Southern Grazing Lands

The quiet scraping was heard again.

"I'll be well when I can hurt something." Lark growled, glaring at the shadows with a newfound hatred. Upon reflection he had to note down his change in demeanor...it wasn't long ago that he would almost never be enraged, and now he got angry at almost anything...

It was very worrying.

"You just might get the chance," mumbled Luli, watching the shadows split apart and form above ground once more.

Now, there were two wolflike beings on their feet, snarling at them as spiked formed their pointy manes. "Maybe slicing it in half wasn't the greatest idea."

"If cutting won't work," Lark growled as his blade retracted into it's housing. He brought up a fist to slam into the palm of his hand.

"Then we simply beat the shit out of it." He glanced over at Luli for a second. "Do me a favor will you?"

"Make some noise." He grinned, securing his headphones over his ears.

"Could you give me an easier task?" laughed the girl, flipping both Trenca and Ilesca into her hands. As the wolves rushed in for an attack, she bashed the two fan ribs together, filling the air with a loud, ear-ringing tang.

"Is this enough for you!?"

Lark smiled as they charged and the sharp sound of Luli's fans rang through the air.

He lifted his foot and almost instantly the piercing tang vanished abruptly. When the sole of his sneaker slammed into the ground, a loud rumbling would be the only warning before the earth beneath their feet shook violently.

The ground between Lark and the shadowed beasts cracked and tore itself apart. The earth jutted out randomly and collapsed, and within moments a massive sinkhole gave way beneath the beast.

"Again." Lark grinned.

Luli's grin widened with Lark's, and once more she raised the fans and bashed the ribs together, light enough not to cause damage, hard enough to send a much louder clang through the air. What power he had, thought Luli.

The wolves paused and paced around, but quickly began to skitter back as the ground beneath them started to fall. One of them made it, one of them fell.

"Tomorrow
And I'm outta here
One down"

Lark mumbled the verse with a tune and a smirk on his face. He raised a finger and the ringing cease to chime through the air, instead it seemed to recede, condense, and soon it seem to come from one spot in the sky, yet with more intensity than before.

Lark twirled his finger for a second before pointing it down at the wolf trapped in the pit.

The ringing shot through the air, and the ground of the pit shattered. As the earth that formed the sinkhole's floor broke apart, the very walls of the pit began to rupture as well. And within moments the pit would begin to collapse on itself.

The wolf-shaped creature howled before it was consumed by the earth that Lark had brought down upon it. Luli put her hand on her hip, holding Ilesca outward. "I must question how you weren't able to kill me in the past," she laughed, tossing the fan out. It would swoosh by Lark within breath's reach, striking the shadow opposite him. It doubled back and sliced at it again, and again, and again, quick enough that the eye wouldn't follow, until the creature was only several small blots slithering in the grass.

"Oh, yeah. I think I remember," she purred, walking past him.

Walking past, she may have heard a sound like shattering glass.

Slowly Lark's skin seemed to crack and fall apart, only to be replaced by skin that looked almost identical, save for one detail.

Scars.

This hidden skin seemed to be riddled with scars and burns, rough and calloused as opposed to his usual fair and smooth appearance. It was revealed piece by piece, all the while Lark wore a smirk as he glared at the spot where the shadowed beast had stood.

"Fighting Shadows...." Lark said quietly, as the last of the flaking begun to end. The final piece seemed to break off the back of his neck, exposing not a scar, but a mark.

A bar code. And under it, in bold black letters, a word.

Amp.

"...Brings back memories."

Luli stopped, looking behind her at Lark. She studied the breaking bits of skin with a vague concern.

"And what..." she began, crouching down in front of him to put her hand in the grass, picking up one of the pieces, "... is this?" She held it up to him, narrowed her eyes in scrutiny. "Not that we're particularly close, but this seems a little big. A health issue?"

The smirk vanished when Lark blinked once more. He stood frozen still for several moments before his eyes darted to the sides of his sockets to glance at Luli.

Immediately the Dragon blade slid out from it's housing, and Lark flicked it with his finger, a resounding twang would erupt.

The pieces of "skin" that Luli saw and hel vanished instantly, and almost just as fast the scars and secrets embedded into Lark's skin disappeared.

"You didn't see a thing."

