Hunter or the Hunted (Anybody Welcome to Jump in)

[Julius Darkspear]

There was a breeze coming through the trees, making that rustling sound as a hundred different leaves scattered about. His eyes danced along the horizon, paying close attention to any movement that would pass across the canvass of endless trees. It was then that his instinct jumped into a crazed lure, a creature, most likely a dear, was standing some three hundred yards from him. Adrenaline burst warmed his blood, and a different feeling came across his throat - almost like he could taste the kill. Silently, he crept forward until he was in close enough reach, pulled his bow over his shoulder, and aimed. Alarmed from something afar the dear bolted the opposite way, leaving the young Julius Darkspear stunned. What the young hunter forgot was to mind his surroundings.

Whatever scared off the dear was fast approaching Julius, and with the young man currently gawked at the retreating game, he was now the hunted. A second before the beast lunged, he twisted to sound of ruffling sticks, and the arrow released upon a nerous twitch lunging itself through the shoulder blade of a massive wolf. The arrow did not stall the wolf for long, and as he turned from his back he was on the prowl again, sending another lunge for Julius' throat. The young hunter was ready though, having already dropped his bow, a small hatchet now rested in his hand. He didn't know what was happening, his mind was lost in some distant place as his body attacked. Chopping down several times before the wolve could even think about landing a bite on him, and each chop seemed to get stronger as he swooped further into the depths of this crazy slaughter.

Julius awoke some time after, how long he had laid there he did not know, the smell of death around him. Leaning forward and looking to both sides, he found that he lay next to the dead body of the wolf, there wasn't much left of him. His limbs were disfigure and his head could barely be called a head anymore. Signs of the killing rained down on Julius and he began to remember bits and pieces of what had happened that day, he could remember up until swinging that first blow. Shock was begining to take over his form, his eyes finding the blood that oozed over his entire form, the taste of it... it was good. The pupils of his eyes retracted and diziness spells were soon to come. He stood, and without any sense of direction began to walk through the woods, if he was lucky someone might spot him in his state of panic.

[Amethyst Warheight]

Couple knights baring the Medeiros seal just happened to be traveling the forest when they spy the man wandering around. They inched their horses forward towards the man slowly, their hands rested upon their hilts prepared to strike if this person was trouble, " You sir stop. What seems to be the trouble?" the older man called forth in his gruff tone.

They had been to the forest to relise a rare creature that one of the Medeiros traders had found at market when making their rounds before returning home. Two sets of grey eyes watched the man for this two were brothers, and guardians of White Phoenix Inn. Their horses were a rare breed of war horse breed by the noble family, their head shake relising snorts of impatients at being halted in their travel away from this uncomfortable place.

[Julius Darkspear]

Julius eyes remained ahead of him when the voices of the guards called down to him. He kept on moving when their signal of stop did not come to his ears. In his shock he could not hear or see his surroundings, he was lost in madness, the blood that trickling over his form served a reason for his strange actions. He was like a rabid dog with no sure direction, who knew if he was safe or not, whether he would go crazy with one of his weapons on someone in the public. Would he be alright after he snapped out of his fit.

[Amethyst Warheight]

ONe of the knights dug into his pouch searching for the orbs that Amethyst always insisted they carry should they come acrossed trouble, or someone in need of some kinda healing. He draw the blue orb from the pouc it held waters that came from the very springs of a hidden temple tha was known to heal all sorts of wounds and cases of panic. He tossed it to the other knight that began to advance towards the man. Guiding his horse with his knees making it move slowly and keeping a good amount of distance between them.

He tossed the orb upwards into the sky while the other knight took out his bow and arrow from his back. He notched an arrow into the bow pulling back upon the string, his eyes measuring the distance between the orb and him. He waited as the orb came just over the strangers head before relising the arrow. A whistling sound is heard after a thunk of the string relising the arrow into the air as it splits the winds current joining it's path towards the target.

The two knights backed away with their visors down now incause something went wrong. Arrow collided with the orb causing a loud explosion to ring out over the silence of the forest, and a white light that was contained in the orb flashed out to blind those that were watching it rained down over the man below the orb. It would circle him and enter the skin to flow in the mind enless blocked it would work to cleanse the mind and body of the panic and draw him back towards the light. As the blue in the orb was healing waters it would rain down over him to wash the blood that coated the man away.

