The Plateau loomed in the distance, like a dark shadow lining the light of the fading sun. It had been six days since she'd left the Caldera, and though she'd had no idea where she was going at the time, she had ended up there. Sitting at the edge of Ravensblood Forest, gazing out at her former home.
If she'd been asked to describe then what she was feeling, Finley would never have found the words. A bizarre mix of longing, heartache, and anger was throttling her heart, bashing it up against the walls of her rib cage and trying to shove it forcible out through her chest. Thoughts, unbidden, came to her as she stared, but she cast her gaze away again in frustration. She didn't want them there. She didn't want to be on this road. This was the road that ended in pain and heartbreak. Nothing good had ever come of this road for the Blackthorn, and she'd rather turn tail and run from these lands altogether than take a single step upon that path again.
Little did she know, she was already halfway there. Which actually meant that it was about time to start backtracking.
Fin turned abruptly and hastened deeper within Ravensblood. Her mind was alight with the one emotion of those she was feeling that she was most comfortable with--anger. Anger was safe. Anger was a fire that burned away all that came near it. She turned and looked off between the tree trunks, setting her senses to work until finally, after a couple of hours, she caught scent of something that promised to be a true distraction. Somewhere nearby there was a den, and within it... a bear cub and its mother. The fire set ablaze in her eyes again, and she soon was plunging forth into the trees with renewed vigor, for what was more fun and distracting than harrassing a bear cub in front of its angry, violent mother?
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with dante's blessing given, the pair only had to wait until nature moved upon the willow. attuned as he already was to her, lasher knew he would sense when the moment came. it was with a mixture of anticipation and affection that he greeted her each morning; he would of course allow her to choose the moment she sought him out. he was not a forceful creature; she was not his mate. taltos recognized that he could not expect from her what a man requested from his wife, and nor would he have done such even if he and the healer had been betrothed to one another.
he did wonder how peregrine would take the news — he would not attend the caldera's borders simply to gloat against his former lover. the carrying of the news would belong to blue willow, and lasher knew that she would seek out the man she called brother in time, but would she scout his track before or after the scent of growing whelps mingled with her own?
his reverie was shattered at the sound of a bear's explosive growl — the delta had been wandering in the forest aptly named for ravens, for several murders hung in gargoyle abandon among the jutting branches.
finley!
he shouted, paws churning the loam as his body jerked into a fearful sprint; he had caught sight of her spritely form between the tree-boles, lunging carelessly toward where the scent of a bear hung rank and threatening in the still air.
6
Fin dodges 4 or less
Finley had tangled with bears before. She knew how they moved, how they thought and how they reacted. She knew what the lines were, where they were, and exactly how to avoid crossing them. And it was because of her knowledge that she knew exactly how dangerous and stupid it was that she was charging towards the infuriated mother as though she were running down a rabbit.
The bear reared up onto its hind legs as Fin closed in, snarling angrily as it prepared to try and take her head off. The silver mockingbird darted forward to snap at its legs, only skidding to a stop a few yards away as she heard her name suddenly being cried out somewhere behind her. She spun in her tracks, her confused eyes darting between the trees until they landed upon a very familiar yet unexpected face.
"Lasher?" she breathed heavily into the crisp night air as he rushed forward, completely unaware that the bear too was coming towards her. The heavy steps finally snatched her attention again seconds later, and Fin spun just in time to see a flash of claws as it swung a heavy paw at her head.
Fin moved, but not quickly enough. The bear's paw swept down upon her, and though she darted out of the way of the brunt of the attack, she still cried out in pain as its claws sliced across her shoulder and she felt her body collide forcibly with the ground. The scent of blood suddenly filled her nostrils, causing panic to rise in her gullet. She kept it forcefully at bay as a wave of rage washed over her, bidden by sheer determination to not lose her head. She clambered to all four paws as the bear bore down upon her, scrambling out of its reach with a burst of speed that swept her directly towards Lasher, nothing in her mind but the dire and desperate need to shove him in the other direction so that they together could run and save their lives.
This wasn't a game anymore, not with a dear friend playing it too. Many of her antics, she didn't want to do alone. But this... This was something she knew that she had to do alone because this was something that truly and very likely would be one of the last she ever did.
