The Heartwood Fear's got a hold on me

idek

The night was long and the sun was unwilling to rise in the early mist of dawn. The chilling air reminded Tuwawi that winter wasn't far off. She had spent each past season with a pack to provide for, and so the thought of spending one alone was daunting. She had not been able to convince Scimitar of her false benevolence - no story could be conjured to explain the cold metal around her neck - and so she did not linger long in the East. Only a fleeting visit to her old den in Swiftcurrent creek was all the red ember permitted herself. 

With an apathetic waltz, she meandered across the plains to the deep forest to find shelter from the howling autumn winds. Her stomach rumbled hungrily. Food was the only thing that ever seemed to be on her mind... and she could never manage to get enough of it.

so.. uh... hi...

after caiaphas had departed vlad and rat's company, she had been struck by the urge to stretch her legs on damp soil and treeline, rather than sand and cavern.  night had been quick descend and morning a long time coming -- as thick rifts of mist rose off the dark earth the sea-witch flitted between the fog in the subtle manner of a ghoul.

it had been a while since caiaphas had last visited the heartwood, though she couldn't say many good things had come to her in this territory range. and true to form, it seemed her spectacular lack of luck was to continue, for there was a distinct scent in the air that caiaphas could not shake.

the sylph froze in frame, though every hair on her body rose. red -- her nemesis -- caiaphas crawled through the bramble until the scent gave way to a corporeal form. but there was something on the wolf's neck that caused caiaphas to pause and reconsider a blitzkrieg style rendezvous. rather than offer an introduction, the wraith stood there, her hateful eyes burning deep within her black skull like some primeval and unconstrained forge fire.

:o

The gaunt she-wolf prowled without any sign of prey. Even the smallest vole would have sufficed. Unfortunately, some fresh scat alluded that a fox had supped here recently. With a frustrated huff Tuwawi turned to travel deeper into the woods. Perhaps she could unearth a mouse or, better yet, a hare. However,  faint rustling in the underbrush caught the ember's attention before she could move on. One ear orbited, followed by a steely gaze... something was watching. In the distance two glowering orange eyes turned green as they reflected back... and the snipey, darkened head of a familiar witch was rimmed in blue light. 

Rage electrified her nerves anew - an icy hotness numbing the present and refreshing the past. Caiaphas. The sea litch who had planted the lie of Stavanger's treachery, only to have committed the crime herself. She had considered her ilk stronger than Duskfire's forces, but they had been scattered like roaches. Even now, though Tuwawi was weak from hunger, she felt empowered by the memory of felling the siren's silver kin... his tepid blood still salty on her palate. 

Black, tattered lips furled viciously across her fangs as her wild red mane stood on end. The collar's touch stung like a fresh burn, reminding its bearer of her grief. She wanted nothing more than to squeeze the life from the wretch's withered heart; ire like a decapitated hydra - doubling with every offense. With a burst of speed Tuwawi haphazardly plowed from the glen towards the bramble in a pointed attack, believing she possessed the strength to utterly crush the urchin once and for all.

gosh your writing
so pretty
i have missed it

the red savage turned, having taken note of caiaphas' presence. caiaphas steeled herself then, bracing for an attack -- she could feel the atmosphere between the two of them charged with tangible loathing. raw was the energy that roared between them, crackling with all the might of some white-blazed inferno.

and like a gout of flame, the red woman surled up all her hateful might and threw it down upon the feral siren. there was a conviction to her step that fueled well her onslaught, and caiaphas was quick to act before time and temper eeked her scrawny frame from existence.

she had no intentions of crossing fangs with the she-wolf -- not today -- and as the frenzied beast bore down upon her caiaphas issued a shrill cackle and recoiled, feinting with her chest low to the ground before driving her body to the side in deflection. she had waited too long to exact her revenge on the crimson matron - she was not about to cut loose the tethers of her delicate scheme and allow her blitheful hate to overcome her. not now -- not today.

nimble as she was, she could not keep the wolf at bay forever. yet she could try until exhaustion or defeat sundered her.