[Julius Darkspear]

After the light succumb, the picture revealed Julius laying passed out in a pile of leaves. His body had enough, and with the instant relief of his paranoia, all his body wanted to do was sleep. It wanted to push away the bad feelings it had felt during the day, he was swamped and his body was ever more tired. Once the blood was clear from his body, the others could see that he wasn't much older than sixteen, wearing garments made of dear skin. With one look, they could tell he was from the forest settlements and wasn't raised to a family with much money.

[Amethyst Warheight]

The two knights would make cable near the lad while he rested, and would stay till he was awake to make sure he was ok. One of the older knights made his way over to the sleeping lad placing a blanket from their bed roll over him. A ring of rocks was created, and wood gathered for a fire.

As the night neared would the scent of rabbit roasting over the fire fill the nights air, and the sounds of armor being polished, and weapons being sharpened near by the two knights. The horses were munching upon some greens nearby under the trees, their steps were light thuds upon the earth when they moved from one spot to another with an occasionally snort being heard to chase away a pestilence buzzing near their nostrils.

[Julius Darkspear]

Julius awoke to the smell of meat being cooked, and at first he thought he was back home and his mother was preparing breakfast for him. Oh that sweet smell always woke him, but his smile quickly faded as his surroundings slowly collected around him. "Where am I?" He spoke, but he did not know who he was speaking, or if there were anybody to speak too. A bed roll had been placed over top of him, pushing it off, he came to stand looking for someone who put it there. His head went numb as soon as he was on his feet, the blood rushing from his head giving him a slight blacking out feeling. He regained his footing and looked across the fire to find the two guards staring back at him, "Who are you? Where am I?" He repeated, his mind rapidly looking for the answer, but he felt like he had been up drinking all night, nothing came back to him.

[Amethyst Warheight]

One of the knights picked up an extra plate from their supplies did he place some of the rabbit upon the platter, then picked up a cup that held some tea. He raised upwards did he move towards the lad offering him the platter and cup," Here lad eat before anything else. We are knights of Medeiros House. As for where we are it seems we are near Darkwatch. " he said in a light gruff tone before settling down upon his bed roll once more with his brother who was acrossed the fire.

[Julius Darkspear]

The young hunter just stood there studing the brothers for a few moments before reaching forward and grabbing the plate. It had been a long time since he had last ate, and his stomach was calling out for something. He listened to the man's words, they were from the Medeiros House, he had heard the name before, once before his father spoke of the city and the name was mentioned. He knew nothing other then that, he knew nothing outside the forest and if they were close to Darkwatch that would put him miles from his home. His mother would be deafly ill for him not showing up at home, but he was close to be an adult, she would have to live with it. During the bites of rabbit, Julius contemplated the situation at hand, what had happened to get him in such a fiasco? And how long had he been with the pair of brothers. They must have thought he was crazy, if he had only knew he was covered head to toe in blood about five hours prior to his awaking. He continued eating with his mind full of thoughts, but he did not bring up any of the subjects he wonder upon, he was still far to confused why he did not remember anything.

[Razzerarok]

It was hours later. The wolf's corpse still lay where it had fallen, cooling slowly in a pool of it's own congealing blood. Dark had fallen, but that did not deter the hunters. Slowly, as the sliver of the moon rose into the sky, shapes materialized at the edge of the blood stained meadow. Two massive wolves, bigger even than the one that had fallen, padded into the clearing, eyes and ears forward and intent. Several smaller canines materialized from the tree's in a similar manner and circled the area warily, pausing occasionally to sniff at interesting smells or peer at tracks.

The two large wolves paused several paces from the body, and glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes, non-verbally saying the same thing.

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One flicked its ear slightly, the equivalent of a shrug, and the other did the same. A quiet series of cracking, grinding, popping sounds filled the clearing for several seconds, and then two beings that looked like a cross between a man and a wolf crept forward on all fours, bellies close to the ground. They circled the corpse once, twice, making loud snuffing sounds as they scented the area around the pulverized wolf carefully. Once again, their eyes met, and the female slunk closer to the body, reaching out slowly with one hand-like paw to carefully prod the body. Nothing happened. She prodded it again, and then a third time, just to make sure. She looked to the male.

<Yup. He's dead.>, she 'said' as she straightened up into a squatting position, paws and hands on the ground. It was mostly nonverbal, with only a small rumble rising through her chest.

<Huh. You think? That's beside the point, though...you smell that? A human did this?> the male replied, a small bark accentuating his words.

<Yeah, that is kinda odd, isn't it? Theres something strange about this one, though. Fear Rage Kill smell is strong, and there's something else in there, too.> The female replied, idly flicking flecks of the crusty blood off one paw.

