Liseli

I haven't always been this way...
I remember brighter days -
before the dark ones came,
stole my mind, and wrapped my soul in chains
Now I live among the dead
Fighting voices in my head
hoping someone hears me crying in the night
and carries me away...

You forget yourself! He was my friend before he was ever your mate... Still your tongue before I tear it out! scrambled in the mind... rabid skunk. "Rabid skunk." Perhaps, of all the hurtful words ringing in her mind right at this moment, that particular set stung the worst, and Liseli chanted it over and over as she hopped from this outcropping to that one, working her way precariously across one part of the deep canyon where the land rose up quickly to meet the face of a cliff. She wasn't even really sure what she was doing, other than running from the intense emotions she'd felt back at the packlands; certainly, even Liseli was aware that she couldn't hope to climb this wall. In the heat of the summer sun, the spray of the nearby waterfall felt good on her fur. She didn't seem too bothered by the fact that if she slipped, she'd plunge into the water, and in fact continued her progress from rock to rock at a grueling pace. "I never asked her to stay there. I tried to leave, I told her. She wouldn't listen to me. She insisted... commanded me to stay... I tried to-" Curious how much she likes to flaunt her power over little nobodies like you. And you let her do it too, that's part of the problem. If you'd just killed her like we talked about, you- "Shut up!" For the thousandth time, it seemed, she screamed that over the words in her head, but it didn't effect them; drowning out thoughts is much harder than drowning out words.

Set me free
of the chains holding me
Is anybody out there hearing me?
Set me free...

Wolf Eye, Larsan, & Namir

Step after silent step, Namir closed the gap between himself and Liseli. He was still a ways off yet, but at least her scent was growing stronger, and if not for the roar of the cataracts and its almost musical echoing off of the steep cliffs, he might have heard her voice in the distance, railing against her own insanity and the voices that haunted her troubled mind. He did feel a bit badly for Liseli, even though he hadn't witnessed the fight - he knew how quarrelsome his best friend could be, and despite his disinterest in mingling with her pack, the cougar observed enough to know each member of the pack quite well. That didn't mean his sympathies were entirely outweighed by annoyance, though. 'Why couldn't they have done this at night? It's the hottest part of the day.' Namir groused to himself as he navigated the rocky terrain with a feline's grace and all the silence gifted to their race, despite his greater size. 'She better not make a regular habit of this either, I'm not a pupsitter.'

Much further ahead, Liseli's thoughts might be interrupted by a loud 'bark'. It wasn't a sound that came from the maw of a wolf though, but a deer's cry of alarm. A look further ahead would reveal the source of the bark as a small, peculiar looking cervid - a spotted buck with dark mocha fur and a set of velvetine antlers that splayed wide at the bottom and arched forward in a confusion of irregularly pointed tines. This was a hybrid no doubt, who had to be at least part fallow deer. And he was standing a ways down along the cliff wall from Liseli, tail flagged in the air and eyes wide. He issued another bark of warning as he stood tensely, ready to turn and bolt...

Liseli

Unaware of the annoyance she was causing her uninvited shadow - and indeed, unaware that she had such shadow - Liseli continued her impromptu hike, scrabbling and scrounging for paw holds amongst the slick, wet rocks she was climbing on. "Rabid skunk," she spat again, and heaved her body upward, catching the side of a particular rock and not quite managing to get a good grip; she slid down the side like butter, and landed a little less-than-gracefully at the base of it, unharmed, but very annoyed. "Told her- told her! She won't get away with it, not while I'm here to stop it. They've a right to know their grandfather-" She shook her head, and moved around to the other side of the rock, a grunt leaving her as she heaved herself up again, this time managing to scramble up on top of it and avoid slipping down to the ground again. "If she can't see how much she's tearing them apart with it, then-" What's that?!' The voice broke in, and sounded startled and wary; it had heard the deer's alarm, where Liseli had not, or at least the way that the female's head delayed in turning toward the sound suggested that to be the case. "What's what? Oh, that's only a deer... probably somebody nearby hunting, is all. Or... no it's looking this way. It's spotted me." She shook her head. "Not to worry, ye daft thing - I'm not hungry," she murmured, without it being clear whether she was aware that the hybrid likely could not hear her at this distance. If she'd been thinking more clearly, she'd have followed his gaze past her to investigate, but she did not; there were too many other things in her head.

