Felltree Marsh red duck

star eater returned to the river. gjalla and blackfell attended there also. in any other time, the lanzadoii man might have been grateful for their guarding of her. now, he did not know.

veksar had gone.

the chieftain's suspicions took on a glittering insanity, one he kept to himself. he needed a woman, sun eater decided, needed some faceless pleasure that would clear his mind and sharpen him again. but what man was he if he could not control himself without?

he roamed, not hunting, only long-striding for the sake of testing his muscles against the deep snow. there was anger in him, and beneath that there existed fear.

no ragrets

The sea was near, the crashing of waves just audible if Yura strained her ears enough. Excitement bubbled, bittersweet, eager to start afresh where Kukutux could not find her, where she could not see the guilt that plagued her so. 

Traversing this frozen marsh was not the picturesque view she'd had atop the rise, however, and the stargirl traipsed through knee-high snow in search of clearer land. A path nearby already cut - by who? Adjoining her own, the stargirl's nose twitched in surprise to smell the taiga clan here. 

Had Star Eater journeyed this far? No, for the scent was distinctly male and held a musk that she could only describe as unpleasant. She huffed, curiosity getting the better of her as she shadowed him quietly.

!!!!!!!

some force, some god, had thrown down the trees here and scorched the land with water. it had happened long ago, but this earth still held the imprint to his skilled eye, and those trees which had been felled still lay, covered in moss and snow like long emblems of gravestone nights.

someone watched. he felt the pressure of eyes but did not turn. one of his? one who pretended to be his? sun eater feathered his breath over the edge of a collapsed log and sauntered toward a copse of tangled evergreen, sliding into their shadows on invitation — or waiting.

From a distance, rose-gold eyes watched the man as he paused to examine a log. Was he hunting? But Yura could smell no deer, nor any caribou. Almost on instinct did she duck behind a fallen bough, ears pricking to hear the crunch of snow veer off the beaten track. He was coming, surely - certain her cover was blown.

But when no voice came, Yuralria emerged with fur fluffed to trace his steps again, taking extra care this time to stay low and concealed. She imagined him a stag, and she the hunter, slipping into the trees where he had disappeared.

nightfall coat blended to wintertide shadowing. sun eater waited in anticipation, ragged ears cupped as the girl set foot inside the copse. that same pulsation of knowing radiated in the chieftain, as much as it had for the green-eyed captive, and a muscle leapt in his chin.

i have no mother, the first had said. sun eater took up a cunning hunter's crouch, waiting for her to pass by his standing-place.

there was pleasure in hunting, in seeing her own seeking mien; they vied with one another, but surely only he was able to prevail.

Darkness swallowed her, heightened her senses where vision failed amongst the thick foliage. She hunted not for pleasure but for practice, for there was always much to be learned from her own kind. But as she slunk beneath the canopy, the man's scent became tricky to pinpoint, dispersed throughout, and Yuralria became aware of an unsettling feeling; that she was the one being hunted.

A wave of nausea had her steps falter, low-slung crouch breaking into a hasty trot not unlike a fleeing deer. She wanted out, whichever way that may be, but the shadows here all looked the same. It took only a moment of deliberation for Yura to decide on a direction, pressing forward urgently and in such a way that had her miss her quarry's hiding place completely.

something changed in her demeanour. it was the woodland; it was the roundabout marsh. but more than that, it was him, and sun eater sensed this with the canny awareness of one who had come to hunt his own kind.

her flank passed and when the flicker of her tail showed the line of fleeing spine, lanzadoii hunter sprang in near-noiseless power.

claws aimed to drag her down; teeth catching toward her neck as he might a caribou. submission would end pain; fight would bring more.

and that sensation of knowing hummed fierce.

He was quick, but Yura was quicker.

At the sound of rustling, she sped forward with a panicked gasp, feeling the air move behind her in sinister waves. There was no doubt it was him, and though she did not spare a glance behind, the pant of his breath - the stench - was enough to confirm.

