Tersek & Others

Tersek did not attempt to surprise the Aspen Grove in a quiet, carefully planned ambush. No, he'd already sent forth a war cry at the Ruins, summoning the entire pack to take part in the chorus until it had rolled out across the Valley in a song sure to strike fear in the hearts of all who had heard it. And surely, tucked against the northern hills of the Croal Mountains, the Aspen Grove could not have missed it.

Drekh was at his father's side, and Huerosan at the other. The three wolfdogs were amongst the largest in their pack, and made a formidable trio when they worked together. Behind them traveled Bergamot, Monarda, and Lion. Cavan lead a second group flanking to the left of Tersek's, including Angel, Twilight, Warfell, and Oswega.

Upon reaching the border of the territory, Tersek didn't so much as pause. The canine padded brazenly over the scent barrier and into enemy territory. He didn't even stop when he sent out a short howl, letting the Aspen Grove know that the Haunters had arrived.

Senka

Senka a six hundred pound tiger that had a blueish tint coat with a white underside stood in the very front and center of the group leading them to the grounds. No one messed with the Shadow Haunters and it seemed the others needed reminding that they were a force to reckon with. As she cross the border she released a roar calling the pack to them.

Tyrant followed his mother.He was a tiger Snow leopard cross and you could see the leapard in his bush tail. However he was big and bulky and a blue gray in color. He stood to her right.

MEnace his sister followed by Terserk. She was nearly a pure light bluish gray with faint stripes around her legs and rings on her tail.

Stark the younger half sibling of Menace and Tyrant but of a different snow leaopard father was orange in color with black spotted stripes. Most of him screamed Tiger but his head said Snow Leopard. He followed the group.

Neferetti was smaller then her brother and a bluish color with light bluish spotted stripes and she mostly resembled the snow leopard.

Harbinger Angel was a polar bear Cinnamon bear cross. Though she was the size of the polar bear and mostly white but had some black on her face chest and legs. She stood on her hind legs every now and then as she followed the group.

Hura her polar bear mother followed as well.

Starscream & Others

The search for Sakura had not gotten very far before a dreaded howl echoed across the land. It stopped Scream in his tracks, at once making his blood boil with fury and his heart freeze with dread. His head shot up and turned back in the direction of Tersek's bold declaration, and soon caught the deeper roar of Senka rolling out after her co-lead's cry. The Haunters had arrived.

"We've got to get back with the others. Come on!" Having no choice but to temporarily call off the search for Sakura, Starscream whirled around and plunged through the forest, taking off at lightning speed. Paws flew across the ground and branches snapped and rustled as the alpha tore by them. He needed to reach the densite and join the rest of the pack before the Haunters reached it...

....

While Scream was leading Hulia and Kaina in a frantic dash through the woods, In'Alak found himself separated from Crow and all the others waiting at the den. He'd argued his friend down and stubbornly refused to join the group retreating to the Parnassian Meadows, and being determined to make himself useful during a time of crisis, the wolf had ventured far from the den to scout the territory to prevent any attempted ambushes by the Haunters. Unfortunately, that put him near the boarder of their land, right where Senka and Tersek were leading their troops in.

Alak turned his tall ears towards the sound of approaching feet. His eyes went wide in horror at the sight of so many canines and felines... and bears! Fur bristled along his back, and he contemplated turning tail and running, but doubted he could outrun his enemies with the injuries he had. Nor could he hope to hide when they were this close; they'd sniff him out in a heartbeat. Seeing little other option, In'Alak stood his ground and waited until the Haunters saw him, where he now stood with bared fangs and a stiffly held tail, "Go back where you came from, mongrels. This is not your land."

Senka

Senka watched the group in the distance. Her ears twitched and she looked to the wolf who spoke and she indicated to Terserk to take care of that one. Your pack is the one who started this battle She growled. Soon Star came into site as he was obviously heading back to his group and her eyes were now on him and she began moving toward him and she picked up her pace now making it clear who she was going for.

Tyrant followed his mothers lead and started in toward the group.

Menace stuck with her b rother.

Stark remained back watching.

Nefereti stayed with stark

Harpbringer and Hura moved running at top speed for bears of about 35 mph.

Torek stood up as he noticed the in commers and he howeled as he saw them already charging. He snarled. He looked behind them and smirked.

Crucifix led the ones that would help star back to the territory having heard the calling. He went for Terserk

Bosco the black leapard went straight for Tyrant.

Cross Eyed, Gaara, Halloween, Heten, Lis, Bosco, Nanuka, Tango, the other large cats moved into the gray

The six snakes were curled lightly around Crucifix neck, Nanuka's, Lis, Bosco, Bulldozer & Petri necks.

Bulldozer the carabou lowered his antlers and ran straight into the haunters not caring who he got out of them.

Petri a rhino lowered his own head and ran into the fray as well.

Tersek & Others

Tersek hardly needed the look from Senka to initiate the charge. With his sons at his side, the brute plowed forward like a charging bull, head lowered and jaws beginning to open in anticipation for the bite. In'Alak didn't even get the courtesy of a response for his brave, if not suicidal, attempt at stalling the Haunters.

In the end, the effort proved futile. The Haunter's steady push into the Aspen Grove's land had intersected Starscream's desperate race to reach the den, and he was spotted by Senka before he'd gotten very far. He heard her before seeing her, and at first whipped around with a flash of fangs to deal with whoever dared to charge at him. Upon being met with several hundred pounds of tiger baring down on him however, Scream turned and bolted. Alpha or not, a single wolf had no chance against a big cat like her, so he abandoned his pride and hightailed it through the trees as quickly as his legs would carry him. Somewhere nearby, Scream heard Torek's howl and quickly adjusted his course to run in a wide semi-circle to rendezvous with his packmate...

Drekh and Huerosan broke away from their father as he went for In'Alak. When Crucifix began to close in, both of the massive wolfdogs charged for the alpha to keep him from reaching Tersek. Drekh aimed to slam against Crucifix's side or shoulder and try to roll him across the ground, while Huerosan swept in to snap at his throat or face...

Keap and Crow aimed their sights on Tyrant, snarling and snapping at the big cat to try and separate him from his mother.

Warfell, Angel, and Twilight all went after Bulldozer...

Senka

Senka kept after him. Her ears flat back. She huffed as she shoved off trying to catch up to him.

Torek saw his alpha approaching with a tiger at his heels and he snarled and moved to join his alpha and made to charge the tiger.

Tyrant snarled and stumbled and lashed out with his claws at both of them and his teeth at them.

Bulldozer snorted and lashed out with his antlers and kicked at all of them. He felt teeth in his hind end and spun around to dislodge Twilight.

Crucifix snarled at the ones approaching him and he huffed and lunged at them. His teeth poised for Drekh's throat and a paw lashed out at huerosan to throw him off and he spun around whehter he had the other or not.

Menace joined her borther and attempted to bite down on Crow's head.

Starscream & Others

Between the stark black and white trunks of the birches and the dense underbrush filling the space in between, Starscream could not get an accurate read of how many Haunters had invaded his land. They were a blur of flying fur and flashing eyes through the foliage, and the thump of paws was so great that he couldn't tell if there were fifteen or fifty enemies swarming through the trees. In this chaotic battlefield, possibly outnumbered and sorely outclassed by the veteran fighters, Scream made a hasty decision only moments into the fight, "Retreat!" The alpha's voice, unique for its sharpness, cut loud and clear above the fray around him. It carried out even as Torek rushed to meet him, and as those at the den arrived to counter the Haunters. Even with their timely appearance though, Scream's confidence was shaken, and the call to retreat was not revoked. He continued to run, pushing furiously through the undergrowth as he veered for the steep mountains to their west.

Whatever fear Keap felt had been overrun with adrenaline and the drive to protect his land and family. The wolf easily danced away from Tyrant's slashing claws, then drove in for a bite on the cat's flank. Crow was more heeding of his uncle's commands, especially as two Haunters bore down on him. "Keap!" He snarled urgently at his cousin, but the other was too focused on the battle and scarcely acknowledged Crow. "Keap!" Crow uttered a sharp cry, in the middle of wheeling around and dodging Menace's attack. Fearing his own death, he had no choice but to put his paws to good use and flee after Starscream. Amongst the confusion of fighters around them, and his close proximity to two very angry Haunters, Crow wasn't sure he'd even make it twenty yards, much less reach whatever imagined place of safety that Scream was fleeing to.

The moment that the ground shifted beneath his feet, Crow thought it must be one of the larger animals baring down on him, their heavy weight causing a tremor. When his balance was lost and he fell harshly to the ground, he thought for sure he'd been tackled or tripped. But when he tried to get up, only to be tossed down again, confusion struck the wolf. Then came the horrible roar, bone-quaking in its intensity, and loud enough that it could come from no mere animal. A new kind of fear seized Crow and he struggled for all he was worth to get his legs beneath him and run, but the earthquake that shook the land was so powerful that it cast him back down every time, so that it became a fight just to move forward a few feet.

Starscream, along with everyone else, would find themselves struggling all the same. The alpha scrambled up no more than three times before dropping into a crouch to try and steady himself against the relentless quaking. The distant roar that so terrified his nephew wasn't lost on Starscream either; it grew louder and more intense, and somewhere through all the thick summer leaves and the massive slopes of the mountains, he could hear the snapping of trees and branches. The sudden, violent quaking of the earth was bringing a second threat upon the fighters; a massive landslide...

Kaina

Not a fighter herself, Kaina had kicked into a loping run the moment the chaos had broken loose, keeping pace easily with the much taller Starscream through her deft, sure feet and ability to slide through small spaces between the many tree trunks. She knew that even if the pack stood a chance against the Haunters - which they didn't - she herself was at best no help... and at worst, a liability for the pack to protect. So when Starscream commanded a retreat, she didn't question. She just darted around a bush, ducking beneath some low-hanging branches, and swooped back toward the male, of the mind to stay close to him in all this cha- whaaat?! The earth rumbled under her paws, throwing the lightweight silver fae down, and entangling one of the delicate paws in the leaf litter, branches, and roots below them. A startled yelp and a thump were the first signs of her problem, and before she could try to get up again, the shaking and the deafening noise increased. "Scream!" The terrified cry came out soft as a squeak under the volume of the earthquake, and it was hard to tell whether her fear was due to the enemy around them... or the cascade of dirt, rock, and vegetation that began to quickly overtake them. Tangled in the undergrowth, and unable to exercise her speed and steady paws to get her out of the way, Kaina struggled wildly, fighting to get her paws beneath her. Between that and the thundering of the earth, terror filed the gentle eyes - and then they were gone, lost in the flood of dirt and stone that claimed the land. In the midst of it, it was impossible to tell whether she'd managed to break free in time... our had been claimed by the slide.

