The Road of Honour

[Rhonya]

The First Few Steps

“No Lian, ya need ta stay. Go stalk Nos’ for a few days or somet’in’. I’ll be fine.” I said to the tiger who was staring at me with his surprisingly intelligent orange eyes. They were clouding over slowly, his sight lessening, which made me sad to see. I ran my clawed hand over his head and gave his ear a teasing tug. He snapped his teeth at my fingers in an irritated manner, before the big cat just turned and walked away, his large paws puffing up little clouds of sandy dust on the dry ground.
I sighed softly. He was getting more clingy each day, more protective. I knew he felt it in his bones, he was losing strength. He wasn’t as fast anymore as he used to be in his younger days, slowly the large cat was losing the battle against time.

I couldn’t take him though on my little trip. It’d require a few days, at the least. The scouting I’d done before on this task was useless now, too much time had passed. Packs changed hierarchy, position, dens.. I’d have to find them anew, keep my eye on them for a little while.
Time to go, at the very least. I’d packed light, no weapons at all, merely wearing a loincloth and a chest wrap that kept my bust tightly against my chest so I wouldn’t be hindered. I only carried a very light bag with some dried meat and a waterskin. The first part of the journey was simple, it took me north of the crossroads. I kept mainly to the side of the road to avoid travellers and stayed in the darkness of the night until I reached the border with Ashenvale a while later.
The sun was slowly making its way into the sky when I arrived, but as I passed into the woods the darkness surrounded me once more, the massive trees blocking out a lot of the sunlight above. First stop, the little water pool close to the path. It only took me a few moments to cover myself in mud from head to toe. The brown together with the greyish green of my skin made for a perfect camouflage, plus it’d mask my scent.
Second stop, the shrine of Lo’gosh.

My focus was mainly on my surroundings. Elves still lived in these woods, though often if I kept away from their main bases and didn’t bother anything in the forest, they didn’t bother me. Yet, I better be safe than sorry, so I kept alert and on guard. It wasn’t very far away and on the way there I managed to surprise two rabbits and snap their necks, bringing them with me. The shrine itself hadn’t changed much even though it had been a while since I’d been there last. I left the rabbits in front of the abandoned stone structure.
I spoke slowly and in a low tone, concentrating on forming the words correctly, closing my eyes just a moment as I placed my hand on the shrine.
“Honoured Lo’gosh, please accept my offerings as payment for the right to hunt in these woods. I will take only one life, or if I fail, it will take mine. “
It was all I said and without waiting for any sign or answer, I turned and left the clearing.

Not much time later I’d found one of the wolf packs. Now the waiting game would begin. I’d stay out of sight in the trees, downwind so they wouldn’t smell me. And I’d watch. Observe, learn, choose.
With my eyes following the shapes down below, of which most were sleeping now, I started to recite the code of Honour in my head.
Might as well make good use of my time.

[Okiba]

Intriguing! I look forward to more 

[Rhonya]

By Tooth and Claw

The day was spend just observing. It was interesting to watch the pack move about, it didn’t take long for me to determine who held which position. I mainly stayed up in the trees near the den. A few times they left to go hunting, only leaving a few behind to guard one of the nests that belonged to what I assumed to be the alpha female. She was not of interest to me though, her pups were too young and killing her would probably mean their death as well, without any other female able to give them the food they needed.
No, my interest was someplace else. It had taken me a few hours of observing to be able to spot her. While most of the pack was a silvery white colour, this one stood out. Or rather, she blended in more with the woods, her fur more a dark grey, leaning to brown. I only noticed her because of the moonlight reflecting in her eyes at one point, but when I knew what to look for, I started to see her more often. Usually at the edge of the territory, keeping an eye on things. Watchful, distinct, alone.

Her position in the pack was hard to determine. She usually didn’t eat with the others from what I could tell, but caught her own food. The few times I saw her interacting with some others it was mainly snaps and growls, but the alpha pair just let her be.
She even nearly noticed me once when I had swapped positions a little closer to her lonely hideout. I was sure actually she knew very well that I was there.

At the end of two days, I had decided. She’d be my target. I had almost become obsessed with keeping an eye on her and she definitely knew I was there too. The last day had become almost a game of hide and seek, both trying to outplay one another and hide, while also keeping track on where the other was and keeping an eye out. The rest of the pack didn’t seem to be too bothered by their sisters strange behaviour and I didn’t bother them either. I kept going a bit further and further away and she followed.