The male advanced on the corpse and started rummaging around the bloody neck. After a few seconds, he grunted, and pulled something off with a loud 'SNAP!'. Shaking the blood off, he examined the necklace he held in his paw critically.

<So...?> the female inquired, leaning forward to get a better look.

<Yeah, it's the traitor alright.> the male said, tossing the necklace to her. A glance told her all she needed to know.

<Where was he going, though? Nothing south but Civilized lands.> She asked her companion, who just shrugged in response. With a grunt, he pushed the stiff corpse onto it's back, electing some ripping sounds as grass glued to the fur by coagulating blood tore free of the ground.

<Hold him, will you?> He half asked, half commanded. With a shrug, the female padded forward and grabbed one stiff leg, holding the corpse on it's back while the male felt at the abdomen. Then, with a swift motion, he ran his claws across the flesh underneath the fur, slicing through, and plunged his paw with an unpleasant squelch into the cavity. More squelching, sucking, squishing noises ensued as the werewolf probed the interior of the corpse, searching out one particular organ. A shift in position and a soft grunt signified that he had found it, and then there was a soft pop-squelch sound. A few more seconds of searching, and he pulled his gore-encrusted paw back out, shaking off the blood, stomach acid, and other, less identifiable fluids as best he could. A small stone, black and smooth, was clenched in his paw; several glyphs decorated the surface, under the stomach-slime.

<That it?> The female asked, letting go of the leg to let the corpse roll back onto its side and following the male curiously as he washed his paw and the stone with dirt and grass. Wordlessly, he tossed the stone to her before continuing to groom himself.

<Yeah, this is it.> she said as she examined the ritual stone. It was a very important ritual stone, too, serving the purpose of warding away evil spirits from the forest the were-clans inhabit. But why had the traitor, for he had no name now, stolen it in the first place? And where had he been going?

<Take your pack and go back to our territory with the stone and the necklace. My pack and I are going to investigate this human who killed the traitor. He's...awoken my curiosity.> The male said, tossing one last clump of dirt to the ground, grimacing at the matted mess still clinging to his paw and lower arm. It'd have to do, though.

<Alright, Razz, I'll be glad to get to claim this one!> the female exclaimed with a soft woof as she started Shifting. Moments later, a sleek, black and gray Dire wolf stood in the clearing again, with a stone and a necklace held securely in her jaw.

Razzerarok's forming lips quirked into a grin as he airly waved the four foot wolf off.

<Always glad to toss some small glories to those less famous than myself, little sister. Now get, go, and tell the parents I might not be back for awhile. There's defiantly something interesting about this human, and I'm gonna find out what.>

The Wolf just snarled playfully at the now human-esq Razzerarok, and bounded off into the night, ten of her smaller cousin's forming up on her at her brief howl. Razzerarok himself howled, a deeper, longer, louder howl that hovered in the air, a tracking howl, and bounded off to follow the scent trail he had picked up, eight timber wolves, his pack, forming up around him as they flowed through the darkness underneath the tree's limbs.

[Amethyst Warheight]

The two brothers watched the lad for a moment when the older one came over to kneel down beside him," Hey lad come morning we will escort you to Darkwatch we have a delivery to make there to Darius from the lady Amethyst. Your just relax and enjoy the night no one will harm you here." he said then patted the lads shoulder before rising to return to his bed roll. He looked out over the night hearing the howls of wolves, his eyes meet those of his brother when they both nodded to each other.

The horses were gathered and brought closer to the fire by one brother as the other pulled out some stones that held a flame mark upon them. He placed them down at various spots around the came. When in place a flash went off from each stone till a ring of fire was around the camp like a shield for the night so that they might rest. One brother laid to sleep for part of the night while the other with bow in hand leapd into the tree above their camp site to take the first watch.

[Razzerarok]

The wolves slowed when they saw the ruddy light of a campfire ahead of them, and smelled the musk of horses and more humans. And steel, wood, and beeswax, too. Wolves were not stupid. They knew this smell. Humans, armed humans that used pieces of wood to launch other pieces of wood very, very fast. One of the wolves, the largest besides their Alpha, looked back to their leader, who was standing on two paws, and whined.

<I know.> Razzerarok replied, idly scratching at a spot behind one of his ears. He rested his other paw on the wolfs shoulder. <Think the one we're tracking is with them, Rahaara?> he asked of his Beta. Rahaara gave a small wuf of confirmation.

