[Vtoleni]

The hot breath of Aschul singed into her back but before the hateful fangs could lock into her rib cage, her new friend came to the rescue. The flurry of yellow and gray of Ivaylo would not go unforgotten but Iaera had promised herself she would not let the slave train of children out of her eyesight and continued on. She could feel a bit of fear rising in her throat but her pain and her rage pushed her onward.

All the speed she had been endowed with was in use, each footfall thundered in her head just like it had the day she found her freedom. Iaera could have never imagined the day she fled that awful camp that she would ever be charging back towards a slaver. (Let alone a pair of them, did she even realize she was outnumbered?) Tiny fangs were bared as she bore down on the pair, somewhat hindered by the clunky nature of the shackled children.

The petite wolfdog would barrel forwards, "Give up now!" Iaera would jump at the end of the tether now, hoping to avoid Aiden and grab the end of the tether. It was hard and harsh, should she be able to grab it she wasn't sure she'd be able to just bite straight through but she could halt the progress. If she was not able to reach the children, then she would aim her strike towards Aiden's back leg, hoping to hit his ankle or damage the muscle.

But if she managed to grab the end of the slave train, the little Whisper knew she wouldn't have time to play delicately or with consideration of how those pups were all tied together. They would just have to forgive her for the violent stop she would do before throwing her weight backwards. If she was lucky the tethers might tear, if not they might be distanced from the pair to flee.

Either way violet eyes burned like they did the day she lost her mother.

[Vtoleni]

He’d written off Farai as dead meat the moment she had so fecklessly grabbed Angel for herself and dashed into the wilderness pursued by a great big beast of a wolf and his little squeeze. Vito was sure they could track down the child again — how far could she get alone and scared on those chubby little legs? — but his former partner would not receive the same regard. I don’t hate that you’re selfish, my dear, he’d have giggled at her mangled corpse if he could see it. I just hate that you’re stupid.

The villains were pursued, all of them, even he and poor young Aiden, who was force-fed his own laugh when Iaera broke free of Aschul and came after them. The coyote saw her advance, tensing and about-facing so that he was facing her, black teeth clenched hard on the tethers, icy eyes narrow and shifty.

“Aiden!” he hissed, a sharp warning. “Bite zat bitch, crush her paw —” And he’d move to do his part in that, winding and rearing and aiming a sharpened set of nails at the wolfdog’s eyes, scratching bloody furrows into the sensitive flesh if he could, tagging an eye if he was especially lucky. He would not release the tethers.

Shoo, fly. Go back to your nosy hero friends.

[Vtoleni]

For all his speed the young wolf could not match his pursuer, not that dragging along a string of tiny slaves helped with that. The closer she got the more frustrated he become. The coyote's instructions were clear. The big brutes were to stay behind as a fanged wall while the tiny cowards high tailed it out of there. What part of that was unclear? The caped crusader lunged forward, and Aiden, with his infinite wisdom, thought he could hip check her away from the merchandise. This just put him in a prime position to get bit.

He yelped, the teeth tearing into his ankle a clear indicator that she meant business. His pace slowed for a few steps. Suddenly the train stopped, and of all the situations racing through Aiden's head the least likely outcome happened. Vito turned and initiated battle.

And he had no idea what to do.

Time slowed in that moment. The young wolf wasn't a fighter. While he had no moral qualms about collecting fuzzballs to traffic he was learning all too quickly this was a dangerous life. This could be an easy escape. He could fly off now, leaving the black tooth creature to distract the wolfdog long enough for him to disappear, injured ankle or no. But trepidation crept into his mind. If he ran, would the slavers try to find them? They weren't a loyal bunch by any means, but they were vindictive. He wouldn't put tracking down a traitor past them. If he remained they still might defend him.

Aiden launched forward, biting for the wolfdog's feet. He prayed to the universe he wouldn't regret this.

