Felltree Marsh black bridge

Kanuk had been tasked by her sivullik to get a lay of the land outside of the rise. Along the way she was tempted by the scent of game, which so far had been limited.

This sojourn led her through marshland. Here she picked her way along the hidden solid portions of earth. Some steps had her sinking ankle- or shoulder- deep in freezing mud.

After hoisting herself free for the umpteenth time, Kanuk paused to survey the path her body had worn across the mud and snow, and grimaced.

@Alduin

The young hellhound wanders from his brothers side for a few hours. Wanting some alone time to just think. Which is never good for him because Banesteppe is always right there to say something smart. He ignores the entity most of the time, but more recently he’s found himself just dealing with him. Even occasionally talking back which earns him a steady pat on the head and smart remark. Which only pisses him off.

Either way, he keeps moving, even when he finds himself in a swamp where his heavy weight is hardly supported by the ground at all it seems. The mud sticks to his paws and the streams and ponds are dark and cold. A dark and dreary place, all except for the beautiful weeping willows that spot the marsh occasionally.

Only he’s stopping in his tracks when he sees a pale furred wolf ahead. His head was already hung low as he moved, but he raises it up a pinch more. Sniffing the air, he tries to catch her scent on the wind but fails. The stink of mud is overpowering and he must be upwind. He curious though, so he moves forwards languidly. Surely she’d spot him, for he only truly blends into the backdrop at night.

He would chuff at her to signal his presence, feral eyes looking her up and down as he stops a comfortable distance away. His dark tongue rasps over his chops as he looks to make direct eye contact with her.

“Looking for something?” He asks lowly, his tone drab and emotionless — his question coming out more as a statement.

Whatever trail she had been following was gone. She knew not to be hung up on this fact. This was terrain she did not know well and besides that, Kanuk doubts she will find anything worth reporting to her superiors.

That is until she notices a presence. As she looks around she spots the wolf. He looks large even compared to the beasts of Tartok; swarthy for the most part, broken up by streaks of ice.

She is on her guard. I am hunting. There is no reason to give him details.

Oh she notices him alright, fixing her wary gaze to him quickly and never letting him out of her sights. He would slowly move closer and sniff the air, obviously trying to get her scent. Which this time, he’s able to. He connects a few different scents on her pelt, instantly thinking she could be from a pack. Whilst Alduin would only have the scent of his brother on him.

His heart jumps with excitement though, perhaps he could get her to fight him. So he offers his hand in battle.

“Perhaps you’d like to fight something that will give you a challenge, huntress.” He hums easily. Though his face is emotionless, his eyes hold a feral playfulness to them. “Like me.”

Too late she discovers his intent. Between the mire and the man approaching her, Kanuk is trapped and must think quickly.

She is bristling as he draws closer. The way his weighted steps sink makes her think she has some advantage if he seeks to strike for her. A battle, here, is unwise.

You have enough meat on those bones for a month of easy dinners. I am not yet so desperate for it. He would taste like bear, she reasons.

As she speaks Kanuk reaches for a root suspended over the muck and clambors for it slyly, trying to remain out of reach. He looks strong, like Prophet - perhaps with similar weaknesses.

She seems like she doesn’t want to partake. He wouldn’t know why? What’s a friendly spar anyhow? So he hums low in his throat when she backs away. 

You have enough meat on those bones for a month of easy dinners. I am not yet so desperate for it.

He huffs out a breath through his nose, one that could be considered a laugh. “Why not?” He asks then, “you don’t like friendly spars?” 

Only when he takes another step, his paw comes out caked in mud. It would be a rough battle here, but Alduin’s always down to try something new. Plus his confidence knows no bounds.

“You can make the first hit.” He offers then, wondering if she really thinks he’s going to try and kill her right now. 

To him it’s just a game, he doesn’t plan on killing her, but that will depend on how hard she fights. He might just go easy on her too.

When he speaks again he is confident beyond measure. He does not back down from the challenge and appears to beg, or nearly so, for the woman's attention. He reminds her of the anneriwok of her hunting party.

