Happily wagging butts.

[River]

He had learned so much recently. Over the past few days he started sneaking out of the hole more and more often. Mommy Dagger never liked to let the children out more than a few days a week. Sgian had escaped as he liked to call it over 4 times in the past week. The thrill was so…exciting. Of course she knew he was leaving, but the fact that he was actually putting for the effort to try and be sneaky made it alright in her book. She figured if he was getting into trouble he’d be dead by now, so he must just have been exploring. He didn’t think she cared much. He thought she liked the thought of him going out and learning the ways of the world. After all it saved a lot of work from her having to do. Instead he was mooching the information and lessons off the real wolves of Alteron. Today he snuck out at dusk, before bed time. He didn’t want to sleep today, and every one of his siblings were whining about not getting to play today. It had been raining all day, so they were stuck cooped up in mommy’s den. It always got so hot with all of them stuffed in there. Good thing mommy tended to sleep outside of the den to protect them. She sat in the rain all day making sure no one stumbled upon her den and stole her pups. When she left to find food when the rain stopped, Sgian snuck out. What he didn’t know was Dagger was standing right there when he left. She let him leave. Sgian’s ego grew at the thought that he outsmarted mom! He felt high and mighty! He could take on the world. Tonight he just wanted to see what Alteron was like at night time. See who lurked in the shadows and who simply just slept. He was sure he’d trip on every Alteron wolf sleeping on the ground. The rain had stopped, so other than tripping on puddles, he’d splosh through the puddles getting every inch of fur covered in muddy water.

With his head held high and his little tail wagging a mile a second he walked proudly through the decaying jungle not sure what he’d find next. The sun was going down quickly, and the trees seemed to glow from the yellow light bouncing off of them. The leaves in the trees created blotchy shadows on the ground and when the wind blew the shadows would move. Sgian would jump and attack the ground, trying to catch the moving light like it was an object. He wanted to catch them! Stretching his arms out and sticking his butt in the air, his tail still wagging, he barked with his high pitched voice at the moving light. Then he’d jet off trying to catch the next mo0vement on the ground that he saw. Pouncing at something small, he looked closely to see it was a fallen leaf. Sooooo…he chomped on it, ripping it in half, he chewed on it for a second. Looked at the other half with his dark purple eyes and thought for a moment. It wasn’t half bad. Sgian scarfed the other half into his mouth once again chewing at it for a bit, his mouth opening wide trying not to get it stuck in the back of his mouth. Then he would swallow the green wad of leaf before running off into the now dark forest. The light had left, and now he was getting a bit scared. He thought he was braver than this. He was screwed now, unless mommy came to the rescue. At the thought he waited for a moment looking around. Nope, no mommy Dagger to the rescue. A whimper came from his mouth before he started to wander again.

He just thought about Falchion beating him up. That was much scarier than anything in the dark. He could see in the dark, but what lurked in the dark shadows is what scared him. So he filled his fear for his fear of being beaten by Falchion, or loosing Sabre. He loved his brothers, just Falchion liked to beat on him. That was mainly because Sgian was always the one protecting Sabre, Epee and Anelace. Rondel seemed to get along perfectly with Falchion. They were like the perfect match. They were both mean. Sgian at least stood up for his siblings…he thought of himself as their protector. After all he was their big brother…well he was Epee’s little brother but he didn’t care. They were born a few seconds apart. They were the closest two birth time wise.

Sgian Dubh stopped in the middle of a small clearing, no tall grass around. Perfect. He could see what would be lurking around the corners…for now.

[River]

Amber eyes watched as the downpour slowly began to halt in its assault upon the dying jungle, watched as the clouds began to disperse and give way to a sky slowly dying in color. Soon night would be upon them, and then would be the time to slither out of her little den like the silver tongued viper that she was. The steady gaze held something within; perhaps desire? No one could say for sure, and anyone who knew her would know well enough that the raider held her secrets in check, locked away in that chamber of immorality that she called her mind. A thought entered then, a simple statement that could have sprung up laughter or debate; they were all liars, all thieves and mockeries of anything good and pure in the world. Immorality? That was only one of the many things the breeding like rabbits within the jungles deep hold. How long she had been trapped in the vines of that God-forsaken jungle, she did not know. One thing was for certain though, and that was the fact that she had learned to keep on her toes, keep moving, and watch your back; even those you saw as allies would easily stab you in the back for a chance at a higher rank, a bigger bite of the meat. That was how it was in the dying kingdom. Kill or be killed, eat or be eaten; a never ending cycle of harsh reality posing as a pack with an actual set up of rules and respect.