The girl did not flinch. She just stood up, turned her back to him, and began to make her way to the other side of the pit Lark had made. She ran her hands through the grass and hopped forward, pouncing on one of the slithering black tendrils.

She rose it up, and without meeting Lark's eyes, she presented the writhing black shadow to him and said, "This is our little troublemaker." She grabbed it in both hands, then thrust down. She held her hands up to the boy, her palms now black, dripping with a strange substance.

"It's not a shadow. It's ink."

She made her way past him, toward their packs, again. Though her mouth was still curved in its ever-present smile, something was different with her eyes from the moment Lark's skin had peeled away.

"Let's go now."

Lark did not know which emotion won out when the nature of the beasts was revealed, relief or disappointment.

His misconception had caused memories he'd buried away to surface once more. Memories he would rather never have possessed. He rubbed at the back of his neck with a sigh before following after the woman.

He did know one thing though, he was grateful that Luli wasn't going to bother him about it.

Tonight had been a successful venture of a crime most lowly. Already the van, which was parked some hundred feet away hidden amongst the foliage, held several bound prisoners, mostly unconscious. The ones who weren't unconscious were being watched by the second part of the job, and knew well enough not to piss him off that they stayed silent. He was an odd sort to send on this sort of mission, all force and no subtlety, which was why Old Bones was there.

Old Bones was a skeleton by nature which meant a few obvious things. He wasn't alive for a start, so no smell, heartbeat or pulse. It made him great at sneaking and lying perfectly still. It also meant he didn't have a lot to do in his spare time. So while they had already met their quota, they weren't due for another six hours at the space port Old Bones didn't feel quite like spending hours at home alone with nothing to do.

The trap had been set. Old Bones found a sleeping deer and stabbed it in the eye and kept on stabbing until it stopped howling and writhing. With the body left on the floor he decided it would be a good time to wait and see what predators showed up to claim the recent slaughter with its fresh scents in the air.

Like most single mothers, caring for a child was top priority. It didn't make a difference what race you were, or what type of mother you were; as long as you put your offspring first, you were a grade-A provider. Shourina-Lynn was one that strove to keep her five year old well fed and educated with the common lands; teaching her to hunt was the most important thing, especially in the area they frequented. Although they were mostly homeless, Shourina did what she felt was a fairly decent job at keeping herself and her daughter safe by residing in an underground burrow not too far from a watering hole. They were lucky, too, considering the land they had chosen to live in was populated by a mass variety of fauna, which made hunting a lot easier.

It was time for another lesson, and Shourina had sought out a small herd of deer grazing in a mostly open area. Not only would it be an easy kill for her daughter, but it would serve as a nice meal and perhaps they would be able to save it for the next day. During hunting time, both Shourina and her daughter took their wolf forms for a better chance at catching prey. They were faster, more cunning, and their senses were heightened by an exponential amount.

Crouching low behind a patch of tall bushes, Shourina peeked out into into the field at the deer, her daughter taking note of her mother's actions. The mother wolf relaxed a bit, focusing on one deer that seemed to be slower than the rest, and she watched it for a moment, observing its behavior to determine the best strategy on how to take it down. She lowered her head and readied herself to pounce, but was suddenly halted by the sound of an animal's cries in the distance, and the fresh scent of blood that was quick to follow. 'What's this?' She thought, curious now about the scent creeping up her nasal passage. Immediately, Shourina backed away from the large bush, nudging her daughter along to follow.

The two came up on to what seemed to be a lone deer that was killed in vain. Feeling somewhat skeptical about this, Shourina lied down on the hot grass about fifteen feet from the dead animal, observing the surroundings to ensure the safety of the retrieval. Aurora, Shourina's five year old daughter, was lying next to her, curled up and imitating her mothers' observations to gain skill for herself.

After a while of no other predator coming near to claim the easy prize, Shourina felt it was safe enough to approach, so she stood and cautiously made her way towards the deer. Upon reaching it, she sniffed around it, wondering what killed it and why it was so beat up. She placed her nose against the deer's face, taking in the scent of a blade that was used to kill it. Realizing that this was some sort of human that must have killed it, Shourina picked her head up and scanned the area, her bright yellow eyes gazing over each piece of land that was visible to her. Still no one. Sighing softly to herself, the mother wolf looked down to her offspring who was eagerly sniffing around the carcass, and nodded her head in approval of safety for claiming the prize.

