Emmerich hated the ruins at night. Blackbriar bog was dark as s**t no matter the time of day, and in the barrens the endless stretches of open ground hid nothing, even by starlight. But the ruins? Every shape turned into potential danger, every squeak in the night might be a metal beam ready to fall or a surge of dire rats looking for a fight. Even with years of experience, Emmerich didn’t want to climb the rickety towers in the night’s dim moonlight. One slip, one tiny misstep, he’d be dead. If he missed sight of a loose bolt and wandered onto unstable ground, dead. Too many labyrinthine alleys left Erli impossible to guard. You couldn’t be quick at night, and danger could be everywhere.
The only decent thing about night time Ruin patrol was that no one else wanted to be out here either. Not even the adolescents filled with thoughts of immortality bothered daring each other to step more than a toe inside the Ruins after sundown. Anyone out here was meant to be here, like himself, or was up to no good and therefore exactly the sort of noul Emmerich was here to deal with. He kept his head low, trotting between the black alleys of two open habitation units, his hoof falls silent on the soft earth. Above him, metal creaked in the breeze, and a night bird hooted to her mate.
“Auragh!” A voice cut through the silence, screaming in fear.
Emmerich’s head shot up. He leered through the darkness. That had come from somewhere above him. None of the black shapes moved. Emmerich cursed and raced forward, dodging lumps of metal and the deep water gorges carved by the others.
A cat beast yowled, piercing the night with its hunger.
“s**t.”
--
Nearly six season to the day since Halen lost Axl, and the metal sheet that’d fallen to claim his son’s life remained untouched, jammed between the dry pipe of what once processed water and a dingy habitation unit overgrown with moss and vines. Halen regarded it with a sour expression from two stories up. His hooves dug against the jagged joint it fell from, red and stinking of rust. Six seasons, and Halen ventured here this day for every one of them. His mate told him to stop. Begged him at the start of it, but later her requests turned to angry growls, then threats, until she finally left him. Better for her to be on her own, Halen did nothing but drag her down to the dirt since they lost Axl. They both needed to mourn, and [NAME] hoped better than Halen ever would.
A beam creaked behind him.
Halen flicked an ear at it and turned his head.
Something sprang from the shadows, glinting sharp, ivory teeth.
Halen only had time to shout.
-----
Emmerich ran. Dashing through the maze of streets, eyes upward, searching for any sign of life. The moon glinted off rusted metal, oozing red light like blood. Emmerich’s nostrils flared, seething.
“Make another noise,” he growled. “Anything, c’mon.”
A guttural cry of pain answered him.
Emmerich spotted them. A noulicorn wrestling with a black cat beast, tumbling precariously at the edge of a precipice maybe thirty feet about his head. He swore again and took off, leaping up a creaky staircase that rattled under his abuse. His hooves pounded, skipping off uneven edges. He righted himself by sheer tenacity, driving forward with blinder on. If he took his time with careful footsteps, he’d never make it. Better not to let himself see how damned dangerous his footing was.
He reached the precipice with heaving lungs and wild eyes, nostrils flared and teeth bared in anger. The pathetic night glow illuminated a grey buck, writhing under the frantic claws of a cat beast. Emmerich bellowed and charged.
-----
Claws sank into his flank with an ugly shock of pain. Halen screamed and bucked. The creature’s talons dug deeper as it flipped, guided by its own weight. It righted itself midair and landed on his back, gnashing its teeth into Halen’s hip. He needed to get away from the edge. Panic and pain muddled his thoughts, but he’d done this too many times to forget his training. He couldn’t fight a cat beast and keep his feet. He wheeled around and raced for stable ground, gritting his teeth as the beast clawed its way toward his neck. Fast. No time. He jumped the last few feet of the bridge and landed on the wide mezzanine surrounding an apartment.
The beast was nearly at his throat now.
Halen reared and threw himself at the wall. The beast yowled, tail thrashing. Halen lost his feet and tumbled to his side, kicking and flailing to keep the creature from overtaking him. It wriggled free of his attempt to crush it, dodging hooves and teeth to sink its fangs in Halen’s shoulder. Then it was gone, tearing a chunk out of him with it.
----
Emmerich charged. His hooves were war cries ringing out against metal. He bolted forward, leaped, and snapped his teeth around the beast’s scruff, yanking with all his might. The creature dislodged its claws from the grey buck to twist and slash at Emmerich’s face. Emmerich threw it with a snarl. It landed predictably on all four feet, back arched and green eyes glittering poison intent. It might think differently about attacking now. A single cat beast couldn’t overpower two noulicorns.
“Come on, you b*****d,” Emmerich snarled, brandishing his horn with a lowered head.
The cat beast screamed and clawed the air, but didn’t move closer. It couldn’t get any further away, either, unless it took a suicide leap off the edge of the precipice to the clutter of metal below.
Behind him, the other buck grunted and sagged to his feet. Emmerich didn’t dare take his eyes of the beast to look at him. At least the a*****e was alive. Who the ******** came out here for a climb in the middle of the night?