Wolf Eye, Larsan, & Namir

The bark rang loud and sharp through the narrow canyon where Liseli was traveling, and easily caught the rounded ears of Namir. He froze and raised his tawny head to listen intently for the scuffle of hooves. When there was no such sound, or the characteristic rustle of branches and shrubs, he knew the deer had not fled and Liseli had not pursued it. 'And now I miss a perfect opportunity to hunt.' The cougar's tail switched in irritation and he continued onward, closing in on Liseli with ever feather-soft step of his padded paws.

The buck snorted this time, a loud, unmistakable sound that was a bit more fitting for a deer letting their potential predator know that the jig was up, and they'd been spotted. He turned slightly, but did not run just yet; turning his back on a predator and fleeing would only invite a chase, so the deer held his ground and gave another snort. The sound was alluring to Namir, who contemplated taking advantage of the situation to catch a quick meal. Perhaps if Liseli wasn't moving too fast, he could sneak up on the preoccupied stag and take it down? Just now beginning to hear Liseli's frustrated voice in the distance, the cougar figured he was close enough now that he could begin to slow down and focus more on stealth anyway, so that she wouldn't be alerted to his presence.

He was still out of sight and too far away to hear the sudden rustle of of a barberry bush, or see the flash of silver fur as a wolf plunged out of hiding a few dozen yards from Liseli and bolted towards her. He had not been the only one stalking her trail, and having been upwind of the fae, Namir hadn't picked up Larsan's scent as he approached from the other end of the steep ridges to intersect the wolfess. Now Larsan was hurtling towards Liseli like a speeding bullet, all 175 pounds of muscle and power aiming to collide with the beta while she tried in vain to scale the steep wall...

Liseli

"She can't expect them to pretend that this never happened. It's one thing for her, she at least has memories of him... but-" Still muttering to herself, and proceeding to ignore the buck that was offering her a small stare down, Liseli continued to focus on the rocks beneath her paws. This was the very same personality feature that had very nearly killed the beta, after her friend had been murdered; she had a habit of running or climbing, or doing other physically-strenuous activities to help her cope, when she otherwise had no one to talk to about the things that were disturbing her. And for two years, she'd been alone - she'd driven herself to complete exhaustion with the constant activity she'd kept herself in to outrun her troubles. Even before that, she'd never been a large wolf, due to her arctic heritage; as a result, even healthy as she was now, Larsan outweighed her by a good 80 pounds at least, and though she was probably quicker than him, she wasn't paying attention, instead focusing her eyes upon the next boulder she would leap to. She poised herself, muscles coiled to spring, and gave a mighty heave of her rear legs, soaring into the air- and then the world tilted and flashed, and pain lit in her head and one hind leg. It took her a couple of moments to even understand that she'd been tackled in mid air, so great was the throbbing that had set into her skull, but when she had, she immediately set to work with her teeth on whatever scrap of fur she could reach on her attacker. Panicked and in pain, her bites weren't exactly coordinated, and really almost totally instinctive; she was mainly trying to do enough damage to convince Larsan to leave her, just so she could stay alive. In fact, she was even too stunned to call for help or even snarl at him; she was focused only upon remaining alive. So she put forth the effort to try to roll beneath him, doing the only thing that she could to try to dislodge him... and in the same movement drawing both of them closer to the water, where they'd both have to watch their steps.

Wolf Eye, Larsan, & Namir

Namir froze for the span of a heartbeat. He'd heard something that... that just sounded off. Then he heard the snarl from Larsan and the smack of Liseli's body colliding with the ground. Cursing aloud, the cougar dropped out of his slinking posture and bounded wildly across the rocks and rugged terrain to reach the beta, kicking up pebbles and sending small rocks sliding in his wake.