It was not enough. She was not enough. Sharp pain erupted in her tail as the grit of his teeth managed to snag the very end, tripping her into stumble, yelping as her chest collided with frozen ground. Confusion coalesced with a deep hurt; why was he doing this? The caribou hunters were friends, right?

Right? "Stop! Please -" Twisting now, turning to capture his gnarled face in a whale-eyed stare of submission. Oh, she'd been a fool to stray!

ah! fear; familiarity; submission. sun eater snapped his teeth in the air above her face but did not otherwise seek to strike again. instead he stood above the girl, glowering down as he tried fiercely to place that face.

the anguish was stark in memory; the fear moreso.

but overwhelming was the anger.

he searched amid her gaze for the root of terror and jerked upon it, teeth glinting beside her eyelid;

"tell who you are," he commanded, lanzadoii accented thickened with demand.

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She flinched at his teeth, certain that he was to take another bite out of her, but none came. Instead her gaze came to rest on the gaping hole where an eye once had been, bewilderment morphing into solemn and hardened defiance. 

This man - of course it was a man! - wanted something from her. Her identity, for reason's unknown to her yet. Yuralria tensed like a coiled spring, willing down the urge to flee as she stared pointedly at his one, mean eye through the cage of his fangs. 

"Tell me what the fuck you want first," she cursed through gritted teeth. If her killsisters had taught her anything, it was that fear had no place in a hunt, even if she was now the prey. No mistakes.

her scent was tangled with one familiar, but the chieftain did not relent. "wrong answer," came harrowing growl.

he tried a gambit, bones tossed to the grimy floor of an abandoned den; "i take captive before you. sister?" he pressed, looking for truth beyond that veneer of defiant gleam.

he wanted a vengeance he had been ready to forget, and not even the threat of those protecting might ward him now. any tool to be used must be brought to hand. he had ghelan. he had not regained his dignity.

His growl shook the forest, vibrating deep within Yura's bones. It was a careful reminder that what she said here had consequences, and though the man had yet to deliver on them, the stargirl could only guess what they might be.

But it was what he said next that chilled her blood. He'd taken someone - a sister? "My sisters are safe at home," she answered truthfully. If not Nantahala, then who? Lightfoot? No, perhaps he was bluffing then.

Beyond his foul breath lay something familiar, however, and Yuralria's heart sank deeply to smell traces of Nutuyikruk upon his pelt. Did Star Eater know? Had she let this happen? Anger curled, unable to hide her betrayal as her voice wavered. "You understand me, yes? What have you done to her?"

he had been guessing, and delight lit the single cruel eye to know he had slung his spear correctly. the moonwords used next confirmed it, and sun eater laughed aloud in open triumph. 

but as its garble died a cold death in the wind, he rounded back upon the girl, gnashing his teeth, corruptive in threat above her. he could not believe it, and his heart raced with the relieved excitement of one who has found his way.

"moondoe. moon woman," sun eater hissed, breath tendriling over her face as he searched for recognition. "they do this to me. but now ice raven has given you to saatsine, and other girl. i take. i show." he bent close. "i want moondoe here. i make her hurt."

he hoped fervently that these names meant something, that she was not only some disposable marriage relation.

What a cruel creature he was to laugh and gloat, to hold the kidnapping of her cousin above Yura's head as if she were an object to flaunt. She wished dearly then to run, to find Nutu and whisk her away to where her killsisters waited.

It was an impossible thought, overshadowed as he breathed the name of her mother. Expression darkening as the threads began to connect, aware now of what he wanted. Moondoe - anaa! - and by proxy, herself. Curse her heritage, and all that it stood for.