[Vtoleni]

His hope was stripped of him as the tether dragged him away from the help, away from his friend Angel who had been ripped from the link that held them together this long. His feet couldn't keep up with the momentum, so at this point he was being dragged like extra baggage across the forest floor. It wasn't clear to Jones what was going on in the moment, but hearing the clanking of teeth and the tone of voice growing more vicious caused him to seek refuge between the legs of Aiden. There, he saw Iaera attack while Aiden tried to defend himself. It was too much to bear, too hard to watch, he closed his eyes and hoped that it'd be over soon...

[Vtoleni]

Her blood boiled with indignation and violence, it thudded in her ears and pulsed through the veins. The dark rage that hid in her bloodline was trying to surface again, the same it had been the day she'd spilled blood side by side with her mother. She practically choked on it. When Vito whirled around and his teeth shone black, she growled darker to match his obsidian smile. He barked commands at the boy named Aiden at the end of the tether, with an accent Iaera was unfamiliar with. Not that she had time to process it.

She was curious if the boy would still try after her fangs had already met his ankle harshly. Unfortunately he did. As Vito too lunged forward, she noticed the frightened child ducked under the legs of Aiden with his eyes tightly shut, that was a bad spot...

Vito's sharpened claws met her face and scratched down her cheek but thankfully did not meet her eye as she violently drew away, throwing her small amount of body weight into Aiden hoping to startle and unbalance him or avoid his hits to her paws. His teeth met her leg temporarily, "Liberi! Boy! Chew tethers!" her own voice heavily accented in her panic. If the two were distracted by her, the boy might be able to chew free of the bonds and then she could focus on the others.

Iaera would swing her head up towards Vito, before attempting to lunge forward at him to bite his jaw or neck

[Vtoleni]

They could overwhelm the lone wolfdog. They could do it with brutality and teamwork, carry off the remaining trio of children, meet the survivors at the borders of their mysterious commissioners. Never did it seriously occur to Vito that they could lose. Find a way, find a way, there was always a way...

He kept his nails pointed, carving them on rock and shaping with obsidian, for occasions like these. Sometimes he liked to coat them in poison, something fermented and foul to necrotize the wounds... though Iaera was lucky enough to be spared that part. The coyote slashed at her eyes, opening stark red cuts on her muzzle, distracting, hindering, supporting as Aiden attacked the legs. His mouth was full, he would not risk the precious cargo fleeing, but in the next instant the interloper was coaxing — ”Chew the tethers!”

“Do it und I’ll break your legs,” was all the threat he had time to snap, too caught up in battle, in trying desperately to cling onto his control of the situation, in being — oh hell, here came the teeth...

”Hurensohn! Fotze, du rotte fotze...!”

Yowling and spitting foreign curses around the rope, his pretty white face gushing blood, Vtoleni backed up, whirled around, and kicked a great cloud of sand directly into Iaera’s face with his back legs. It seemed to be his favored target: dirty, but effective.

[Vtoleni]

Aiden watched as Vtoleni's claws cut into the wolfdog. It gave him hope, after all, this was two against one. Maybe the pipsqueaks were more powerful than he gave them credit for. But the wolf had little time to celebrate before his bites all but failed and he found himself bowled off his feet. There was a chance he shouldn't have been sent rolling if it wasn't for the stumbling block beneath his feet.

"Damnit!" Aiden snarled as he struggled to his feet. He gave a swift kick behind him, "Move, you twit!"

His companion yowled, turning his full attention to the scene. The bite to his ankle had hurt, but now the coyote bled. Things were getting far too serious. Aiden wasn't willing to bleed for the business. You'll bleed for your treachery he reminded himself. The black toothed slaver tore away form the wolfdog's teeth and kicked a cloud of dust into her face. This was their chance.

"Vito!" Aiden moved over to his companion's side. He had always struggled with the coyote's name, and now wasn't the time to stumble through it. Everyone else called him Vito, and so would he, "Let's go!"

He grabbed a length of tether and tried to pull not only the pups but Vito as well. If Aiden had any sense to him he could have taken the opportunity to attack the wolfdog while she was disoriented, but fear dictated the mind of the young wolf now. Grab the goods and go.

[Vtoleni]

+ Jones considers Iaera's plan, but is quickly intimidated by Vito's threat.