Tersek & Others

There was no fear in the heart of Tersek. In'Alak stood no chance against him, and was little more than a warmup before the co-lead would turn his fangs against a more worthy challenge. He could almost taste it now; the blood of his enemies on his tongue, and a whole pack slaughtered at his feet. There would be no survivors. This would be a completely annihilation, and nothing less. The Haunters would show the Valley what they were made of, and what the price of challenging their authority was. The glory and power of it all was intoxicating to the massive wolfdog, and shared in no small part by his son Drekh. As his pack fanned out and began their assault, and Tersek drove headlong into Alak, he felt invincible! The already wounded wolf went down hard when Tersek struck him. Tufts of bloodied fur were cast to the air as he bit into and savaged his foe, while his sons held off Crucifix. The clamor around him only added to the thrill; he could feel the crash of paws and hooves against the ground, hear the heavy breaths and snarls, feel the swish of air as bodies moved past him... feel the earth shake...

Somewhere in the midst of it all, he heard Twilight's startled cry, followed by a harrowing howl from Oswega further up in the hills to his right. At some point, Tersek realized that something was wrong; the exhilarating sounds of fighting had turned suddenly into panic, and he could not keep his feet steady beneath him. A horrible roar, coming from the earth itself, overcame all other noises. The snarls gave way to yelps, the thunderous noise that surged down the mountain became unbearable, and in the span of a few moments, everything went dark and silent...

Starscream & Others

Starscream was frozen for a few heart-pounding moments, watching with utter disbelief as the entire hill seemed to be roaring towards them. Trees were being carried down, some standing defiantly during the ride, while others lurched and fell, or snapped as they became entangled with others. Chunks of rock larger than grizzly bears were hurtling down from higher up, obliterating everything in their paths. One such behemoth came to a stop no less than five feet from the alpha, its wild tumble halted by the base of several old osage trees that stood defiantly in its deadly path. Blinking against the spray of bark and wood fragments from the resulting collision, Scream came back to his senses. He rose partially and tried to sprint, but the earthquake was still tossing the land about in a violent fit. He was thrown down again, and subsequently overtaken by the landslide.

----

The next thing that Scream was aware of was a fading ringing in his ears, and that he was laying on his side. Blinking and lifting his head, he next realized that the ground was no longer moving, and that the area was silent. Eerily silent. No roaring of the earth, no patter of paws, not even the constant chatter of birds greeted his tan ears. Stiffly, the alpha wolf rose to his paws and blinked again, trying to clear grit from his eyes and see through the haze of dust that hung in the air. The land seemed strangely brighter than it had a few minutes ago, and it took Starscream a few seconds to realize why; many of the trees had been plowed over by the massive landslide, bringing down the canopy that offered dappled shade to the forest floor. Gazing at some of the fallen giants, Scream vaguely wondered how he'd survived such a disaster.

His pack! After taking a few moments to fully comprehend what had happened, Scream's thoughts were jarred forcefully back to the last few seconds leading up to the quake. "Keap!" His initial bark was hoarse and followed up with a series of coughs brought on by irritated lungs. "Kaina!" The alpha took a few steps forward, moving uncertainly across the upturned terrain that looked just as disheveled as his grimy, debris-plastered coat.

Kaina*Others

After the deafening sound of the unsettled earth and the snarls and barks of the vicious fighting, the sudden quiet would have been almost peaceful... and yet in this set of circumstances, it was unequivocally the opposite. Silence gave no sign of life, and waking up alone, with no sign of one's family in the aftermath of such a disaster, would be enough to make anyone's heart beat faster. Well... almost anyone. "Vestige?" The familiar voice was peculiarly light and almost frivolous, though that should be predictable enough, given the name she'd just mistakenly called him by. Around the fallen trees and rubble stepped the old, crazy former beta, seemingly detached from the disorder around them, though the mud that stained the rear half of her limping, aging frame indicated that she too must have been caught in the slide. She'd been on her way to the Parnassian Meadows with the rest of the elderly, injured, and pups... but either something had prevented an efficient travel time for them, or the slide itself had carried her back here - it was probably pointless to try to ask the spacey white fae just what had happened. "Oh, Starscream... lands, you do look like your father, especially from a distance." At least she recognized for herself, for once, the difference between her deceased friend and his living son, which was a relatively unusual thing - the only individuals she could consistently recognize were Cortinarri and Darling. "Have you seen your mother? She was just... right here." The black slash of fur in the middle of her face wrinkled some in all-too-familiar confusion; it was well known that Liseli could 'lose' Cortinarri if her old friend merely moved out of sight for a moment or two, depending on how stable her mind was that day. And given that she hadn't seemed to notice his disheveled appearance - and that she did not seem overtly worried about the others despite the destruction that surrounded them - it was quite possible that she wasn't entirely 'there' right now; it was certainly possible that his mother was nearby, but just as likely that she and Liseli had been separated in the quake, as Star and Kaina had. That aside, the alpha himself had plenty more to worry about, starting with the lack of an immediate reply from his small-bodied little friend - either Kaina was at a distance sufficient enough that she could not hear him calling her name... or she was not in a state physically or mentally where she was able to respond.

Tersek & Others

Dual colored eyes cracked open and took in the same scene of ruination that Starscream was struggling to comprehend, and Liseli seemed oblivious to. For Tersek, mentally grasping these radical turn of events came quicker, and without the needless wondering over how and why the land had suddenly turned violent around them. He rose to his feet as quickly as his body would allow, forcefully ignoring the sharp pain that stabbed at his side and the deep ache that hindered mobility in his back and hind leg. As far as the co-lead was concerned, this was merely a break in the battle, and the longer he delayed the more time his enemies had to regroup and make a counter attack. And it didn't take him long to spot the alpha of the Aspen Grove stumbling along not too far off, and just beyond him in the settling haze of dust, was a feeble elder calling out to him.

Tersek took a few steps forward, gauging his physical welbeing as he prepared to launch an attack against Starscream. A nagging discomfort in his hind leg was troubling though, and the feeling of something soft and giving beneath his paw brought the canine to a hesitant stop. Looking down, it took Tersek a second to realize he had stepped on the partially buried body of another canine, and though the fur was covered in mud, he could see bits and strands of black hairs amongst the brown. Tersek's eyes turned to Starscream, cautiously watching the enemy as he lowered his head to sniff at the stranger and discern their identity. Death was hardly shocking to the seasoned warrior, but when the familiar scent of his brother answered his sensitive nostrils, Tersek's heart dropped. "Lion!" The gasped exclamation came out in anger. The brute raised his head and stepped back as the gravity of the situation began to dawn on him. His eyes left Scream and turned to his surroundings, where he saw another clump of fur peeking ominously from the earth around it. He couldn't tell if it was a Haunter or not, but judging by the unnerving silence and lack of commotion around him, the earth had claimed more than just his brother.

"What is this?" The dismay in Monarda's voice was not reassuring to Tersek, but it at least meant one of his fighters was still alive. The brown and cinnamon coated female had avoided getting caught in the slide, having scrambled into the boughs of storm-felled tree just before the avalanche of earth roared over the battlefield. Hopping down from the perch, the wofless zig-zagged across the tangle of plants, mud, and rocks, searching for her offspring and packmates.

"Monarda!" Tersek called sharply to her, "Nevermind the fallen, we need to finish the job we came here for!" Forcefully pushing aside the thought of his own brother and the possible fate of his kin, Tersek looked sharply back to Starscream. Monarda did not respond to him though, as now he could hear her calling for Oswega, her voice growing distant while she traversed the hill she'd last seen the younger wolfdog. "Monarda!"

A third voice sounded from a greater distance behind him. "We can't keep up this fight, not today." Covered in dirt and grime and small traces of blood, Cavan's normally unsettling appearance was greatly amplified a to Cujo-esque level of horror. Despite all appearances however, the elder had also miraculously avoided any mortal wounds, and had rather been tumbled into a ticket of brambles and avoided being dragged down under the mud. He'd also been the first to truly analyze the aftermath of the earthquake, and see that their fighters had been decimated.

Starscream & Others

When Crow blinked, his vision was blurred and greatly irritated by the mud that invaded his eyes. He could feel grit in his ears and in his nose and mouth. Every breath induced an immediate cough. Disoriented and badly winded, the wolf's instincts more or less guided him now as he kicked and clawed and wriggled against the mud and earth that pressed in around him. It felt like an eternity to Crow before he staggered to his paws, and though he'd not been completely buried in the mud, or carried more than a few yards by the landslide, he would have guessed he'd been buried several feet beneath the ground for all that he'd struggled to free himself. Behind him, and slightly off to the right, he could hear his uncle and Liseli. Somewhere to the front, Tersek's thundering voice sounded. Unable to see clearly yet while his watering, blinking eyes struggled to clear themselves of debris, the silvery wolf instantly drew his fangs and bristled his pitifully matted hackles.

In'Alak had also cheated death, first being saved from Tersek's fangs by the earthquake, and then being shielded from the crushing mudslide when a maple tree was felled over him. A cluster of dense branches had crashed down around the wounded wolf, and as the slide rumbled passed, it formed a small air pocket that protected Alak. In the darkness of this makeshift chamber, immensely confused but suffering from no more than a few bruises from his ordeal, he began to claw at the damp ceiling above him.

The moment Starscream heard Tersek, he froze. His tail came up, held high and stiff, even if the clods of mud it carried detracted some from its noble pose. Like Crow, his teeth immediately came into play right alongside a deep snarl. Warily, the alpha stood his ground, unwilling to provoke an attack if Tersek could be convinced by intimidation to back off, yet feeling just confident enough in the shift of power to take a stand and display his willingness to fight and defend his turf. One ear swiveled back when he heard Liseli approach, but he didn't dare turn his eyes away from his adversary, "Stop, Liseli- don't come closer. Go find my mother."

