Noctisardor Bypass The Fox & The Hound

@Druid @Mahler

bringing in the Big Kitty!

 

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The walk to Druid's home was one Nyra tried not get too tense over. She knew Rivenwood was unfriendly with her pack, but she couldn't just let Druid go home alone. Not where Nyra currently believed her own child was probably dead.

Coming upon the Bypass, Nyra sniffed the air and her hackles immediately raised. 

Cat. 

"Druid, I need you to call for Mahler really loudly, okay?" She rumbled, turning her eyes to the trees and looking all around with sudden alertness.
It was getting closer. 

Turning her head one more time, she saw the mountain lion prowling closer with eyes intent to kill.
Too close. Too close.

"RUN NOW! Nyra snapped in the young girl's direction. Whether Druid heeded her words or not, she didn't see, because the Puma came charging with a yowl. 
Quickly, the Grandmaster put herself between the cat and Druid, facing it with a loud snarl and bared teeth before feline and canine collided in a brutal clash of fangs and claws and fur. 

Nyra knew she likely couldn't take on this mountain cat alone, but she'd be damned if this fucker got its claws into a kid. 
"PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Nyra roared within the fray, loud enough that if Druid's call wasn't heard, Nyra's murderous shouting and the cat-screaming damn well would be.

On the short walk along the river, one of Druid’s teeth punctured the cattail by accident. She kicked herself inwardly but didn’t think much of it until it felt like her mouth was suddenly full of dusty fluff (or was it fluffy dust?). She began to cough.

The queer flower tumbled from her mouth right around the time Nyra directed her to call for Mahler. Fear jolted through her, stricken eyes shooting to the woman’s face and ears sweeping backward, certain that the cattail had poisoned her and she needed to summon the Graf to render aid.

Still the child remained oblivious to the real threat, at least until Nyra bellowed at her to run. Druid obeyed without thinking, her tail tucking between her legs as she scrambled toward the safety of Rivenwood. She didn’t even know why until she heard the noises as a fight broke out behind her.

Druid shot an apprehensive glance over her shoulder and felt the blood drain out of her face when she saw Nyra doing battle with some sort of monster. Eyes flying wide, jaw dropping, Druid inhaled sharply and promptly started gagging again.

by now the other little ones of rivenwood had ventured out of doors, with the exception of laurel's own. 
he had just come from patrolling near her densite, and set off to gather the young wolves together for a lesson.
heda and witch were present, but druid was not, and so mahler with fatherly heart and gruff interest, set off to locate the child.
he meant only to leave his borders and dip into the grove first, but a commotion quickened the man's step with dread.
the white witch of the saints had returned. her proximity would have earned a crushing blow were it not for the gargoyle's quickening shift.
druid was tucked close by, curved and choking. mahler went to her first, eyes trained upon the warring titans. "druid?" came the hiss of his voice beneath the melee, but in only moments the man would rise to meet the bear at the side of his enemy.

Nyra could hear Druid's choking behind her, and the scent of an approaching wolf. 
She couldn't turn her back to the cougar to see what was happening. There Grandmaster was fighting for two lives right now - Druid's and her own.

Feline fangs clamped into the side of her neck, claws digging into her shoulders. Nyra did not relent, instead twisting her neck with an ungodly battle cry and biting ravenously into the muscled lower neck of her current enemy. The two wrestled viciously, and as Nyra tried to pin the cougar, she was slashed across the face and sent reeling.

The puma turned for Druid as Nyra stumbled to her feet.
"DON'T FUCKING TOUCH HER!" Nyra roared at the feline, lurching her battered body into a frenzied sprint, though it was a short one.
Her fangs caught the side of the puma's jugular in much more than lucky timing, and the two went down again. Nyra bit down harder and took deep cuts to the sides and flanks, all over really, as she tried to win this fight that couldn't be won alone. 
Jerkingly, Nyra clenched her jaws further and tried to find Mahler, a plea in her intense gaze. She didn't expect his help with the feline, all she wanted in the moment was for him to:

Help her. Help Druid

Her eyes watered as the tickle in her throat persisted. She couldn’t seem to catch her breath, especially not with the spectacle before her. But Druid had enough air to draw in Mahler’s comforting, familiar scent as he suddenly drew close.