+ Falls out of the way when Aiden stumbles, is now presumably cuddling with the other orphans in a small dogpile before,

+ Being pulled harshly by Aiden in his attempt to get away.

[Vtoleni]

The wounds on her face stung but the pulsing adrenaline in her veins wouldn't allow her to feel it. If it wasn't for the sticky, hot sensation of blood caking in her fur she probably wouldn't have even noticed it. Some deep instinctual part had deemed the scratches unimportant and urged her forward after the first natural recoil. But at least her violent motion backwards into Aiden had been beneficial in protecting her tiny feet from damage.

Sorry Jones! Aiden crashed into him and kicked him on as Vito screamed at him to not chew the tethers. Iaera turned dark violet eyes to the boy after her strike made contact with Vito to command him again, "They're outnumbered, ch--" but the coyote screaming in whatever language he spoke was enough to draw her attention again.

Unfortunate. The villain behaved like a villain and kicked sand in her face. A vicious snarl escaped her lips as she recoiled again, Aiden was calling for him, Vito... she'd remember the name. "Irrumator! You won't escape!" the Ranger nearly cackled as she aggressively wiped her eyes and pushed the sand into her open wounds. She would continue to pursue as Aiden tried to flee, watching the boy look hapless and frightened. But her attention was on Aiden,

"There are many of Gemini here! You won't get away! Surrender the children before you are killed!"

She sensed a weak link, a boy who chose to flee when his attacker was temporarily blinded. Iaera surged forward again, letting out a short call to let the others know she was in pursuit of the children. A pain was clouding her thoughts, she knew that fear that Jones and those kids must be feeling.

"Liberi! I will get you!"

[Vtoleni]

He didn’t like pain. Other people’s pain was hilarious, but when it came time to take what he dished out, Vtoleni could often be found turning tail. His face throbbed and bled profusely, the many blood vessels and nerve endings there compromised, and it rattled his resolve to stay there and fight. He was no Avery, plowing through attacks with berserker abandon. He was a mercenary out to finish a job. Iaera may have been motivated by some form of displacement, by perceived revenge by proxy for her mother, but to the coyote she was just a stinging pest that wouldn’t quit.

Black teeth snapped the air as he felt himself being dragged. Aiden was making a run for it, the fool. Disoriented by his injuries, caught between wanting to keep the tether and wanting to clout his partner over the head, Vito in the end let himself be pulled along. There was a ringing noise in one of his ears that would not leave.

Iaera would not be shaken this way. Not least of all with the slow weight of three terrified puppies. Eyes bright and wild, he looked to Iaera, some modicum of that smug confidence unraveled and gone.

“You vill get zhere bodies! Do not follow us! Leave!” It was a bluff, of course, but desperate men can do desperate things... would she risk it?

[Vtoleni]

Surrender the children before you are killed!

Aiden was starting to believe her. The hope he had garnered when Vito had stood to fight started to trickle away when he gave in to being hauled away. It was the right move, at least in the young one's mind, but things were starting to look bleak for the slavers. The coyote still had enough gumption to spit threats at the wolfdog but Aiden was concentrating on the difficult task of running on a injured hind leg. Adrenalin sure helped with the pain, but at the pace the young wolf was flying he was doing more harm than good.

He smelled it before he saw it. Blood. Plenty of it. A premonition of paranoia of what was to come? No. The source was clear now. The body was beyond bloody, it was mangled. Not so much that he couldn't recognize who it used to be.

"F-Farai?"

Without warning the crazed dash turned to a trot, to a walk, to a freeze, teeth still clenched around the tether. Now in no sense was Aiden attached to Farai, she was a bully among bullies. No, what bothered the young wolf was the fact she was strong and fierce, yet here the remaining shreds of her body laid. Aiden knew nothing of this Gemini this morning, but he knew two things now. They weren't keen on letting their shady business thrive, and they were absolute savages.

Savages, it seemed, that were far stronger than his current company. Savages that in theory could defend him from said company.

"Please!" The rope and his body were dropped. Let the coyote drag the little ones away. "Please, don't kill me!"

