Mountainside Stream

Stanley looked onto the nothingness, thinking of what could or couldn't be after tonight. A thundering, cold shiver travelled through his spine, extending to his entire body. Trea—son, Miyako's words flashed on his mind, repeating the conversation over and over. Th-e-ey’ll kill us if they ca-a-atch us-s, a fact that was deeply impaled into his brain, a constant pain that hunted him everywhere, yet worst of all, it was all around a plausible fate. Would you be ready? the broken breeder's question resonated in his head like a ricocheting bullet, on and on again, sparking fear and doubt into the male's actions.

"No," he answered, to nobody present but himself. The rogue slave turned around, watching as his fellow captive explained the plan to her offspring. "But that's exactly why I'm here," finished Stan, satisfied with his resolve, seeing the mother preparing to take one of her children, finally running away from their captor. “Stan—ley?” She questioned, following up with a soft, yet cutting "Be ca-a-areful. Goodbye," which the male replied with a warm smile. The sight of Miyako escaping into the night with at least one of her children brought the brown hued tremendous joy, an emotion he hadn't felt in months.

Now, what do I do with all of you? he asked to himself, standing before the entirety of the ruler of Ignasia's progeny.


@miyako Zayn Lotus @rome Apprentice Mutt @myles @tayla

Miyako had slithered for what felt like centuries. Even as the array of strangers slipped into shadows and vanished, even as the mists cleared and created a new path, even as the stony earth stabbed and flayed her fragile underbelly, she crept slowly. Swiftness would summon their attention. If she even dared to begin hoisting herself onto her paws, if she even so much as twitched a torn ear, they would know it, and be on her onyx heels before two breaths elapsed. These were their lands, not hers, and everything that happened within it, they knew of. They had eyes everywhere, ears knowingly embedded beyond the bark of every tree, and she, in her idiocies, had assumed she could escape it. Sharp teeth slid against her tongue, suppressing a sorrowful moan as she attempted to still her stiff-necked twitches. Oh Zayn, oh Lotus, she’d damned them, every last one of them to a terrible fate of slavery and sorrow and torment. Perhaps if she’d protested more passionately, reminded Stanley of just how wonderfully deserters were handled here — she could have convinced him. She could have, she could have, but she hadn’t, and was all the more scum for it.

In the distance, she could see her six pups. Some, visibly petrified — the poor darlings, if only they saw their future, how much worse it would be. Others, such as Rome, appeared irritably, annoyed with all their intricate complexities, their pathetically flimsy plans of flight and freedom. She couldn’t say that she blamed them much for minding this, for feeling anything less than lethargic apathy. Why would they feel anything less? Was this not their place of birth? This place, a prison to her, was home to them, and there was no reason they should have viewed it as anything less. They’d never witnessed the carnage, the savagery that seeped from every being that resided in these lands too long. Never had they been forced to feast on the flesh of their own kind. Never had they witnessed the murder of friends, of slaves, of innocent souls, and been given no choice but to celebrate the carnage. They’d no reason to hate, or fear, or feel anything other than absolute confusion at her constant hysterics. All she could do was try to deliver them — and pray that one day, they’d be able to understand why she went to such trouble.

Tayla was next. Reluctantly, she rose, taking one terse step after another. Stanley was standing right by Rome; alert, attentive. She hated to see it, but she could have sworn the shimmer of his eyes held something that resembled hope. Perhaps it was a just trick of the light, another musing of her overtaxed mind. It couldn’t possibly be real, for it was, that meant their insanities held a tangible chance of succeeding. And if they did, she wouldn’t know where to begin. How exactly did one go about picking the pieces of their life? She couldn’t simply hope to start anew — could she? Did such a thing as ‘new’ even exist anymore? Perhaps now she would finally have a chance to find out. “All well?” She asked breathlessly; a sanguine tongue slipping over sable jaws. One pup down, six to go. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn’t insanity. Perhaps they actually stood a chance, and though a chance wasn’t much, it was all she ever had. For one fleeting expression, she allowed her features to soften, her posture to slack in a rare, odd state of relaxation. All she had to do was what she’d just done six more times.

And then, as swiftly as that odd state of calm ascended, it evaporated into nothingness.

