Faerie Faerie

2-Big Bad

How dare that she-devil in red say such vulgarity! Guild Master Durret frowned heavily as he rode his horse. The other apprentices and masters of the guild had used three routes to try and head off the red cloaked courier. Who was she to start barking orders! She was no merchant! No one of high stature! Not even a man!

He blew his whistle, and two of his dogs howled in reply. "Good boys." he chuckled, following a forested path up the foot hills. The ground was marshy and his horse lost his footing twice. He finally came to the river's edge. He couldn't believe his eyes. The river that had been a quaint little stream all year round was a raging torrent of water.

He pulled a branch from a tree and tested the river. The stick was pulled from his grasp easily. He looked around and saw the trail of horse shoes in the mud, his own horse and another. He blew his whistled, two long bursts. His dogs were trained to come at the sounds of his whistle.

One long was to pursue.

One short was to surround.

Two long was to bring down.

Two short was to return.

He listened to the rushing water and heard no reply of his beasts. He looked at the edge of the bank. When his horse refused to tread closer he noticed the broken ledge of soil with roots protruding out into the water. Durret spat and turned his horse around. "Guess they fell in." he mumbled. "What a pain... Now I need to go back to the breeder. They were a pair of fine hounds too."

*~*~*~*~*

She wondered if her lungs had burst. If she was dead yet and this was Glorious OtherWorld her faith had send she would ascend too in death. When she opened her eyes, she cursed to see it wasn't OtherWorld. Or even her cabin at the edge of the Grace's lands. It was dark, and smelled of mud and wet dog.

The red cloaked woman stared from her spot to the sky. It was night fall, well past sunset. The sky was black and dotted with the stars and a full moon peeking through the trees, gracing her courteously with it's light. She cursed softly, coughing up water.

"Lord or Lady... you love tugging on my soul strings don't you?" she spoke softly to the Moon. The Moon gave no reply, for it was the Moon, and not a person at all. She flexed her legs,and found them restricted by mud. She moved her arms, and found her left limb broken.  "...Still pulling at that damned string... aren't you!" she shouted.

Off in a direction she could not see, something howled. From a spot more nearly she heard the whimper of an animal. The Red Rider clicked her tongue softly, wondering if her steed was still alive. Her memory of the incident came back in a slow haze. She had taken a wrong turn because of that damn dog. It chased her down and then all four of them fell into the rapids.

She clicked her tongue again, trying to get a reply from her horse. She wondered if it was dead somewhere at the bottom of the river. There was the sound of movement, and suction from the muddy earth. She saw her horse, caked in mud and scratched up a bit. He nuzzled her, trying to edge her to her feet. She grabbed the reins and the animal pulled her free of the mud. Using one arm to hold herself steady while the other was uselessly hanging at her side. She panted, the ordeal exhausting. She heard the howl again, this time from multiple spots in the forest and closer than before. Something bumped into her leg, she looked down and found it to be one of the hounds that had earlier pursued her. She looked around for the taller one, the wolf hound that had so diligently ran her off the cliff.

It lay dead feet away from them, it's side impaled with a sharpened branch and half its body caked it mud. The elk hound whined pitifully at her, begging for salvation. His left forehead was wounded and he carrier it carefully with each uneven trot. She knew that they were surrounded. She didn't need to hear or see them, to know they were there. Wolves howled to know where their comrades were. They were death silent just before their attacks.

She felt along her horse's saddle and bags. Most of her supplies were gone. Food, money, spare clothes, hatchet, frying pan-- the only things left were her short sword, and the parcel she refused to deliver.

She unsheathed the sword and held it in front of her. "I don't even have a shepherd's horn. Lord and Lady." she murmured.

Off in the distance another animal howled, the cry fiercer than any wolf or dog. It was pitched like that of an elk, that slowly edged into a brassy note of canine. Not too far away, she heard snarls and cries of something fighting, then dying in battle. It was painful and it was not quick. The elk hound edge closer, to hide under her horse's legs and behind his new master.

She was panting heavily, staring in the moonlit forest realm. "Havoc thee!" she screamed at the beast. If she was to die tonight, by bear, by wolf, or cougar, she wished it would be quick.

What came out the forest was no cougar. The frame was massive like a bear, but it was no bear either. It's snout was shining in the luminescence of the night, it's teeth stained red with blood. It walked on four legs, crouched low and circling them. The dog tried to sound fierce, but knew better and kept quiet. The horse edged back, away from the beast.

It stared at her, and seemed to be laughing at her. "Took you long enough!" she shouted, grinning like a devil. The creature licked it's chops then used the back of it's forearm to clear it's face. She took this moment while it was distracted to charge.

In a matter of seconds, her sword (which might as well have been a bread knife) was flicked from her hand.  Her hand was held above her head, and not by her own doing. The thing held her arm above her head-- with its own hand. After a few moments he reached down and grabbed her other arm. She screamed, "You dirty piece of shat! May the devil strike you dead!" Her boot came up and struck him in the snout.

So he switched his grip from her good arm to her broken arm. She screamed a furious barrage of insults at him. They slurred and the world tilted. Her head went back, and her world went black.