The offer had been given to surrender earlier, and while Aiden had doubts that the Gemini monsters would honor their word, it still seemed like the safest bet to switch alliances now. The slavers would kill him if they knew. But he also saw what Gemini was capable of. Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

[Vtoleni]

Aiden fleeing the scene was a blessing as it allowed the Ranger to completely clear her eyes and regain her sense of location. Blood was still gushing from her face; head wounds bled enough without adrenaline helping pump the heart like a boom box. She continued to surge forward, her feet felt light and airy, her mind drifting into the clouds and that feral drive had taken full command of her functions. The greasy coyote drug behind now as Aiden powered away with the children in tow. But he was as determined as Iaera, for different reasons but if the situation had been different the wolfdog might have found herself admiring his stubborn and demanding nature.

When Vito threatened the children's lives, the meek Iaera tried to knock on the door of the warrior and ask her to be thoughtful but the blood pounded too loud in her ears to hear the whisper of her darling counterpart. Not that it mattered, both the bold and the meek knew the likelihood that a Slaver would kill it's good were narrow. The meek would have been more cautious, but the both exploded in a mocking laugh, "You'd kill your goods?" A snort, "Not that it matters," meek would have offered an apologetic look to Jones and the children to let them know she was talking out her ass, but bold was over the moon with the humor of it all. Violence was more a part of her than she wished to admit, "if you kill them, you will most certainly not be spared. Gemini would finish you." What confidence in Gemini she had.

And it wasn't unfounded by any means, right around this time they came upon the massacre scene of Farai. The Ranger-slash-Whisper was no stranger to carnage and wasn't in a place where she might have been moved to fear. Instead violet eyes only cast over the mangled Slaver before switching dangerously back to Vito's, perking up an eyebrow. Apparently Aiden thought it looked quite awful and ended up skidding to a halt in a very cartoonish fashion. And then he turn coated and surrendered. Dropped the rope and fell to the ground and pleaded with her, and even though bold Iaera was in control, she did not tell lies and assuming he was legitimately not a threat now she would not be able to bring herself to harm him anyway. Keeping a cautious difference she would stop just long enough to look at Aiden with a serious expression, "Stay down and if Gemini comes tell them you were told by Iaera if you surrendered you would not be killed."

The wolfdog would not guarantee he would not face punishment but she was fairly certain that Gemini would not maul him on the spot like poor little Farai had received. Iaera only hoped that Aiden meant it because she would hate to have him sneak up on her from behind, but now was not the time. She would continue to follow Vito away from the crowd, "You are becoming more and more alone..." Iaera would not ask him to surrender again, it was obvious that she would have to make him.

[Vtoleni]

He smelled it, too. A coppery hybrid stink of blood and offal, more slaughterhouse than humble wolf corpse. Vito was focusing on keeping the children in line, watching the path ahead, evading their lone pursuer, and for a moment, he did not realize what the source of this new stench was, too distracted, too overstimulated, his black lips foaming —

”F-Farai?” whimpered Aiden. It was too much for the boy. He screeched to a halt and fell over himself in supplication, begging Iaera to spare him this grisly fate. Gathering his bearings, just narrowly avoiding crashing into Aiden, Vtoleni was left to stare for a split-second into the ruined red pulp that had once been his comrade’s face.

Unbelievably, the coyote started to giggle, a hysterical chattering noise to chill the spine and mask the sudden flush of fear in his belly. You’re alone, Iaera was warning him. He giggled all the more uproariously, as if this was all too funny to bear. He backed away from her, blinking mirthless tears from his eyes.

And he snatched Jones up in one fluid movement. Right out of the tethers. His bite was all black, it was powered by cornered animal nerves, it wedged sharp beneath the crook of the child’s jaw, where arteries snaked under the fragile skin.

“Zhere are always more goods, fraulein...” he drawled with his mouth full, regarding her viciously, his beady blue eyes slitting. Still he was backing up, leaving the rest of the children to their freedom, and oh how that needled at him. He did so hate to lose.

Some things were better lost than others. Vito did not believe for a second that they would not be killed in custody.