<Yeah. Figures. Alright, pack-mates, here's what we're gonna do...>

Minutes later, the wolf pack started kicking up a racket, barking and scrabbling about through the underbrush to loud crashing noises, sounding as if they were chasing a deer. One even manged a fair imitation of the panicked grunts of an doe under attack. They had crept in until they were just out of sight of the camp, and the human up in the tree, before they had started, making the noise seem as if it had come out of nowhere. They were making enough noise to, hopefully, keep the sentry distracted, but, again hopefully, not enough to wake the other two. Razzerarok's lips peeled back into a fang-filled smile from where he stood on the opposite side of the commotion.

All trace of expression vanished from his face, then, as he slid into a place of deep concentration. He tuned out everything but the hum he felt beneath his paws. He bent every bit of willpower he had to listening to that hum, to pick out its beat, to hear every bit of the multi-layered song that played beneath, to make himself fall into sync with it, felt his own body start humming to the same frequency, felt himself slip into that state of oneness with the earth he was seeking. And then, he willed himself down.

Slowly, his paws started sinking into the dirt, the loose soil bending inward with a damp rustle as the surface tension held before they sank clear through. Things sped up from there; it was as if the werewolf slipped into an invisible pond colored like dirt, complete with the sucking splish of dirt when his head rapidly disappeared underneath the rich black earth, leaving no trace of his presence behind.

Underground and undetected, he started making his way through the pseudo-bright world of Underground, skillfully 'swimming' around larger rocks and tree roots.

[Amethyst Warheight]

The man in the tree listened to the ruckas of the wolves, yet he kept alert sitting in the tree above the came. The fire shield made a ring around the place allowing it's campers to rest. The fire shield was actually just light made to look like fire, and usually worked to keep trouble at bay.

The man began to mumble," Damn this is one of those times when you wish Amethyst was here. That female can detect and knows pretty well how to keep a group protected. " he would watch the lad that was resting, and his brother yet stayed alert encause trouble did come. When morning came they would head out to Darkwatch were Darius group were known to travel, and guard.

[Razzerarok]

A small mound of dirt slowly rose from underneath one of the horse saddles set near the fire. Suitably, it started changing, turning into something more ear-like in both color and shape. Seconds later, where a small dirt mound had risen, an ear stood. It swiveled about a bit, then pressed itself flat to the werewolf's head and shifted sideways through the earth as the top of Razz's head melded free of the earth to eye level. They glowed in the darkness under the saddle as they caught some of the firelight, one gold, one green. It would be a somewhat disconcerting effect if one came across him now, as he did not look like he was simply buried, but somehow merged with the ground itself; there was no line between his face and the earth, just a slow transition. Slowly, he tilted his head back until his nose was clear of the ground, quietly blew the dust out, and inhaled a few times, testing the air. Then, he brought his eyes back to bear, looked again at the two sleeping bundles on the ground, and melded back into the earth's embrace.

The ears reappeared several seconds later, a bare two feet from Julius's face and shielded by the sleeping boys bulk from the sentry's view. They carefully swiveled this way and that, listening, before Razz's eyes and then his nose also slid to the surface, the dark gray hair topping his head doing much to blend him into the ambient shadows. Mis-matched blinked slowly, and again, the werewolf sniffed at the curious young man. Razz was puzzled. He smelled something achingly familiar about the human, but he couldn't quite put his claw on it, and that bothered him.

He smelled....ambigious. As if he held form only because it was convenient. Kind of like werewolf's, but...bigger. More flexible. Power. There was power there. And there was something else, too. Razz's eyes narrowed as he thought. Then, they widened. Blood. He smelled familiar blood. Or, at least, somewhat familar...bits and pieces of blood. He knew this phenomenon; it happened whenever he met another of his kind that was distantly related to him. So...he and this human shared an ancestor? But...the last human to be found in Razz's family tree went back a long, loooong way...

Razz's curiosity was greater than ever, now. He'd never had much interaction with humans, or any of the Civilized peoples before, and the thought of actually having blood kin among such a strange people was a novel one to the werewolf. Wolves, like people, could be intensely curious, and now Razz was practically aflame with the feeling. His mind went to work, whizzing along a dozen paths of thought as he tried to figure out how to best satisfy his gnawing curiosity.

[Amethyst Warheight]

The horses began to strike the earth with their hooves as an unwelcome scent tickled at their nostrils. They began to prance in place growing aggitated, their eyes searching for what this scent was that irritated their nostrils. At the noises did the knight leap down to the earth, his steps carrying him towards the steeds. Hand reached out did he brush the palm of his hand against their heads to try to calm them, yet also his eyes searched the grounds inside the shield to see if he had missed something before setting up the grid for protection that night.