The deer that had been standing nearby did not flee from the attack, but leaped gracefully down from his shallow perch and took a few slow steps closer to the fight. With his tail no longer flagged and no look of terror in his eyes, it was clear this deer had been in on the attack, if only as a decoy to distract Liseli. As one of three of his kind remaining in the Haunter's, Wolf Eye had been groomed at a young age by the founding members of the pack themselves to serve as a guard, and on occasions like these, to assist on special missions. For as calm as the hybrid buck appeared though, his heart was thundering wildly - even a life spent amongst the Haunters had not quelled his natural fear of predators; he was just too well trained to give into his instincts to turn and flee.

Larsan, meanwhile, had never been involved in an actual attack against their enemies as Wolf Eye had, but he had the viciousness of both his father and grandfather, and their impressive size to back him up. And, of course, plenty of training and hunting to sharping his skills and improve upon his strength. With his target successfully tackled, the big, silvery brute turned his fangs against any part of Liseli he could get, aiming not particularly for a quick bite to the throat or neck, but a strong hold on the female so that he could give her a good thrashing and tear up as much flesh as possible. Larsan had waited many months for an opportunity to prove his worth to Tersek and the Haunters, and living up to Vicious's name - he was going to make a messy example out of Liseli. Of course, for all his big size and use of brute force, Larsan was an easier target to damage himself, and his foe's snapping fangs left several bloody punctures along the side of his cheek, but that painful bite only served to fuel his own attack. He continue to snap at her flesh, and to savagely shake her when and if he got a new hold - he didn't pay any particular attention to how close they were to the water, or how Liseli's maneuvering was shifting them closer to it.

Liseli

In the midst of the sudden attack, the beta didn't quite realize that she'd apparently been outed by a harmless-looking deer that, in other situations, would have been a potential meal for her. In fact, she was too busy to even notice that the deer hadn't fled as might have been expected - instead, she was concentrating her full focus on staying alive... and as it was, that wasn't going so well. A snarl finally started up when pain made its way into her brain, but it didn't prevent her from lashing back, dealing as much damage as she could but after all, she was much smaller, and he already had the advantage of surprise... it took very little time for him to land one stinging snap to her muzzle, and then another low on her side. Bleeding fairly heavily from the second at least, she didn't seem to acknowledge how much trouble she was in, and indeed rolled one more time, attempting to shove Larsan off of her - one paw landed in the water at last, and she did her best to gather her legs beneath her, trying to push up. He was heavy though - it wasn't something she could manage easily, and she was now in a pretty vulnerable position.

Wolf Eye, Larsan, & Namir

The scent of blood was one thing Wolf Eye could never get use to. It was bad enough when the hunters brought their dinner back to the Temple - which a lot of times included members of his own species - but standing in sight of an on going fight between two predators that could easily bring him down called upon every fiber of Wolf's composure to stand alertly and not flee. It was a good thing, too, because Wolf Eye wasn't just here to help distract Liseli, he was also keeping guard with his heightened senses, to ensure that Larsan wasn't disturbed during the assassination.

One of Liseli's bites scored a deep gouge across the side of Larsan's nose and lip, while another cut through his thinner summer coat and left a painful mark on his shoulder. Unfortunately for the beta, these hits did little to slow down the big brute. His newest attack went for the side of her neck, down closer to her shoulder. It was while he was trying to sink his fangs deep into muscle and give her another violent thrashing that she managed to kick him hard enough that he slipped on the rocks and fell sideways into the bank of the river. He didn't let go of her though, if indeed he got the bite... Larsan clung onto whatever he could of Liseli's being, while trying frantically to scramble up out of the water before the currents could pull him in further.

Past the splashing and snarling, one of the stag's ears swiveled at the sound of crashing branches. Wolf turned abruptly, eyes wide as he watched in the direction of the approaching stranger. The terrain was too uneven, and the foliage too thick to see Namir just yet, but it was obvious that something big was rocketing their way, "Larsan, there's another!"