What an intricate lie they were all living, indeed.

As the rays of sunlight slowly disappeared behind the thick canopy of trees and gave way to the encroaching nighttime darkness, the raider would raise herself from her laying position and give her body a brief but violent shake, clearing her fur of debris and insects that had chosen to perch upon the canine while she had sat in a state of thoughtful motionlessness. Rylen was aware of her surroundings at that point. After sitting, watching and listening for hours she had come to realize that no one was around, unless someone else had been doing the very same as she had; watching and listening. It wasn't a far-fetched idea that there was someone within the jungles deep coils of foreboding that would do such a thing. Still, she had a calm certainty about her as she stepped from the sanctity of her home, amber eyes burning with an awkward curiosity that might have frightened some wolves simply because it seemed to be unfocused on one subject; wandering, possibly contemplating the boundaries of many various subjects. But! There was no time for such thoughts. Night was upon her, and she needed to get moving.

The streamline body of the dusk raider carried her swiftly through the rot and decay that she called her home, nostrils flaring at the stench of wet muck and shit that carried through the air on a slight yet uncomfortable breeze. The air was humid and hot, and had she not been in a rather pleasant mood the raider would have commented on it in some crude spout of harsh words and curses. Still, there was always that possibility that she would, later on. The blue toned alteronian only halted in her trot when she caught sight of a little form moving about, and her fiery eyes focused on the form; a child out after dark, what a surprise, and in Alteron no less! A small grin of genuine happiness spread across the girls muzzle. She'd started to continue on her little journey but a thought suddenly floated into her mind, and she rethought her decision and changed course. The child wasn't hard to follow. Fat puppy legs were useless tools when one was trying to be stealthy. The scent was mixed with that of rainwater and decaying logs, but the raider could tell that this was a child of nobility, of royalty, and in that she saw potential for both herself and the whelp. While Rylen was fine with her status as raider(she'd grown accustomed to the title, although her mentality still argued the fact that she could be MORE MORE MORE every now and again), she was a determined girl. She knew an opportunity to get in good with the royalty of Alteron was something not to be tossed aside so easily.

Rylen moved with assassin-like grace, her footfalls silent and swift against the mossy muck and wet ground below. The child had entered a grassy clearing, and she was sure that the youth could detect her movement by the simple use of his sight. She was not trying to hide from the boy, instead showing herself fully to him as not to frighten him. Blue tone would step lightly out into the clearing on dainty paws, amber eyes ablaze with ideas and a primal hunger for something only royalty could attain; a useless hunger, but a hunger no less. A gentle yet seemingly crude and stoic grin landed itself on the muzzle of the dusk raider, teeth shining dangerously. It would be so, so easy to simply break his spine and toss the body aside - so easy, she thought, but Rylen didn't currently have a death wish, nor a desire to injure the young one. Perhaps when he was older, yes, but in her current state the raider was fine with the royal child. "A bit late to be out, don't you think, boy?" Her voice held a sarcastic tone to it, a small display of her true sardonic nature. She did not address him as royalty, nor as nobility even; simply a child without much use of a title to their name at all. "You know how dangerous Alteron can be to those who can't protect themselves, aye?" The girls lips would split in a crocodile grin, showing full well a display of teeth sharp and ready to put quite a few puncture wounds in anyone who dared to challenge her. A cackle like that of a witch at the bubbling cauldron left her mouth, head thrown back in laughter. Then she would look back to the boy, snapping her teeth at him before settling herself down to sit. Surely.. surely he wouldn't run, would he? No, he was royalty, and royalty in Alteron seemed to have a gene that was bred into them; an arrogance gene, of course. No, he would not run. He would face her, because he was royalty and she was little more than dirt on the bottom of his paw.