Ghastly Woods your broken crown in shards

Mapplethorpe rolls a d10 and gets a 3. His attack is a hit.
Mapplethorpe rolls a d6 and gets a 2. He does 6 damage.
Skoll: 5/32
Mapplethorpe: 1/19

His selection of words were not enough to convince his attacker to release his grip and already his mind was starting to fog over, the sensation of the blood leaving his body starting to leave him with the feeling of plummeting down to earth from the sky. As Sköll's teeth remained fastened to his the side of his neck, he whined at first before howling in absolute torment as the young royal quickly shook his head, the bite wound between his neck and shoulder worsening.

He shuddered, closing his eyes as chills began to wrack his thin frame. "You kill me, you kill yourself," he hissed through his teeth, his eyes directly staring into the shadows of a collection of gnarled tree roots. "The guilt will, it will eat you alive. It is not me that you want; it's the one who sent you..." He hoped those last few words would work. By now the youth had already gotten what he wanted. With no one to tend to the bite he had received and nothing to stop the blood pouring from his neck, he would bleed out in a matter of hours. With the amount of pain he was experiencing, he figured he would be lucky if he went before the stars came out.

"Please," he breathed. "Please." His chest began to quiver, his whole being succumbing to the realization that he would never again see the beauty that was Naira's smiling face or hear his children at last declare what it was they were going to do in life. He would never see the wolves who had made up Hollowheart Keep's ranks nor see his children bear cubs of their own. Worst of all, he ached over the fact that no one, not even Couth or Camio, Quick or Evann had come to his aid. While he appreciated that they had taken his word seriously, he had been foolish to hope that one of them would remain if only to relay to Naira that he had been put to rest and that Deacon's family would have no reason to target her or their children now that her mate had died.

Skoll rolls a d10 and gets a 5. His attack is a hit.
Skoll rolls a d6 and gets a 6. He does 7 damage.
Skoll: 5/32
Mapplethorpe: -6/19

Mapplethorpe's words should have fallen upon deaf ears but as Sköll kept himself steady, panting into the thick of the Leader's fawn- and silver-colored pelt, he took in the words over he hammering heartbeat in his chest. Guilt... Now this was something the prince knew nothing about. Never had he known the pain that came with the blame and sin or the wrongdoings of a Trickster like him. He was his mother's son, a prince by name and blood, his word rendered anyone else's as inferior and unimportant. He, as a future ruler, was not subject to petty things such as misconduct or remorse.

For a time, he considered, years down the road, how he would feel about committing such an act as to leave his victim sprawled out on a bed of broken black hawthorn branches and unearthed bones. In all truth, though, what Sköll saw there was nothing but pride and glory, an extension of the praise he figured he would receive when he finally came home to see his mother, Angier, Morganna and his three half-brothers. Within his mind's eye, he, alone, had done them a service. Without this tyrant in the darkest reaches or Relic Lore, cubs, like Deacon, would no longer be subject to being stolen away. Perhaps, he had done the whole of Relic Lore a favor... A grin split his muzzle in half and he completely let go of Mapplethorpe. Yes, his mind and conscience cooed in unison, He had done everyone a favor.

A bloodied smirk distorted his handsome face as he stared down at the Leader now, torn for the time being of whether or not to standby and watch the elderly man suffer through his final hours or to deliver the kindness that was a final blow.

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away

Mapplethorpe rolls a d10 and gets a 1. His attack is a hit.
Mapplethorpe rolls a d6 and gets a 1. He does 5 damage.
Skoll: 0/32
Mapplethorpe: -6/19

Tears welled up in his eyes as he felt the youth relinquish his hold on him. Mercy, at last... but then, there was the night to worry about and the scent of spilled blood that was prone to draw all sort of unfavorable creatures to his slowly evacuating soul. He openly sobbed, his eyes closing tight to shut out the maniacal, toothy grin that belonged to his killer. A flash of white flickered in his eyes as he tried to move his head and propel himself forward with his hind legs while he laid on his side. The effort it took to accomplish even the slightest movement was not even worth it.

The least he was able to do was to lift his right paw and drape it gingerly over his blood-spattered face. The last physical thing he would ever see would be Sköll's darkened form with that crimson grin plastered on his once-ivory maw; but the last memories he wanted to remember were those he treasured the most. Even in his last few moments he could remember the day he had found Naira on the mountain side. He could remember the smile she brandished when he and Rhysis showed up after searching for her for so long. He could even recall how lovely her voice had sounded when she had first asked him if she could request his counsel whenever she had need for it.