Liseli

"Agggh!" Because of the way that she was more or less pinned under Larsan's weight, due in turn to her own foolish rolling toward the water and not paying too much attention to how much she rolled, the male managed to get his grip on her neck relatively easily. And while the other injuries stung and bled, but were otherwise relatively minor, the fangs that sank through fur and skin and into the large muscles made her whole shoulder and neck throb. The yelp turned into a snarl, and she jerked her body away from the grip he'd gotten on her - unfortunately, her timing was very poor, as she pulled away just when he began to thrash his head. The result was that he opened a huge gash along the base of her neck, perilously close to the vital veins there, but thankfully without settling them altogether. Somewhere in the process, she felt his jaws slip from her being, slick with her blood, but soon enough he'd managed to get a grip again, closer to her spine, and she squealed, a high-pitched sound of pain as she folded in on herself, making a desperately shot for his legs and underbelly in a last-ditch effort to get him to let go.

Wolf Eye, Larsan, & Namir

The feeling of triumph began to swell inside of Larsan, before the fight was even over. He'd scored a serious wound on her neck, and her squeal of pain from the newest attack was a sure sign that he'd gotten an even better hold. Perhaps with enough pressure, and a few powerful thrashes, the powerful hybrid could inflict the mortal wound that would end their struggle and send him on his way back to the Ruins in bloody victory. He could just see the look on Cavan's face now! The pain of his own wounds could almost be ignored as he squeezed his jaws and refused to let go, even as he lost his balance and fell under Liseli's kicks. He growl turned sharp for the pain of it, but he was too close now to give up. Just one good thrash... "Iiiike!" That undignified sound came from Larsan, a second or two after he'd gotten the wind knocked out of him by a pouncing Namir, and drew in another breath to issue that sound of pain. The force of the cougar's impact had abruptly dislodged his hold from Liseli, freeing the injured wolfes, and leaving her next to the river bank.

Larsan yelped again and struggling wildly, and yet despite his greater weight, the powerful wolf was no match for the agility and weaponry of a big feline. Namir had gotten across the side of Larsan's back in his leap, and grappled with his paws to secure a hold around the canine's neck. A few seconds later, his long fangs and short, muscular jaws had set into the back of Larsan's neck. A few seconds after that, his spine was severed and the fight was over; because as Namir glanced up, Wolf Eye was already leaping away, knowing he stood no chance against a cougar, especially when his antlers were still covered in velvet, and too soft to be used as weapons.

Liseli

His grip on her, combined with the fall, dragged Liseli down, her back half in the water. The fast-flowing, clean liquid soon blackened with threads of blood here and there, even as she fought and scrabbled to get a grip on the shore and drag herself out before it could sweep her away altogether - it was an effort that had both shoulder and neck screaming with effort, but instinct had taken over now, and despite the pain she forced herself to haul her weight up out of the water and onto the shore, where she promptly collapsed, too exhausted to go further and in too much pain to really focus on the satisfying sound of Namir thoroughly thrashing Larsan. Even the sickening crack and crunch of bone didn't reach her; by the time the wolf was dead, and the deer who'd betrayed her had fled into the forest, the only sound left was the river... that, and the nonsensical mumbling that marked Liseli. Oh, she was known for talking to empty space or into thin air, but at least they were usually real words that she spoke; this was different, in that Namir wouldn't be able to understand her at all. No, whatever it was she was saying, as she lay on the slick, rocky shore, it made sense only in her mind.

Namir

The cougar remained crouched over his enemy for many long seconds, holding tightly to the neck and the severed spine between his stout jaws. He'd watched Wolf Eye turn and bolt, and observed Liseli hauling herself out from the water with painful effort, but still the big cat remained, crouched over the wolf's body until he was absolutely sure that Larsan had no life left within him. Only then did he release his hold and step over the limp body to pad up beside Liseli as she lay there mumbling nonsensical words. "Liseli?" Namir brought his blunt muzzle down closer to the fae's body, close enough that his whiskers brushed over his fur, and his delicate gray-black nose was filled with the stench of blood. "Liseli, can you hear me? Can you stand up?" By the looks of it, he doubted he'd get a response to either of those questions, but the big cat had to try.