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the bear lunged from the shadows; finley had paused in uncertainty at his call; and bile rose hot in his throat as the massive paw lashed at her. he blinked, the gesture lengthened by a moment — he did not want to hear her scream, nor see her lifeless body vaulting doll-like through the cold air. but neither of these things happened; lasher stiffened, eyes widening as finley's foolish form darted toward him.
the man stumbled as she careened against his body; he wanted to reach for her shoulder, sink his teeth into her flesh and shake her until the blood flowed and she was assured in agony of her stupidity. gathering himself, lasher flattened himself as the avalanche of the bear's thundered footsteps filled his ears and the giant maul of a paw wrenched out once more.
the man snapped half-heartedly toward the formless void formed by the ursine's dark pelt, blended as it was into the night. its musk stung his nostrils; he caught his own tongue between his teeth and winced
finley
and whirled to face where he had last seen his companion, every fibre of his body shrieking at him to flee, to leave her, but taltos could not bring himself to abandon the blackthorn to her grisly fate.
Although she had successfully crashed into Lasher, she had not successfully changed his trajectory, but instead caused both of them to stumble as the bear bore down upon them. Fin spun to see a paw careen towards Lasher and panic pressed white hot against every nerve in her body. Even as he snapped towards the beast, the Blackthorn was spinning to rush to his aid.
The gamma flung herself towards the beasts legs as it turned its attention towards Lasher, diving forward and sinking her teeth into a thick, meaty heel. The bear roared in rage as she dug in her paws and tugged backwards as hard as she could. Its blood stained her teeth as her eyes shot upwards to take in the scene, frantic to see if Lasher had moved to escape. Before she could see a thing though, her stomach turned as pain shot through her jaw with the force of the bear's foot into her muzzle.
Her body went careening backwards as her hold on the bear broke. She skidded across the ground, finally coming to a stop a few feet away. Her head was spinning as she looked back, completely oblivious to the blood in her mouth from the cuts in her lip, or the blood that seeped from the deep gashes upon her shoulder and across her back. Only one thing remained in her mind as she tried desperately to bring her aching body up and forward again--"Lasher! RUN!!"
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blood melted its hot scent into the air, and finley cried his name with a mouth that seemed full of it. lasher stared at her, horrified; his mind came into play a moment later, and he smelled the hot slaver of the bear as it turned toward him. no!
he snarled at the former plateau wolf, lunging to the left, tail revolving wildly to maintain his footing upon the blood-splashed loam.
he feinted again as the bear snarled; taltos intended to draw the ill-tempered ursine away from finley, back toward her cub; he would not see the girl die today, not even if she had meant for the bear to slay her.
his gaze, frenzied with fear and worry, darted toward the redhawk wolf — from where he was he could not assess her body or her strength, and his attention was soon diverted back toward their enemy, whom he sought to cunningly charm with a series of short, sharp barks.
8
At some point in their lives, they might look back on this whole incident and laugh about the fact that they were both so irritated with one another for not abandoning the other, and yet neither would let go themselves. At some point.
Fin snarled in frustration as she dragged herself back up quickly. Lasher was backing away, enticing the bear to follow him away from her. She hesitated for a few seconds before diving mindlessly back into the fray to look upon the scene with calculating eyes. The bear had turned its attention to Lasher, spitting mad and lunging to swipe at him with every opportunity. From her vantage point she could see no end game except him getting cornered and ripped to shreds. They needed to distract it with something other than themselves.
And then, as if on cue, that something emerged from the den with a pathetic squall. Almost instantly, Fin was speeding towards the cub like a bullet, darting past the mother bear who spun to the call of her child, and barrelling into it at full speed. The cub cried out in pain and terror as it went tumbling backwards into the den. Finley nearly fell back with it, but managed to skid to a stop just outside of the den. She turned to see the mother--angrier than ever--charging towards her.
"Now we run!?" Fin barked at Lasher, even as she was already leaping out of the way as the bear's fangs came snapping towards her face. She moved not a moment too soon to miss being caught within those powerful jaws. Like a silver blur, she dashed towards Lasher who--with any luck--would already be turning to flee along with her. And with even a little more, the bear would soon be turning away to care for her injured child.
he avoided the bear's swiping paws only by sheer grace of the glen's gods, and watched in abject horror as finley again threw aside her life and rushed, headlong and bleeding, toward the hapless cub that the bear sought to protect from the twinned threats of the wolves. immediately, the ursine's maternal rage was intensified; she swung her huge shaggy head toward the squeal of her cub and sought finley with an arcing blow.
the caldera female swept toward him, and lasher whirled to run tightly at her side, every muscle tensed against the fall of massive paw that would surely come at any moment. paws gripped the loam and his breath rose into a plume in the cold autumn air, and still he ran alongside finley, unwilling to leave her though with each lunge of their legs they drew out of the bear's enraged reach.
