Lyckos

The War was not far off. Soon he would have to send emissaries round to call the opposing sides to the designated battlefield, and what would be the bloodied battle in Sparkling Creek's history would ensue. It was not a pleasant thought. The Dane-hybrid had tried to train the newer Lurkers as best he could in the ways of fighting, in the true Shadow Lurker style, the spirit, skill and prowess that ran through the Lurker bloodline, but no amount of preparation would be sufficient for what they would face at Orca Bay.

He would lose yet more family.

Comprehending such a fact is what had shoved him from the alleys. He had to get away from all the faces of those he loved and cared about, to calm himself and collect his thoughts. He could not afford to betray his worry, fear and pain to the pack he was supposed to lead. Those kind of emotions spread like wildfire, and just a flicker can light the flames. No, his pack needed to be strong, needed to present themselves with all their raw power alongside their allies, and remove this new threat from the Valley.

It was easier said than done.

He'd been at the Prairie for about an hour, hunting, to build up strength and remove his mind from the inevitable losses he would face within the next few weeks. He was lying on his belly, like a great brindle sphinx, like a true King of the Lurker pack. His large ears swung up sharply, head alert and hazel eyes scanning the ground around him. The noise had been quite far off, but alone and in times of an upcoming fight, assassination, and attack were not off the cards. He wouldn't put it past Saydin to try such a trick, especially if the alpha of a large enemy pack had foolishly wandered out on his own.

The carcasses of two rabbits littered the ground around his bloodied paws, which were wrapped around a third bunny, already half-eaten and still warm. Deciding that perhaps his ears were deceiving him, given his heightened state of caution with the upcoming fight and the very real threat of danger, Lyckos's broad muzzle sank once more to his prey, and his scarlett-dyed fangs sank into the meat once more, adding further crimson colouring to his brindle face.

Lazjig

Had it been a year, two years now? The weeks and months went by in one big blur, spent mostly in isolation, living on the outskirts of the various packs that were thriving around her. She was an outcast, a refugee in a land that she had once ruled a vast majority of with an iron tooth. Not that she had a strong memory of it any more, as her mind remained hazy and unspecific when she tried to recollect her past life. But the desire to lead and be amongst others was so keen that it ate at her like a physical pain, making her lonely days all the more unbearable. What's worse, it had been months since she last heard of Tumult, the wolf that she had grown to trust, and daresay... love? Now she had Quilikham, the shifty little deer that was always darting about somewhere underfoot. And then there was Velvet, the lioness who would pay her visits now and then, and who she'd been seeing far more of late. They weren't exactly a canine's best companion, or at least they weren't for Lazjig.

As it stood now, the hybrid was once again moving alone across the land, this time without the little muntjac following her like a shadow as she so often did; in fact, Laz was starting to wonder just where Quilikham had gone to, as she hadn't seen her in several days now. Pondering over the deer's whereabouts without too much concern, the tri-toned wolfdog almost tripped over her own paws when an odor hit her nose. She stopped abruptly enough to make some noise, momentarily catching Lyckos' attention as he lay on the ground. Laz froze, analyzing the scent with great care, and cursing to herself when she connected it to the dane-mix she had encountered a while back, along with the others of the pack... she blinked sharply, trying to get the images out of her head. For reasons she couldn't recall, his scent stirred deep emotions in her, emotions that she couldn't decipher or understand.

For a few minutes, Lazjig stood there in a stupor, with her common sense telling her to turn and go the other way. Tumult had told her enough about Lyckos - he and the others were nothing but evil, an evil which Tumult had been kind and brave enough to save her from. And yet... she continued to stand there in the cold winter air, working over the dane's scent again and again, trying without success to understand the thoughts and feelings it stirred in her. Finally, after much deliberating, Lazjig cautiously began to approach Lyckos, moving in slow, even steps, without trying to conceal her scent or muffle her steps. 'This is foolish! You should go back now...' But she didn't listen to her own warnings.

Lyckos

The last fragments of the third rabbit littered the ground, and the dane stood where he had lay, shaking his coat and running his pink tongue over his bloodied muzzle to try and clean it off. He was relaxed. Now quite full, Lyckos took a moment to glance over the Prairie in the vague direction of the alleys. He hadn’t sensed Lazjig, for she was downwind of him, and so he had no knowledge anyone was around him. However, the brief moment he had thought he had heard something prompted him to just sweep his gaze around him, just to be safe, to put his own mind at rest.

Then, he saw her.