A sharp ear might have caught a difference in the creak of wood and the creak of bones being stretched as the assassin slowly emerged from the hollow in the tree that had been his hiding place for the better part of an hour. Bony fingers worn and yellowed with age wrapped around the grip of a firearm. And with only a soft, silent exhalation of nothing, he pulled down tight on the trigger, explosion sending a piece of metal hurtling for the back legs of the larger wolf.

At the same moment, loud clanking too obvious to conceal, was a net, metal and heavy, pulled free from the ribcage and at once tossed. Heavy metal weights tied to all ends flared out and dropped heavily to the earth with a loud clunk. Forty kilos of weight spread across eight balls. By no means did Old Bones think the weight alone would trap the pair, unless they happened to get entangled in the mess, so he stood at the ready with the pistol, lining up a careful second shot.

Of course, an injured wolf was much less valuable than injured, but really beggars couldn't be choosers.

The mother wolf continued sniffing along the dead carcass, her nose pressed firmly against the bloodied fur, inhaling the sweet aroma of the deer's blood. Grunting at the prize, Shourina sniffed her way down the deer's shoulder, leading down to its hoof. After nudging it some with her nose, she raised her brows to look over to her daughter who was doing the same thing with one of the deer's back legs. She grinned in her mind at Aurora's motives to copy her actions, figuring she'd raised an intelligent child. The proud mother turned her focus back to the front hoof and took it in her mouth, beginning to drag the carcass back in the direction of their underground den.

The two wolves barely got a foot away from the scene before they were completely halted by a cracking sound echoing through the air. Four ears perked up at the cracking sound, and both heads rose to look at each other in curiosity. Within a few seconds, the mother wolf jolted forward, releasing a shrill yelp into the still air. Shock immediately filled her system, and a sharp pain emanated from the back side of her right thigh and traveled all the way down her leg, then back up to meet the impacted flesh.

Worry shrouded the younger wolf, and she was quick to jump to her mother's aide. Unsure of what exactly was happening, the only thing going through Shourina's mind was to signal her daughter to escape. She nudged Aurora along, but was then overcome with a large netted structure. Aurora struggled against the heavy material, attempting to find her way out of it without getting tangled.

Anger from the situation and also the immense pain in her leg rose in the mother wolf, as well as a raging boost of adrenaline. Using the only strength she could muster to stand, Shourina shook her way through the net, inching towards her daughter to help her reach an opening so the two could escape. Although being in wolf form was the greatest advantage when it came to hunting, they were still wolves, and poachers would always come about, looking for a pelt or even some meat for their own families to feast upon.

Realizing in the back of her mind that someone sought her out, the transition from wolf to human was imminent. Luckily, it only took the both of them a few moments to shift back into human form. Once Aurora saw her mother begin to shift shape, she did so as well. Now there were two humans sitting under a net, hovering over a dead deer, and one of them was writhing in severe pain. Shourina let out a loud groan and inched her shaky hands towards the impacted flesh, cupping her hands over the wound and squeezing it so that the pressure would help stop the bleeding. "You son of a bitch....." she forced out through gritted teeth, still holding onto her leg under the net. She huffed and looked around the area, her eyes scoping for anything that might be out of the ordinary. "Gaaahhh......damnit," she hissed, still searching around for the one who shot her.

A wicked cackle broke through the air. Anyone unfortunate enough to look would see a skull nearly split in two at the jaw releasing its echoing insane laugh into the night. He leaped from his perch with the grace of a peacock, landing with a loud clatter and clack of his body bouncing about.
"Well you've done it now haven't you, bone head!" he spoke to himself, some dozen feet away, "Even when you're not trying to do your job, you succeed!" Renewed mirth escaped the skeleton dressed in black cloth. His free hand rubbed at his lower jaw, as if stroking a long lost beard and he slowly approached. The pistol was lowered, aimed at the ground almost as a sign of peace, but they weren't to be so lucky.

He offered out his left hand as he drew closer, meant as a shaking or helping gesture. "Sorry about this whole thing! I thought you pair were wild dogs, but with a trick like that I don't think it'd be just quite right of me to try and sell you to dog trainers now, would it?" When near, he would squat down with a tilt of his head, hand still extended to help. And yet, he continued to hold the gun.

