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 Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:31 pm
 Firdaws had done a stupid thing.
He had realized too late just how stupid he had been. In many years of hunting, a scared animal had turned on him before...but never quite so ferociously as this.
He lay huddled in the damp earth beneath the rockface, shivering and whimpering. He had vomited once, already, and his vision was hazy from pain. The pain was like an all-engulfing sear, like a star burning in the hollow of his legs, and in the blinding pain he could no longer feel all of himself. It was as though his body ended at his rib cage: his legs, groin, tail, and belly were all on fire.
Several things occurred to him at once.
First, that he was very far from home and had no strength to return.
Second, the sun would rise soon and he was out in the open. Someone could stumble upon him and learn of his secret...and the very thought made him shudder with something worse than pain.
Third, oh gods in darkness, what if his alpha could see him now?
It was this final thought that stirred some activity in the wolf. His humiliation was painful and absolute, and the terrible pain in his loins threatened to tear away his consciousness...but his dedication outweighed them both. The very thought of being seen by his beloved god-alpha (either one of them...for Firdaws, any alpha was a god-alpha) was enough to force him to his paws. How dare he tarry about? How dare he threaten the secrecy of his pack over something so feeble as horrific pain?
Pain could be overcome. Shaming one's alpha, even in theory, was another matter entirely.
Gritting his teeth, the wolf fought to get his forepaws under him. He shoved against the rocky opening, ears folded to his skull and teeth gritted in concentration as he pulled up to an awkward seated position. He paused there, a moment, panting, before struggling to get his hindpaws beneath him.
He was pleased to realize that both legs were intact. The female's aim had been true, but she had not lingered long enough to do more damage than her initial strike.
His blood-soaked cloak hung about him in lank tatters as he started his first tentative steps toward home.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:47 pm
 Rorret was somewhere he shouldn't be.
This usually didn't bother him. Rorret, as a rule, went where he pleased, and hardly bothered with limitations. At the moment, however, being somewhere he shouldn't be proved interesting, as he was not the only one.
The coppery smell of blood assailed his senses, and he shifted his attention toward it. He had developed a taste for wolfmeat, as any Shadowclan member must, and the scent of wolf blood started an involuntary hunger reaction to wash through him. More than that, though, he was curious. He was not so very far from the home of his favorite toy, and he would be highly disappointed to see her torn apart at their tryst area.
Before the pups were born, anyway. The fruits of his labors would be rendered quite worthless if they were destroyed before he could collect them.
He paused, brow furrowing, as the situation became more clear. It was not his tryst-site, and it was certainly not Azalea.
It was...another wolf, who also did not belong there.
Rorret grinned. Oh, now, wasn't this interesting? He lurked a moment in the shadows, hidden from view the way he had been taught. He could work this situation to his advantage, if only he knew how...
"...Huntmaster?" Rorret asked, allowing incredulity to creep into his voice as he made his way into the open, assuming a posture of servility. "What happened?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:57 pm
Firdaws bared his teeth, but he didn't have any fight left in him. He was relieved to see the silvery form of the omega -- the traitor's son -- but the image confused him. He wondered if, perhaps, he were hallucinating. His brow furrowed. "A bit far from home, aren't you?" He growled, in an approximation of his usual husky voice. "Didn't know we'd got so desperate as to start sending our whelps to do warrior work."
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:00 pm
Rorret demurred. "Oh, no sir. Nothing of the sort. I'm on a scouting mission -- searching for pups." His shrewd bi-hued eyes traced the origin of the wolf's blood. It wasn't too hard to guess what sort of trouble the large wolf had been up to. "You'd best lie down, Huntmaster."
He watched the wolf for a moment, uncertain as to how this would end. If the lank hunter collapsed and succumbed to his blood loss, well, he could work with that. But it would be much better if he could get him home to the pack. Playing hero might help to solidify his place among the brothers.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:10 pm
"I'm fine," Firdaws said, and his body belied him immediately as he fell to his knees, his legs trembling with the inability to hold up his weight. Was he still bleeding? He could hardly tell. Nothing much seemed to matter, suddenly, beyond the haze that crept around the edges of his vision. Even the pain seemed to be fading.
In the haze, he thought he could see the silhouette of a wolf: a large red behemoth with a glowing gem at his throat. He whimpered, and tried to get to him, but the vision turned away from him and started toward a faraway path. He wished he could follow, and his paws scrabbled uselessly against the ground as he made the attempt.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:32 pm
"Hardly," Rorret muttered, approaching the other wolf. He watched as Firdaws collapsed into the dirt, and scrabbled at the ground as though running. Great. The wolf was delirious.
He rolled his eyes and slipped forward. "Fallen victim to your prey," Rorret mused, speaking mostly to himself. "It happens to all of us, friend. Even the smallest, meanest creature may turn vicious when cornered."
He said nothing of the prey's choice of targets.
He nosed some of the softer of the earth toward the wound, to stop the bleeding. He packed the wound as best he could, though the bleeding had largely begun to stop by itself, and withdrew, considering his options for a moment. "We'd best be getting you home, Brother," he said, and debated how best to accomplish that.
