Heartleaf Creek There'll be No One To Save

The world goes dark for twenty-four hours. The sun does not rise and the stars and moon do not shine.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/becuffin/caved.jpg) bottom no-repeat; background-color: #301e4e;"> Her splendiferous coat did not shine under the light of the absent moon, nor did her golden eyes shine with reflected light. She had heard whispers on the wind of the fate of the Creek pack and had come to investigate for herself, but perhaps her timing could have been better. A shiver passed down her spine as bats rustled in the trees above her head, their screeches reminding her of what had happened not even two nights ago. The darkness was unnatural and it had the large lady on edge. Tales of the chasers of the sun and the moon raced through her mind as she cautiously picked her way along the banks of the creek, wondering if her bard would have had a story for tonight as well... but he was gone too, and she couldn’t help but wonder if a landslide had claimed him as well. A chill wind picked up, pushing debris across the ground in a clattering squall. Her nose was working overtime as even her well adjusted eyes struggled to see more than a few wolf lengths ahead. This close to her brothers former home she would expect to smell more and so perhaps the rumors were true? To ease her passage some she inched forward until icy water wrapped its way about her paws, chilling her toes to the bone but at least allowing her some discernible path. She could run right up the back of someone and not even know it...

code by bryony

The whisper of leaves, the burble of water:    Dreams? Memories?    Like something curled within the womb, Djinn struggled blind. Paws dug rich earth and teeth scraped blades of grass, searching. She spat, tail stiff. ”What is this?” Question for the shadows.    Maybe she was dead.    Djinn’s lips stretched in a grin – dead? No, no. ”Don’t you know you’re dead?” they asked her once quite long before, and she – she only stared. That was before she found a name though, before even Djinn learned how to use her own teeth. Fitting, she thought as she walked and snubbed her nose on a tree. This place is me.    No fear prickled down her spine – only a sort of wonder. Darkness lived inside of her, spilled through her blood. Her nose said forest and her ears spoke of a slight wind, a small creek. What need for light? Here – whiskers brushing bark, head snapped back from another tree. Her nose hurt still.    ”Hmm.” Her voice rumbled down inside her chest, and something stalked behind her through the dark. Food? No; Djinn turned fast as light and cocked her pointed ears – soft footsteps, languid. Wolf. Her thick head tilted on its edge. Nose quivered, spoke - female. Alone; so faint. Where was the light? This could not be a dream – dreams found her fierce and certain, never knowing doubt.    Dreams never spoke of dreams. This – this meant something else.    Perhaps the stars all died a thousand years ago and now, as such things are, their deaths arrived to plague the wolf and kin. She wondered on that for a while, listened to the noise of her own breath. What did it mean if everything beyond the earth was dead? They were all nothingness, and Nietzsche was right… Except – Djinn was a wolf, and immune to despair. She heard a sister prowling through the dark and instinct keened toward friendship in a time like this.    One blind wolf after all was dead, but two? More dead, or a little less... Blind bucks can’t run so fast. Blind hares don’t know a burrow from dry ground.    Djinn smiled broader still and lifted up her nose, desire quivering at her throat – and why? The darkness lifted something in her, something like song though she never sang. Heaviness constricted in her chest. She coughed a breath and barked instead – sharp. I’m here, who are you?

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c58/becuffin/caved.jpg) bottom no-repeat; background-color: #301e4e;"> She thought she heard a noise, not belonging to the static-black of this unnatural... time, day or night? Surely the sun was due to rise soon... or had it passed? Large ears flicked forwards, then back as she slowed her pace, quieting the small splash of her steps in the creek as she strained all her senses, just to be sure. Who knew what monsters lurked in the dark? Although she was uneasy, she was not afraid. After all she had been through, she was numb to the bad. Her children were with their pack, protected by the best guardians a woman could ask for and although at home she was still the lowest, she had been hardened by her ordeals and carried herself with a confident grace. Out here she could still be the queen, but she would rarely demand submission from her subjects. Where once she only looked for the good, she now expected the worst and when the questioning bark sounded through the muted dark, she took a moment to ponder, and question the scent of the lone female somewhere in the dark, before answering with her own neutral chuff. She planted a paw slightly heavier than necessary in the stream as she made an effort to slosh towards the scent, cautiously. Posture hardly mattered in this light and yet she held her tail level with her spine (although in part to keep it from the water, but not so high as to illicit a challenge). She chuffed out in question again. Perhaps this stranger knew what beast had swallowed their light...

code by bryony