She saw him. A giant alabaster demon, lurking beyond the bush. Shuddering eyes seared against a mismatched gaze, cold and calculating and clipping any semblance of safety she managed to muster. Jerkily, she jutted thin jaws open, attempting to steady her stance as breath abandoned her. Her worst fears audibly flickered before her, roaring to life. Not a single, alien scent ridged the roof her mouth, but three. The Delta, the Guardian, and worst of all, her Mistress. They’d found them. A mint gaze maintained her own, heartlessly absent of anything remotely resembling sympathy. She choked, gagging on her own welling tears. Why would he? Sable claws sank into the ice as she painfully shook. Mistress had promised him his perfect, happy fairytale ending. She and her litter stood directly in the way of that, little more than a bothersome hindrance to him, and would be snuffed accordingly. Her sides heaved desperately, sorrel jaws seething with thick foam. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair, it wasn’t fair. She gasped suddenly, thrashing her head in a final attempt to clear his scent from her nose. It remained, growing in strength and intensity. A frantic scream filled her lungs.

“HE’S HERE!” She screeched, puce ears plastering themselves against her skull as wild auburn haunches sparked. She blindly staggered back; her voice hoarse, heaving with horror. “HE’S HERE, HE’S HERE, HE’SHEREHEREHEREHERE!” Suddenly, a sharp clarity filled her being even as her pulse thundered in her ears, even as their approaching pawsteps echoed with all the might of lightning strikes. She scanned her litter wildly, searching for something to cling to as they doubtlessly broke the brush lines. She stumbled forwards, jaws ajar, grasping the golden scruff of the only pup that provided her some tiny, small hint of solace: lovely, sweet Lotus. She gripped her harshly, savagely, eyes swinging about wildly as she met the gaze of her frightened pups and — Stanley, oh god, oh god, oh god, they’d kill him. “RUN!” She roared, begging him to abandon this absolute, guaranteed suicide mission and save his own life. He faltered, and in a single heartbeat, it was too late. She turned, her limbs thundering against thin, ashen soil as she ran for her and her youngest’s life, sobbing with grief. “Stanley,” She groaned, hiccuping against her pup’s scruff as she sprinted. “I’m so, so sorry. So—so—so—so—sorry.”

Exit: Borders

@tayla @myles @rome Hound Apprentice Mutt Lotus @stanley Delta Cayden Maleah @marusya

"I don't want to go," was the first sentence Stan was able to hear from the younglings. Turning his sight away from Miyako's chosen path, the slave looked at little thing calling him from below. He didn't even know the pup's name, but Stanley could feel her fear, he could see her anxiety drawing up on her face. Figuring this feeling could, and considering everything, would eventually extend to the rest of the litter, the orange male found himself in a bit of a predicament, but remembered the age of those in front of him.

"I know you are afraid kids, but I promise," said the Mexican Grey wolf, making a small pause just to think up what he could say to calm the children down. "There's better lands to explore out there, full of games, adventures and-," his speech was cut off by a shout, a screech that got louder and closer by each second, accompained by loud sounds of step. “HE’S HERE, HE’S HERE, HE’SHEREHEREHEREHERE!” shouted a completely terrified Miyako, scared out of her mind because something, someone was tracking him down.

"Miyako, who's com-""RUN!" she interrupted yet again, grabbing one of her pups from the floor and making a run for it. Stanley wasn't even able to react nor figure out what to do, when he caught a scent of the "He" Miyako was so afraid of. Cayden, the now Delta of Ignasia had caught up to all of them. The plan was a failure. “You aren’t going anywhere,” said the snow white male, his eyes raging confidence and authority, ready to pounce at any point were his opponent to attempt either attack or flight.

The slave just sighed quietly, there wasn't much he could do at this point. "Can't say we didn't try our best, now can I?" he said, with a soft, defeated chuckle escaping his maw, looking at his captor. "Cayden, I'm not gonna pretend to know you at all, but just listen, for a minute," the orange male took a second to breathe, to organize his points. Maybe he could actually convince the Delta, it was worth a shot. Not like he had any other choice. "But you know what they can do, what they have done, and what they will continue to do. They, every single one of them are lunatics, psychopaths and murderers!" he said, loudly, venting out the pain he's suffered for the past months.

"It's not only about what they did to me, it's what they will do to them! Maybe we are too far gone already, but there's hope in these children, they need a future," finished Stanley, exhaling. "And I'm damn sure they won't find that here".

Mutt's tail began to wag, Rome had agreed to some hide and seek after all, which was a rare sight in its own right, and what was even better was that both him and Mutt were gonna be the ones seeking, the dream duo for hide and seek, and they had finally gotten the opportunity to put their skills to the test. However, just as they were beginning to count Rome was distracted by their mother, but Mutt didn't care, he was happy enough just going to find Lotus, "Sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty." Mutt turned around quickly and began searching for his sister, he wasn't as good at finding as Hound was, but maybe he would get lucky this time, or maybe Hound would beat him to finding her just as he always did.