"I'm here." A little breathless, Cortinarri answered her son. The limp she carried was nothing new, and judging by her clean coat, she had been far enough from the unstable hill to avoid the slide altogether. It didn't slow her much in sprinting up beside Liseli, brushing shoulders with her old friend before taking a stand beside Scream. "Stay beside me, Liseli." Preparing to ignore any protest he would have about this, the old wolfess bared what was left of her worn and stained teeth and expanded the impressive mantle of fur around her neck to give Tersek and his cronies one more reason to tuck tail and flee.

The alpha had little choice here; he knew he couldn't talk his mother down, and he seriously doubted he could convince Liseli to do anything her wandering mind didn't want to do. Saving himself the trouble of a pointless argument, Starscream placed all his effort into staring down Tersek, while his ears remained keen for any sound that would alert him to the location of any other surviving packmembers.

Kaina*Others

Confusion was the highlight of Liseli's features, mostly because she had failed to spot Tersek, or even to comprehend the dangerous situation that both the slide and the presence of the enemy put them in. "She was just right here... " the daft old wolf repeated vacantly, still meandering slowly forward... fortunately, a moment later her friend appeared, and she smiled as she returned the accustomed shoulder nudge. Despite her disconnection however, she was ever attuned to Cortinarri; where Starscream's order not to come closer passed right over her head, her friend's instruction to the opposite reached her, and she turned her limping steps to match Cort's, drawing up on her old friend's other side. It took her a moment to figure out what was going on; Tersek was a stranger to her crippled mind, and the amount of dust and haze between them kept her from smelling the stench of Haunter, but the way both Star and his mother bristled at this interloper did send one message through the fuzz - this was an enemy. Lips pulled back fiercely from fangs almost as worn as Cortinarri's, and a guttural snarl played low in her throat for several seconds. It was perhaps unsurprising that of all of them, it was the crazy fae who spoke, if slightly out of turn. "When fails the blood and bone of Aspen Grove, the grove itself rises up to punish you. Flee while you can, vermin - doom lies heavy upon you, while you remain." Like some maddened prophetess, she pronounced that curse upon them, and it was anyone's guess whether she was merely trying to intimidate Tersek, or truly believed the earthquake and consequential mudslide to be the punishment of some sort of arcane deity, dealt join the head of the invading Haunters. It echoed in the stunned silence however, and as well as she meant it, her speech probably muffled any cries for help that might otherwise have been heard. At the least, there was no sound yet to indicate whether or not on of the smallest among them had survived the disaster.

Tersek & Others

Monarda circled back down to the bottom of the ruined hill, stumbling and slipping over the sodden, uneven terrain. Her quest to find Oswega came to a stop sometime between hearing Cavan's orders to retreat, and the growing chorus of snarls from the Aspen Grove survivors. Four of them were now standing, and a nearby howl from Darling signaled the presence of an untold number somewhere beyond the trees that had not been flattened by the mudslide. Out across the plane of debris, the hulking forms of Drekh and Huerosan were the only other two Haunters she saw rise up from where they'd fallen, and even at that both of Tersek's sons appeared injured and struggling to stand. ...Then came the prophetic and deeply troubling words uttered by the white fae standing beside Cortinarri. The message sunk deep into Monarda's psyche, sowing fear in her mind so powerful that she turned away and sprinted several yards back to join Cavan, hastily putting distance between herself and the enemies. "Tersek, we should leave.."

The co-lead growled louder, infuriated by the whimper of terror that laced Monarda's voice, and the cowardice he perceived from Cavan. He gritted his teeth and wrinkled his muzzle back into a truly malignant expression, "Stand your ground, fools! I command it!" Faced with four Aspen Grove wolves, Tersek still did not concede the shift in power, and refused to be cowed by any of them. When neither Monarda or Cavan answered him, he turned his head back furiously, and found them lingering several dozen yards away. When his vicious gaze caught the sight of his two sons standing, the small wave of relief at their survival was followed just as quickly by disappointment; Heurosan was holding one leg above the ground, unable to bear any weight upon it, and Drekh's drooping head and labored breathing spelled defeat in Tersek's eyes. Though they stood loyal;y, ready to fight till the end if their father commanded it, they were little more than fodder now if the fight continued.

The rage that boiled within Tersek was enough to make his muscles quiver. Liseli was the next to fall under his two-toned glare, "This... this is only a delay." Even his words seemed to tremble with pent up fury, "Go on and lick your wounds. We're not finished here." The hybrid's ego was grand, but he had enough cunning and intelligence to know when to call it quits. With more than half of the Haunters still at the Ruins, it would be a simple matter of gathering them and launching a new assault within the week. Tersek brazenly turned his back on Starscream and his family, holding his tail high as he stalked across the great scar that was left across the sundered land. Drekh and Huerosan started after him, hobbling miserably but without giving any voice to their misery. Ahead, Monarda and Cavan disappeared into the forest, and within minutes, the straggling Haunters melded out of sight.

Starscream & Others

Monarda wasn't alone in being creeped out by Liseli's threats. They bothered Starscream as well, though the alpha always tended to find their old beta annoying at best, and outright unsettling at worst. This time around however, her babbling had the unexpected affect of tipping the tide even greater in their favor. It may not have gotten to Tersek, but it had spooked one of his only able-bodied fighters, and resulted in the tattered remainders of the Haunter's great brigade limping away in defeat. Starscream upheld his snarls until every one of them had disappeared into the fog of dust, and only then did he drop his lips and quiet his vocals. Now that the immediate threat was gone, his mind shifted back to the lingering threat, "Mom, you and Liseli need to find the others; send everyone to our den. Have Namir patrol our borders."

The alpha stepped away from Cortinarri and turned his nose to the faint breeze, but it could pick up nothing useful. He turned partially and stepped in a different direction, only to stop and cock his ears, looking in confusion around him. The area of devastation was so great that he didn't even know where to begin searching for Kaina, or whether he could even find her. 'She and Hulia were right behind me, weren't they? Where's Keap?' A different kind of panic kept his heart racing, and lacking any clear direction on where to start, Scream fell back to the tried and true method of uniting lost pack members. Tilting his muddied face back, he issued a long, ringing howl, then went silent to listen for a response.

Kaina*Others

"Tuck your tails and run, lot of cowards, all of you." The old beta's scowl didn't let up, but at least the volume of her voice was such that the retreating Haunters likely couldn't hear her, anyway. Once they were gone, she shifted her weight stiffly, still not entirely healed from the grave injuries she'd sustained courtesy of Larsan, and took a moment or two to look around herself; it was only then that she seemed to become aware of the fallen trees and disturbed earth. Immediate concern consumed her mind - only to be alleviated moments later, when a familiar howl met her ears. "Darling!" Her head turned quickly towed the sound, her voice a mix of relief, and lingering worry. Her young friend was alive, and well enough to make her voice heard, but now that Liseli was slowly coming to the realization of just what had occurred, she felt an undeniable urge to see with her own eyes that the young wolfess was okay. So she was all too willing this time to follow Star's instructions, and turned away to seek out Darling.

Nonononono! Dark... darkness, and silence. After the roar of the angry earth, it was sudden and terrifying; almost moreso than the initial most of the quake. The fae's muscles quivered, and her panic-stricken mind made no effort to still the shaking. She could not draw enough calm thought into her mind to accomplish that, but neither was she pacing the confines of the dirt tomb that had closed around her - she was immobilized by her fear, curled in a heap where she'd awoken. It hadn't even occurred to her yet that she could breathe quite easily, and thus couldn't be completely buried... her ordinarily calculative, sensible brain could encompass only one thought, over and over: she had been near-deafened by the thundering of soil and vegetation... and now... she was alone.

Starscream & Others

Several moments passed in silence before Liseli was answered by the younger fae. She emerged from the standing trees with a muddied and disheveled Starwhisper slinking beside her, and looking only marginally less disastrous herself. But the two she wolves were striding under their own power, with only a few scrapes and bumps for their unexpected adventure. "Liseli, grandma!" Darling's ears came up, looking large against her face, where the soft colored fur was flattened down by mud. "I can't find the others, Whisper and I got separated from them... are you okay?"

One of Scream's ears rotated back, taking in the voice of his daughter and the mention of the younger. With Cortinarri and Liseli to care for them and corral the rest of the adolescents, the alpha focused on the five adults that had been near him in the fight. Hearing no answer for his previous howl, he pressed forward and began to zig-zag across the land in much the same way as Monarda had, all the while taking frequent, short pauses to listen to sniff. A growl vibrated through his chest when he passed by the exposed body of a fallen Haunter, but the black-faced canine was still and silent in death. Starscream didn't linger for more than a few seconds over the muddied enemy, only investigating long enough to ensure that this nameless foe was well and truly dead. Then he was back to scouring the upturned land, his eyes searching for a splash of white fur, a flicker of movement, or any sound that would pinpoint his loved ones.

Kaina*Others

Immediately, Liseli turned her gimpy steps to meet young Darling, offering the muddied fae a nuzzle, followed immediately by a through investigative sniffing, to check for any injuries that she couldn't immediately see. As it was, the alpha's daughter was unharmed, and though she and her younger half-sister were covered in clay and grime, they were both sound enough to alleviate her fears. Even little Whisper got an attentive exam from the erratic wolfess before at the female allowed her attention to be pulled elsewhere. "At least you're alright... Scream was just saying- well now, where did he go?" She was relatively sure that he'd just been right here... her brow creased in confusion once more. Had she lost track of someone again?

That was just a teasing thought though, not unlike the frightening things that were playing over and over through Kaina's mind, keeping her from doing anything to help Starscream find her. She was too terrified to move, or even call out for help, and most of her scent had been washed away with the moving earth. Where...? Starscream? Where did everybody go? No, no! Stop! Her panicked train of thought elicited a terrified whimper, sharp and high in the post-quake silence. That would be the first sign of any kind of life, if he was close enough to hear her.

Starscream & Others

Back went Darling's ears, laying almost flush against her head as she padded forward and met Liseli halfway. She stretched her muzzle forward to touch her snout and forehead against the elder's neck, then licked at her muzzle and chin in open affection, rather than the submission she'd instinctively show others. "Whisper and I are okay, I think... I-I don't know about the others. Everyone just sort of scattered when the ground started to shake, and with all the noise..." For the most part, Darling held still as she was investigated by Liseli, other than turning her head back to give the beta a few careful sniffs herself. Starwhisper endured the attention in much the same, especially as Cortinarri reached the trio and shared a few nuzzles with her family and friends, then joined Liseli in making sure that none of them were seriously wounded.

