Bearclaw Valley a seminar about whether or not deer feel pain or are just sad

things were happening too fast for val to get a sensible account of them; already, indra was a red blur in his vision. thank god, he breathed, recoiling as stryx barreled down the passage way and positioned herself between him and arielle.

val's whirling thoughts slowed as horror crept to his senses. for a brief second he was reminded of how he and stryx had faced the one-eyed demoness at rivenwood together -- but as he looked upon stryx's fixed gaze, he understood.

he was not meant to stand alongside her today.

val's heart broke to witness such ugly truth. thank you, val mouthed to the healer. in his peripherals he saw arielle's form, whose shadow assumed the hideous hump of a bear as it approached them. never before had he looked upon arielle in such fear.

and then he did what he had done his entire life and should have never stopped doing: val turned on his heels and bolted after the girl.

There was a moment of clarity that silenced doubts as well as fears, when Stryx caught Val's eye; as he bolted away to freedom Stryx barely had time to take another breath, as Arielle launched towards her.

The next sensation was like a focused punch to the woman's throat. The haphazard beat of feet stumbling. The hot, slick, slow burn sensation of teeth sinking through precious veins.

Nearly four hundred pounds of pressure per square inch in that bite. A voice within Stryx's head mechanically recites.

Five minutes, tops. She wondered if fighting back now would matter at all.

She had to stay standing long enough for Val to make it out, at least. Maybe he would find the girl.

Four minutes.

Ahr-- Stryx choked, watching Arielle, wanting to plead with her. Bright red globs of blood coated the back of her throat. A spray clicked across her tongue.

Three minutes. The rush of her own pulse in her ears. Arielle's grip feels tight. Stryx can't feel much beyond those teeth in her neck and even that sensation is dying. Her legs give out.

Two minutes. No amount of pressure can stop the blood that seeps around the wound. A garish red blot stains the gray of Stryx's neck fur. She looks dirty - haggard.

As the old woman feels the last tendrils of consciousness drawing away, she is slowly swallowed by the darkness of the cave.

Was it enough? Thinks the physician, as her last breath plumes an aspiration of red.

After all the betrayal and hurt, it was satisfying to finally be able to exact some kind of retribution on the traitors. Her teeth tore into flesh and muscle, her mouth filled with blood before it dripped down her cheeks and neck; she had hit the right spot.

Even when she heard the gargled plea, the bruin-heart refused to release the traitor. For slow minutes, the two healers were locked that way; life fading from one set of eyes while fury rose in the other. For that time, she thought only of ending this life.

When Stryx collapsed, she ripped open her wound further. Blood and drool dripped from Arielle's jaws as she stood over the woman who had betrayed Ursus. The wound bled more, pooling below the dying healer until finally she drew her last breath. It was only then that the Bruin-heart looked up to where Val and Indra had been only to find them both gone. She howled her rage into the sky, hoping it would reach them wherever they were; it promised revenge.

Her thoughts quickly switched to her unconscious husband. There was nothing more she could do here, and she needed to better assess his injuries. When he woke, she would have to tell him of her failure, but she pushed that from her thoughts for now. 

She threw herself down beside Aves when she reached him and checked for signs of life again. She had left him here, and it was all for nothing—but she couldn't focus on that right now. She licked the bruin-jaw's face, moving up to his head wound to clean the dried blood. It had bled a lot at first but now the bleeding seemed to have stopped. Still she needed to clean his wound and treat it for infection. She wanted him in mosskeep, not down in this damned rift. But she couldn't move him alone. She had no idea who was even left. Her only choice was to stay with Aves until he woke up and could help get himself out of here. 

So she would wait and then she would escort him to her medicine den. She would figure out the rest after.

last for val. you guys have been amazing, i will miss ursus-fam <3

he should have looked back, but he did not.

indra had already run. that was all that mattered now. he had seen it in stryx's eyes when she had passed him in the tunnel. run, save the girl.

save yourself.

behind him came the unmistakable sounds of flesh ripping and blood arcing up into the darkness. val felt his feet go faster.

indra was ahead of him, indra was running -- all that mattered now was keeping her safe.