“Now...” Securing his grip on his living shield, the coyote kept his gaze locked on hers, and would keep moving backward

to freedom.

[Vtoleni]

To say she was in shock was an understatement.

Every nerve in her system seemed to be on shutdown mode, every inch tingling and rippling with neither heat nor cold. Or perhaps both. Could she even process the sensation of touch properly right now? Even her ears didn't seem to work, there was a ringing, a droning, and everything around her seemed to sound lulled. Distant. Screams of strangers and hated familiars alike. Nose scrunched up at the copper-iron scent she knew as blood, as death. Irene was all too aware of it all, knew what it all meant.

Was Death finally here for her today, after all this suffering?

Tethers pulled and choked and caught against her as she and Jones continued, though perhaps Jones was more... alive than Irene was. A sort of in-between held her firmly in its grasp, neither here nor not, alive nor dead. Simply existing. Hot tears flushed against against her eyes, but only fell from sheer buildup. She could not blink, could not shed them herself. The young child merely slipped into that suit of civility, subconsciously keeping in line, following her terror as he led her and others away from the rescue.

Shouts there. Threats here. Irene was immune to their effect, a drone in an assembly line whose thoughts were lost. Tail tucked dutifully, ears back, eyes wide as they watched with an unseeing gaze. A swift yank on her tethers brought her blinking stare back to life, and she turned around, seeing her presiding demon with... with... with Jones.

Short breath. Hollow gasp.
No...

One second two second and still the vermin spoke, his black fangs against Jones' throat as he tried to inch away. Brief afterthoughts of relief as for once she was not his target, but a hot burning in her chest - unlike anything she'd ever felt - as her eyes locked onto her brother-in-chains. What... no... why... no...

NO! A terrible shriek ripped from puppy lungs as the polite ghost of a girl trembled, leaping forward from her fallen bonds and toward the wiry demon. Tears flew from squinted eyes, cheeks and chest and heart burned as jitters coursed through her limbs. "LET HIM GO LET HIM GO LET HIM GO YOU MONSTER!!!" breathless screams and screeches as her small form flung itself at him, nipping at his side and belly and shoulder without aim, without control.

Gentle ladies were not possible amongst the devil and his men.

[Vtoleni]

Keeping calm was Jones' forte, he kept calm because his Mamas always taught him that everything would work out the way it was supposed to, the way that it was meant to happen. He kept a level head because he didn't want to cause any additional stress or worry to his orphan-siblings. He remained relaxed because it was the one thing he could focus on to keep his mind from wandering to the possibility of dying.

When Vito toyed with the threat of ending their lives, and Iaera seemed to think it was fine, Jones' nose scrunched tight together. What was this lady doin'!? Wasn't she supposed to be a hero?! Being a tad bit too young to catch on to any sort of implications of fraudulent behavior, he thought that maybe perhaps they were actually doomed. But just STAY CALM, he told himself. That was easy to do... until Vito took him by the neck and applied the pressure of what felt like a thousand tons against his soft skin.

Although his face didn't say so, he called out to his remaining friends, "IT'TH OKAY, TH'TAY CALM. I'LL BE ALRIGHT." The look of panic was telling another story, but he tried his best to voice words of encouragement that would coo the others. Didn't seem to work on Irene, who was suddenly in a fit of rage shortly after Vito grabbed him. This scared Jones more, having never seen Irene make so much as a peep since he'd met her under these unfortunate circumstances. He raised his lower body to wrap his front paws around in a fetal position, hoping Vito wouldn't clench his jaws any tighter...

Hoping Irene had good aim...

Hoping Iaera was a good guy after all...

[Vtoleni]

Aiden did not want to stay here. He wanted to be as far away from the mangled corpse as possible. Hell, right now he was almost ready to take the chance and book it into the forest, leaving his old pack and his attackers in the dust. The tiny wolfdog was trying to intimidate Vtoleni now. Moments ago it seemed the Gemini attacker was his size, maybe even smaller. But now she towered over them, and for more reason than the fact he was plastered to the ground.