"Alak? Alak!" Crow's startled bark nearly diverted Starscream from his own course. The alpha stopped and looked to his nephew, who'd begun to dig furiously at the mud, branches, and caked leaves above In'Alak's cramped tomb. Just as he was lifting a paw to swivel back and aid in the rescue, a muffled whimper managed to reach him. It was much closer to him than Crow was, and even coming through the thick and matted debris, Scream's sharp ears recognized the voice. "Kaina!" The big wolf turned abruptly, putting his head down as he guided his ears towards the ground. The flicked and rotated, seeking out her voice as a guide to lead him to wherever she lay hidden. "Kaina, where are you?" His movements slowed in a deft, meticulous pace to cover the ground around him, and while his ears were poised and listening, his eyes were searching for any sign of movement in the mud, or a hollow where she might be laying in.

Kaina*Others

The series of licks she received from Darling were quickly returned, targeted at the younger female's ears and ruff, both cleaning away some of the mud and simply enjoying the affection. Her young friend was always the most willing to get cuddly with the aging, daft beta, and the touch itself helped to alleviate the deeply imbedded loneliness and isolation that constantly plagued her. That, in turn, helped to stabilize her mind, enough where she could carry on a relatively normal conversation. "Your father is looking for the others now - he wanted all of us..." She paused, randomly forgetting what she was talking about, but she glanced to Cortinarri for help, and undoubtedly the ex-alphess could finish that sentence for her, and begin to corral them toward the den.

'Alak? Alak!' The voice was distant, but still her highly-sensitive ears picked up on it. She never twitched though, the sounds not making it home into her brain in and of themselves; to her shocked mind, the words were just more noise, and she flattened her ears down over her head until the muscles screamed from the effort. 'Kaina!' That voice was closer, clearer, and it too was heard only as noise, and elicited another whimper, which would help Starscream hone in more in her location... until the disturbed soil slipped and gave a bit beneath him. He'd stumbled over a pocket of air that had been concealed by the dirt, and below him, the pitiful whimper transformed into a yelp of terror. Next came the scrabble of paws, followed by another yelp; the small shower of dirt that had been created by the male's misstep had unleashed the panic that had been keeping Kaina still in her dirt prison, and the wild struggle that was born of her fear had worsened the problem. She wasn't really in immediate danger, so long as no more dirt collapsed, but her fear had just jumped up a notch.

Starscream & Others

While advancing age was robbing Cortinarri of many things physically, her mind had yet to falter under the weight of so many years, and remained as sharp as when she'd first stepped foot in the Valley. Where Liseli slipped, Cortinarri was there to guide, "He's ordered us to the den. We'll gather there, and call to rally the pack." The elder's thin summer coat was soon marred by filth after mingling with the other females, but she didn't mind this. Once everyone was gathered and the pack organized, a massive group grooming session would likely be in order. "Come on now, lets get away from this hillside." With a few nudges to her granddaughters and a flick of the tail against Liseli, she began to lead the way to the pack's familiar rendezvous.

Meanwhile, as the rest of his family evacuated the ruined land, Starscream and Crow continued their search for the fighters that had been caught in the middle of the slide. As Starscream pivoted and altered his steps after hearing the second whimper, his paw sank abruptly into the ground. The alpha shifted his weight back instantly and scrambled aside as some of the soil fell inward, at first afraid for his own safety. When sounds of panic came from below however, concern leaped straight back to Kaina, "Kaina! Are you hurt?" His immediate thought was that she was wounded, and he'd inadvertently stepped on her, or collapsed enough dirt down on the small femme to cause more damage. Whatever the case was, she was not doing well, and her terror spurred him into action. Starscream only briefly contemplated the depression in the soil before he began to dig at it, using his large paws and sturdy black claws to fling earth behind him. "Hang on!"

Kaina*Others

"The den. Of course." As though she'd known that all along, Liseli turned her body in the mind of heading toward the den... and promptly turned around when the tap of Cortinarri's tail subtly let her know that she'd turned not toward the den, but toward the edge of their territory. Not commenting on that, she took her stride beside her old friend, her limping gait a fairly good match for the ex-alphess' bum ankle so that neither of them needed to feel hurried. " Anyone who is able will come to the den," she went on, apparently feeling the need to contribute. "Those who are not able, our fighters will be more able to assist than we will. Come nightfall, we'll all be picking the mud out of our coats." Consciously or not, she spoke just as though she expected that everyone had just gone for a walk and would be back for supper.

After a couple of moments of mindless, panicked flailing, Kaina grew still again, backing away from the place where the dirt had fallen and crowding herself into one small corner of her relatively-spacious enclosure. If she'd had the presence of mind, she might have noticed that she could move around quite easily, and indeed it was possible that she could have been a help to Starscream in digging her out, but as it was, doing nothing to endanger herself further was as much as she could manage. He didn't even get another answer from her, but as he dug down, he would be offered a hint of hope, in discovering exactly how she'd managed to get buried; before he got too far, he'd hit solid, undisturbed earth - this was the face of one of the many small overhangs that littered their hilly land. Apparently, at some point after the landslide had swept her up, she'd had either the presence of mind or the dumb luck to get shelter at the base of one of those cliffs, which then allowed the cascading soil to fly out over the cliff and avoid sweeping her further on... though the backlash of it had buried her. If he changed direction a little though, and kept going, after a few feet, he would find her huddled, muddied little frame, quivering in a bath tub sized mud opening at the bottom of his hole.

Starsceam

The silence of the land was bothersome to Darling and Starwhisper. The birds had not yet begun to sing again, and the summer chorus of insects had all but vanished. The land itself felt tense beneath her paws. Almost mincingly, the she-wolf traveled alongside Liseli on their way back to the den, staying wordless herself while the elders spoke. It was Cortinarri who addressed her friend, "A trip to the lake might be in order, as well. With luck, the earthquake might have also provided us with a meal from our enemies." Or allies. Rather than referring to the fallen wolves that her son had already come across, it was the larger adversaries - the horses and big cats - that Cortinarri was thinking of. When it came to filling her belly, she was hardly above feasting on any of them, or perhaps any of the non-canines from Crucifix's pack, including the large bull elk.

Food was the furthest thing from Starscream's mind right now. He was focused on reaching Kaina, and smart enough in his endeavors that he did not dig directly down, but at an angle that would hopefully prevent him from dropping straight through the ceiling of her makeshift tomb, or collapsing all the dirt down upon her. Aiding the alpha was the looseness of the dirt and mud, making it easier for his claws to rip through and shovel away large chunks at a time. A pile of earth had begun to form behind him in short order, and after several minutes of this frantic effort, a panting Scream finally hit a hollow. A few inches of soil gave way beneath one paw, and the scent of Kaina greeted him strongly. "Kaina!" He called again and began to claw more frantically at the dirt, tearing through the small hole and enlarging it until he could just squeeze his head and shoulders inside, and that's precisely what he did. Wiggling forward, until only his tail and hind legs were poised outside of the hole, Star relied on his nose and whiskers to locate the female, which was fairly easy considering the small size of the airpocket. His snout brushed against her back first, and he found it to be quivering, "Kaina, are you hurt? Can you move?"

Kaina*Others

The fuzzy shape that his nose touched was still and quiet, but the trembling at least would clear up one great he could have potentially had; his sweet natured little friend had not been crushed to death by either the mudslide, or the partial collapse of the loose earth only moments ago. And indeed, she gave a squeak of fear at the touch the finally laid itself to her back, and flinched harshly, but she'd simply run out of room to wiggle away. Next came a voice, not muffled by dirt and distance... and perhaps that was why she heard words this time, and not just noise. "Starscream?" It was a whisper, but soon after, there was the soft sound of sniffing; she'd put her nose to work, and once that barrier was crossed, her keen senses identified him with ease. Another whimper erupted, sharp and urgent, as she squirmed around in the hole until she could face him. And once her eyes confirmed what her ears and nose had told her, she pushed herself forward and buried her face in his ruff, still shaking. He didn't get an answer to his question, but she was mobile enough to turn in the hole so that she could crowd up beside him - so she couldn't be too badly injured.

Starsceam

He vividly recalled that first night they'd met, where the small fae had been so thoroughly frightened by the thunder. It was a crippling fear, and at the time, Starscream couldn't deny he'd taken advantage of the situation by some small degree to show off his chivalrous qualities. This time around, there were no hidden intentions or veiled motives behind his actions; his only thought and concern was to free Kaina and hope that she had not been grievously wounded in the slide. His nose twitched in the darkness, trying to work pass the heavy musk of wet earth and damp fur to discern whether or not the odor of blood lingered in the air.

"Hey, I'm here." The whispered voice that Kaina spoke in was greatly welcome to the alpha, and he murmured back in a quieter tone himself. He soon found out the wolfess was at least somewhat mobile, because she'd shifted around and now buried her face in his ruff, to which he responded by draping his head over her neck. For several seconds he stayed silent, crouched awkwardly but strongly, half in and half out of the airpocket, providing Kaina with the support and reassurance that her frazzled mind desperately needed. After that, and without withdrawing his muzzle from where it rested over her muddied nape, he murmured again, "Can you stand? This mud isn't stable."

Kaina*Others

For several moments, there was silence, broken only by the sounds of each of them breathing, and the rustle of fur as he turned his muzzle down to hold her securely. She wasn't really aware of the awkward position he was left in physically as he moved to comfort her, but after a lengthy pause he spoke up again, and that seemed to reach her, because after a second or two, she finally let out a long sigh, and drew back enough to look at him. It was then that he would she a small splash of crimson, from a superficial cut below one of the warm, honey-colored eyes, but she nodded. "I... I think so." That prompted her to test out her legs, and when she placed her left forepaw to the ground, she flinched - that was sore. "Sprained," she mumbled, mostly to herself, but at least her voice sounded more normal and analytical - this was nearly the same tone she'd used the first day they met, when she was explaining the details of his homeland that he himself had never noticed. And then, louder... "But not broken. I can manage." She was still shaking a little, and would likely stick close by him for some time to come, but she was making a conscious effort to move forward now. "Who else are we missing?"

Kurok & Torek

Crucifix pack and herd had taken off as soon as the quaking earth subsided and they had run from the quake.