She does not draw her eye from him. Watchful from her new perch in the manner of a jungle cat. I fight when I am commanded. It is a simple way of life, following orders. It is a life she imagines this boy does not understand, given how forward he is, unhindered.

Seeing that he would not back down - and that their presence together would have spooked all other life from the mire - there was little choice left. Kanuk descends to a patch of solid earth.

Or when I am threatened. Her body low, snaking; she follows the rigid structures of roots where possible to smooth her path, and moves in an orbit around where he is rooted.

Roll thread here! He rolled a 1 LMAO

So he’d have to goad her into a fight then. This is even more fun. And if she only fight when she is commanded or threatened, then it’s clear how this will turn out. 

She moves away though, slinking low to the ground and onto even ground. His eyes have become much more primal in this short span of time. Their bloody depths eyes her movements like he’s resisting the urge to chase. And he definitely is. Rather, he waits for her to get to stable land and he’s heading right after her. Uncaring if his legs are caked in mud, he trots uncaring my through it before sizing her up once more.

“Then consider this a threat.” He rumbles low in his throat. Before snapping in her direction in a goading way.

It’s then he’s sprinting towards her from the mud, claws digging in as he jumps from the slippery land and to much more trustworthy ground. He would only look to bump her, maybe just barely slip past her. He’s in a playful mood today and her seriousness makes him even more excited to play.

He tries to get a rise out of her. Few can; besides, he is seeking an opening and charges soon after. It is not the time for conversation but for action.

He lunges in to a run and Kanuk is already rounding beyond him. His snap meets air, and she remains elusive.

As he adjusts to the irregular terrain Kanuk takes the opportunity to lash with her teeth, grabbing and cutting, warmed swiftly by blood spilling across her tongue - but she knows not to linger and is away again.

Like with Prophet, she makes this one work to catch her. The woman does not intend to be taken down by some stranger on the road.

Rolled a 5 for this post.

Alduin’s in the zone now and it seems she is too, for the stranger is lunging at him with renewed, but cautious, vigor. She’s hitting him full on, almost hard enough to knock him over, but he widens his stance to prevent such a significant downfall.

When he feels her teeth dig into the skin of his nape he’s growling out savagely. He feels the tear of his skin and even the tug when she pulls out and dances away. She’s smart, she knows not to linger or he’ll get a good bite on her too. Either way, he still plans on getting his pound of flesh. So he lounges for her this time too, bravely snapping fangs at her legs. She’s quick he has to find a way to make her slower and going for the legs is the perfect opportunity.

I rolled a 3 for this post.

Kanuk felt the blood roll across her tongue and did not spit it out. It marked her jaw, stained the white of her throat with streaks of pink. No time; he snapped after her and went for her legs.

She kept herself low and moved them with a churn, but was not quick enough. Something snared an ankle - a clack of teeth trying to beartrap around the joint.

The woman deftly caught upon some roots and pulled free, though was not unscathed, the injury anointing the roots with red. A snap of her own teeth to warn the boy back - and she spun against the mud, veering for another direction.

Rolled a 9 for this post.

With his head in the game, Alduin drives forth like a bat out of hell. Once he starts, it’s likely he won’t stop. Even as he drives her closer to a tree with his incessant snapping at her limbs. He gets her a few times, but it seems to do little to slow her. Her prowess in battle is impressive and it lights a fire in his belly to continue it.

Except, he’s not playing anymore.

Especially when she finds herself cornered by the tree and snaps teeth at his face dangerously— a distraction to drive him back. Her teeth slice into his muzzle, adding another scar to his young visage as blood pours from it. His upper lip has been split and he lumbers closer to her while flicking out a deep, purple tongue to lap up his own blood and test the damage she dealt.

The hellhound growls low in his throat and a second later his lips are pulling back over bloodied teeth to go after her once more. Kicking up dirt as he goes, he jukes left but ultimately ends up moving to the right. Where he would try his damndest to snatch up her scruff in his jaws. 

He wants to see that pretty, silver fur turn red.