It is mutual! :D

Feral aggression was all that propelled the red woman towards her prey. No thought or plan dare eek into her blind madness by that point, nettled by the siren's dogged cackle. She was simply a venomous and hungry adder, striking out at the rat who slipped from her grasp with ease. It was one of the many differences between them - Tuwawi too stubborn and irate to craft a better scheme. Though her teeth gnashed angrily and her chest rattled with howls, only a tuft of pale hair [perhaps more if the witch stumbled] became ensnared betwixt her seeking fangs. Suddenly, blood swelled between her ears as her head became light. A dizzy spell overcame the ember as she staggered to a halt, energy suddenly spent. No matter her desires, the chase could not continue. Hot vapor snaked around her tattered maw, collar rubbing uncomfortably against the back of her nape. When was the last time she had eaten? She had no food and no pack - no army to assist stringing up the domino-ed mutt. Vindictive, silver eyes watched Caiaphas as she ran, and Tuwawi couldn't help but feel the familiar sentiment of sand slipping through her digits.

caiaphas was lucky tuwawi's reserved were quickly depleted -- for too close was the sting of tooth as it grazed her flank and sheared from her pelt tendrils of matted silver fur. she kept at a canter until she heard the wolf stop completely -- unwilling to fall for any sort of trick, she circled the flame-burnished female with a wide berth.

she hadn't expected the savage woman to give up so quickly, but then again, she was not exactly uniquely equipped to know of how deep tuwawi's exhaustion crept. perhaps it was a feint -- a ploy -- caiaphas reeled back for a moment with the tourmaline yellow of her eyes clouded by suspicion.

"why stop?" the witch jeered, a mulish ear pulled back in speculation. "what's wrong?"

For a brief moment Tuwawi though her quarry had gone completely, the dark trunks of pine obscuring Caiaphas' silver frame from sight. Yet, the sound of crackling footfalls upon old leaves meant that the sea-siren lurked just beyond reach. Unfazed by her assailant's initial charge, the wretch shadowed her red adversary, who seethed and watched for new opportunity. 

However, black spots began to swim in Tuwawi's peripheral just as Caiaphas' grating words fished for a rise in the firebrand. Truly, she couldn't have known the witch's true suspicion, already believing her to be a weaver of deceit. She laid down on her belly like a lioness, tongue snaking from between her jagged teeth. "Just thinking how I killed your boy," she rasped, wanting to hurt  the siren in any way... or goad her closer to be maimed and minced.

tuwawi's parted words struck like a blow through reamed intestines; lancing and hot -- extracting from the wretch a scarcely stifled moan. kevlyn. his memory seared through her mind with the intensity of a firebrand, and the loss thundered through her gut like some primordial disaster.

but sorrow was quickly replaced with ire, and ire with the impulse to hurt, to damage -- to maim. but caiaphas was not a physical creature -- her talents sat elsewhere. "quid pro quo, bitch." the wretch nearly shrieked, her muzzle heated and words hot against a hoarse throat. "think larus enjoys keeping him company?"

it was not true, this insinuation -- yet caiaphas hope tuwawi believed it. she had housed larus alongside kevlyn, and viewed the golden-faced child as a second son. yet the feral woman before her need not know that or the arrow that panged in her heart for knowing both her sons were long gone from this tumultuous earth.

A crooked smile began to snake up her disfigured maw when Tuwawi recognized the ugly change in the wretch's tone. Every sputter and shriek empowered the ember twofold, knowing the familiar agony her words provoked. Yet, the ghoul's retort was surprisingly weak. Why? Tuwawi became confused. Slowly, it dawned on her. Larus had twice died in his mother's heart. Though there had been some small sliver of hope that her child survived, the ember had faced the reality that her son had left this land, and probably this earth, some time ago. At least he was no longer hostage of the Sound. Any death was better. 