Kurok had stumbled from who ever he had been fighting. Blood had already been dripping from his left shoulder and he snarled as a tree branch nearly pierced him as it fell to the ground. He had been shoved a side and he heard his brother howl of pain. When he looked over he saw fresh blood lining his side where the branch had scraped against him. He moved to his brother despite his own injuries and began helping him to ward the denWe're hereHe said as he approached the groun.

Torek seast his fighting when he heard the snap of a tree close to his brother and he saw the branch falling point first toward his brother and he lunged forward knocking him out of the way. He felt the broken part of the branch slice across his side and he howeled in pain. With his brothers help he made it to the den nad laid down on his good side panting.

Starscream & Others

Once the scent of blood was discovered and the source pinpointed, a pink tongue was soon out and working over the small wound near Kaina's eyes. With all the mud and grime they were both covered with, he couldn't hope to fully clean the wound and surrounding area without spending considerable time at the task, but he at least had the goal of clearing away some of the crimson and, if nothing else, trying to make her feel safer. Once that was accomplished, Starscream started to scoot backwards out of the hole as the wolfess minced forward, "A sprain? Can you make it back to the den on that?" A few more shuffling steps, and Scream cleared the small hole and stepped aside, making room for Kaina to crawl out next. "I heard Torek, and Crow's here... he's with Alak." Back in the bright sun, the alpha surveyed the land around him again, having not seen Kurok before he aided his brother back to the den. After seeing his mother and Liseli earlier, he presumed the rest of the pups were with them, and could only hope that Dove and Silence were also among that group. "I... I haven't seen-"

"Dad?" Panting heavily, Keap's timely arrival stayed his father's words. The brown and cream wolf looked just as disheveled as they did, only his dark jaws and muzzle were stained with blood that tinged his teeth and the long tongue lolling from his mouth. "What was that? Who do you have... oh, Kaina?" The brute came forward under the easy stride of his own legs, showing no obvious limp or trouble in his movements.

----

Back at the densite, Cortinarri was just arriving with Darling and Starwhisper when they found Kurok and his brother already there. "Thank our ancestors, you two made it." The elder shewolf exclaimed as she hurried forward, departing from Liseli in order to investigate their beta and his sibling. Hovering over Torek, she sniffed at the wound spread across his side before beginning to lick at it, "How badly are you two injured? Darling- come over here and help Kurok."

The younger wolfess obeyed promptly. After giving Liseli a small nudge and leaving her sister with the elder shewolf, Darling trotted forward to begin cleaning his wounded shoulder. Unlike with Cortinarri, Darling's ears were pinned back, and each touch of her tongue was softer than her grandmother's, solely because she was dealing with the beta of the pack, and she herself was rather low on the hierarchy totem.

Kaina*Others

She blinked her eye closed as he cleaned gently beneath it, an instinctive reaction more than anything, but though it must have stung a bit to have that wound in such a sensitive area, she didn't flinch, indicating still further that she was recovering some of her composure. Indeed, despite the extra bit of discomfort for having that area touched, she seemed to enjoy the thoughtful gesture, and only opened her eyes again when he continued speaking. "Yes, I'll make it," she replied, when he expressed his concern over whether she'd be able to get to the den under her own power. Getting up the incline he'd dug to her would be something of a task, but she was confident that she could do it, and then it would be relatively easy to travel the distance required on her three good legs, once she was on flat ground. So she squirmed out of the hole behind Star, her beautiful bright silver coat stained dark with the mud, and stepped up immediately beside Starscream. She might be acting more like herself now, but this action - when she'd been so careful up to now in her interactions with the flirtatious male - indicated that a fair amount of fear still remained in the small wolfess. She soon had somewhere else to put her mind though, as her friend's grown son appeared at the top of the rise and stood looking down at them. "Keap!" Light and pleasant, her voice betrayed a sense of relief. "At least you're alright." The alpha's son wasn't, perhaps, the easiest to get along with, but Kaina was too bright to fall for some if the harder edges of his personality; she'd been in the pack long enough now to hear rumor that the cream and brown male had been something of a Mama's boy, and she imagined that a fair portion of his sometimes-abrasive manner could be attributed to missing her, now that she was dead. She'd never did anything to anyone about it, last of all Keap himself, but she did have that belief in her mind, and as such did not feel the tension that his own sister and father experienced with him. So her words were not affected or awkward; this was a simple statement to indicate that she was glad he'd escaped serious injury in the slide - unlike their beta and his brother, whom everyone was moving to attend to at the den... well, all except Liseli, who had returned Darling's nuzzle... and then wandered of into a corner to talk to the rocks there. At least where she was, she was not in anyone's way, and there was next to no chance of her sneaking out around them all and getting lost in the terra while it was in such disarray.

Torek & Korek

Torek was glad to see a few others and he sat down and closed his eyes.Mostly just my side the others are just scratchsHe said calmly wincing when she first began cleaning but settling into it soon after.What about you?He said opening his eyes and looking her over.

Kurok sat down . My shoulder is the worstHe spoke calmly. He watched the younger wolf approach him and he let her making sure his body posture showed it was alright.thanksHe said.

Starscream & Others

Keap took Kaina's words with little more than an acknowledging glance before he was tilting his stained muzzle upwards at a very faint, incoming breeze. "The Haunters scattered for good then? There's one back there that's not going anywhere at least." A backwards flick of an ear, in the direction he'd approached from, suggested the corpse of another enemy lay that way. With the fresh blood around Keap's muzzle, there was little wonder how they'd met their fate.

"Cavan survived it, along with at least four others, but that's all I saw. They didn't stay long after recovering themselves." Starscream answered back. He hadn't missed his son's flippant attitude towards Kaina, but this was hardly a situation to pick at Keap's lack of social niceties, and so he let it go without comment. Standing close beside the smaller fae, it was clear enough that he was protective of Kaina, and for several long moments he stayed right there. "Have you seen Hullia? She was with us before the fight broke out." The alpha's mind switched between the potentially missing pups that were traveling with his mother, to the one they knew for certain was gone. He looked down to the shewolf at his side, "Did you see which way she went, before the quake?"

Hulia

Hulia had planned on meeting up with her sister and the pups but the fight had broken out and then the quake. She was alive but one of her back legs was now stuck under a small boulder that hse couldn't move on her own and she was sure that leg was broken. She regained conciousness and sent out a loud howl just praying an ally came and not the enemy.

Kaina*Others

She didn't seem upset by Keap's rather glancing, not terribly friendly reply to her words. It was one of those things, like Liseli's inability to recognize her most of the time, that Kaina had simply accepted. And if she noticed that it had annoyed his father, she did not indicate it: this was a matter between father and son, and she had no place to either discuss it or pass judgment. So she too let it pass without comment, focusing now as the rest of them were about the safety of the rest of the pack. When the question came up as to where Hulia might be, she adjusted her position beside Starscream, and shook her head slowly. "I didn't see her... the slide took me up too quickly. But I heard her." From the small fae who was prone to counseling others not to rely so exclusively on their eyes, that statement was perhaps expected. Among all the noise of the angry earth, the fighting around them, and her own fear of loud noises, she'd still heard the larger female, and identified her voice out of the cacophony of sound. To help her concentration, Kaina closed her bright eyes, leaning a bit against the male to alleviate the strain on her sore leg, and after a moment, she spoke again. "She was ahead of me... and to the right. On the other side of the trees-" Without opening her eyes, she turned her nose in a certain direction, indicating where she herself been running, right before the quake; the eyes of her packmates might fail them in identifying the familiar features of their home after the quake and following slide had changed the terrain so much, but Kaina's innate sense of direction told her exactly where she herself had started from, and from there, she could calculate how the slide had occurred, and what direction the earth had primarily moved. "If I was over there..." Now she was mumbling almost to herself, putting her mind to work, and her muzzle kept turning. When at last it stilled, pointing in one definite direction, she opened her eyes again. "That way. I would recommend starting the search for her in that direction." She sounded sure of that, and moments later one of the large, soft ears twitched that way too, and her eyes widened - she, at least, had heard Hulia.

Starscream & Others

Since Kaina's arrival in their pack, her well refined senses and razor-sharp memory had quickly become her most prominent attribute - Scream's opinion on her appearance aside - and a promising addition to their group. That talent came into play now as their attention turned prominently to the family and friends not yet accounted for. Both Starscream and his son were silent to give the small fae time to recall the moments just before the slide, and what she remembered of Hulia's last movements. Given a few moments to draw up those details, Kaina was soon pointing out the likely direction of their missing friend. The two males followed her pointing muzzle, seconds before Hulia's own voice sounded in the distance, coming from the direction Kaina had predicted.

Starscream flinched, his muscles tensing suddenly, then holding position. His instinct was to bolt in Hulia's direction, spurred by the desperation of her howl, but Kaina's body leaning against his was enough to keep his paws planted; he could not leave her alone, lame as her leg was, nor could he expect her to cross the rugged terrain to find Hulia. "Keap, go to her! I'm going to guide Kaina and the other's back; call for us if you need more help." His son wasted no time before bolting away, shoving off under powerful paws without a hitch or gimp, and again showing that he'd somehow come out of the ordeal nearly unscathed. Scream turned away from the rapidly departing male and nodded in the direction of the den, though one ear remained back to listen for any calls for assistance. "We're not terribly far; let me know if you need to stop and rest." With Kaina leaning against him, he allowed her to make the first move, and would follow her step for step in case the the shewolf needed his support.

While they were making their way for the den, Keap was just reaching the boulder and the wolf pinned beneath it by her leg. He halted initially, eyes wide and mouth slightly agape as a low curse left it. "Can you pull it out?" Keap's first hesitant suggestion didn't look too promising, and judging by the size of the rock and the position of her leg, he could only imagine it was broken. "Hang on, I'm going to try and dig away some of this mud..." The wolf move in closer, first nosing around the base of the rock, then digging experimentally near it and Hulia's trapped limb.

Hulia

Hulia wasn't sure how long she'd be concious the pain was excruciating. She kept the howl going till she saw Keap and then she stopped and just rested her head on the ground. IF she had energy left she would of snapped at him about how she already tried that.Nowas her only response to him as she watched him not really sure if it be enough but it had to be, Cause if it wasn't they would either need a huge animal or two leggers and their machines.

Dove & Numinex

Dove had been away from the pack during the quake, teaching Numinex how to hunt. The coyote pup learned rather slowly and repeated many of his mistakes. It was something Dove expected; the pup had spent his life in captivity and never had a chance to hunt. Numinex was clumsily stalking a mouse when the ground began to shake. Before he had time to react, mud tumbled down the slope, bringing trees and rocks along with it. The pup bolted down the hill in a futile attempt to escape the landslide. It consumed him.

