my sunshine

Caillen Winters · 02-12-2011, 09:08 AM

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He had deserted.

It was a demeaning thought to come to grips with, one that defied pride in oneself, one that eroded at his mental being like water slowly carving through the sharp banks of snow. He had become a canyon - Hollow and deep, bleak and harsh and different from the lush landscape he had once been.

Large footpaws left large prints in the dense blanket of ivory. They were the footprints of a monster - huge, the picket of each toe clipped by a single neat incision in the soft white, where a wickedly curved claw had bitten into the ice. Such large feet were essential for supporting an equally large frame; The man was tall and had strong, broad shoulders, well muscles and heavily coated for the winter. His thick pelt, so strange to those of this feral world, was plush enough to keep out even the worse of the bitter winds. However, not even the impressive bulk and brawn of Caillen Winters could face the wrath of mother nature.

The storm had come on them many days earlier, and he had found relative safety in the mountains. Although the skies had broken open, and the cold white had fallen in stifling and smothering sheets of pristine ivory, the large wolfdog had survived little the worse for wear. It had been a few days since he had eaten, and even now the absence of digestion set his insides to growling crossly. All prey seemed to have disappeared into the ghostly absence of life that was post-storm. The silence, sometimes, seemed deafening. How long had it been since he had seen another intelligent face? Had he deserted those whom he had once thought kindred, those who could walk on two legs and speak thoughts of intelligence unimpaired? The man, no longer a boy, scowled and pulled the plush blue scarf higher up his thick-furred neck.

He had been wandering for what felt like hours, but the fresh snow had wiped away all scents and landmarks, and Caillen was lost. Lost, and alone. Of late, he had not minded being alone, and had even adopted the somewhat disturbing habit of talking to himself. The sound of his voice, of any voice, had kept the nightmares and the despair at bay, and for a long while he had been able to pretend that this was just another survival test, and that there were individuals out there waiting eagerly for his return.

His memory was blurry on the subject of family. Living alone for many weeks, surviving on the barest of essentials, often did that to the unwary mind. He recalled his mother, and another collie girl, although at times their faces were blurry. And there was the black-furred beauty he sometimes saw in his dreams. Their haunting memories were all the company he had had for some time now.

A scent. Startled from the tangle of his wandering thoughts, Caillen lifted his head, and ice-blue eyes peered about the frozen landscape. Again, that smell; keen ebony nose twitched, eager to pull in more of this unknown identity with each blistering lungful of bitterly cold air. His step lifted - Could that possibly be, a figure there in the snow? Perhaps she was a hallucination. Perhaps she was a figment of what Caillen was now convinced was his own growing insanity. Slowly, warily, the gentle giant approached; he had no weapons with which to intimidate, no belongings but for that long blue scarf and the silver stag-pendant beneath. He had never needed weapons, what with possessing the best that evolution could provide.

It was a woman. She was a woman. "But is she alive? I d'nae ken," He mused aloud, floppy ears pricked to the sound of his own baritone voice as it crashed through the waves of silence. A step closer. "She breathes...!" The brute whispered hoarsely, with a sudden rush of excitement fuelling warm blood. Another luperci! His mottled pelt of ivory and blueish slate blended well with the bleary surroundings. Tan-dashed bangs danced in front of eager sky-blue eyes. "Miss? Can ye hear me? Oh, please, d'nae die..." She looked so dramatic, sprawled so beautifully across the snow, with all her glorious curly hair spilled out in a halo like that. Cautiously, the large male crouched beside her body, and reached out with one hand to try and feel her pulse. If she didn't respond, he would have to move her out of the snow - Either way, he was going to have to try and warm her frozen body up...

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