Eyes moved from the female to his former companion. He had heard that unsettling giggle before, but never quite with this mania, this craze. The young wolf was just about to slink off when he was told to stay. Did she have the clout to stave him from an unmerciful execution. He hoped so.

Aiden soon became a spectator. The Gemini threatened. Vito wasn't impressed and was ready to crush the slave he had nipped on earlier. But his head shot up when a new player hit the scene. The wolf had spent his fair amount of time with the pups, taking his turns to watch them. Keep them in line. A job he was not expected to take with adult merchandise, but even Aiden could handle puppies. He didn't know their names, but he recognized the female pup that turned on the coyote. Demure. Gentle. Not a fighter at all. Now flinging herself at her captor.

Things were getting interesting. If Aiden knew what popcorn was he would want some right now.

[Vtoleni]

Even one with steely nerves would have been unsettled by the cacophony of laughter that escaped the seedy coyote. Iaera clinched slightly away from its sound, violet eyes studying the black in his teeth as he cackled. The Ranger pinned her ears back and contorted her face in anger and disgust. Part of her thought she might like to laugh at Farai too, not for the carnage but for the humor of her escape attempt being so incredibly foiled. There certainly was rest for the wicked, it just didn't look too comfortable to achieve. That "every man for themselves" routine often ruined plans, these slavers were no different.

And here Vito would prove again the recklessness of the mal-aligned. He grabbed Jones violently and ripped him from the tethers with the ease that the cruel always seemed to possess. She was unfamiliar with the word at the end, (was this how it felt when spoke Latin?) but snarled none the less, assuming it an insult. Even bold was worried for Jones, such a delicate grip on the boys neck made her uneasy. But the others were free. The children were free. He would flee with the single child, and she would pursue as voraciously as she had previously, but first...

A long call would sound out, to Sybella specifically, the only Shepherd she knew to be in attendance, even though it ate her soul in a hole, to let her know the children were free and would need someone to get them. Violet eyes would turn to the others as Vito moved away with Jones, "Find her, she's small and dark red with green eyes. She's at the safe place, Gemini will help you. Go!"

Just as she was about to charge Vito with Jones, one of the children lunged violently from the line to attack the coyote. Iaera cackled herself, a dark noise that she was unaccustomed to. The sound of humor in revenge. She knew that feeling. She knew that deliverance. That frenzy, "Show him all the mercy he has shown you!" the wolfdog would scream indignantly to Irene, encouraging her as she charged towards Vito during the distraction. Though she was concerned with his sharpened claws, Iaera knew that Jones was compromised dangerously and Irene's attack would not disorient the coyote for long. The Ranger could face more claws if need be...

With one last burst of great strength, though her adrenaline still beat powerfully, her body was tiring, Iaera would run forward attempting to ram into Vito's lower chest and legs. Topple him over, get him belly up, WIN.

[Vtoleni]

He’d spent years in the business of capturing and selling children and never once had it gone this poorly for him. To surprise the coyote like this, to overpower his comrades with such efficient savagery... this Gemini, not that he knew the name, was a fearsome force. It was a pity they used that power for something as futile as their derivative sense of justice.

(You would think that, Vito.)

He dragged Jones ruthlessly along, pulling him by the painful hold he had on the boy’s throat, tasting hair and a racing pulse on his tongue. He looked feral and manic, a cornered animal, hackles bristling, lips stiff, ears pinned, and if Iaera still had any doubt that the slaver was above murdering a child, that look of peril would be a jarring wake up call. Black teeth clenched hard, likely bruising and lacerating the tender neck, dropping beads of blood down Jones’ chest.

Vtoleni was still making his escape, easing back careful as a tightrope walker, when Irene — who this far had been nothing but a passive, mousy little weakling with not so much as a rude word to spare for anyone — suddenly went berserk. The coyote startled badly, muffled yelps becoming a furious screeching as the half-grown girl bit him here, there, everywhere, ripping scores into white fur, almost too fast in her craze for him to apprehend. He turned a circle, spun around, tail flagging, his sides bleeding, and —

he flung Jones like a sack of potatoes into Irene, changing his mind almost simultaneously, dropping the puppy in a heap and moving to run —

but Iaera had seized the opportunity and snared one of his back legs, effectively ending his flight. Rolling onto his back, struggling and kicking frantically, he broke down, like all cowards do.