Moments later, he managed to make an opening for himself, and due to his small size, he was able to squeeze out. Shakily, he traversed the mess of mud and debris. He had a limp and a large sliver of wood had pierced his hip. That was nothing compared to Dove's injuries, though. Upon reaching the saluki, Numinex found that while she hadn't been completely buried, she was trapped by an aspen tree. A small boulder had not only crushed her leg, but had snapped it off halfway down. Dove was barely conscious, likely due to the shock. Numinex himself was too weak to travel down the hill to request help from the pack. He could only hope that they would come nearer and discover them.

Kaina*Others

The sound of Hulia's howl awakened anxiety and protective instincts in everyone, even Kaina, who was hardly of a size to be able to rescue anyone, even when she was completely well and hale. As it was, with her leg in the shape it was in, she was next to useless, and recognized that any effort on her part to aid the trapped and distant female would likely only end up with her injuring herself - and possibly Hulia - further in the process. And then of course, they would both have to be rescued again. No, as much as she wanted to help, her better prevailed, as Star's had, and when he began slowly moving forward to help her to the den, Kaina followed, her gait relatively adept for one walking on three legs, especially once they reached the top of the incline and the ground levelled out some. "I'm alright, really. Not my first time gimping a bit." Her words implied confidence in her ability to get to the den unaided, and Scream had gotten plenty of opportunity to learn that if Kaina said she could do something, she always could... but despite her words, she never drew away from him, seeming to draw subconscious comfort from his nearness. She walked beside him in silence for awhile, concentrating intently on where she was placing her paws, and though now and then he might glance at her and note that her eyes were closed, she didn't seem to be having an inordinate amount of trouble getting around, or being experiencing any major pain; likely, she was exercising the touch of her paws on the earth, along with Star at her side, to guide her. Once, her ear twitched, and she leaned a little against the male's shoulder, not for weakness or pain, but to make him turn. "Air pocket dead ahead. Course correction." After the silence, her voice was quiet, almost mechanical - focusing on her world of minute, refined details was her effort to calm herself.

Starscream & Others

If Keap was at all concerned about how weakened Hulia was, it showed more in his efforts at trying to free her, rather than in his voice or the words that came from it. "Can't you wiggle it out? Ancestors... that's really stuck under there." In the middle of trying to excavate the female's leg, he stopped to examine just how much of her leg was stuck, and whether it would be feasible to grab her limb and try to yank it out, or whether a bit more digging would free it. More grimly, Keap acknowledged the possibility of having to severe the very end of her leg to free her. "Can you feel your paw under there?"

----

At the den, Cortinarri carried on with her ministrations, clearing mud and grit from Torek's wounds to discourage infection and promote clotting and healing. "No, we were lucky. The quake scattered us, but only Darling, Whisper, and Liseli were caught by the edge of the moving earth." The elder wolf explained, even though the details of that frightened event were a little fuzzy to her, in the haze of panic and confusion. In truth, she felt much stiffer now than before, and had a few new bruises hiding under her pelt, but over all the group that had been heading for the Parnassian Meadows had larger avoided the deadly mudslide. "I haven't heard from Tay and the rest of the adolescents yet; once Starscream returns, we'll call to them again and send out a scouting party. It's my guess that they fled across the boarder when the earth started to shake."

Darling was worrying about her missing siblings too, as well as Hulia's young. The shy fae remained wordless however, her ears laid back against her skull while she worked over Kurok's shoulder. Starwhisper was likewise silent, and crouched in a muddied heap next to Liseli and her audience of rocks.

----

Starscream wasn't about to step away from Kaina, and had she insisted on it, he would have sternly held his ground anyway. And yet, the wolfess herself, after proclaiming she could manage with her wounded leg, had decided on her on volition to walk shoulder to shoulder with the alpha. "You better rest on that for a few days. My mom, she hurt her ankle years ago; long before I was born, and she still has a limp on it to this day." While Kaina was focusing her mind on all the little details around her to to steady her razzled nerves, Starscream was using conversation to achieve the same thing; not only for himself, but for the small wolf at his side, whose frequently closed eyes told him just how much fear she still harbored. That paralyzing fear didn't entirely rob her mind thankfully, and she saved them both from more harm by guiding herself and Scream away from what would have been a dangerous cave in. Trusting her without question, the big male adjusted his course around the indicated area, "Good find; I wouldn't want to have to dig you out a second time."

-----

With no howl to pinpoint their location, no one was aware of Dove and Numinex's plight. Starscream had not seen either of them prior to the fight, nor during the evacuation of the pups and elders, and so had no idea if the two were even within the territory anymore. It was only by pure luck that Namir chanced upon them as he came sprinting through the woods, traveling swiftly from the south. It was with confusion that he stumbled out of the woods and onto a plain of felled trees, mud, and upturned earth, cutting a clear swath through several acres of Aspen Grove territory. It reminded him of the total destruction humans could inflict on the land with their machines, but... there weren't any humans here. Could the shaking earth have caused this much damage...? These questions didn't linger long on the cat's mind, not when he saw Dove and Numinex, and the pitiful shape both were in. Uninjured himself, Namir quickly padded forward and looked over the two, "Numinex, dig around her, where she's pinned under the tree. I'll pull her out." The cougar's paws were not equipped to do that task, but he did have the strength to haul the saluki across the ground if she could be freed, and drag her back to the den.

Hulia

Hulia rested her head on her paws as she watched him seemingly futile efforts to dig her leg out. She let out a loud yelping howl as the boulder seemed to sink even more down thanks to the mud that he got away.stop digging its only making it worse!She whimpered desperatly trying to stay concious. No I can't feel my lower half of my leg at allShe said.

Korek listened to the others as she spoke and he sighed.I'm sure their fine, they probably ran to parnessian meadow like they were suppose toHe said quietly.

Torke sighed and listened. He began to groom Cortinarri.

Dove & Numinex

With every step, the spike of wood in Numinex's thigh ripped at the skin and muscles. The pain would have been more noticeable if not for the numbing shock brought by what just happened. The pup avoided putting pressure on that leg. Right now, he just had to take care of Dove, his adoptive grandmother.

The arrival of Namir got a relieved sigh from Numinex. He paced uneasily until given an order by the big cat. "She's got no leg no more," he informed before promptly beginning to dig around the saluki. Indeed, her left front leg had been snapped and forcibly amputated halfway down. Perhaps it was for the better that mud caked what was left; it had stopped some of the bleeding.

"Silence..." Dove whimpered softly. "Where is she? And the pups?" Neither Silence nor the pups of Glider and Hulia had been seen since the landslide. Hopefully, they fared better than Dove.

Kaina*Others

"She manages it well," Kaina replied with a nod. "But it's probably sensitive to temperature, and any time she has to put her weight on the ball of her paw, it stretches the tendon uncomfortably. Likely, it healed oddly after the initial injury, and it catches up short in her hip and makes the ankle joint cramp as a result of the tendon not extending properly." Like anything else, it was almost expected that Kaina would have noticed the ex-alphess' limp, and studied her gait carefully enough to have a fairly good idea as to the cause of it. A moment later though, she smiled a little timidly, almost as if she expected the earth to begin crashing again as a result. "And somehow, I can't see your mother listening to anyone who was trying to make her rest it." That was a very soft joke against the absent, stubborn queen, which she would never have made if they are within hearing range of Cortinarri herself. It was also a sign, however subtle, that his tactics were working; her choice to remain leaned lightly against him as they walked, in combination with the conversation, was helping to dig her out of her fear, as surely as he'd dug her out of the earth only minutes ago. It was enough that she even laughed very softly at his suggestion that he would have needed to rescue her again, if she hadn't noticed the potential danger. Without commenting on it further though, she kept walking beside him, and after a few more moments of quiet, she spoke again, more softly and seriously. "He was the only one who never laughed at me about it. My father, I mean. Even Kalei - my sister who was blind - she was sensitive to loud noises, but they never scared her. Sightless though she was, in many ways she was often the bravest of all of us. She was never mean to me about it - none of them were, and even Ramses was only mischievous. But even Kalei used to giggle a little, and that's to say nothing of the reactions I've gotten from others outside my family." She shook her head a little there, giving the pocket of air her sensitive paws had alerted her to a very wide berth before continuing, "But Da never laughed at me. He never really said anything about it, but I always suspected it scared him, too. It was he who told me stories, who asked deep, complex questions, who kept me talking until we both forgot our fear." She smiled again, softer and more content than the humor she'd possessed earlier - he knew already how she'd loved her family, and missed them now, but though there was a bit of wistfulness still present in her voice, she finally opened both eyes to look up at the male for a moment. "You remind me of him, a lot. A cross between your father and mine. And certainly, you knew how to tell stories and keep a girl talking." To keep this conversation from traveling too far into the serious realms, she lightened it there at the end, but it still stood as a genuine and heartfelt compliment.

Starscream & Others

The shifting boulder had Keap scrambling back in a hurry, fearful that his own paws would be caught beneath it's mass next. Or worse yet, that it might roll and smash he and Hulia entirely. "Okay, then..." Managing a mostly steady voice, the way the male's ears were pinned back suggested he was far more anxious than he was letting on, and the pained cries from Hulia were adding onto it. "-I'm going to chew off the bottom of your leg." Trying to keep a solid expression, and actually managing it to some degree, he looked down at the struggling female, "We wait any longer here, and this rock might roll over on you."

----

Namir's eyes had roved over their injuries already, grimly noting the loss of Dove's foreleg. It didn't bode well for the dog, and carried a high risk of septicemia or shock, if she didn't die of blood loss first. Yet he was not going to leave the saluki to her fate without at least trying to help. "Starscream ordered all the pups and non-fighters to the den before the Haunters attacked. From there they were escorted to the Parnassian Meadows." Whether Tayzeka, Silence, and the others were safely with the pups now, Namir didn't know. Not being much of a talker, and hardly a social cat for that matter, he didn't say or express much as he waited for Numinex to dig around the trapped dog. Once enough dirt and mud had been excavated, he grabbed the back of her scruff and began to tug, hoping to pull her out from beneath the tree...