Estranged as her relation to Moonglow now was, Yuralria's fierce love for her mother remained unwavering, though she would not give him the satisfaction of knowing this. "I hope she kills you next time, Cen." Last words hissed before the girl twists to strike between the caribou man's hind legs and make a break for it.

cen.

it felt good to be called that again, the rightness of its sound settling around him like a cowl. in fact, it provoked a smile from the man. he had the future of moonglow in his clutches, and he did not intend to let it go. long years of hunting had attuned cen to any change in breath, in motion, in muscle; the girl struck and he only avoided its full blow.

nausea bloomed in his belly, agony radiating at the base of his spine; he gasped and its sound became a loud snarl of anger as he crouched for a moment, surprised at his daze.

a snap, whirling on whatever part of her was still close.

if his aim was true, a beating aimed to follow. not to maim, not to kill; a controlled venting that ensured this piece of hope remained his to possess.

and if he was not, long caribou legs would carry him in frenzied swiftness at her tail.

single eye wild, dilated in the light; sun eater — yikaas — cen dolefully silent as their movements went on.

Hearing his pain, feeling the weight of him lift was all Yura needed to dig her heels into the dirt and run. His teeth were close behind but would find no purchase, snapping on empty air as she darted into the trees.

He'd followed, oh she knew. No glance was needed; the sound of his paws drumming a wild beat that trailed Yura as she burst from the copse and into the marshland. Shame bubbled, wondering briefly what Sivaak would make of her cowardice, yet the girl was aware only of Cen's vengeance. There was no telling what he'd done to her cousin - perhaps she was already dead. Yuralria would not let herself succumb to the same fate 

Narrow chest cut a strong but directionless path through the snow, adrenaline masking what fatigue she felt as her muzzle tipped a breathless beacon for @Sivaak and @Sobeille. It was all she could do to attempt to lose him, to buy herself time. For there was only so long a fawn could outrun a wolf.

popping in bc of tag but lmk if that wasnt the intention <3

yura's howl cut clean through parting winds, sharp with urgency. sobeille stood upright immediately, the furs along her spine alight with chilling energy.

she coursed the woods with ears strained for a second call; an answering howl lodged through her throat and into the raw air.

whatever possessed yura to call in such a manner, sobeille intended to find out -- and the hateful gleam in her gaze communicated a dearth of mercy as she came upon the scene at a bristling gallop.

cameo </3...

sivaak is not near when she hears the call. but she is merely close enough—that if she did feel called to arms, she could possibly make it in time.

but caribou killer does not move. she remains rooted to her place, scanning eyes of blood red past the treeline she is amongst, ears coming to a standstill atop her forged head of snow. stained by blood of a fresh fallen kill, one she wouldn't leave until she'd had her fill.

her hunger ravenous in these coming days.

the moon girl is of no consequence to sivaak. so, she instead turns her gaze to her fresh carcass, and once more begins to gorge herself upon it, tail flicking aimlessly at her hocks.

painful throb where the girl had kicked him ebbed into aching fury. he did not hear the muradoii's voice; he was focused entire upon catching the sunshine wolf.

surging energies fed by rage encompassed the chieftain, narrowing him to fever pitch. he had hunted in a marshland, and the plunge of cold melt did not pause him. 

leaping a fallen alder, sun eater lunged for her tailtip again as his claws found purchase on stronger ground.

a mistake. she had made a mistake. 

cen, she had said; oh, when he caught her, the moon tribes would wail.

Stargirl was quickly tiring. Quickly, quickly - out of her depth in the snow and in the tunnelled vision through which Cen saw her. Fleeing over branches and waterholes, paws catching here and there. Each stumble brought closer a looming fate.

It was as she rounded a frozen pond that an answer reached her. Sobeille. Hope flared, dashed just as swiftly as her hurry to respond was cut short in a haunted shriek by sharp fangs crunching bone-deep on her tail. He'd caught her, more securely this time. 

