Dampwoods. Foredated to the 29th.
The snow had been falling throughout the night and when the woman had woken she'd found that the eldest of her childen hadn't made it through the bitter weather. She'd known that he was ill and she's suspected that he'd only been slowly suffering since the day he'd been born from the extreme temperatures he'd been born into. He'd joined his younger brother in death while Iskata and his last sibling had slept by the fire in the cottage. Iskata had grieved for the babe, leaving Zana with Magdalena to watch after her as she went out into the snow to lay Alek to rest where she'd buried Anaz.
After she'd set up the marker next to his brother's gravesite the woman had began her journey back to the cottage. The lowing of the cattle had caught her attention as she noticed that they were rather restless and staying rather closely packed together. The Matriarch had shifted down to her wolfen form after buring the child and made the decision to check on the herd before returning to her daughters. Squeezing under the fenceboard she made her rounds along the large field the herd was stationed in, their scents mingled with fear as she tried to figure out what had been going on.
When the winds changed she finally caught what she was looking for as she reached the far pastures of the farmstead. The musky scent of bear was on the wind and she could see in the snow where the creature had been roaming along the fenceline. She snarled at the thought of a bear loose at this time when they normally were nested away for the winter. The scent of blood was in the air as she ran the fence, coming to the fallen body of a young calf, mauled but laid open with no flesh taken from the beast. She dropped her nose to the ground as she could tell the calf was freshly killed. Why the bear hasn't taken the calf was worrying the woman and instead of turning back to her family she left the corpse where it lay and followed the tracks of the larger preditor.
The snow was beginning to hide the steps of the bear but she quickened her pace as she moved further into the dampwoods to investigate. The footfall of the bear seemed to be off but Iskata couldn't place what it was that was catching at her mind as she moved down into a gully between two hills in the woodlands, the start path of a stream that ran down a ways before disappearing underground. Her paws carried her down the slope and into the area that widened into a small sheltered cove of sorts. Iskata realized a little too late that she didn't want to investigate any further as the strong scent of bear filled her muzzle, the grunting and huff of the ill creature in her ears as she began to back away from the clearing before the cave's mouth.
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Everything had changed.
He remembered everything. He remembered those dirty streets, those men. They had wandered down the wrong alley, into the wrong stranger. Ahren had struck with the precision of a trained killer, each time with the knife. Some times, he disemboweled them and read signs in their entrails. Sometimes he moved the bodies, finding their patterns holy or sacrilegious. Everything had come together in one fell swoop, and in doing so, he understood what his mother had intended for him.
Azathoth was a God, living and breathing. Azathoth was within him because it was him. The demon, the god, the devil, it was Ahren. It always had been. He was surprised it had taken this long for him to realize it, but he had come to the realization as he left Laruku in the cabin to await his death. He knew it then because he knew he was going to die. Nothing else mattered. All of those dead men had been impulsive kills. What he had imagined himself doing to his mother, his father, his children, his ex-mates and long gone in-laws, well, that was all him. The demon was real, but the demon was a lie.
Something pulsed in his palm and he stopped dead in his tracks. Someone was nearby, and that someone’s scent brought a tidal wave of memories flooding back into his head. The scars on his chest began to burn, and he felt his face twist into a snarl. He closed his hand around the scar and tightened it until he saw blood. Red was the only color he could see. He intended to see it drain out of that damned woman before he fell under the weight of days.
Two steps, another two, another three. She was backing out a cave, but not quite. Coming to a halt behind her, planting his feet like iron in the ground, Ahren had the knife in his hand and felt his own blood marking it, branding it as his own. “Do you remember when you told me you wished you had died?” His voice was mocking, condescending, and his mouth was grinning. It was his eyes though, that seemed to have changed. The were the eyes of a man who had nothing left to lose, and the eyes of a man expecting death.
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It had been so long since she'd heard that voice and the last time she'd heard it she'd been under the assumption that the pains and scars they'd given one another had been in the past, but at the moment she didn't give a damn what he was saying, there were more pressing issues at hand. Half turning to the side she barked, "Ahren!" in exclaimation. She tried to jump to one side of the blonde male as she caught the glimmer of the knife, the harsh breathing patterns of the bear moving about in the cavern still pressing at her ears as she hissed. "It was a mistake!" Her eyes darted from one side to the other as she realized he had her backed into the entrance of the cave with no real way out of the danger zone.
She bared her fangs at the male, those eyes seemed to be dead to the world as she moved forward again, trying to push him back and way, all the while watching the blade. "Let me go Ahren!" She was unsure if he realized just what loomed in the shadows, but she knew. She had reason to want to live now and she wasn't going to let him take it away.. her words before had been a mistake.. a horrible horrible mistake... and he was no angel of mercy she'd called upon this day.
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Each time she moved, he mirrored her. Each time she pushed, he shoved her back and kept the knife just out of reach. His mouth was open, snarling, grinning, and his eyes were on her and her alone. “No,” he said firmly, as one might scold a child. The dark streaked hair stumbled into his face and he let out a wheezing, barking laugh. “No, I don’t think I can. You started this shit,” he said, taking a step forward, keeping the point of the blade on her as if it was drawn there by a polarized magnet. “, and I’m going to finish it.”
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Her heart was beginning to beat like a drum in her chest as she realized he was playing with her, and not in any puppy fashion. That maniac snarl that greeted her and taunted her was too much for the mother as she was forced to take a step back or meet his blade. She snarled at the beast as she spat furiously, "The past is dead Ahren! Let it rest!" The woman had a life and a family, a pack that she cared for and that cared for her in return, she wasn't about to give it all up.