-----

Star raised a curious eye at Kaina, chuckling a little, "Quite the reservoir of knowledge, aren't you?" It was a compliment more than a tease, and truly the alpha was impressed by the level of understanding and attention to detail this small female had. Where he saw his mother's limp and chalked it up to a 'bad ankle' and nothing deeper, she saw past the scarred flesh and fur and delved into the various mechanisms at play. "With that kind of thinking, no doubt you could put into play taking on larger game." The following comment about his mother was answered by a protracted sigh and a shake of the head; he'd wasted plenty of breath with his mother on the subject already. He fell silent after that, enjoying a small pause in their discussion, especially when it was filled with her soft laughter at his joke about rescuing her again. Moments before he was to come up with a new topic, Kaina started in in a quieter voice. "He sounds like he was a good father." The alpha expressed, with only the inner most twinge of guilt as he thought about Starwhisper and her siblings. "Keeping you safe from dangers, knowing what to say when you needed help. Being brave against his own fears." Starscream quirked a look at Kaina when she complimented him, and quickly looked away with a wrinkled nose, which soon turned into a grin, "I guess I can take that last compliment."

Hulia

Hulia knew he was thinking of doing and she knew it was the only fastest way. I understandJust hopefully she wouldn't bleed to death. Her right back leg and front legs were fine but the left back had to go.

Kaina*Others

"I should hope so. It was intended as a compliment." Ever so quietly, as they crept slowly over the disturbed terrain, her small frame cuddled near-flush against his larger one, she re-emphasized her words, and actually didn't withdraw from her closeness to him, for once. In all seriousness, she allowed her face to sober. "Star, can I tell you something?" Almost cautiously, as they plodded slowly along together, she pulled up a subject that had been rooted in her mind for some time, which she'd never felt comfortable really addressing with him... but as she found herself sharing his company more and more, she was finding one thing hard to deny. Especially now that it had been evidenced by how she'd automatically turned to him for protection in the middle of her panic, she couldn't put aside any more that she and Starscream were growing closer... and with that closeness, she finally found enough confidence to speak on the subject. "You know... you try so hard to look handsome, and to be charming and impressive... it kind of ruins the effect. The kind of females that you attract with that - not to speak ill of any of them - but they are not looking for a mate. They're looking for someone to father pups for them. They don't value the charm and the personality that you genuinely have, because they haven't seen it." She paused now, seeming to consider her words carefully, as much so as the delicate placement of her limbs, both to accommodate her limp, and the threat of potentially making a misstep and sliding down the hill again, perhaps with worse consequences than before. She offered his shoulder a little nuzzle as she continued to walk, and then picked up where she'd left off. "But I've seen it. I'm seeing it now. You're a warm person... quiet, and sensitive. And loyal - you don't get close to others very easily, but when attach yourself to someone, you're all in. When you strip away all your flirting and your eye for a pretty female - little moments like this, when things are quiet and there's no one to impress - that's the only time I really feel like I'm seeing you. And Star... there's nothing wrong with you. I don't know why you feel like you have to alter yourself to make yourself more handsome or dashing. If that's what some female wants... then it's not you she wants. She wants what you're pretending to be." She sighed then, and he would feel one of the soft ears flick as she accounted for a sharp bird's cry in the distance; the very first sound of the prey animals after the noise of the slide - it was still rather pitched and alarmed, but it was a return to normalcy, and Kaina smiled for it. "... here I am, preaching again. I'll stop now. I just... any female that's worth having, Star... they want more than a handsome face and smooth talk. And you've got all the rest. You're just putting so much effort into it that you're drowning the rest out."

Starscream & Others

Aloof and collected as Keap's attitude came across, the young male was in near mental meltdown at this point. He'd slain a struggling, half-buried Haunter a mere ten minutes ago, their fresh blood still smeared along his muzzle and chest, and had breezed past his father and Kaina without much more than a few words to either of them after seeing that they were both more or less alive and able to walk. He'd miraculously survived a natural disaster that had claimed the lives of canines standing right next to him... and now he was watching the life and death struggle of a pack mate, who's survival rested with his next actions. The wolf stepped forward after a moment of wordless thought, feeling as though his movements were not of his own volition. His stained muzzle sought out the lowest portion of Hulia's leg, going as close to the boulder as he could manage, and that's where he bit down. Teeth strong enough to crush through the toughest femur now bore down on her leg bones, to cut through fur, flesh, and tendon. It would not be a clean, simple bite, nor was it guaranteed to save his friend's life. But he would do his best, and as quickly as possible...

---

The big male grinned again, feeling as content as one could while their mind was still running in circles with worry over missing packmates. For right now, in these few minutes he had alone with Kaina, he could enjoy her company, her praises, and her closeness. The simple touch of her shoulder against his was a gesture he long craved for, and had long been denied by his own mate, and now that he was experiencing it again, Star was loath to give it up. It was one reason, flirtatious personality aside, that he constantly played up his bravado and charm with her. But as he was soon to find out, his excessive flaunting was having the opposite effect on Kaina. The alpha was still carrying the crease of a smile when she questioned him, "Sure, anything." The words that followed from the small, intelligent fae worked very efficient to rob Scream of that smile. So effectively, in fact, that he looked outright stunned, if not by her boldness in confronting him, then by the words themselves. And yet she spoke lightly, without challenge, and in a way that he could lift no angry tooth at in rebuke. This was not an admonishment of his behavior, but a concisely and well-thought out opinion from her perspective.

If an alpha could look meek, Starscream was straddling that fence now. He hadn't missed a step as they continued their journey over the leveled forest, slowly winding down off the slope and back towards the forests that were untouched by the deadly wall of mud, grit, and earth. "You really know how to steal a wolf's paws out from under him." He finally expressed, admitting that he'd been caught off guard by her choice in conversation. Almost instinctively, he wanted to turn a sly comment back, to say something smart or jesting, but that would have been just another angle of his flirting nature. Kaina had spoke sincerely and from the heart, and the least he could do was offer the same. "Being alpha, there's a certain amount of posturing I have to do." Scream started, in quasi-defense, "I didn't realize... no." He shook his head, "I do realize what I'm doing." The flash of a grin was not for Kaina, but a humorless gesture to himself, "What I mean is that I don't mean to deceive you, or anyone else. And the truth is I do like you, a lot. You're intelligent, intuitive, you fit in well with our pack. I... to make a long story short, I have never had great success getting close to females."

Kaina*Others

After her initial words, Kaina fell into something of an awkward silence, feeling very anxious, now that she'd more or less called him out on one of his biggest weaknesses. Trying not to let that concept get to her too deeply, not wanting to surrender to a nervous tremble, she put her attention on walking again, keeping her eyes on the terrain. It wasn't until they'd continued quite a ways, with her listening to Starscream, that at last she took a slow breath and tried her voice again. "You don't deceive me, Star. You never have." Her answer was gentle, and very soft; she wasn't trying to hurt him with her analysis, but rather to make him understand. "I think that you really get in your own way, without realizing it. Your charm and self-confidence attract many, it is true. You are hardly lacking in them. But anyone who is impressed only by your bravado and your looks will never understand or accept those other parts of you. It is rather like your mother's refusal to talk about your father, for so long. It has given you, given your family no defining characteristics by which to form him in your minds, and because he is so badly missed, he has become nigh unto a saint to all of you. Liseli has little grasp on reality now... but that much, she has gotten right. It is very dangerous, to love a saint. They have no flaws." This was along the same lines as something she'd earlier told him, along the shores of the nearby lake; it had been there that she'd warned him of the dangers of reflections, and of turning inward until one believed they were something that they were not. "And then later on, when you discover the flaws... your image is ruined, broken... and any desire you might have had to know that person is forever tainted by the memory of that perfection marred. So later... when these females see that you are afraid, or uncertain... anything different from the perfect, confident picture you've given them... they'll move on, disappointed that you did not turn out to be what they believed. And that hurts, pride and heart both. So you start again." Her eyes had dropped closed again, and it couldn't be from fear now... but it was something equally as powerful. Finally, she laughed too, and it wasn't at Starscream's expense. This was a cautiously happy sound. "My father never laughed at me, Scream. Do you know why? He knew, just like everyone else did, that being scared of thunder was ridiculous. But he was afraid of it, too. And so he never laughed, or told me it was silly. He and I just huddled together until it stopped. And because we did... because he validated my fear as something that just was part of me and did not try to make me be brave... between he and I, we could get through a thunderstorm. That didn't make it less scary... but he took my fear and I took his... and knowing that he stuck with me anyway, even though he was scared too... that made me feel the most loved. Moreso than if he'd been big and tough, and tried to pretend that he wasn't afraid. "

Hulia

Hulia knew it would hurt bad and deep down she wanted to not howl out but only after a few bites she released a blood curdling howl of agony. It took everything for her to remain still with her other legs and body. She was starting to burn up and she could barely stay concious but she did.

Starscream & Others

Of all the bones his teeth had cracked through over the years, none of them could prepare Keap for the task he was working on now. It took effort to close his teeth and bear down with all his strength, and it wasn't for a lack of muscle. It was a mental barrier, knowing he was maiming a packmate, that made it so difficult. Her howls became a blur of noise, along with the thunderous pulse of blood that pounded in his ears. After what felt like several agonizing minutes, but was only a fraction of that time, Keap's keen teeth had final severed through the last of her flesh, separating Hulia from the paw that lay crushed beneath the boulder.

---

Starscream couldn't deny that his charm had attracted quite a lot of attention, and resulted in two litters of puppies out of three that certainly had not been planned, and one of which he still had no knowledge of. Even the planned litter he'd sired with his late mate had ultimately led to a baffling lack of affection from her afterwards, no matter how much he tried to earn her attention. Just as Kaina was pointing out, these attractions had been short lived and entirely unfulfilling in the long run.

"To put it nicely, I'm trying too hard." The alpha summed up his faults in wry acknowledgment, without attempting to debunk any of what she said. How could he? Scream was well aware of his own behavior; what he hadn't been aware of was how keen Kaina's perception of it was, and how she and the other females felt about it all. Well, he knew how some of the females felt about it, but none of them had sparked his interest like this small fae padding beside him, and none had the fortitude to bring it up so boldly. A part of Starscream felt a flare of anger for all of this, at who or what, he didn't know... maybe it was all just the stress. Whatever the cause, he still couldn't draw so much as a growl against the dainty wolfess and her sagacity. The grizzled wolf retreated to his own thoughts for several quiet moments, contemplating what Kaina had said, and how much of it came back to one issue that had always hung heavy on his mind. "You're a lot different than Nachi, you know. I think you've said more to me in the past few weeks than she had in the past three years." He chuckled humorlessly and kept his almond eyes from meeting hers. Scream fell silent again, only for a few seconds this time while he mulled over Kaina's latter most story and how she was relating it back to his behavior. This time he did look to her, "Didn't need to flaunt or show off to take care of things. He was a good wolf, a good father."