Yura's fight was ebbing, the flail of her limbs holding none of the sharpness of previous strikes. "Take my eye. I know that's what you want," defeated, she slumped before him a sorry pile of grey fur. But she had seen what Cen had not. A flash of auburn, Yuralria growled low.

she took in the scene with a second’s notice. yura fleeing. a man dogging after with his steps rounded in predatory purpose.

a man!

fury drove her in hot steps after him, a chilling sensation at the gradual realization that she knew this man —

he lept over a log of alder and she was the furious shadow flung after him, the shriek escaping yura’s mouth giving her a burst of adrenaline that blinded her senses, routing a primal imperative within her to maul, to kill, to disintegrate the threat before it did the same to her.

sobeille threw herself at his blackened backside, hard shoulder aimed to sweep his hind end out from under him. if she learned anything from killing caribou it was the artful severance of the interlocking tendons in their limbs.

cut out their heels and they cannot run; sobeille’s teeth sought justice among the thin skin along his hocks.

"i have told you what i want!" sun eater roared, spitting out what fur had been plucked; he was incensed beyond all words that she had not submitted before. venting himself upon the girl would provide only a temporary satiation of bloodthirst, for it was not aimed toward her.

teeth aimed now for a hurting bite, controlled even then. no muscles torn, no bones broken — left behind instead indelible proof of what harm to which she might come if she crossed him again.

pain burgeoned, and it was only his quick spin which spared his hamstrings, but not the flesh there. he bled, red drops arcing as he whirled upon his attacker. the note of familiarity she should have sparked was buried beneath sun eater's ire; he lunged, leaving behind the moon girl.

it was a horrendous gambit with far too much lost, yet —

stuttering in attack;

the scent of muradoii.

sun eater was bound, and halted the current gnash of fangs; "you! where sivaak?"

His spittle arced across her back, a mixture of blood and saliva and anger. Yuralria cried out as he struck again at her nape, a thousand possibilities charging through her mind. 

If Cen knew - if she told him - perhaps his fight would be with her instead. But enough time had passed for Sobeille to get the jump on the beastly man, and Yura quickly scuttled aside with a warning bark. Gods, what had she got them both into?! The caribou man was large, imposing, but with two of them maybe they could incapacitate him long enough-

Readying to support though she was unsure her shaking legs would allow it, Yura halted short of a lunge as Cen's voice boomed. Familiarity, Sivaak? Blood still boiling from the attack, her eyes flicked rapidly between seawolf and snowwolf in rapt confusion.

he hit yura and then he hit her again! sobeille’s mouth parted in a scream that had no sound — driven now into the muscular end of this beast’s haunch.

he whirled upon her with the strength of a demon. his lunge struck her across the face and drove her back, faltering — her eyes snapping briefly to yura as she barked.

stunned and driven by the roaring pound of adrenaline thundering in her skull, sobeille staggered. her lips curled back in a defiant snarl, ignoring the fact he’d spoken a name that in any other circumstance, would ease her into throwing down her metaphorical swords.

but yura had been hurt and sivaak was not here. sivaak — would she care if muradoii blood was spilled on moongirl’s behalf?

be strong, strange girl.

sobeille lifted her chin, meeting the soulless glitter of his hard gaze and finding an alien kinship there. their odds were favorable; she could kill this man and be done with it. bury him there or leave him and move on.

not here.

and then she flung for the man’s blind side, a feint to bring his remaining eye within reach of her snapping jaws.

im sorry sobeille is terrible! i can work with whatever<3

he himself saw no evenness in their match; he was larger, hard-built, and with the masculine demand of vengeful madness upon him. sivaak's tense peace broke that day. he was aghast by her snap for the empty socket; it had not happened before.

up came his shoulder on that side, aiming to strike her throat, her chest; to crush something. her attack was not without its own weight: skin peeled into a new scar along where moondoe had taken his eye.

that pain was an insult.

driving himself down into the snow, attempting to pin her beneath heavier tread, sun eater focused entire on the new woman with the cold eyes. if she did not care for the moon wolf, she would not have attacked. exposed now was the bone of a bond, and he wished to splinter it wholesale.

he wanted death; death. only blood would appease.