All too soon it began to flash before his eyes: the day when Naira had been missing for a short period of time and he duly advised her to keep her head and heart in all the right places, the moment he was allowed to share her den amidst a mid-spring rain spell, when she had been distraught over her son Datura's disappearance, and how pleased she had been when he returned with the wayward prince and his proclaimed mate.

Most prominently he remembered when his beloved Queen bestowed upon him the highest honor he could ever receive: a promotion that rendered him as her equal. Even the stolen memories he took a second to enjoy: being with Naira when her daughters, @Aponi and @Nova were born, the day Sagacity returned with Mercy, the night before the pack den relocation within the Pass, the moment he had been able to 'claim' Naira for himself, and that particular Spring day when his and Naira's son and daughter were brought into Relic Lore...

In the branches above him the beetles began again with their timely ticking and Mapplethorpe could do nothing but remain where he laid. Everything hurt too much now to do anything. He could not get up, he could not scamper away, he could not even call out one last song of farewell...

When all the flashbacks began to fade, he stared into the back of his eyelids, wiling himself to keep them closed. This was it. There would be no more.

Death claimed all things. It was law, not punishment, to die...

Skoll rolls a d10 and gets a 5. His attack is a hit.
Skoll rolls a d6 and gets a 6. He does 7 damage.
Skoll: 0/32
Mapplethorpe: -13/19

I'm bigger now... I'm stronger now... My fingers curl; they're talons now... My weeping eyes are burning now... My cloven feet are dancing now... And now I'm dancing for the doomed and the damned. And I'm advancing unassumed with dirty hands. And now I'm prancing for the man. Isn't it grand? I've become...my very own Boogeyman.

-- Boogeyman - Johnny Hollow

---

The Archer's breaths came in pants now as his own brand of adrenaline - laced with the thrill of causing a villain deadly harm and the excitement of having a Leader at his feet, trembling in what he assumed was pain and regret - coursed through his blackened veins. He could barely feel the pain that emanated from his own puncture wounds, the triumph and sense of achievement was enough to block it all out. His grin widened as the ruler began to cry. Smugness further tweaked the ugly smile on his face; perhaps, Mapplethorpe saw guilt in his final moments He finally understood that taking a cub from its pack and parents was wrong and that he, of all wolves, accepted that death was the appropriate course of action... That he would never again think to take or steal from another family.

The prince's head tilted as a filthy paw came up to cover the sovereign's face, possibly to spare himself from the cruelty of it all, from seeing the last of his blood drained from his mortal body. Sköll shook his head with a click of his tongue, then, just like that, with one swift and fluid movement in a perfectly aimed bite, delivered one last strike. Blood pooled around the tawny man's head; and, just to be sure that he had done the job, the yearling promptly brushed Mapplethorpe's paw from his face. He righted his skull and snorted in scorn. Mapplethorpe might have looked like he had died in his sleep if it weren't for the gash that Sköll had given him.

He paced around the Keep monarch's now lifeless body, digging his paws deep into the rich soil and dragging his fore paws down the sides of the trees that made encircled the recipient of his assault. Let it be known, his scent markers screamed out, that the king of Hollowheart Keep has died... that the grounds - bones, graves, decay, and all - you traverse here are now the remnants of his reign. Once finished with his declaration of victory, he stood for several moments over Mapplethorpe's body, staring at it as though he might have been pondering something like the mysteries of life and death.

He wasn't though; and, after much consideration, he merely laid down in the filth, rubbing up against the man who had once been Naira's equal. The scent and the reek along would be proof enough to show to the pack of what he had done; the blood stains on his muzzle and throat and the puncture wounds in his arms would become his medals and badges of honor.

After what seemed like a long time of staring down at the man he had just murdered, Sköll took the very first steps that began his long, hobbling journey home on two injured forelimbs. He had already spent too much time away from Willow Ridge, and there was no doubt in his mind that he would be welcomed back with open arms and sentiments of praise that would soon deliver him into the ranks of @Elettra's guard in the months to come.

---

Somewhere in the dead of night, wherever @Naira and her children had come to rest, a lone Deathwatch Beetle ticked... but as Mapplethorpe drew his last breath, it noisily tapped for a distinctly long time before it fell silent, never chirping again after that. The male Leader of what was once Hollowheart Keep had died.

(Fade.)

(This post was last modified: Aug 18, 2014, 10:30 AM by Skoll.)

i'm a dreamer, i'm a man

i'm doing whatever i can to make the bad things go away