Exit to Nightfall

After a few rounds of hide and seek Mutt had passed out with Hound, his back resting against his brother's back comfortably, also serving to keep them both warm in the chill that still hung in the air. Mutt hadn't bothered to listen to anything the adults had been speaking about while they were playing, the dark tan pup had been too focused on winning in their hide-and-seek game and keeping Hound focused on the game none of that had really mattered to him. But, here they both were napping together, and then slowly Mutt opened his tired eyes, yawning and rolling further on his back, pushing more of his weight back feeling more secure the closer he was to his brother. Then the small pup slowly rolled back to his paws, shaking his thick fur out, it may have looked thin for an adult wolf, but for a puppy, most of Mutt's weight was his fur alone.

“Zayn, Tayla, Rome, My—les, Hou-und, Lotus, come.” Mutt's ears pricked at the sound of their mother's voice, but she must've forgotten him, with seven different pups he understood the lack of realization, but it did make his ears droop a bit, until he recognized the cold urgency hidden within her voice, and then curiosity peaked in the forefront of his mind, what was happening now, what were they going to do. Mutt nudged Hound quickly and hurried after Lotus who also seemed a bit on edge about the whole situation. Finally, their mother continued, "Li—sten. We-e are lea-aving toni-i-ight. All of us-s. From now on, you mu-u-ustn’t ma-a-ake a sound. Quiet.I will ca-a-arry you out to the bo-or-ders one at a ti-i-ime. In or-or-der of birth. Must st-ay-ay li-imp and si-i-i-lent.Once se-e-et down, I will hi-i-ide. Stay there. Don’t mo-o-ve until,Un-til I co-ome back. Mu-u-ust ru-un out if da-ay or mo-or-ore passes. While I ca-a-arry one, rest of yo-ou must stay here wi-ith Stan—ley. He wi-ill watch yo-ou. Ta-a-ke care of you. Do-on’t leave his si-i-ight. Zayn. You fir-st. Are you r-e-eady?"


Mutt's hot pink eyes watched as their mother gently grasped the nape of Zayn's neck in her jaws and hurried away, he looked at Hound and then to Lotus, confused why were they going to be leaving, there was no need, they were home, what was the point of leaving now? And, what if they aren't quick enough, what if Hound and I get separated, what if Lotus gets left behind, she is the last born after all, and she's part of the trio... Mutt looked nervously between his two closest siblings, his older brother and younger sister, both whom he was very protective over, but what could he do? There was no way the small pup was going to deny their mother's request, so, the dark tan pup finally just sat down and waited patiently, this was the best, and only, course of action possible as of right now, and Mutt wasn't about to disobey their mother.

Mutt saw their mother returning his ears pricked up and Zayn was no longer with her, Mutt was still confused as to what was happening, why they were leaving, but the small pup's tail wagged slowly, their mother had succeeded in doing whatever it was she was doing, and whether or not they understood why, she was doing an amazing job so far. However, just as Mutt's tail began to wag, he saw his mother's eyes the fear that set in them and then her screams “HE’S HERE, HE’S HERE, HE’SHEREHEREHEREHERE!” Mutt pressed himself against Hound, eyes wide in fear at what seemed to be a sudden break in their mother's sanity, which Mutt always suspected was probably right around the corner, but he never expected it to happen now, when they were apparently trying to escape, the reason why still out of his grasp. Then their mother stopped, as if finally something clicked and she grabbed Lotus, shouting "RUN," to her partner in crime, Stanley, and before anything else could happen their mother was gone, and she had left five of her pups in a place she had deemed unfit for herself to live in.

The hot pink eyes were wide, what had just happened, nothing seemed to be quite right anymore their mother had finally snapped, and Stanley just seemed to have accepted his fate, and finally, Cayden appeared, out of nowhere, at least that was how it seemed to the small tan pup. Mutt stared up at the Delta, awestruck by the Cayden's sheer size, but Mutt was well aware of the possibility of seeing his own death tonight if Cayden placed one paw wrong, so as usual Mutt stayed close to his brother, forcing his small body to remain completely still so as not to accidentally fall under the Delta's paws.

Mutt listened closely to Stanley and Cayden's conversation, for some reason Stanley was bent on 'saving' the pups from the only home they knew, and the male was close to losing his own life for it. Their mother had finally lost her mind now, and apparently Stanley was going to lose his, and to go along with that his life would be lost as well. The real question that was on Mutt's mind was, 'What would happen to all of them?' Five pups, without a mother, in a pack that seemed either scared of them or just had no care in the world about whether they were going to live or whether they were going to die, and everyone knew, their father wasn't about to take them in and care for them, so who was left to care for the five of them, the unwanted ones?

Delta Cayden Hound @stanley @rome @tayla @myles