She felt her fur bristle as suddenly it seemed the sickness that was creeping from the cave came washing over her as she felt the hot blasting breath upon her flesh. Forgetting Ahren for a moment she twisted around barely in time to avoid the bear that was lumbering into the clearing. She realized suddenly that she was in over her head as she found herself backed into the side of the cavern between the demon and the beast. Iskata screamed at Ahren, "Ahren!" Her voice was pleading but in her heart she knew it was over, she couldn't see her future playing out in the back of her mind anymore.. fear had washed all sense from her being.
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Desperation filled the air, and fear flooded into his nose, filling his head with a heavy scent that was familiar to, though remarkably unlike, vanilla. He started to laugh again, lips pulling back from his teeth, showing that they were yellowing, aging even now. A metal barbell, something he had worn since he was a boy, flashed as his jaw dropped, widening the manic laughter.
That was all of his response. He kept laughing as the bear loomed forward, turning its attention to him. He kept laughing, but the scent of madness was all over him, and as stupid as the bear was, it knew easy prey. It knew that the female, backed against the wall, was its easiest target.
“Pray for us sinners,” Ahren said, sounding more like his mother then he could ever have imagined, more like his son who heard the Voice and Word of God, hallelujah amen.
“, now, and at the hour of our death.” He laughed again, laughing because it was mockery, because it was mad, because it was just so fucking funny.
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The mocking madness that filled the air, the laughter of a man and child seemed to pound in her ears, drowning out even the beat of her heart and the heavy lumbering airs of the bear. "If I go you're going down with me!" She snarled at Ahren, her eyes flashing with rage and fury as the shadow of the bear fell over her, for a moment turning towards the madman.. and yet slowly so surely the fangs and deadly talons of the grizzly were focusing on her smaller form. The sickly sweet of the illness, whether it be the bear or the beast she knew not but it had surrounded her now like the laughter that seemed to echo off the very hillocks about them. Despair..
She saw the dull glimmer of those talons rise and it seemed she could see them cutting through the air as the roar of the bear cut out the Joker's smile and the maniac's laughter for mere moments. She leapt towards Ahren in the moment of chaos as the bears talons cut through her flesh. He would have had her throat if she hadn't moved but those dull yet effective weapons had only torn across her ribcage. The scent of blood was sharp in her nose as she staggered, the pain blossoming along her side as she snarled and stumbled.
She clattered to her feet as she saw the bear twist around to try and find her once more, forgetting about the madman behind her she backed away once more as those claws lashed out, a wide wash of snow speckled with her crimson blood was cleared in an instant as she backpedaled, her movement on a crashcourse into Ahren as she tried to escape the fury of the bear. Angry that his easy meal wasn't already meat in his maw.
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There was a flash of red, and he saw blood fly. Iskata was wounded, and deeply. It was good, but it was not enough. Iron filled his nose, filled his mouth, and he wondered if perhaps there was something wrong with this. A second, stronger voice reminded him that she deserved this, and he grinned again. There was panic in her movement, and panic gave her speed. The adrenaline pulsing through Ahren gave him the same, and he saw her moving back, stumbling towards him.
In one second, he realized that either they would both die or he would have to risk her living. Stepping back, stepping to the side, his feet moved as if part of a dance. In three seconds, he was on the high-ground, and he was moving. Instinct forced him to move, and so he did, briskly walking at a sharp angle away from the commotion behind him, laughing to himself and wondering just what in the hell was so goddamned funny.
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Her backpeddling paws met nothing but dirt as from the corner of her eye she saw the frame of Ahren moving away. Her head turned sharply at just the wrong moment as the bear lashed out again. She felt the claws ripping across her chest as her own voice rang through the lonely woods. The woman knew she was going to die if she didn't fight back, the ghostly male had already done his damage and had left her for the beast before her. She wasn't about to go that easily, she had reason to live.. those words echoed over and over again in her head as she threw herself forward, her fangs connecting with the throat of the bear as she held fast.
Her nails drove into the thick fur but she knew they barely scraped his flesh. The loss of blood from her wounds was taking effect as she felt her body being whipped back and forth as the bear tried to remove her from his throat. Her jaws ached and she felt her muscles slipping as with one final shake she was thrown through the air. The sickening crack of bones shattering was dull in her ears as she tried to stand, the wounds burning in the cold air. Opening her eyes was the wrong things to do as she caught sight of the bear once more lumbering towards her.
Iskata tried to move away from the entrance to the cavern as the bear moved forward. She felt her body crumple as pain shot through her left hind leg. Suddenly realizing what the cracking of bones had belonged to the woman felt once more the claws of the bear as they lashed across her face. Blood welted in her eyes as she pushed backwards into the open space again, not caring about the pain anymore as she felt her leg repeatedly colapsing underneith her weight.
The further she pressed backwards, not even remembering where Ahren had disappeared to, or if he had even disappeared, the less threatening the sounds of the bear were becoming. The disappearance of the wolf from his lair seemed to have brought the ill creature's senses back to being dull, as though he'd forgotten that the threat was even there. Suddenly it seemed that the world was gone from underfoot as she was sliding. She felt the wetness under her cheek as she realized she'd fallen over the edge of the creekbank. Her form lay slumped in the sands as her head was brushed by the cold autumn waters. The blood that clouded her eyesight hid the real damage the claws had done, but when those orbs were closed it didn't matter. The Matriatch gave in and gave up, she knew she was too weak to move on.. she just prayed the beast was gone.. she knew Ahren could have his wish if he wanted now and though it felt like death was coming she wasn't ready for it.
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