Mahl— she choked, her voice drowned out by Nyra’s bellows and the cat’s screams. Instinctively, she crouched lower to the ground, scuttling crablike toward the Graf.

the snarling of the cat had grown more pronounced. the snowy woman's shouts rang out. 
she bled beneath the claws.
mahler was consumed with ire to think that this had been the animal to wound praimfaya. it had returned, and now it came to harm another of rivenwood.
the yellow eyes implored him. mahler gathered druid closer and prodded roughly between her shoulderblades with his muzzle, hoping to compel whatever she had choked on out of her throat.

She exhaled sharply with thanks as Mahler aided Druid. And with that, the fight for her life continued.

The cougar yowled something guttural, and knowing she'd most likely sacrifice something or other, the Grandmaster quickly adjusted her grip and bit down with all her might upon the jugular of the mountain cat. Claws razored deeply over her wolven flesh, but instead of letting go, Nyra rumbled savagely in a loud growl and ripped out the throat of the cougar.

The feline choked and sputtered blood, lurching and growing weaker as Nyra pinned the cat by the shoulder until it eventually fell still.

A cold glare to the cougar before Nyra spit out the chunk of gore and took in deep, heavy breaths, panting as she finally began to feel her injuries and the immense amount of damage done by the mountain cat. 

Shakily, the Grandmaster stumbled closer to watch as Mahler worked to get Druid to cough up what she had seemed to have swallowed. A worried series of whines escaped the Wardog as she looked at the Graf, silently panicking and trying to figure out how to help, if she could help, if he'd even allow her to help...

While Mahler pressed his muzzle between her slender shoulder blades, Druid frantically scraped her leathery paw pad over her tongue. Eventually she managed to clear most of the cattail’s strange fibers from her mouth. She hacked one last time, then gulped in a raspy breath and sat up straight, just in time to see Nyra finish off the monstrous cat.

Druid could only blink dumbly between the giant of a woman and her dead enemy. There was so much blood, the air began to stink of it. She wanted to know more about the dead creature, though she realized that Nyra was wounded and pressed to her feet, looking to her with concern before glancing at Mahler.

Pressure around her ankle drew her attention downward. Bracelet remained in place despite all the commotion. While her eyes were downcast, Druid noticed the cattail beside the dead cougar, its stuffing strewn about the stained grass.

druid recovered.
when mahler turned back to the spectacle it was to see nyra, more bloodied than flesh, with the cat dead beside.
he wished only to be cruel to the woman who had so disrespected his wife at their very borders. her presence here was suspicious enough, for it appeared she had lurked long enough near their valley to come upon druid.
but his jaws were bound by an edict of diplomacy. a child was near.
"i vill not ask vhy you are here. this is enough between us."
leave. he would explain it to the child later if she wished.
he nudged druid, meaning to draw her firmly into the territory for a proper check.
later, mahler would return to this scene to remove the cat. 
he knew his callousness was great in the face of such grievous wounds, but the gargoyle's loyalty was only to rivenwood. if the woman had the strength for such a battle, she might well heal herself.

Nyra smiled slightly as Druid recovered, feeling pulses of pain throughout her own body. 
Then Mahler spoke. 

She was told to leave, and she would only after she spoke. In panting breaths, the Grandmaster said
"I found Druid at the creek...wanted to make sure she returned to you safely...foe or not, I was once a mother too, and no mother deserves to lose a child..." She coughed a bit, turning her battered form to limp away. Pausing, she turned her head over her shoulder to look at Mahler again as he took Druid home. 
"I am sorry, for my earlier rudeness. I would apologize to her, too, if she was also present...I cannot change the past, but I would hope for a less rocky future." 