The relief Finley felt over Lasher joining her in their escape was short-lived as the thunder of the bear's pawsteps continued in their tracks. She was a fast beast, but the wolves were faster. The bear behind them made one final lunge at them, but barely was able to scrape the fur upon the tips of their tails. After what seemed like ages, the bear's footsteps faded with one final roar of rage.
How long it was after that the pair ran, Fin could not say. It was long enough for the trees around them to disappear and the grasses of the flatlands to sweep up beneath their bellies. At one point at long last, Finley's endurance ran out and she slowed to a stop and collapsed onto her haunches with her head slung low between her front legs.
It took a while for her to finally catch her breath enough to lift her head, but at long last she looked up to search for Lasher's gaze, concern in her eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked breathlessly, her heart in her throat as she waited for him to respond, desperate for him to reassure her that he had no hidden injuries.
they ran, they ran, until his body shrieked for reprieve and he too sunk down on shaking haunches in the grass. finley's words went unanswered momentarily as lasher drew breath into his lungs, awaiting the moment that his heartbeat stabilized itself. presently, his face knit into a dangerous snarl; a silver rarity that he doubted anyone he knew had seen upon his visage.
what demon has hold of you, finley! that you would rush such a creature so brazenly!
he shouted at the blackthorn wolf, leaping to his paws to regard her with upthrust tail and bristled shoulders. some volume of blood trickled down his face from a torn ear; however, it was his only injury, and thus taltos ignored it, demanding with a low growl finley's immediate attention.
it was desperation that cowered in the recesses of his anger; he would have seen her dead today, he believed, had it not been for his intervention and the will of the gods. why? he demanded with hard gaze, though already his anger had waned.
Fin's concern for her friend was quickly rejected by the ochre male. A snarl twisted across his usually somber face and suddenly venomous words were spitting from between his bared teeth. The gamma sat still in shock for a moment as he barked at her, only to turn into a like expression as he rose and postured dominantly at her.
"I would have been fine if you hadn't distracted me!" Fin growled back at him, her ears pinned to the back of her head as she too rose with hackles raised defensively, "I had everything under control! Do not talk to me like I'm.. Some sort of..." Dizziness swept over the girl quite suddenly, a result of standing too quickly while too much blood still coursed from the wounds across her back. She staggered once, her snarls turning into a pathetic whine as she tried to catch herself upon her injured leg and fell to the ground in a heap.
Her words were lost then, the only communication coming from her turning to the basest of canine utterings as she struggled to keep herself positioned in defense against the show of dominance from the other wolf. The effort made her swoon all the more as the world began to spin before her eyes, which she blinked frantically in an effort to remain conscious.
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finley began to shout back at him, but in the next moment she had collapsed, blood staining the ground. lasher found himself at her side in a short measure of time; he pressed his nose against her throat, beneath her nostrils, to see that she breathed, then passed his gaze to her spine to gauge the wounds there.
she would need blue willow, and they were closer to the plateau than the caldera, in his opinion; he began to cleanse her wounds, pausing between laps of his tongue to speak into finley's ear: you will come home with me and be tended there. we must walk when you are able.
unsure if the blackthorn had heard him, taltos at length lay down alongside her and curled his body tightly 'round her own, intending to add the heat of his body to that which had been displaced with her blood. stubborn, adorable little fool,
he chided in a mutter, his expression rife with worry.
Fin snuggled closer to Lasher when he circled himself around her, shivering. It took a while before she felt warm again, and even longer still before she opened her eyes to blink blearily up at the man's face. With a soft whine, she let him know she was ready to struggle her way back to the Plateau. It was a long and painful journey, but as Finley finally collapsed outside of the healer's den, she made a mental note to remember to let Lasher know that she would never have made it without just, just before finally allowing herself to fall unconscious.