The pain from the flesh wound pulsed through her leg, causing spurts of stress to jolt through the muscle. Shourina let out another loud groan, wincing as the pulsing sensation grew with every squeeze. She huffed when she heard a male's voice in the distance, and lifted her head, glancing around the area to see which direction the voice was coming from. The scent of old, dry bones filled the air as clanking skeleton approached the two under the net. Already angry from the incident, the shifter grew annoyed at the seemingly sarcastic tone of the strange man that was now in front of her.

She looked up at him, squinting some to better focus on his face, and grimaced once she realized she was looking at a skull. Curiosity filled her mind, attempting to sway her mind into pondering this fellow, but she quickly ceased that action and shook her head some. A grunt escaped her dry lips, the pain growing under her hands as she watched the skeleton carefully, taking note of each action. He was definitely something she'd never seen before. For all the years she'd been alive, he was by far the most odd thing to ever cross her path. The way he walked and talked, and the sound of his bones clanking together, as well as the separation of his jaw when he talked pissed her off every second he was near her.

Her eyes narrowed, and she scoffed at his comment about her and her daughter being wolves, but she nodded her head slowly in a sort of understanding manner. As he extended his arm in a helping gesture, Shourina stared at it for a long while, unsure of how to react. The man had just shot her, putting both hers and her daughter's lives in danger, and then trapped them with a net. And although, he probably meant no harm by it, he had still done it, and it was an inexcusable act. Finally deeming him unsafe, she reached her own arm out to tug her daughter closer to her, and she spat at the skeleton's feet in disgust. She let out another huff and raised her head to meet his gaze, her lips trembling as she held back some painful cries.

"Even if we were pureblood wolves, the fact that you'd injure, capture, and sell us to dog trainers is despicable. Here's to hoping karma kicks your boney face into the dirt," she barked at him, her voice raspy from stress. "We don't need your damn help, now get the hell out of here!"

From instinct of disgust, he drew his foot backwards from the spittle and tilted his head down, which almost looked like he was giving her a dirty grimace with how his jaw arced up. "Well the funny thing about being dead," he explained in his humoured tone, "Is that you've already had all the karma of a life time."
His jaw split open once more to let out another fresh cackle. Oh how he loved his own jokes.
"But now let's set things straight. I won't be selling you to dog trainers," he added with a tilt of his head, "But slave traders will pay a good price for shifters. And if you don't come with me I will put several fresh holes through your daughters skull."

He always had the same warm, raspy and happy voice, which was completely at odds with gun that was now cocked ever so slightly towards the young girls head. "Now no trying to talk your way out of it. I don't have a heart to appeal to. Or a brain. Just doing my job." In a snap his hand snatched up the nearest of the net and started stuffing it back into his rib cage.

Shourina scoffed at his remarks about karma. This guy had to be some sort of a joke, or a puppet of some kind. There's no possible way a skeleton could be walking about, posing as a poacher of sorts for some slave traders. Something was up, but she couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. She studied him for a moment while his jaw clacked up and down through laughing and conversing. She pursed her lips at his mention of slave traders, her thoughts immediately racing through her mind, wondering which one should come forward first, and which would be the smartest for a comeback.

She listened carefully to his words, cuddling her daughter close to her chest with her free hand as he threatened her life for the price of a shackled drudge. Shourina's anger intensified, causing the pulsing pain in her leg to spasm. She winced again at the swelling wound, groaning as she squeezed the impacted flesh tighter. She let out a hoarse huff and shifted her position some, blowing some loose strands of hair out of her face as they fell over her brow. "Don't you dare harm her," she spat out, the pain causing her voice to shake uncontrollably.

It was almost unbearable, and now she was evidently screwed. She attempted to ease the pain with a brief breathing exercise, while also taking in his words and deciding on the best action for the situation she managed to get both her and her daughter into. Aurora huddled as close as she could to her mother, tucking her face away into Shourina's kimono top when the skeleton's pistol was pointed towards her head.

Feeling as though it was probably the best decision to give in and retaliate later, Shourina lowered her head shamefully, and gave her daughter's scalp a long kiss. She breathed in the earthy scent of her hair and sighed softly, whispering something comforting into her daughter's ear to reassure her that everything was going to turn out fine. The mother wolf lifted her head slowly and stared the skeleton in the face. "Just don't harm her..." Shourina's tone was low and worn, and she inched closer to the man as a means of surrendering.