The sudden feeling of autonomy made her giggle, which quickly snowballed into raucous laughter. Tuwawi smacked the ground with a slim paw, feeling her sides begin to split. The siren had no ammunition by which to hurt her. "You have nothing!" she roared, the phrase's double entendre reeling her into a new wave of fits.

it was rare caiaphas felt bested, and the unfamiliar emotion snaked through her like some ivy's strangehold roots -- firm and uncompromising. caiaphas' expression darkened and a hateful fire lingered in the recessed slits of her incensed gaze. tuwawi's laughter further unsettled her feeling of superiority and she was left struggling to find some sort of verbal sword to sink deep in the haughty woman's gurgling chest.

"neither do you. no family -- no food." caiaphas' muzzle crinkled and a sneer lingered stark and unforgiving on her countenance. "no one will remember you -- or miss you when you are gone." her hackles raised as she slowly regained her composure despite her nemesis' cajoling peals of laughter. as much as caiaphas wanted to kill the woman now while she was down, it was not her plan -- and not tuwawi's day to perish. "larus didn't even love you." if nothing else, caiaphas had secured for herself the love of a child not even the mother could obtain. she stepped forward, eyeing the wolf and the leather that pried around her neck. someday perhaps she would strangle her with it. "he took on the name tryphon, and saw the light of the sirens. he became ankyrian."

The red beasts's laughter subsided to a hiccup as the wraith's burnt visage continued to leer. Though her enemy's strident tone dropped with each insult, Tuwawi's cheshire expression remained. Freedom from Cahaiphas' web felt liberating, but her desire to ruin the witch persisted. To the ember, there was no more truth in her nefarious words; even if the last bit was an actual fact. Perhaps, just then, Caiaphas witnessed the creation of a singular, corporal being. With little to tie her to this earth - as the waif made certain to state - she could take up the relentless pursuit of the last siren. Death was no object. Perhaps she wished for it.

When the wretch took a step closer Tuwawi's weight shifted. She stood, feeling her head clear as her energy temporarily returned, and growled... voice thick and throaty as every syllable bubbled with contempt. "It is inconsequential," she said, dismissing Caiaphas' words. Even if those things had mattered [which at this point, was questionable], they held no bearing upon the firebrand. "I know your Sound. I'll come for you," she threatened pointedly and braced herself to strike again.

as the firebrand rose and leered in her direction caiaphas nearly cackled nervously, swinging back in a wide arc to avoid what she knew were very lethal teeth. if tuwawi's energy was restored she wanted no part in the exacting of it -- and with obvious mistrust in her gaze she circled the hellish woman slowly, unwilling to stay still lest the red banshee launch some sort of assault.

but tuwawi's next threat was not met with a chuckle or a sneer. caiaphas turned her needled nose, gazing headlong at her crimson-clad nemesis. she relished the idea of facing tuwawi on ankyrian soil -- perhaps she could lure the she-wolf into the grotto, into her shaded labyrinth, and disorient the female enough that she would die a slow and wasted death lost in the grotto's interminable caverns. it was time caiaphas did a little redecorating.

pivoting to a new direction, caiaphas offered a slimy smile. "you won't make it.. but if you do, i promise to show you where larus' skeleton lies." a lie -- another trick -- one that would hopefully goad the female into visiting the strand. "we'll see..."

with an unkind sneer the siren turned back home, bidding to leave the wretched woman with nothing but her own spite to keep her company.

Tuwawi's teeth clicked together, unsated, when the two-toned half breed skittered away. Another opportunity thwarted. The red queen's tongue lashed out, swiping her jowls hungrily as Caiaphas spat one last remark before turning towards the sea. A rumbling snarl was the Sveijarn's only parting response, left alone to stew amidst the rising dawn. Her stomach churned, voracious appetite demanding to be fed, but her mind was focused on the distant coastline. After a few moments she, too, started for the ocean -- following Caiaphas' trail.