It was almost a double-take reaction. His hazel eyes met hers and looked away within a split second, almost as if he hadn’t registered her, for his brain hadn’t confirmed this unknown canine as an enemy, so there was no need to think about it and carried on to scan the rest of the ground, but then his brain realised just who the hybrid was that was approaching him cautiously. Those eyes snapped back to her, consumed with dark fire that burned deep within his eyes, with emotions that were so raw; so powerful. The sudden surge of emotions confused him, made him revert back to his basic instincts, and those bloodied teeth were revealed in all their glory. This burst lasted only a few moments, before Lyckos collected himself. The teeth were covered, but his eyes were not friendly, and his posture was less than inviting.

“I told you to stay away from us, the Lurkers...from me.”

Lazjig

Her mind continued to tease her, at once telling her to turn and leave, and also to stay. What she couldn't understand was why she was drawn to see this brute - she could feel none of the compassion and loyalty that once was bound so strongly in her, nor did she even realize that she'd once loved him more than life. All she had were Tumult's words to go by, speaking of this dane as little more than scum that she should avoid at all cost, lest she be dragged back into the 'despicable' life she'd once been forced to live with the Lurker mongrels. Then why was she standing here...?

The fallen queen's hackles spiked up and her fangs were shown just as readily as Lyckos had, and perhaps a little sooner than he did. Tumult's words drifted powerfully through her mind, guiding her actions and assuring her that he was the enemy, despite the conflicting need she felt to see him again. "Where's the rest of your mongrel pack, dog?" She insulted his title by referring to him only as 'dog' rather than using his name, keen on squashing the urge to see him and set it clear in her mind that he was the enemy. She ignored his warning statement as she stood tall and menacing, flagging her tail in the air to declare her confidence and authority.

Lyckos

Lyckos stood as he would when faced with a disobedient subordinate. He was using his extra height to his advantage to stare down Hydras, making sure to appear as big as possible, and with a posture full of authority and dominance. Confusion ate away at him. Why had she come here? Why had she approached him? She had seemed quite content last time to tear chunks out of her child, and brandish Tumult’s words at them, treating them like nothing but dirt, and dirt to be treated like the ultimate enemy. So why did she come to him? The Prairie was vast, and even if her wanderings had been accidental, she could have just as easily changed direction to avoid him. Perhaps she hadn’t quite forgotten all about him, and something drew her to him. However, with her aggression mirroring his own, it was difficult to believe she still may feel something for him, even if she didn’t understand those feelings herself. Someone would treated him like this was not the someone who once held him in her heart.

Mongrel pack? That prompted a thunderous rumble to tear from this throat, fangs once more revealed to show his obvious dislike of her insult. Ironic, that she would call the pack set up by her parents such a thing, the pack that was full of her blood. It was further proof to the dane that this was not his Hydras. No matter that she looked like her, held that same fire that his mate had, Hydras would not have insulted her own pack, attacked her own son, or spoken to him like this. Never.

“They are preparing for battle,” he snarled back, hoping the tone of his words might shock her mind into remembering something, anything, about the wars the Lurkers had previously been in, and the whole mentality of the pack. Maybe even enough to make her feel the fear of the loss this fight would inevitably bring to the Lurkers, just as he felt, whether she knew why she felt it or not. “We are soon to fight in the biggest war the Valley has ever seen.”

Then, without the anger, or the vicious undertone, he spoke again. Collected, pained, and a little frightened, “You should be with them now. Inspiring them, preparing them. This will be their first battle without their Queen, Hy-...Lazjig. And it terrifies me.”

He couldn't quite bring himself to insult her by leaving out her name. She could not remember their past together, but he most definately could.

Lazjig

There was no Quilikham here to whisper into her ears and remind her that this was the enemy, and that she needed to retreat and stay away from him. Right now, she was working on her own grounds, as uncertain and confusing as they were to her; most of her feelings towards this brute were of misplaced animosity and disgust, born completely of the lies she'd been fed. But it took only that small ounce of uncertainty, from what remained of her broken and clouded memories, to keep her in place and face Lyckos. She met his dominating poses with a stiff-legged, high-held posture of her own, even though it couldn't match the impressive stature of the dane-mix. Her memory was scattered, but her alpha-instincts and bravery were apparently still very much intact.

"Another war?" The hybrid huffed in disgust. The skin along her muzzle wrinkled when she lifted her lips a little more to flash her fangs, "That is all you and your kind ever think about - fighting. With any luck, you'll wipe yourselves out." It was ironic that she spoke of this, for the pack that Tumult had tried to bring her into had been the one that once been the feared power in the Valley that fought for complete domination, whilst the Lurkers fought to retain their honor and to ensure a place in the Valley for themselves and their allies. It only went to show just how corrupt her views had gotten after listening so long to the very few she knew in this world now.

