Invisible, not invincible, {Shady, Nightshade, and the rogues}

Shady flitted her tail nervously as she watched the two cross the river. When they had settled on the other side she nodded and continued down the river a rather long ways. When she finally felt it was safe distance away to emerge from the water, yet close enough for the rogues to go to her tracks rather then the crossing, she ran desperately from the bank. She decided that instead of circling back she would circle forward so that the rogues would never think to go back and check up the river.

No doubt the rogues would believe she was trying to through them off when they followed her trail back to the river but they would believe she continued down it. She didn't have much time either... it would be harder to wade upriver and she didn't know how close the rouges were to her. She lopped at full speed and tried to do the same when she finally returned to the river. The currents was swift and her pace was grueling as she tried to hamper forward.

Shady was just turning a bend in the river when she froze. The sent of two rogues came wafting down wind and clawed at her nose -- they smalled awful. She cautiously crept around the bend... almost crawling so she was barely visible above the water. Two rogues were examining her tracks, arguing amongst themselves. She peered upstream but where Nightshade had lain himself was in thick vegetation. He was unnoticed and unscathed, well, other then his previous wounds. She watched as one of the rogues finally decided to follow her tracks, the other seemed to turn in order to go notify others.

The she-wolf tested the air cautiously. There were only two, once out of site she could cross to the other side. On top of that, she noted, the wind blew just perfectly over the water so that their own sent wouldn't be caught downriver, or at least on the rogue side of the bank. Shady tested the air again. The rogues were far enough away now, so she slinked upstream and eased her way across the water. Calmly lowering herself behind the vegetation on the other side next to Nightshade, she nodded at him before peering to see if there was any activity on the other side.

There wasn't. Yet moving, Shady felt, would be far riskier then staying for their movement could be easily caught if the rogues came back at just the wrong time. Shady was tempted to clean Nightshade's wounds while they lay... then immediately came off the idea in fear of being bit. She brought the pup onto her paws and cautiously pampered the limp creature with her tongue. There was not much else to do. She decided that she would sit, keeping the pup alive at least, till she or Nightshade felt it was definitely safe to move. She hoped he would be the one to make the decision.

(Completely forgot to login... that post was me... Abcat... sorry bout that )

Nightshade watched Shady - and the rogues - come and go without comment. There wasn't much to say. He didn't even attempt to throw any scathing remarks towards anything or anyone; most unlike him, though he could barely recognize himself anyway.

After a while of the silence, though, the black wolf grew impatient. He checked the air, nose only barely rising from his previously still position. Finding nothing but the aging scent of the two rogues, Nightshade flexed his stiff fore muscles and rose to his paws before turning to Shady.

"I think it's clear," he said, "We should go. I'll go check ahead - just in case."
Without waiting for her approval, Nightshade turned and slinked towards the river, impersonating the shadows with dark, subtle skill.

The air remained untainted both upriver and down. Within just a short time prior his departure, Nightshade returned to Shady and the pup with their bearings, relieved but with an impatience almost reaching its peak.

"Now can we get going?" he snapped arrogantly. A slight voice in the back of his head told him he was being rude; Nightshade ignored it. He was just glad to have broken the majority of his lifeless shell, despite the pieces of it that still clung to his conciousness.

He breathed in deeply. Looking at the pup, not Shady, Nightshade let out a poorly concealed sigh. Then, before he knew it, soon to follow was the similiarly unbidden -

"Eh . . . please?"

Shady tried hard not to smile. It felt nice not being chastised by the dark wolf. She was slightly worried he would cross the river to check, which would give away their scents but when he did not she scolded herself for interpreting his words so incorrectly. When he came back, she flinched slightly as his voice returned to vaguely resemble the nightshade who had left seven corners but when he asked please, she had to keep herself from sighing with relief.

The she-wolf nodded her head and gently picked up the pup. He moved slightly under her grasp which made her heart leap. He would, at least, survive. The pup was actually recovering, for he had few visible wounds. Shady felt his wounds were blunt and mental trauma more then anything.

(Should Shady know the land (she was river-wolf... in the golden days... does she have any memory of the land or was she never really river-wolf?)?)

(I uh... read through this and was wondering if I could be the pup... later... when he wakes up...?)

(That's a brilliant idea. Of course you can. ^^

Psst - Loki, I'm lowering the required amount for each post. People will have better incentive to post if they don't have to stretch and make each one uber-long.

Okay, everybody, let's head back to seven corners! I'll start a post there.)