Whether Mahler took her words seriously or not, Nyra was certain she likely couldn't change the Graf's mind about her and the rest of the Saints. With her tired words said, the Grandmaster slowly faced forward and started limping away, toward home. 

She didn't anticipate being stopped.

It surprised her a little when Mahler made no move to help Nyra. Instead, he spoke dismissively before urging the pup to move deeper into the territory. “Tensely,” the giantess had said. Druid’s mouth opened even as she heeded the Graf’s unspoken command, looking over her shoulder as she turned to obey.

She paused when Nyra began speaking, mentioning finding Druid by the creek. The youth looked to Mahler, trying to silently convey that she hadn’t strayed far; she’d never been lost. She might’ve said as much out loud, yet the woman was still speaking. Druid didn’t want to be rude any more than she wanted to miss anything being said.

When she finished, Nyra turned to go, leaving Druid’s wondering gaze to find Mahler’s face again.

mahler did not answer the pressure of the young eyes until they were far into rivenwood and its lofty beautiful forests.
"that voman came to our borders vith a strange man and vas incredibly rude to vylla and i, even challenging. i ordered them to leave. i do not know vhy she has stayed so close."
his breath was constrained. he should have known to watch longer upon their land, to be more vigilant.
the gargoyle attempted to soften his features.
only shadows now, of what he had done here once.

Druid spared a few backward glances but Nyra quickly disappeared from view. Mahler did not speak, not until the two of them were much deeper in Rivenwood. When he did, she nodded.

She told me about that, she shared, reflecting back on the entirety of her conversation with Nyra. She had been nothing but gentle and kind to Druid. Neither one of them could ignore the fact that she’d likely saved the pup’s life as well.

But something felt amiss, the more the youngster thought about it. Her worldview was limited by her age and inexperience, so there was no way for Druid to properly grasp the feeling. Nonetheless, it was there, a lurking sense of not-quite-right…

She let out a breath, then told the Graf, I didn’t go far, just along the river. I wasn’t lost. She wondered if he might have words for her about leaving the wood, so she paused in case Mahler had anything to say to that, before adding, Nyra didn’t say why she was here. She said she lived in the mountains, that way.

Licking her lips, Druid turned to properly orient herself, pointing first her muzzle and then raising her Bracelet-clad foreleg to make it clearer. She peered over her shoulder at Mahler, wondering if this was important information, even as she realized there would be no paying Nyra a visit there.

"i am glad she vas here for you," mahler murmured, though his lavender eyes traveled quickly in the direction that druid had indicated. "and i am glad you vere not lost." worripa had gone too soon. mahler had more faith in the ages of the children now to find their way to and from rivenwood.
"it is best to thank volves like that and then move on," mahler decided to comment lastly. "vhen i found you, there vas a lot of coughing. do you know vhat caused it?" he meant to bring her to the pharmacy after all, to give the child mint for any lasting scratchiness.

Mahler spoke with a certain finality before changing the subject. This had the desired effect of tugging Druid’s mind in another direction entirely. She smiled sadly as she thought of the ruined cattail, meant to be a gift for her sisters.

I was bringing a cattail to Witch and Heda, she explained, and it tore open by accident. There was a lot of strange fluff inside it, which got in my mouth. Druid’s head cocked, hoping that made some sort of sense to him. She assured, I’m fine now.

mahler nodded. "that fluffy stuff is very good to pack beneath bedding vhen it is cold. it is not so good for svallowing, as you have discovered." the gargoyle remained dry to this very hour.
"i found a curious skin the other day. it is in the pharmacy. vould you like to come and see?"
mahler would not be put out if druid declined. it was the time for such independence to make itself known and be nurtured.

She snorted quietly through her nose at Mahler’s wry remark. The note about bedding made a lot of sense, considering the cattail’s texture. Perhaps she could fetch another for her sisters and use its contents to soften their bedding. She stowed that thought for later.