-------------
Everything hurt. Halen forced himself to his feet, feeling every creak in his bones, every sharp tear stinging as he twisted it. He panted heavily, leaning up against the wall to keep his balance. He’d be dead if it weren’t for that buck. A good date for it. Halen laughed, dark and humorless. His hero flicked an ear in his direction for that, but said nothing. All his attention was on the beast, hissing and spitting at the end of the precipice. Halen inched toward them, grunting as his shoulder protested the movement. It going to be a long, painful climb down.
Closer, and out of the shadow of the apartment, Halen saw the other buck. Seal bay, short scruff of a mane, with a pale green horn. He recognized him. Emmerich, a scout. Who else would be out here, willing to risk life and limb against a cat beast? He’d barely been more than a fawn the first time Halen met him, fresh from Grandfather Tree and ready to put his all into protecting Vykeli. They’d patrolled together a few times, Halen found him a little brash and hot-headed. A little too angry. But a lot of the young ones were.
“C’mon,” Halen panted," we should-“
------
The grey buck was coming closer. Emmerich steeled himself, eyes locked with the cat beast. Everything slowed to a single moment. The cat beast flicked its gaze from Emmerich to the stranger and its pupils blew wide. Saliva bubbled at his lip. It crouched with coiling muscles, feet shifting for the perfect strike.
The metal groaned low, almost silent, under its weight. Its rusted edges tore fragments of inches.
The cat would pounce, and face on it could get that grey buck’s neck without a sweat. If Emmerich stepped onto that sheet of metal, it would collapse.
He couldn’t shirk his duty, he wouldn’t let this buck get killed. Not by a ******** cat beast. Emmerich sprang in tandem with the predator.
“Hey, wait-!”
Emmerich’s front legs slammed down with all his weight. The metal shrieked as the plate tore. The cat wailed, slashing violently, catching Emmerich in the soft flesh of his muzzle. He snorted blood and slammed his eyes shut, letting all his rage and pain boil over. Magic burst from him like an angry wound. His gust punched the cat the last inch to the end, sending it yowling to its death.
The precipice collapsed, and gravity swallowed Emmerich.
--------------
That dumbass! Halen surged forward, ignoring his screaming muscles and tired bones, and threw his head over the ledge. His teeth closed on something fleshy, eliciting a bark of pain and causing every joint in his body to wail in protest. Halen braced himself and heaved. Adrenaline alone hauled his cargo up until Emmerich twisted around and got purchase on the jigsaw of metal climbing up to the mezzanine and pulled himself the rest of the way.
Halen let him go, spitting out strands of Emmerich’s unkempt mane. “Not for me,” he snarled.
Halen wasn’t worth that. Why would this buck think throwing his own life away was worth saving Halen, of all people? Halen, well past his prime and sitting uselessly in Homewood. Halen, swallowed by depression and a newborn addiction to fermented fruit that gave him one tiny respite from the memories of his son. Halen, who hadn’t lifted a hoof for another noulicorn in seasons.
“Not for me!”
-------------
Emmerich pawed at the wound on his nose, sending a slurry of blood splattering to the floor. It stung like a b***h, but he was ******** lucky to be alive at all. A blood nose would heal.
The buck’s outburst made Emmerich swing his head up, eyes wide, aghast. “Not for you?”
“You almost got yourself killed,” the grey buck snarled, rounding on him. Emmerich noted the heavy limp, the stagger in his gait, and-
And his familiar face.
“Halen,” he said, voice low and even. He hadn’t seen the other male in ages, not since he quite the scouts after the death of his son. He looked haggard, and out of shape, once long, curly mane left to ungroomed tatters. That was Emmerich’s field. “I did my job.”
Emmerich didn’t mean for it to sting, but he figured it would, anyway.
----------------------------------
Halen reared his head, ready to snap. Ready to fight. But Emmerich’s words punched the last air out of him, and he deflated. Too tired, too old, too ******** done to pick a fight with a buck several years his junior.
“You’re a dumbass,” he said instead.
Emmerich snorted, close enough to a laugh that Halen felt the tension ease between them. Instead, every ache and pain came bursting to the forefront of his mind, hungry for attention. He shifted his weight and winced. He twisted his neck and pressed his horn to the nearest reachable wound, letting the warm glow of his power wash over him. Heal wound wound have been better, but cleanse would keep infection at bay. Something sorely needed for a cat beast scratch.
“You got good at that,” said Halen. He wouldn’t say thank-you.
-------------------
“Got a lot of practice.” Emmerich stepped close to him, eyes narrowed at the myriad of wounds. “I’m bringing to back to Homewood. You’ll need a healer to clean that s**t up.”
No mention that Halen was a vivify user himself. Emmerich figured if the guy had the option to close his own wounds, he would have. He headed for the corner of the mezzanine, searching for the nearest stairway down.
----------------------
And I got out of practice. Halen gave one nasty cut a lick, then followed Emmerich. Too shaken to linger here any longer, even if it was his custom to spend the night. Emmerich would be on his a** if he did and he wouldn’t get a half a moment’s peace to properly mourn, anyway.
“Lead the way.”
