Dust and Bones

[gratz]

(open!)

The white wolf trotted over an old goat path. His muscles quivered with every step, and his dark eyes shined brightly like harvest moons in the gray evening light. His pace was slower than usual, and his thick fur was stained pink at the shoulder. But if the wound bothered him, he did nothing to suggest it. He strode over the rocky path as he did every evening, padding around black, vaulting pines, and stepping casually over broken stones. His senses were so attuned to the forest around him that he noticed the crow before it cawed, noticed the pair of deer in the woods as their black eyes watched him, noticed the air change directions so subtly, no other creature could have sensed it. But he was a wolf; it was his birthright to notice such things, to survive.

But if it was a wolf's birthright to survive, it was surely a man's birthright to conquer, he thought jealously as he broke through the trees. The last rays of sunlight had only just disappeared from the jagged mountain peaks and left them in a pale sort of gloom. But the valley had been overshadowed by the mountains long before the sun had completely disappeared, and in utter darkness, it spread out before the wolf. He looked down into it and saw the tiny glowing fires of man's village. It was man, not wolf, who had tamed the Lera. Just as it was man who created fire, who hunted the forest animals with strange weapons, who sometimes wore silver coats that glistened unnaturally in the sun. It was man who the wolf envied. The wolf watched them, ate their food, and lived in their house. The Stone Den. It had been built by men too, but abandoned long ago.

Gratz looked up then, to the thin black spires and crumbling buttresses of his home. It had been almost exclusively his for several moons now. Many wolves were cowards and superstitious fools, and dared not come near. Others were afraid that man would return to reclaim it. Gratz knew better. He started trotting again, more quickly than before despite his wound. Upwards he climbed, leaving the mighty forest of the valley behind and beneath him, until, at last, he came to the cracked stone wall of the castle. He had not used the main entrance in several suns, preferring to duck beneath the crumbling stone into a dark, yawning cavern in its eastern wall, which gave him additional security against being followed; he doubted many knew of this entrance, as it had taken him a long time to discover it himself, and an even longer time to discover the goat path which gave him such easy access up the mountain.

Gratz smiled thinly as he entered. His thick, whitish fur would offer him no camouflage in the dark and twisted corridors of this dusty sanctuary, except to provide him the protection of a ghost. But the thought, while amusing, was entirely misplaced in his opinion. No one else had come here in a long time, and if they had, it was not a ghost but a banshee they would discover. Gratz was unusually large and brutally equipped to deal with undesired strangers. And he was not afraid to do so with force. Old habits, past lives, never died. Gratz was still as unforgiving as he had been in his youth, but now twice as formidable.

[Depth]

Depth stumbled over yet another stone and let out a yelp of pain. Her paw was still raw, and she could barely put her weight on it. The jagged shadow of the castle loomed over her formidably, but she did not believe in ghosts. The castle may offer some protection from the biting summer wind, and if the Balkar came again... She shivered, remembering what had happened to her old pack, her parents...

The lone black varg limped up tho the side of the castle, and leant on it, exhausted from her ardous journey. The wall started to crumble, but she didn't have the strength to move, simply letting herself fall, tumbling to the ground, feeling her warm blood seeping onto the floor, closing her eyes...

[Scarlet]

Scarlets eyes closed while amusing memories of her victims brutal murder played through her mind over and over like a broken record. She was a killer, and proud to be one. The adrenaline and blood lust of ending a life, slowly, painfully. She could almost taste their blood and she lapped up their remains greedily. Her memories took a different turn into one of her favorites. The wolf stood there in submission trying to escape. Shaking, crying. The sound fueled her. She lept forward and knocked him over. She hooked her curled claws under his skin slowly making him scream in pain. She watched with red glowing eyes that lit with curiosity as she pulled her claws under his skin watching it go up and down as she moved them. She stopped and looked at him grinning, wider and wider. He was crying in pain, but it wasn't enough. She pushed down deeper into her chest then hooked on what felt like his rib caged. She torn half of it out with a gruesome dull, and slow snap. One side slid out of the large cut from earlier. She sliced across his neck with her over paw and dug through his chest with her muzzle. He was still screaming, pure agony. She found the beating in his chest and put her mouth on it. She squeezed it hard making all the blood go out and stop pumping. After a minute or so he was dead. She grinned, her red facing curled up with a hint of madness in her eyes. She watched the rest of his blood pour out. She stepped forward after taking a breathe and began to lap up what was left of him.

A cry of pain awoke her. She didn't care that her nap had been abruptly ended. All she cared about was the fact that another victim was near. She lifted her large body up. She was much larger than normal wolves. She could take a dragga easily. Most thought she was one herself until they scented her gender. Her large shoulder blades rolled under her tough skin. She stood up straight looking at the world through her red eyes. The red on her face mirrored a mask, a villains mask. Scarlet stretched once again lowering her head to the ground. She smelled wolf, and blood. Getting excited with the smell she began running. Her long and muscular legs pushed her hard through the air. They kept in perfect rhythm as she hit the ground one by one. Feeling the blood lust being lured out of her thoughts her eyes glowed harder and she kicked her back legs harder making herself somehow go faster. She heard a sound ahead. The sound of falling pebbles. But accounting for the distance from it there was most likely falling rocks. That only added more fun to her game. Scarlet looked up to see some sort of giant cave. She squinted her eyes trying to get the red light away so she could see, somewhat, normal color*. She saw a castle, very old, this one was. She saw a pile of black fur underneath. Little rocks fell on the sikla, but they didn't care. They seemed weak. Hopefully that wouldn't last, she wanted a good fight. She wanted to top her best kill, to have his guts splattered against the hard fall, and the rest coating the floor in red. She walked very slowly up the rocks so they wouldn't see her. She began to whisper in a haunted tone while she circled him out of sight, "Ashes, Ashes you FALL DOWN!." She hit her side on the castle still out of sight making a few more rocks, bigger this time hit the sikla. She gave a bit of an evil chuckle enjoying what little discomfort he just had. She began to step on sticks to scare them, going slowly to build the paranoia, and hopefully, their adrenaline, as before. She wanted a good fight. Her red eyes began to show. Glowing furiously showing off the cracks that looked like shattered glass underneath.

ooc.. ello again, depth xD (shadow=willow) looks like you about to make a new friend.. jk)
radio- in the darkness by Death By Sunrise and papercut by Linkin Park
tagged- gratz n depth
words- 700