Quarry's Rush [BWP]Don't be afraid, the shadows know me

Inspired by Quarry's Rush description: "...the water surges, flooding over the rocks at high speeds, carrying with it debris from further up stream, along with any living creature not swift enough to get out of the way."

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

The stench of death lingered heavy in the air. It called out to the wolf, a siren song that dragged him deeper and deeper into the forest till all he could hear was the rush of water. His ears perked forward and his nose twitched as he came to a stop beside the raging river, even in tail end of summer the water flowed as fast as ever. The surrounding rivers and streams had dried up some, were shallower than before, but it seemed as though Quarry's Rush could not be stopped.

His gaze roamed over the water, lingering on the jagged rocks and snapped branches. There was something in the water, he could smell it, but where? And what was it? From scent alone he could tell it wasn't exactly edible, the corpse was no doubt waterlogged by now, but more than that it smelled...meaty.

Moments later he found it, and such an awful sight it was. Askan's nose wrinkled in disgust as he instinctively took a step back from the rivers edge. A coyote laid tangled up in branches with it's tongue lolling out from it's agape mouth. Disgusting.

(This post was last modified: Aug 30, 2018, 07:58 PM by Askan.)

Tzila had been drawn to the water not because of the stench, but out of the simple desire to find relief from the summer heat. When you wore a coat as dark as hers, kissed only once by the color of sienna dirt, keeping cool in the heat was a challenge. Her trail led her away from the mountain, eastwards and through forests she had not yet explored. Alert but by no means wary, she kept her nose peeled for pack wolves and coyotes alike. The later more concerning than her own species, or brushing too close to pack territory. Her smaller canine cousins seemed to be everywhere, infesting the land with their numbers. It wasn't normal, she knew. How she had managed to slip by unscathed this far, she chalked it up to simple luck.

The gentle rush and babbling of the water had reached her ears well before she saw it. As she neared, her dark body flitting amongst the denser foliage, all hopes of a soothing dip were dashed. The most offensive stench reached her nose. Death. Water logged, rotting meat. She frowned, her brows pinching as she at last, emerged cautiously on the opposite bank to investigate. It could be the carcass of prey, but smelled beyond salvageable. What she found instead, was the twisted corpse of one of those lesser canines. Too disgusted to notice the wolf on the other side, she wheeled away from the grizzly sight and wretched in a dry heave. She nearly lost her lunch.

You realize that two coyotes have been following you.

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

Askan wasn't quite sure what to do with himself. He had very little interest in hanging around to fill his nose with rotting coyote stench, but the prospect of turning back just because he smelled something bad was almost as unpleasant. He didn't dare to lean down and drink the water, lest it had been infected. Instead he found himself wondering how the beast had died. Was this a sign of things to come? Was the coyote endemic drawing to a close, or was he simply grasping at straws?

Hmm, either way the Edge Lord didn't get his hopes up. He would just have to wait and see, only time would tell.

His ears flicked forward as a repulsive sound reached his ears, someone was coughing and retching. Jerking his attention away from the water he was quick to notice the grey eyed stranger that stood on the opposite side of the river. She was an odd looking thing, dark with splodges of russet on her coat, as though she had rolled in fresh blood. Before he could even utter a single word a pair of shapes emerged from the forest behind her. She'd been followed.

His bright gaze was unwavering as he stared the two coyotes down, all bristly and irritated. He was relatively safe on his side of the river, the fast flowing water acted as a barrier, making the Selwyn dangerously difficult to reach. But the woman wasn't quite so lucky, with each footfall they drew ever closer to the loner, their beady eyes alight with sinister intent. If they got their paws on her it would get messy real fast.

Seeing as Askan had very little interest in seeing a stranger be mauled, he supposed he had to do something about it.

"Oi," he called."Do you think you can cross?"He motioned to the loose chain of rocks and debries that littered the river, like a halfhearted bridge.

It was dangerous, she could easily slip and be swept away, never to be seen again, but surely it was worth the risk? Probably.

With a shake of her head, Tzila recovered from her momentary bout of nausea. She had managed to keep the contents of her stomach down, at least. But unfortunately, while she had dropped her guard, karma turned on her. Just as she lifted her dark head up again, did her silver eyes catch sight of the two tawny figures stalking towards her. Coyotes. Their postures were threatening, snouts crinkled in toothy little snarls. Eyeing their drowned comrade, the larger of the two clacked his jaws, as if accusing her of it's death. "Well shit..." She muttered to herself, cursing her luck, which she thought hadn't been all that bad. Looks like she'd spoken too soon.

A rough voice from the opposite side called to her. Swinging her head around, but daring not to turn her back on the converging coyotes, Tzila at last noticed Askan. How long had he been there, watching her? Probably for some time, she wagered. Embarrassment fluttered through her, though she kept that well to herself. More important matters were at hand, such as whether or not she could make it away from her would be tormentors. No, not if she could, she had to. "Don't got much of a choice. I'll do my damnedest." She called back before proceeding to place one paw after another into the rushing water. The coyotes grew bolder, closing in swiftly. Uttering a snarl of warning, her silver eyes sought out the easiest route possible. But the crossing was treacherous no matter where she looked. Strong currents paired with slick rocks lined with moss meant unstable footing. Still, that was better than becoming a chew toy. Hitching a breath, the young female leapt precariously to a sizable boulder, partially submerged. Ahead of her, more open water awaited. The coyotes, uncertain of taking the risk of pursuit, paced doggedly along the bank. They wouldn't dare be so stupid...not if they wanted to suffer the same fate as their friend.

