A Land Without Mercy Pt.II by WynBird on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Liss anticipated the attack, but not the speed with which the much larger wolf moved. She yelped as teeth clamped down behind her elbow, hungry for blood. Only a well-timed jerk freed her from his bite and Liss bolted, leaving Grim spitting out a mouthful of pale fur.

"Come now Elise, there's no hurry!" He shrieked, "Why don't you stay a while? I've some friends who would absolutely die to meet you!"

The mud sucked at her paws. Liss's short stature impeded her flight, and she scrambled desperately for any solid ground she could find, tearing through brambles and biting thorns that stuck to her pelt. Her shoulder burned savageley, but its protest meant nothing compared Grim's wails.

"Don't play coy, sweet thing!"

Every joint in her body shuddered, and for the first time in her life Liss truly knew horror. It strangled, pulsing like venom in the blood. "Stop it!" She cried.

Grim only laughed.

In an open race he would soon catch her. She was under no illusion as to the outcome. Think! THINK! Liss's mind raced. The greatest peril was in losing her head.

What would Mum do? Remember her stories! Maybe - the river! It was frozen over, but she had noticed weak spots in the ice from her perusal of the border.

It was a risk - but better than the certainty of glinting fangs behind her.

Changing track abruptly, Liss sped toward the snowy flats. She stumbled once, heart ramming into her throat as Grim's teeth snapped at her heels. She yelped, kicking hard with her claws to keep him at bay before continuing to flee.

But the river was close, and if she'd oriented herself right, the current still moved here. Praying to Adetunji for swift judgement and hoping Nyru's outriding lessons stood up under pressure, Liss launched herself over a snowbank and onto frozen water.

A ripple beneath her feet sent splinters of fear through Liss's paws. She kept going. It would be thinner near the center, and if she was blessed - or else, very, very lucky, her lighter frame would enable her to cross where Grim could not.

Just a little space! That's all I need!

Adetunji growled below her as a flurry of snow whipped across the windblasted expanse. Grim let out a devastating howl, followed by a sound like thunder breaking out between them. She felt the tremors all the way in her chest, but Liss didn't dare look back. She kept running.

Across the river.

Across the marshsland.

Even when Grim's enraged bellows ceased to echo over the plain, Liss's legs moved unbidden. Blood drummed in her ears. Cold wind and branches laden with ice took turns stinging her face. She didn't stop.

Past the place she and Hellion once met in secret.

Into the foothills.

Up to the rocky crags of the mountains.

She ran until she could run no further.

Finally Liss careened against a cleft in the stone, gasping for breath. Her lungs burned. As her body struggled to level out, the shock of the attack bubbled up in her stomach like rotten meat. Violent tremors throbbed in her gut.

All of Loki's warnings came flooding back. The insights she'd rejected. Vektren was dangerous. She'd known that - but she'd hoped - believed - it was only the exagerrated paranoia of her elders.

She couldn't understand such terrible, incoherent hate. Nor why any of it should be directed at her. Tears swelled in her eyes. Soon she wept with abandon, curling tightly inward as sobs raked through her small frame.

Out of shock or denial, she still couldn't bring herself to accept Hellion counted among fiends like that black creature. Hellion never frightened her. Never threatened her. Not once. Not like-

A surge of residual terror slammed into her so intensely that Liss staggered forward and puked up a mouthful of bile. The look in Grim's eyes. She'd never even seen a wolf look a prey with such bloodlust. He would've killed her. Or worse. She whimpered hoarsely.

"You can't be one of them." She winced, ears flat.

This was supposed to be an exciting day. A reunion, after seasons apart. At some point in her flight she must have bitten her tongue, because all she could taste was blood.

"You just can't be."

Every echo through the rocks set her fur on end. She strained to hear over the wind. What if Grim followed, in spite of everything? What if he found her here? Her legs felt like slush. If he did, she wasn't sure she had the strength to flee or fight any longer.

She supposed she should be glad she didn't have Astir Loki's enraged face to look forward to when she returned to Vale.

It was hardly a comfort.

Wrapping her tail around her muzzle, Liss licked her lips and stared sightlessly as her body continued to convulse. What a terrible surprise this was shaping up to be.

Original skin by SimplySilent | BG from ARK:Survival Evolved