”Ich ergebe mich! I’m sorry! Mercy!”

[Vtoleni]

When she rushed forward, she could see Irene's damage, flushing red blood against his white fur. There was a devil inside her screaming like a banshee, laughing like a witch. And when she caught Vito's leg and felt the slimy beast tumble that devil was in her head red hot and burning. Jones had taken a spill into Irene but the Ranger didn't notice; they could have screamed bloody murder and it wouldn't have drown out the boiling in her brain. Primal chant. Siren song. Revenge. Avenging. He squirmed like a worm and violet eyes were narrowed dangerously, soft paws went forward and turned hard as she pressed them against his chest at the base of his neck.

If ever there was a moment to be afraid of the wolfdog, it was now, as her burning eyes met Vito's. Pain. Suffering. Agony. Heartbreak. Violence. He had done all these things and he had hurt these children she knew what it felt like. And she knew what it felt like to take a life at the end of her fangs when it was necessary. Mouth opened harshly and a deep rumble escaped as if it had came up from hell all on it's own. Ivory fangs were ready to set in on his throat. Instinct told her to kill the threat. To destroy him before he could harm others. Revenge egged her on. But the word 'mercy' hit her ears and the devil subsided just as she was close enough he could surely feel her breath on his neck.

Suddenly she was violently aware the children were still there and she cut a glance to them and looked upset. Would they understand? Would they fear her? Would she have done it if he hadn't have begged? The Whisper lifted her head to call for back-up to take Vito and Aiden (who probably was also terrified of her and all of Gemini even more so). "I should have killed you... but I'd rather see you get a taste of your own medicine. It's time you see what it's like to be held against your will by someone more powerful than you. Though I doubt it will humble you..."

When the reinforcements came, she was still standing there hovering over Vito like a hawk with its talons ready to take prey. "This one refused to surrender each time it was offered, threatened to kill the children rather than hand them over, and only gave in once he had been overpowered." Good luck Vito. As the guards edged over to Aiden, Iaera would call out to them, "He surrendered the children willingly and ceased fighting upon request. I assured him we would not kill him. I do not expect him to fight much." The last words were said with a warning tone to the boy that if he was smart he would comply and accept the blessing she felt she had offered him.

Finally she would look to Irene and Jones, unable to meet their eyes. She may be able to protect them but she was certainly not able to teach them right from wrong. "Are you two okay? Stand up, I'll be taking you to the safe camp." Would they feel safe enough with her to even follow? Ears pinned back against her head at the thought.

She would have done it.

The reinforcements were leaving with the new detainees and she turned her body towards the healer camp where she was certain Sybella was at, if she had not already come back to the battlefield to seek the pups. Whatever the situation, Iaera figured they were better off with Harriette and her red-furred enemy than with her.

The tiny wolfdog wouldn't get the opportunity to escort them though. Her body had relaxed and calmed down. The blood had quit flooding to the wounds on her leg and face and was starting to scab. Muscles were fatigued, brain was swimming in thoughts and loathing; thankfully small ears were still in working order. The rustle in the brush caught her attention and there was enough time to bark a single order, "That way! RUN NOW!"

Darkness and the sound of jingling metal slipped from the trees and before the tired wolfdog could pivot to face it, the figure crashed into her and knocked her from the scene.

"Ack!"

[Vtoleni]

*Aiden watches in horror as Iaera nearly goes back on his word, cursing himself for trusting her before she stopped herself.

*Doesn't move anything but his eyes as reinforcements start stalking his way. Said eyes widen as he listens to the wolfdog. He felt foolish for not considering these Gemini savages took slaves as well. Damn, he should have taken his chances with those he just betrayed. With Vito gone he could have always lied about the encounter, right?

*The guards prompt him to get up and follow. He does so, head down but eyes still open for any of his old pack to come save him. He knows they won't. FML.