After some hesitation, he slid his lean body underneath the huntmaster's larger one, nudging him into a standing position. He grabbed the scruff of Firdaws's cloak between his teeth, holding him aloft like some sort of grotesque puppet, and attempted to tug him forward the way he would an oversized pup.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:44 pm
Firdaws muttered something. He was tangentially aware of Rorret; he was more aware of the glowing half-formed shape ahead of him, the red wolf who stood just beyond his reach.
He felt his body hoisted up, and stumbled forward in his delirium. He was vaguely aware of the ground under his paws, but he seemed to understand that he was moving.
More importantly, the pain had vanished. Most of his body, too, had vanished; it was as though he were nothing but a pair of floating eyeballs and a brain, moving like the wind over the earth. Like a ghost.
Maybe I'm dead? Firdaws thought, and giggled, and unnerving laugh that died in his throat and rattled from his jaws like leaves over wind. Wouldn't that be a funny thought.
Ahead, the glowing red wolf shook his head, and Firdaws calmed himself immediately.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:47 pm
Rorret struggled to keep the wolf aloft. Luckily, delusional or not, Firdaws seemed to be guided by muscle memory. It was fortunate that they were in the early hours before dawn, when the sun was still lingering on the horizon; any later in the day and they might risk being seen.
This was not a situation he wanted to be found in. Not by a predator, not by prey. And certainly not by Azalea.
Oh, gods. Wouldn't that be a lovely mess.
Urging the other wolf forward at the thought, Rorret forced his thoughts to turn toward other things. Like what he would say by way of explanation when he returned to the pack.
Ah well...Firdaws was delirious. Maybe he would mutter something interesting enough to take Arkadios's mind off of the bizarre situation at hand.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:57 pm
Firdaws pricked his ears forward. The vision spoke, in words that were not words, and flooded the hunter's body with light.
He could feel knowledge -- beautiful knowledge -- flood into his mind. It was like peering out into darkness and seeing eternity, as though he could see the world all at once. And, in the center of it, brighter than the sun, was the glowing red god-alpha.
He felt tears of joy creep from his eyes, and he struggled forward as fast as he could, swimming through the air, weightless and disembodied.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 5:59 pm
Rorret heard the hunter cry out. The words were blurred and unintelligible, but the enthusiasm was impossible to ignore. The wolf struggled against him, his legs beating futilely against the ground, and Rorret increased his pace to keep up.
This was so delightfully absurd.
He wondered what the cause was of the hunter's sudden religious fervor. Did all wolves do this when they were dying? Was this the natural side-effect of pain?
Next time, Rorret would need to dispatch of his prey more slowly, so as to savor this, if that were the case.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:06 pm
"I see it!" Firdaws said, but he wasn't sure if he was speaking aloud or not. "I understand!"
The fiery pain in his body had dissipated. Nothing was real anymore, nothing mattered...nothing, aside from his sudden inspiration, his realization of the true shape of the universe. It was as though the night sky had taken off its mask and revealed itself to him.
"Take me with you!"
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:11 pm
"Will you shut up?" Rorret growled as the cloak slid away from him. Firdaws fell forward into the mud, and Rorret halted, panting. "Whoever it is, I feel quite confident that they have no desire to bring you along. And, besides, you're not going anywhere." This was too much. Why hadn't he left the idiot to die in the mud?
He looked around himself. They had come upon the swamp, but the heart of the territory was out of reach. He hoped that Arkadios might be on an early-morning patrol, just before bedtime. That was, honestly, his only hope at this point: he couldn't very well drag the huntmaster home all on his own, and he doubted the ability of the wolf to get home on his own.
....But, that opened an exciting possibility to him, and a shudder of hopefulness ran through Rorret's slight frame. Firdaws was a fool, but he wasn't stupid. He would never admit to exactly where he had been...or what he had been doing.
A grin fell across his maw as his bi-hued eyes sparkled with sudden, devilish excitement.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:14 pm
Firdaws fell only slightly as he collapsed into the earth, but it felt like an eternity. He cried, feeling as though he had been thrust from the heavens, and he struggled to stay aloft. He felt as though a pair of wings had unfurled from his shoulders, that he could soar like a buzzard over the bones of the unworthy....
The delirium slipped into complete unconsciousness, hallucination giving way to dreams. He imagined that he could fly, a dark angel soaring through the expanse of eternity. A bird was there, nearby...a little thrush bird....a tiny singing bird...
He circled toward it, his hunger rising within him. He would be alright. The god-alpha shone down upon his hunt like the sun.
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:30 pm
Rorret glanced around, guaranteeing that they were alone. He looked over his body, noting the blood that had washed over him from dragging the wolf. He nodded to himself, then, almost as an afterthought, nudged Firdaws into a slightly different position. "Stay here," he said, firmly. "And don't get eaten by anyone."
So saying, he turned away from him and started his way into the swamp, hoping to intersect paths with someone of value. He wished Xihuitl was not absent on his quest of finding the alpha.
Arkadios would be a find substitute, though. And now, at least, they were close enough that his whereabouts would be easier to explain....
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 6:31 pm
If Firdaws heard him, he made no sign. He as busy flying, soaring, hunting.
The little thrush-bird was trying to get away from him, but he wouldn't fail this time. He knew what he had done wrong, now.
His paws trembled and he shivered with anticipation as he swooped down upon her, the sun smiling upon him.
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