The gun was pointed low again to the floor as the net continued to drag across the floor and into the skeletons chest cavity guided by one boney grip. "Ayyy, see! We can be agreeable." With the last bits of the net getting stuffed inside his ribcage he rose to stand tall and still, staring down at the pair. "Can you walk on that leg or do you want me to lend you mine as a walking stick?" he asked, another joke if his tone was to be believed.

He offered a helping hand towards her again, without thinking twice. It actually raised a question; would he be able to lift her if she couldn't walk? A lack of muscles sure made it uncertain. Still the gesture was there. "No harm will come to your daughter. Bones honour. Cross my spine and hope to snap. Just get in the truck." He gestured past him with the gun and would wait for them to move before he started walking, sure to keep her in sight the entire time. Who knew if she could turn into a bird and fly away? Didn't need legs for that.

As the net was retracted back into the skeleton's chest cavity, the two wolf shifters stood in compliance of the bargain. Shourina winced as the pressure from the flesh wound intensified, pain shooting up and down her leg like lightning bolts. "Mmmfff," she groaned low in her throat, and leaned down a bit to block the open flesh with her palm, pressing down as hard as she could in an attempt to stop the bits of blood that were still slowly leaking out of the wound. "I'll fare just fine," she assured the skeleton, and wobbled awkwardly on over to him, ignoring his gesture to help her stand.

Hunched over and wincing with with every step, Shourina walked towards the direction the skeleton gestured to with his gun. Aurora followed suit, making sure to stay close to her mother, and as far away from the skeleton as she could. "Why the hell do you want us anyways? We didn't do anything to you." The mother shifter spat out with a hoarse tone. Her thoughts were swirling in her mind, and she couldn't bring herself to find a viable reason as to why anyone would want to capture her and her daughter and sell them to slave traders. What exactly would a wolf shifter be useful for?

Old Bones swiveled on the spot as she passed and slowly followed behind, keeping three paces back and the gun always raised. "That's a silly question," he answered, for once humourless as he scratched his chin with a lone finger, "I already told you, we're gathering slaves. I also told you I don't have a heart to appeal to." In fact, he seemed a little annoyed with her, but it didn't last. He was upbeat by his next words. "But look on the bright side, I've done you a mercy by shooting you in the leg! No slave trader wants a cripple, so you'll be spared until your injury heals." His strut behind her was nearly jovial, happy to have caught someone so interesting.

Ahead through the trees there was the truck, as mentioned, a big old thing with a chicken company painted on the side to draw away suspicion. The back doors were open, and sitting there was a bored looking man in his mid to late twenties and too many studs in his face. He looked more like a thug than an assassin. Lined up on either side of the truck behind him were various other unfortunate victims of the night, some unconscious, some just silent, all chained to the wall.

Shourina wobbled awkwardly along, halfway hunched over so that her palm could stay firmly pressed down on the wound, nervousness and anxiety growing quickly inside of her. Her mind continued to race, and each step was getting harder and harder to take. Not only was the pain so unbearable, it was also starting to cause a numb, tingling sensation in the muscle around the wound. She hadn't stopped bleeding quite yet, but she could feel it slowing down thanks to the pressure. As they walked further out into the field, the mother wolf made sure to keep her daughter as close as possible. She mentally shook her head at the skeleton's comments, not bothering to respond, seeing as how there was nothing she could do at this point except find a way to escape. And by the looks of it, escaping wasn't something that would come too easily.

It felt like they had walked miles upon miles until they finally reached their destination, where the van was located. She arched a brow at the silly disguise on the side of it, and looked up into the truck as the back doors were opened. Her brow stayed arched as her gaze shifted from the odd design to another who looked like someone had jammed metal into his face multiple times to give him some kind of intimidating demeanor. She narrowed her eyes at his looks, fully intent on judging him, and again shifted her gaze, but this time to the others in the vehicle. She took note at the various other prisoners in the truck, and could feel a heavy feeling dropping in her gut. The sight was disgusting, and Shourina swallowed hard. "How do you expect me to get up there? I'm kind of a cripple." She said plainly, her voice low and daunting.