Liseli

"Liseli isn't heeere..." The reply was long in coming, after several long minutes of random mumbling. It was singsong and light, in a way that was curiously creepy in the midst of the shed blood and the dead body of Larsan nearby, but she didn't seem too aware of that. She quirked one corner of a loopy smile and tilted her head to one side, her nose twitching to take in Namir's scent, whether or not her mind would make sense of it. "Liseli doesn't liiive here anymooore..." She started to turn her head again, this time to avoid the ticklish touch of his whiskers, but that movement caused pain to light through her neck and shoulders, and elicited a whimper and a flinch from her. She lay still for several seconds, panting for the pain and keeping her eyes closed against the deep crimson that stained her pretty white coat - it was impossible to tell where the black stripe across her nose was, what with all the blood. When the eyes opened again, she whispered, "If you find her... you let me know. And I'll... I'll make sure she dies."

Namir

To hear Liseli speak now almost made the cougar recoil in confusion. He'd always slunk around in the shadows of the territory, never truly being a member of the wolf pack unless it was to help Cortinarri, share some of their meals, or aid them from time to time in various tasks. Thus he'd never gotten a full dose of the beta's insanity, aside from what Cort would confide to him. Her whimper jarred him back to her injuries and away from her mad ramblings, and he flattened his whiskers back against his cheeks and spoke softly in his rich but rumbling voice, "Somehow, I don't think Cortinarri would like that. Come Liseli, I know you're in there and I need you to stand up for me. I'm going to take you back to the packlands." It was clear to him that she wouldn't be walking under her own power, so he had it in mind to either support her partially, or get up under her chest, so that she was supported entirely across his back, with only her hind paws left to drag on the ground. Failing that, it would be a long, arduous trip back to the Aspen Grove if he had to drag her, but he was prepared to do whatever it took to get her back within the safety of their territory.

Liseli

The energy that had been drained from her in the fight for her life - a fight she would have lost, without Namir's help - prevented Liseli from recalling that she usually didn't say these sort of things where others could hear her, these days. Oh, she wasn't any less convinced that the voice in her head was real, but she understood at least that no one else could hear it, and actually often thought her crazy for it. So she mostly kept it to herself now - except right at the moment, she was too weak to fight off the impulse. Cortinarri though... now that name she knew, and immediately it brought to mind the fight she had with the elder right before she'd run off. "Cortinarri doesn't want a rabid skunk inher pretty, perfect life," she spat, when Namir tried to convince her that Cortinarri would be upset if she died. "Or weren't you listening? No, I know when I'm not wanted. Wouldn't want to ruin her beautiful lie.". She rolled her eyes there, still panting, and didn't answer him again. In fact, it was hard to tell she was listening at all, until she began to struggle to get her paws beneath her, when he repeated his request. It wasn't an easy task, but she managed to get upright, which would offer him a precious second or two to nose up under her and get her uP before her knees gave out.

Namir

Fortunately Liseli hadn't said anything about taking Cortinarri out in her current rambling, as she'd been doing earlier, or that would have been cause for considerable alarm with Namir. What Cort had told him was all rather minor stuff, and certainly nothing like he was hearing now, since the beta had been so careful to keep the voice in her head to herself. "I'll talk with her for her, and I'm sure she will tolerate a skunk in the pack." Namir also hadn't heard what Cortinarri had called her friend, or he'd have understood where that comment came from - as far as the cougar was concerned, this wolf was raving mad at the moment and thought she was a striped rodent. "Come on, there you go." Moving in quick, fluid grace, Namir dropped his head down and wedge himself forward, placing his body beneath her chest where she would be resting along his back, just behind his shoulders. With a grunt, the cougar rose up, bearing Liseli's weight, and began the arduous trek back to the Aspen Grove.