Sure, she replied simply to the Graf’s invitation, falling into step beside him and asking, Mahler, what exactly was that animal Nyra fought? Druid glanced over her shoulder, in the direction of the borders where the slain beast surely still sprawled in a pool of its own blood.

"that vas a mountain lion. they are also called catamounts, cougars, panthers, and also simply just cats. they have a horrible scream. but usually they keep avay from volves."
the path was pleasant. "they understand that ve have a greater power in our numbers. for vone to be so close means that it has been hungry a long vhile."
he wondered if it was the harbinger of the winter to come.

It was a monster of many names. Druid committed them all to memory, even as Mahler explained that they rarely confronted wolves. This one must’ve been desperately hungry, he said.

They don’t live in packs? she guessed, quite curious at this notion. As a pack animal herself, she had a hard time conceptualizing any other sort of existence. Didn’t most creatures live in groups? Birds lived in flocks; deer lived in herds; and so on and so forth.

With that fact presumably confirmed, Druid found herself feeling a little sorry for the beast. She kept that thought to herself, however, trying to put the whole thing in the back of her mind as she focused on following the Graf to see this strange skin he kept in The Pharmacy.

the skin itself would turn out to be naked on all edges with a patch of mangy fur in the middle. mahler had ascertained that it had not belonged to wolf nor fox nor coyote. it carried a heavy musk but had become desiccated by the crumbled ground in which he had found it.
the pelt was not large, just big enough to fit both druid's forepaws if she so chose. "they travel alone," he went on in regard to the cat. "they are only in pairs long enough for the female to become a mother. she raises her kittens alone. this is the vay she prefers it."

She inspected the skin, though Druid couldn’t glean anything useful from its appearance or odor. Her mind remained on the large cat as Mahler spoke of its solitary habits. They were strange to her, though she realized it was a likely a good thing for the wolves. If cougars were to combine forces, they would be indomitable, a thought which sent a shudder down her spine.

I didn’t know there were bigger predators out there, Druid admitted to the Graf. Are there others? she wondered with some trepidation. She knew of several smaller predators but she hadn’t realized…

Suddenly, a memory tickled at her. Heda told me about sharks. But she said they live in the water… Druid’s lips pursed as she recollected their merry conversation. At the time, she hadn’t been able to properly conceptualize a creature capable of eating wolves, despite her sister’s dire words.

But with the colossal cat still fresh in her memory, Druid swallowed thickly as she realized wolves were not necessarily at the top of the food chain like she had always taken for granted.

mahler nodded. "there are bears. volverines. lynx. bobcat, though that last vone is only terrifying to children." 
mahler, aware that druid was rather put out by these new revelations, moved somewhat closer to the girl. his demeanour was meant to be reassuring. "bears avoid volves. volverines like to follow bears, not us. and lynx vill not show up until the spring."
he did not mention that it felt there had been far too many cat attacks as of late. mahler considered praimfaya. "if you should see vone of these animals, be loud. they understand that vhere vone volf is, many others vill also be."

Her eyes widened a fraction with every predator he named. Mahler went on to say that none of them were particularly prone to bothering wolves, though Druid still found the breath a little shaky in her throat as she processed these previously unknown dangers.

He advised her to make noise, should she cross paths with any of these numerous beasts. Druid swallowed and nodded. The land and wolves of Rivenwood could protect her and, for the moment at least, her fear snuffed out any further desire to roam.

Pressing closer to the Graf, the day’s harrowing experiences caught up to Druid and she suddenly felt exhausted. She tucked her legs beneath herself and tried to push thoughts of cougars and other monsters from her mind, lest they follow her into her dreams.

sensing the shift in druid's energy, mahler chuffed. "perhaps i take you to your mother, ja?" he felt that sequoia's maternal love might provide the girl some inner soothing that he himself could not give.
but he would take her there, and in the journey, mahler might seek to regale her with some foolish story or another.