Patroling the Borders

[André]

Autumn sunlight sprayed onto the forest floor, randomly dappled by crimson leaves over head. A light wind blew, and a few of the once-green flags fell to the ground, now a dark brown of death. A lone figure made it's way through the underbrush that grew to his lupine shoulders. Thin forest-grasses mingled with stalky seedlings made up the lower foliage, still a vibrant green. Scarce briars grabbed at the wolf's fur, but conceded as the figure continued, stopping not for the pleading grasp of the omni-pestulant thicket.

The figure's pelt was a dark red-orange colour, mingled with gray. Various scars decorated his flesh, and in some places no fur grew, giving him a ragged look. The red wolf's ears were torn and scarred immensly from years of fights and tangles, the left of the two being reduced to no more than a scrap of un-identifiable flesh. Various scars latticed across his face and maw, like vines that moved when his aged muscles moved or twitched. A long wide cicatrice snaked it's way across the wolf's left eye, which was blind and milky, and split his lid into an odd forked slip. Deep sadness smouldered in his remaining eye, as it scanned the scene slowly. The red wolf sighed, his shoulders rising, then sinking even lower, and his tail hanging slack behind him. One would not envision this wolf to be the proud alpha of a notorious strong and loyal pack.

But alpha he was, though the pride in life and all things that came with it had left him long ago, and left a sad, dying wolf in it's place. Andre, dragga of koran, walked alone, patroling the borders of his pack lands as he had done regularly, so long ago.

[Phantom]

Autumn had finally arrived in the land beyond the forest. The leaves where slowly dying, losing their vibrant green hue and replacing it with a vast array of colors; gold's, yellows, browns, and blood red. The sun shone through the canopy of colors, casting a golden light on the forest floor.

A dark brown varg was running swiftly through the foliage. The she-wolf's thin body glided over the earth, her paws automatically guiding her out of the way of the trees. As she ran, she possessed a ghostly appearance, drifting gracefully through the territory. She was deathly silent, her paws barely made a sound as the creature sprinted. it was this that had earned her her name, Phantom.

The Co-Drappa's ears were pricked, and her tail was raised like a dark banner, which flared out behind her. From afar, she seemed fully alert, but a closer look would prove that theory untrue. Her yellow eyes were dull with sadness and confusion. Her lover had returned, her family had been reunited, but still, a terrible feeling remained, Loneliness.

The pack seemed so distant to her now. She missed every one of her packmates terribly, and their distance only added to her loneliness. There was another feeling, too. Phantom knew something wasn't right, that something terrible was to come. And it involved the varg she had tried so hard not to hate. The lead warrioress, Demon.

Phantom was knocked out of her thoughts as she caught sight of the once proud Dragga. He seemed so lost and broken now. His wise face once so full of cunning and spirit was now full of scars and suffering. Phantom lowered her head and, silent as a specter, began padding alongside Andre.

Allthough no words passed through her ebon lips, Phantom's mind screamed out to him.

Oh, Andre...the pack is breaking apart... Tarkah isn't herself, and Demon... She's planning something terrible, I can feel it in my bones! I just wish... things where like they once where...

[André]

In the distance, Andre heard the faint passing of another creature, wolf by the sound out it's cadence. The red wolf's ears perked as he tuned to it's every movement as it got closer, until the scent betrayed the creature as a she-wolf, Phantom. Andre sighed internaly as his ears settled back onto his aged skull, and he bowed his head once again, paying no mind to the aproaching form. It would probably be another thirty seconds before she realised his prescence. Andre's instincts spoke to him of her temper, her health, and for how long she had been running, just from her scent. His mind, like a hunting machine, calculated her reaction time, and her ability to resist attack. Before Andre realised what he was doing, he had analysed her like prey in the distance, as his mind had been conditioned to do over the long months he had lived as a lone wolf and hunted the humans. The dragga felt ashamed of himself for evaluating her so scientifically, though made no protest when she apeared at his side, her sad eyes screaming to him of her worries.

Eyes locked on the ground, Andre spoke slowly to Phantom. "What was the pack like while I was gone?"

"How did Tarkah handle it when I didn't come back from that hunt," Andre asked Phantom, half-rhetoricaly.

The dragga continued to gaze at the ground as he padded forward next to the she-wolf. His mind swirled with so many thoughts, of anger, confusion, sadness, and utter fatigue from his physical trials, as well as the mental stress of returning to a mate who hated him, and an alienated pack.

A crow cawed harshly in the distance, it's voice scarring the air, as a flutter of thick, slow wings followed it. The ground was cast with a golden-red colour from the autumn leaves above. Green underbrushed swayed and parted at the passing of the two, and time rolled on indefinitly, while the pup deep in Andre's mind wept.

[Phantom]

"What was the pack like while I was gone?"

As Andre broke the uneasy silence, Phantom lowered her head, her auds flat on the crown of her head. She closed her eyes, sighing deeply, and when she opened them again her yellow eyes had dulled with sorrow. She had spent so much time away from the pack during his absence, caring for little Spectre and mourning over the many losses she had suffered. Shame welled up inside her. As Co-Drappa, she should have been with the pack at all times...

"I don't even know..." she said quietly. "It's a all a blur really. Tarkah was devastated, the entire pack was." She paused, growling, as the thought of Demon crossing her mind. "Well, almost everyone."

She stared at her paws as they walked, their footsteps mirroring eachother. "Andre, the pack is breaking. I haven't seen the others in ages. Markaz has left us. Tarkah seems to have lost herself entirely..."

Demon's sickening voice echoed through her mind. The events of the battle flying through her skull. "Some co-drappa you make..."

Phantom looked away from him, speaking in an almost inaudible whisper. "Andre... I'm sorry. I've let you down..."