A Bit Too Far

Skoll Haskel · 03-18-2012, 11:36 AM

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My cold dark tower seems so bright

Word Count :: 664 'nother kid to the rescue!

Skoll had been nervous about venturing outside of Cour des Miracles ever since the ocean had nearly swallowed him up. He knew that one puppy could not survive without an adult in the wilderness for long—not without an insane amount of luck, luck the boy supposed he had worn out surviving two catastrophes. However, ever since his first shift, the child had stopped thinking of himself as such. He wasn’t yet a grownup yet, of course, but puberty had taken hold of his body and shot his confidence up to insanely high levels. He was already a cocky kid, if good at heart, but at six months of age, he was entering an even worse stage.

That did not mean the golden prince was completely senseless, of course. He was very cautious as he made his way south from the border; he wouldn’t get lost in the hills as he’d had when he was little. Ears constantly swiveled, eyes peeled for danger as he took deep breaths of the surrounding smells. Most of it was unremarkable—new grass pushing through the earth, salt from the sea, rabbit trails too old to investigate.

To be doubly careful, Skoll donned his halfling shape for this journey. He was already on the large end of size for his age, weighing in at eighty pounds, but in secui form he was double that. One could see the bulk in him, the muscles familiar to all wolves and to the dog breeds that made up part of his heritage. He looked powerful and wolfy and dangerous—if not for the silly grin on his face.

The young Haskel was perhaps too sure that the area was safe, for he was making a lot of noise as he ran through the hills. Stretching his muscles in a gallop, he ran all along the slopes and grass, careful every once in a while to double back in the direction he came from so he wouldn’t venture too far. Luckily, this piece of territory was sandwiched between the Court and Crimson Dreams, and he was sure if he bumped into the latter, one of Alder’s family members might want to take him home. At least he could make a lot of noise declaring he knew Oak and explaining that he was a good boy and a prince and they shouldn’t punish him.

A pink tongue spilled from creamy jaws, lolling as the yellowish kid tested the limits of speed in secui. He liked all his forms so far, though he’d used optime a lot after his first shift just because he could do so much with his hands. It was fun to run on all fours again, though, and he barked once in exhilaration before remembering that he was supposed to be careful. He stopped in his tracks, sniffing.

A wolf! Skoll thought, freezing up. Was it a good wolf, or a mean one? He sniffed once more, dismayed by the feline reek entwined with the scent. So was it really a bobcat smelling like a wolf? Could bobcats do that to trick their prey? Was it even a bobcat?

He was worried, and had he been months younger and several times smaller, he might have hidden in the grass until the scent went away. However, he wanted to know just what it was he was worried about, and so he crept forward carefully, peering down one of the slopes at a little white shape marching through the foliage that dotted the Shiloh Hills.

The boy blinked then laughed once, loudly, in relief. It wasn’t a bobcat, but a baby puppy—and one that looked like it would be one fourth his weight in his lupus form! No way could it hurt him—though it could get hurt. He hadn’t even been fully weaned when he was that size.

“Hey, you!” Skoll barked, hoping to get the little child’s attention—not aware how hulking and large he looked on the hilltop.

I swear it must be heaven's light

Image courtesy of night-fate-stock & SunOwl

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