Kaina*Others

"Well, let's put it a kinder way... let's call it an excess of charm." Not wanting to completely flatten his confidence, Kaina offered that as a lighter comment, and gave his shoulder another nuzzle, meant to take the sting off of her words. "Really though, Star - in all seriousness - you're selling yourself short, and as a result, coming up with relationships that don't make you happy. I just... I only said all this because it seems to me that you're kind of floundering... personally, I mean. You're stressed all the time, you look for closeness from all these females, and then the pups that end up coming stress you more, because then you feel bad about not being there for them. I think if you'd just focus for a while on finding someone that isn't just seduced by your charm, and is genuinely invested in all of you - even the flaws - you'd be happier." That was as gentle as everything else that she'd said, and when he slowly slid the conversation into a zone that been all but forbidden before - Nachi - she addressed it with great care. "I never knew Nachi, really. But... love isn't a single moment or a family created and shared. It's an entire existence... a life, shared in its entirety. And if you can't even talk to your own mate-" She stopped there, shaking her head once more. "- no, I won't pass judgement on that. It brought Darling and Keap to you. I haven't gotten to know Keap well, but Darling is a kind and loving wolf, and intelligent." Above all, she was not going to criticize his first mate, not going to suggest that he should have never taken Nachi as his own. Whatever had happened in that relationship, it was over with, and it had brought to the male three children whom he dearly loved. At long last, she sighed, and ventured more quietly, "I just really wish that what happened with Nachi... could have turned out better for you. You're a warm hearted wolf, and you deserve better than you've gotten." The compliment he offered her father made her smile too, but after a couple of moments she nudged him again. "He was... the best. But like I said... you remind me of him a lot."

Hulia

Hulia mind was wondering about her and Glider's pups and Tayzeka, her and starscreams pups. However once her leg was severed and she slightly pulled her self and bleeding stump of a leg away from the danger she nearly passed out. She was barely concious as her leg bled.

Korek had heard his sisters painful howl and took off without a word to darling or cortinari and so did Torek.

Starsceam

The nuzzle that Kaina offered his shoulder, the second one since she's started so carefully and yet so boldly onto this topic, helped remarkably to keep the anger at bay. It wasn't easy for the prideful alpha to listen to his faults being exposed without at least attempting a vocal fight, as he often did with his mother, or a pointed glare that could stop just about anyone in mid-sentence. But she was gentle enough, and so far from offensive in her tones, that he merely continued to walk beside her and take her comments for the advice they were meant to be, rather than attacks against his own character. "'Excess', I like that description better." The wolf remarked with a tiny chuff of a snort following it. "I mean it's true, there's a lot of stress; and you joined the pack at a time when that's reached its peak. Things got a little out of hand." He couldn't quite admit that he was looking so desperately for a mate to replace the one he'd seen falsely in Nachi, the wolfess that had wooed and then used him to sire a litter of pups, and secure a patch of land for herself. But he needn't say it; Kaina, in all her perceptiveness, had already spotted it. Never being very good at analyzing his own downfalls, at least in detail to others, Scream declined to say much more on those qualities he possessed in excess, which were not entirely befitting of a leader. Instead, he allowed the conversation to go back Nachi, "They have another littermate, Ranui." The alpha smiled wistfully, an expression so slight it only tugged at the edge of his mouth without so much as exposing any teeth, "She ignored him; it was like he never existed. Weaned he him and Darling too early. He left the pack a while before you joined." Starscream's eyes creased, forever confused by the strange behavior of his mate, and how she'd become a completely different wolf after the pups came. Suddenly though, those thoughts were dashed - Hulia's agonizing howls stopped Starscream dead in his tracks.

---

Keap took several steps back, looking at the bleeding stump his teeth had just chewed through. Dazed eyes traveled along Hulia's body, along the muddied fur, and finally settled on her face to see her struggling to maintain consciousness. He blinked stupidly, his mind numbed by the shock of it all, even though he hadn't been the one to suffer a crushed paw and the subsequent, brutal removal of it. 'She's going to die.' The thought rang through his mind, whether it was true or not. He took another step back, feeling the sudden urge to turn and run away from this horrible mess, but he could not bring his paws into compliance. He could only stand there for several long moments, until a voice beside him nearly made him jump.

"Keap?" The green eyes that looked back at him belonged to Crow, and behind him, a very haggard In'Alak. "Hulia... oh, Hulia..." The silvery wolf came forward and crouched down beside the mother, giving her cheek a few comforting licks. Where Keap was in too much of a stupor to even begin figuring out what should be done, Crow was taking care of things, "She's losing blood; moving her to the den is only going to make things worse. She needs to rest, and stay here.." He raised his head and howled out, informing the rest of the pack his location, and that there were was no immediate danger in the area, as Hulia's previous cry might have led others to believe.

Kaina*Others

"I thought you might." She gave that reply with the faintest of quiet amusement, and offered the underside of his chin a light swat from the end of her nose to indicate that she was only teasing. As they'd been talking, they had finally drawn to the edge of the path of destruction, and once they were treading on level ground, it was much easier on Kaina. She'd started to pant very lightly with effort, since traveling across the broken ground one a bum leg was not easy, but had never called a pause to their slow progress, and now as she stepped onto smooth ground, she drew her injured paw up close to her chest and continued in a fairly-adept three legged hobble. "That's what I mean... everything's so stirred up now, we're all on edge; and you're looking for something stable, somebody to help you relax a little and forget about all this mess... and in the process, you end up getting more stress, and then... you're alone again, and you feel worse. I think you could stand a break from all the females." That topic soon gave way to another though, one that left Kaina rather baffled. "Weaned them early?" She wasn't questioning whether he was sure about that - she was merely expressing her surprise; weaning pups earlier than they should be prevented them from developing properly... and also prevented a close bond to their mother. It more or less orphaned them. As that distressing thought made it home to her brain, she some up more quietly. "She didn't want you, and didn't want her pups... then why would she want- of course." The female shook her head, and he'd get to hear the very faintest rumble - a hint of a growl, so unusual to hear in the gentle fae. "Power. The prestige of her own lands, a title... and it gave the Haunters influence in the one pack that most prominently opposed them in the past, through her brother. And eliminating the necessity to raise three pups left her to groom one... it would have given them a very powerful influence, if she hadn't been killed." Her voice was quieter still now, as a horrific set of ideas set in her mind. " And they would have never permitted her to mate with you if the Haunters did not see this potential. In the end of it... she was a pawn, in this whole thing. They used your family to keep Aspen Grove under their power." Thankfully for the depressing tenor of their conversation, it was soon interrupted; however, the interruption was not the most reassuring. When Starscream froze at Hulia's pained howl, she also stopped cold, her ears pasting back and get body lowering a smidgen in sympathy; after a second though, Crow offered a second howl, and she whispered, "Crow's got her."

Hulia

She was afraid she wouldn't make it leaving her pups without both their parents. Sakura, where had she gone? Was she okay? Fear begin to run through her vains and then she felt the lick and she opened the eye closest.Crow I'nalikShe said softly. Her ears were back as she fought to stay concious.I don't want to dieSHe whispered.

Starscream & Others

For as long as Starscream had been alpha of the Aspen Grove, he'd always had been conscientious of his mother's lesser mobility and speed in her advancing age. Rarely did Scream need to physically support her, aside from the days when her ankle would flair particularly bad, but he'd adopted a certain amount of patience for her and became use to constantly accounting for her physical handicaps while leading the pack. It came almost as a second nature to keep his steps slow and methodically placed now, providing a steady support and easy pace for Kaina's three-legged hobble. It all came to a brief halt when Hulia's cry echoed out from the opposite end of the muddied landscape, and Starscream had to resist the urge to turn and rush to his packmate's defense. Kaina and her own vulnerability kept his grounded, and the howl from his nephew gave Scream the wary assurance that the Haunters hadn't doubled back. Still, his ears remained planed to the side for many long moments, and it took even longer before he began to move again, "Cursed Haunters." Was all he growled beneath his breath, nervously, angrily channeling his emotions. For a minute or so after that, Starscream's mind rolled between those feelings and the words Kaina had spoken to him, and once the thoughts cleared in his mind, he picked up where they'd left off, "Returning to something akin to normalcy would be nice." He didn't sound quite so humored this time, nor did his mood perk up when Kaina expressed surprise at Nachi's behavior. Almost as if he were embarrassed by it, Scream refused to meet her gaze, "I don't know... she was like two different wolves. The one I was charmed by when we met, and... something else entirely after the pups. I just don't know..." The alpha repeated, shaking his head and growling softly. He knew nothing of her past, or how Alak himself had lost his mother to her insanity when he was just a pup, stolen away from his family for her twisted desire for offspring. "She was almost reclusive in the pack, wielding power and then shying away from everyone. It.." His muzzle wrinkled and he rumbled again, "It's all in the past now, anyway."

---

Crow eased down on his belly, pressing his body against Hulia's to offer his warmth, and the comforting presence of a friend. For all that Crow knew, these might be the last few minutes she had left in life, and he did not want her to spend them in panic and loneliness. "Shhh, Hulia, just rest. All you need to do is rest." His heart withered to hear her panic. He couldn't lie and tell her that she wasn't going to die, and he sincerely hoped that she wouldn't; all that he could do right now was try to keep her calm and hope that she had not lost too much blood. "In'Alak and I are here, and so is Keap. We're just going to stay here a little while, okay?"

Dove & Numinex

If not for the mud, Dove would have bled out. Her fur was covered in blood and mud, so much that her black and cream colors were not visible, but rather a dark mahogany color. Numinex wasn't a lot better when it came to his fur, shaggy and dirty.

Once the dirt was excavated and Namir began tugging, the saluki let out a series of pained yelps. Finally, she was freed, but her leg stump had been torn further and it began bleeding again. She was losing blood quickly. "I don't want to die, Namir." She whimpered to the big cat. "Not yet..."