wide eyes, the fur around their nape fluffing in defense, before it fell to the yowling of the prowling cat.

It was young. The wolf near her looked pretty young as well, despite the missing limbs. Their eyes spun between the two, glad to finally hear the shrike taking up space on their head shutting his stupid beak.

Lass. They hissed to the white wolf, gaze solidly locking on the young cougar.

Start bakin’way slowly. Keep your eyes on it.

The cougar was actually quite small, an observation which came with a certain measure of relief. But Haunt knew better than to let down her guard around another apex predator. The stranger hissed at her to keep her eyes on it and back away slowly, though her instincts whispered for her to do something else entirely.

Yellow gaze riveted on the young mountain lion, Haunt bared her teeth, ears thrusting forward as her lips peeled backward. Her tail came lashing upward over her hips, back arching a little and shoulders squaring as she solidly planted her single forefoot on the ground. Every blade of pale fur on her body raised like quills and she let out a ferocious snarl, tongue suddenly lashing from between her fangs.

Oh sweet Saints, this was how they were to die wasn’t it? Sadbh cast their eyes skyward for a second, praying for peace, before looking to the yearling again.

They really hoped she knew what she was doing, they thought, before they copied her stature, flashing teeth and menacing fluff. 

This wasn’t gonna work, they told themself pessimisticly, curving their tail over their back and waiting for death to come claim them.

It was almost a relief, facing a flesh and blood threat. Empowered by this thought, Haunt let loose another ferocious snarl, her lips peeling back to reveal the full lengths of her fangs even as her fur continued to bristle. Her tail lashed and she took a hop-step forward. She wondered if the cat would consider her easy prey due to her missing limbs. If it did, it would be sorely mistaken.

She was vaguely aware of the stranger taking up arms beside her, more so when the teenaged mountain lion spat out an indignant hiss and began to slowly back away. Emboldened by its retreat, Haunt darted forward, her single ear practically disappearing against her skull as she let out yet another growl, so guttural it scraped her throat on its way out.

The small cougar continued its slow withdrawal as Haunt (and presumably her fellow wolf) stood her ground. When enough distance spanned between them, it turned and fled into the brush, noiseless as it vanished. Haunt's yellow eyes bored holes into the spot where it had disappeared, her threatening noises continuing for long moments before eventually surceasing.

She turned to face the other wolf only to say, "We shouldn't stay in these woods." Haunt didn't bother with saying anything else, giving the stranger a meaningful look before breaking into a lope back the way she'd come.

Having faced a demon in the waking world, Haunt's hesitation about returning to Sapphique was gone. Fueled by adrenaline, she retraced her steps back toward home, certain she could conquer the nightmares in the same way she had forced the feline monster back into the shadows from whence it came.

Sadbh eyed the white furred yearling for a moment, that bled into two, before nodding sharply.

Aye. They quipped in reply, dipping their head to the woman.

’specially if that one has friends. They wouldn’t disagree to booking it. Especially when their only backup was one wolf. They could perhaps do some damage, but well. Sadbh didn’t want to try and patch them both back up.