So he clench and unclench his jaws around her fur and skin, adding more puncture wounds by doing so (a trick his father taught him). He would attempt to shake ge in his grasp, but he knows lingering near her this long would result in her own attack hitting him easily. No matter though, what’s another wound?

Rolled a 6 myself.

Chased by the incessant teeth, forced back back back until something else caught her: roots, mud, mire weeds; clotheslined across the back of her head by a low branch.

That, coupled with the way the wolf sawed at her with crocodile teeth, put Kanuk in a bigger bind than she saw coming. The gnashing of fangs would spill more blood and stain her a deep purple crimson across the nape - until she could push through the pain and rip free.

A bolt of silver-furred flesh hanging limp from the boy's grinning maw. Kanuk was a dizzy, frenzied mess as she threw herself back, and around, clipping at his limbs desperately.

He would get his pound of flesh when she tears away from him unexpectedly. Only succeeding to injure her more as a piece of her stays clenched in his unforgiving jaws. He’d make a show of spitting it out, devilish eyes never leaving her retreating form. 

“Bet you wished you accepted that friendly spar now, huh?” He growls out to her, lapping the blood from his maw.

Only she gets him right back. Maybe he shouldn’t run his mouth so much when he fights because he could’ve rolled with her punches. Instead she’d bouncing around to his left, slicing at his limbs with a ferocity known to only those who are fighting for their life. 

At this point, she is.

The young hellhound would growl and exhale sharp breaths as she expertly bites at his legs all the while dodging his snapping jaws. Nicking him fairly well on his hind leg forced him to limp, hardly wanting to put weight on it for it shoots lighting up his joints and spine.

Instead, he’d twist around once more in her ever changing direction. He goes for her face this time, not so much as aiming for anything specific, but looking to grab whatever part of her he can.

You rolled a 7 and I rolled a 1 so rip Kanuk!

The pure malevolence in the boy put Kanuk at too great a risk now. Already seeping from a deep wound and struggling against the damp conditions of the mire, she was trapped, regardless of how quick her body could be - and no matter how much she endured, she knew her limits.

Soon she would be struggling to remain awake. Her nape, missing a strip, bled openly and profusely. The pain of the smaller attacks became muted by adrenaline but nothing could combat this new threat: the simple, dire struggle of staying conscious.

Her snaps were weaker. She could not make a proper advance or aim her strikes; only meeting air, only tasting blood and dirt, feeling the panic grip her throat. The boy a haze of black and red.

I hope it’s okay with me referencing her blacking out :) if not please feel free to tell me and I’ll edit it. <3

When Alduin had twisted back to meet her, she meets him with wobbly legs and hazy eyes. Those red wine orbs of his stare into her own without a spec of emotion — well none but a gloried satisfaction. They’re psychotic at its lowest and sociopathic at its finest. Her teeth even try to snap back at him, but they do little but pinch and scratch.

He would move towards her, hardly using any effort, he knocks her to the ground with a shove of a massive head. Towering over her, he feels the power flow right through him. Especially as he raps a tongue over his bloodied face, the taste that blooms on his tastebuds has him humming low in his throat.

He jostles her body with a heavy paw at her shoulder, contemplating killing her while he’s at it, but ultimately decides to leave it up to fate and luck. He would cover up his scent, though she’d still remember his looks, anyone who finds her wouldn’t recognize his scent.

So he’d snatch her up by the scruff and drag her back to the muddied water. Being sure not to drown her, he would dirty and soil her pretty white pelt with the brown water of the marsh. Which surely wouldn’t do any good to neither of their wounds. Leaving her there, but resting her head on a rock out of reach of the water, the young hellhound drops himself into the muddy water next. Rolling onto his back and coating his body in it. The perfect scent reducer. 

Once he stands, he looks over to her unconscious body. No pity or forgiveness in his demonic gaze. It’s freezing, so hopefully someone gets to her quick or the weather would be her downfall. He is kind enough to drag her from the freezing pools of mud and drop her beneath a nearby tree. 

With that, he’d be off. Meandering back to @Tulok covered in blood and mud, sporting new wounds of a glorious victory.