Strangely, something inside her felt vaguely uncomfortable when she spoke those things. Again, she couldn't place what she was feeling, or what had brought about the faint emotions, yet it was enough to rattle her confidence a little. Her tail cricked and her snarl shifted into a deeper tone, as if to cover up for the fact that she was feeling more confused now than ever. "Don't you try to sway me with your words, mutt! I've heard all about you, and..." Working against the pain in his voice that clearly touched something very deep inside her, she tried to shove it away by raising her voice and growing all the more defensive. "..." To her great surprise, her words failed her; she wanted to rage at him, tell him off, or outright attack him, but she could neither take a step closer or bring about another line of cruel snarling. "My place is with Tumult." Wherever he is.

Lyckos

“We fight to protect our home and our allies, and to defend the honour of a pack that your parents built years ago, that you took over, and lead to become one of the strongest packs in the Valley. We still are, we fight to retain that pride, that position, and although are numbers do not rival those of other packs, our skill and close ties with our allies make us one of the most respected packs around. Everyone thinks twice before tangling with the Shadow Lurkers, you made sure of that when you were Queen and Alpha.” Lyckos replied simply, his voice full of the passion and admiration he felt for the Lurkers, but betraying a little the hurt he felt that she was not there with the pack he loved, and that she insulted them so. The pack she had loved, had been so proud to lead, and now she wished them dead? It killed him inside, to hear her speak of all her family like that, never mind his own feelings. Hydras was the Shadow Lurkers, and the Lurkers were Hydras. There would never be another with such an affinity for that pack than she who stood before him. Try as he might to fill the void she left, he could never and would never be able to, even if he wished.

He did not flinch at her snarls or her tone. If she was going to attack him, then she would have by now. After all, this was still Hydras, somewhere deep within that heart, everything about the Queen still dwelled, but her mind had been corrupted, and now that aggression and prowess which she was so well known for was turned on him. Yet, he did not fear her. He could only pity her for accepting such foul lies so easily, and envy how effortless this all was for her, when it killed him to just think about her, let alone stand here and accept every blow she rained down on him with her very presence.

“Tumult...” Lyckos whispered, head sinking a little as his gaze drifted to the grass, a note of defeat and exasperation in his voice, “There was a time I might have disagreed with you, but now, perhaps that is where you belong,” he said quietly, his pain evident. “Just out of curiosity, Lazjig, what did Tumult tell you about me?” Where she shouted at him, full of aggression and fire, he remained cool and aloof, refusing to meet her in a head on collision that would only end up in him hurting himself. He was trying desperately to remain distant, keep up a barrier. He couldn’t afford to let hysteria and old feelings pull him back down when he had only just managed to get over her.

Lazjig

The way that Lyckos spoke, the inflections in his voice... it brought confusion to her. She expected, based solely on what Tumult and Quililkham told her, to hear notes of arrogance and superiority in his voice, or sly phrases that would try and coerce her into joining him and his ilk again. On the opposite end, she'd also been warned that he might feign great sorrow and plead with her to come back. To listen to the way he spoke of his pack and family with nothing but quiet, powerful pride was not what she was expecting. Even less than that, the defeat that was repeated for the second time went against everything she expected to hear from this brute.

"Your words are lies..." The hybrid spoke in a low growl, one that would be hard for Lyckos to hear unless he strained to pick up on those uncertain words. They were spoken primarily to herself, as if to give her a reason to continue not to trust this brute. He was only trying to promote his image in a positive way, and trick her, right? 'But you were born in that pack, weren't you? Before he ever came into the picture...? No!' Without Tumutl or Quil, it was a little harder to keep her thoughts in check, 'I never belonged there...' Contrary to the storm swirling in her head, Lazjig retained a sterner, composed appearance on the outside that betrayed only a hint of the internal struggle. "Tumult told me the truth. He knew where my rightful place was in the Valley, and it was not with you or your kind." Some of her twisted resolve returned, emboldening her words against Lyckos in a way she never would have done before that terrible fight at the Lake. "You are little more than glorified rats living at the heels of the two-leggers society, doing nothing for the sake of your future in this land, aside from surviving in the squalor and shame of the alleys. You do nothing for the better of those living in this Valley." Oh, how ironic those words were, considering what Risen's views were, but it was the only truth she knew, "That is what Tumult has helped me to realize about you."