Night fell. Darkness surrounded me and I left my bag high up in the tree, only taking one pouch with me, slowly climbing my way down. She was out there, I knew it. I hastily muttered a soft sort of prayer to Kavara and set out.
Nothing, for hours. I found traces here and there, fresh, but I never saw her. I had to move away even once because of an elven patrol moving nearby and I had no intention of running into those. So I backtracked and started anew. Patience, Kyrazha.

My patience was rewarded eventually, but it wasn’t me who found her. It was the other way around. I had just turned a corner around a tree into a clearing when a flash of moonlight reflecting in a pair of eyes warned me a bit too late. The air was knocked out of me when she hit me and all I saw for a few moments was a flurry of teeth and fur before a very sharp pain made itself known in my left arm and I fell on the ground. A sharp tug and some tearing noises made me realise she was clamping down on my arm and shaking it now. She’d probably aimed for my neck, but I had moved at the last moment.
My hands moved to grab her scruff but my left arm wouldn’t move. She was still holding it. I kicked in a panic move and felt my foot collide with her stomach. She yelped and let go, taking a bit more of a distance now the initial assault had failed.
I stood, with effort. My arm wouldn’t move and blood was dripping down my fingers onto the forest ground.

She stood, majestic, beautiful and ready to tear my throat out, her hair raised to make her appear bigger, her jaw and fangs dripping with saliva and blood. A fighter. A protector. An outcast.
Just like me.
This wouldn’t be an easy fight.

[Rhonya]

Wolf Spirit

Focus, Kyrazha, focus. I was breathing hard and ragged by now, blood leaking down my chin. The wolf wasn’t the only one who had gotten a few bites in. I took a short moment to assess my injuries. My left arm was still hanging useless by my side, the earlier bite had probably dislocated it or maybe tore a muscle, I couldn’t say. It was still bleeding and actually sapping a lot of my strength, but I didn’t feel the pain anymore right now. There were some scratches on my stomach and another set of teeth marks in my leg.
She didn’t look much better though. She was limping, blood matting her fur on various places. So far we’d been pretty evenly matched. But looking into each other’s eyes, we both knew it. This was destined to be, one of us would have to die.

Crouching down as I was, I picked up a small rock in my right hand. I’d have to end this battle soon, I wouldn’t last long with this blood loss.
She lunged, sensing my weak moment. I ducked, feeling the sharp fangs scrape over my shoulder. In the same movement, I threw the rock I was holding against a tree nearby, creating a loud sound. And she made a fatal mistake. She turned her head out of instinct towards the sound when she landed, giving me a perfect opening to do an attack of my own. Tensing, I put all my strength into my jump, howling in pain as I hit her side with my injured shoulder first, but I needed my good hand free.
She tumbled over, a flurry of fangs and fur, but I put my entire weight on her, my claws digging in neck, my elbow pressing her head down. She growled and snarled, but even she was weakened from the long fight. I returned the favour, blood pounding in my ears, the only thing still keeping me up was the adrenaline and the taste of blood in my mouth.
It took a few minutes of struggle and me almost giving up a few times, ready to let her go. But I remembered my talk to Feraleye. I had a duty.

When the realisation hit her, I could see it in her eyes. My grip on her neck tightened. She let out a soft huff, almost as if accepting her fate, accepting defeat by me. And then lay still, her eyes glazing over.

I collapsed on top of her, my vision going black.


Pain woke me. Pain everywhere, my entire body screaming, muscles tensing… I opened my eyes. It was still dark, but there was movement around me. I was still lying on the wolfs body, no clue how much time had passed. Shapes of silver moved beside me and when I looked around, there was the pack. Almost all of them had come to the clearing, standing in a circle around me. One of them, I recognized him as the Alpha male, was standing on a fallen log nearby, above the others. He looked down at me.
I expected them to attack me. To finish me off in my weakened state, punishment for killing one of theirs.
But they didn’t. The alpha merely dipped his head down for a second, then turned his back to me and walked away, the pack following.


A few hours later I felt slightly better. I’d ripped up my chestwrap to bind my arm. In the pouch I had taken, I had a jar, which I used to collect a good amount of the wolfs blood. My nails were the perfect tools to skin the fur from her, though it took a long time with just one hand. I also took some of her fangs, but left the rest of the body to the wilds.
I’d never before really felt any connection to one of the wolf kind. Never before this one. She, so alike to me.
It was time to return to my own pack, to my own Alpha.

[Okiba]

Brilliant! So very glad to of read that!

The artwork made it so much... woof! Also.

[Kozgugore]

Three stories in one! You spoil us so. <3 Loved each and every one of them, Rhonrhon!