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

Askan dug his nails into the dirt as the stranger hopped from one rock to the next. He had no idea who she was, nor did he particularly care to get to know her, but the thought of seeing her be swept downstream to her death was not a pleasant one. He'd almost drowned once, he wasn't going to let that befall anyone else, if he could help it. Gritting his teeth, Askan glanced to his side and just so happened to find a large, sturdy branch. Maybe if he held it out for her it would offer the woman some extra stability, or at the very least it would stop her from being washed away. If she had the strength to hold on of course.

Askan clamped down hard on the branch and lifted it till it was level, a straight line for her to hold onto. He shuffled to the shore and arched his neck, his muscles ached in protest but it was fine, he was fine. If Reyes could do this as a hungry loner, than Askan could certainly do it too.

"Abb!" He ordered, his word heavily muffled and distorted. His message was clear enough though, only a fool wouldn't realise what he was doing.

On the other side the coyotes continued to chitter and chatter with one another. It was obvious they didn't want the wolf to escape without at least taking one chomp from her hide. Either they would try to follow, or they wouldn't. Askan was inclined to think the latter.

Fate, or perhaps sheer luck had seen to it that another wolf, though a stranger, was on the opposite bank this day. She knew, were it not for him and what little concern he displayed, that her predicament would be much more fragile. The water felt good on her skin, providing relief from the heat, but this was hardly the relaxing soak she first had in mind. 

Dark ears remained pivoted back, alert to the coyotes who paced frustratingly along the bank, as if deciding if the risk was worth it. Their hesitance said it was not. At least not just yet. Her silver eyes trailed Askan's movements as he found a branch, grabbed it and angled it towards her. Even a dolt could figure out what his plan was, and as soon as his garbled words (which she could take a guess at) were uttered, she acted.  Wrapping her jaws tightly around the sturdy limb offered to her, the rest of her body followed suit carefully into the water ahead. She took her time, feeling her way around the bottom for any protruding or jagged rocks. Once she was certain the way was clear, those silver eyes locked with his, followed by a single nod, while the churning water swirled around her. Time to get the heck outta here.

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

With another grunt, Askan shifted his weight back as his front paws left scuff marks in the dirt. He'd never been the patient sort, so now more than ever did he wish that they could just get this over and done with. As tempting as it was to just yank her across, Askan knew better. If he was to suddenly jerk her forward she could easily lose her footing and if that happened....Well, as strong as Askan was even he couldn't compete with the forces of nature.

The going was slow and Askan's jaw began to ache as the wood splintered between his teeth. He adjusted his stance again, widening his gait as he took a step back, then another as she slowly drew ever closer to the shore. Just a little further, another step and then another. Yellow met silver and Askan nodded in return, they'd scarcely uttered a word to one another but for now this would have to suffice.

Only when her paws reached the shore did Askan cast his branch to the side to spit out the splinters that were stuck to his tongue and the roof of his mouth. Only when he was certain he'd gotten rid of them all did he turn to the stranger, then back to the coyotes who were inching ever closer to their side of the river. Were they going to cross? Askan didn't want to hang around to find out, he had better things to do.  Not to mention the fact he didn't want to spend all day breathing in coyote stink, both living and dead.

But what of her?

"Stupid fucking mongrels. Wouldn't put it past them to try and cross." Askan grumbled. "How didn't you notice that they were following you?"

The moments stretched on, much too slowly for her liking. The sooner she was out of these treacherous waters and away from the coyotes, the better. Her leg and jaw muscles burned in protest, but she persisted throughout, until at last, her paws touched solid earth. Releasing her hold from the branch without a second thought, she trotted further up onto the bank, exhausted but no worse for wear. Up towards her chest, her dark fur was water logged. Hopefully the decaying scent of the dead vermin hadn't permeated. She moved away just enough to give the stranger respectable space before shaking herself off.

Wheeling back to face the turbulent river and the coyotes on the opposite side, her lips peeled in a silent snarl. They had nothing to gain by pursuing her, unless they got it into their heads that it was she who mangled their kin, trapped amongst the branches downstream. At least to their credit, as they stared with dark beady eyes, they did not make a move to brave the waters. Not yet. They could be gathering up their courage. Being smaller even than her, they would easily be swept downstream and ultimately suffer the same fate as their friend. She only rumbled in contemplation at first, silently challenging the scum with her iron stare. Then Askan directed a question at her. She turned to him. "It was my own hardheadedness." Was her huffed reply, but not without a smirk. Tzila was a girl who had no issue with admitting her own foolishness, or when she was wrong. She made to turn from the bank, a single glance meant to check if he too, also wanted to get the hell out the immediate area. "I'm relatively new to the region." She stated simply. Then added. "Never considered they'd be a serious threat. But here...this behavior...it ain't normal."

(This post was last modified: Sep 19, 2018, 03:02 AM by Tzila.)

I don't care if heaven won't take me back

"No shit."

Of course it wasn't normal. It felt as though the natural balance of things had shifted, that the scales had tipped in the coyotes favour. As things stood there were far more coyotes than wolves in Relic Lore and the mutts knew it. It made them arrogant and cocky, which made them dangerous. Far more so than they had any right to be.

But what could Askan do? He'd scouted out the forest, tried to sniff out their base of operations but that hadn't gotten him anywhere. He'd realised that the coyotes that were bothering his pack were never the same, they weren't being targeted by a select few who had set up base somewhere around the falls. Groups of coyotes came and went but they all acted the same, like they thought they owned these woods. Fuck them, they would get what was coming to them sooner or later.

"What will you do now?" He then asked. He'd ensured that she wasn't going to be coyote chow for now, but he had little interest in holding her paw from here on out.