"RUN PUP!" Raksha screamed at the top of her lungs as she began backing up, using her movement to usher Zhuun to run away from the group of Dire Hay-yens that used to be their Stalk comrades.
The already tense young man immediately sprung back and akin to his aunt he jumped back, the two then going for a desperate mad dash, the dire Hay-yens with burning blue eyes being hot in their pursuit.
The escape was a desperation fueled mess. The much larger Dire Hay-yens being able to out manuever the two by having some of the group climb into trees, much more efficiently using their newly found larger claws. "YOU CAN'T ESCAPE ME YOU MUTTS! YOU ARE WORTHLESS WITHOUT MY GUIDING HAND AND IF YOU AREN'T WORTH ANYTHING, THEN YOU ARE BETTER OFF AS FOOD!" The ethereal voice echoed from the maws of each of their ex-comrades.
To avoid encirclement and certain death the Raksha and Zhuun were forced to redirect their mad dash towards the Tuskir settlement, signs of fatigue already showing due to the intensity of the chase, akin to prey starting to weaken and predator starting to inch closer to a certain kill.
The wooden wall of the Tuskir encampment began to appear into clear view as the two blood relatives sprung out of the thick brush of the woods into the open grove surrounding the settlement. The Dire Hay-yens chasing them as a pack, except for a few that seemingly proceeded to sink into the ground suddenly and without warning, only agressive yelps leaving their maws as they fell down some sort of holes.
They were turning in their run to try and run along the side of the wall, but before the manuever could come into full swing, Zhuun's eye would catch the glint of a blade as one of the Dire Hay-yens pulled out, not one of the throwing daggers all of them had, but instead the shortsword at her hip. In one quick motion the rabid oversized mutt tossed it with a force akin to shooting a stone out of a sling.
The young Hay-yen man could see his doom approaching him at a speed he knew he couldn't dodge and as he was about to accept his fate, his body nearly locking up from the anticipation of the incoming pain, he instead ate a mawful of dirt. With his eyes closed, Zhuun gasped as he scrambled onto his hands and legs, his gaze turning towards where the attack came from only for his heart to sink.
This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Raksha was bent over, holding onto her left side of the body where the shortsword now wa embeded into her. "Ghah-..." She exhaled shallowly as blood dripped from her wound. The Dire Hay-yens now quickly closing in on them.
"No, no no no!" Zhuun said almost panick whispering as he went and grabbed his aunt up. Despite the slightly smaller frame, as if fueled by the desperation to find an escape, he managed to hoist up his aunt and resume running.
"Zh- Zhuun. Pup. Put me down. We're not going to make it like this." Raksha said with a pained groan as she coughed covering her mouth.
"I- hah! I AM NOT LEAVING YOU AUNTIE!" The Hay-yen boy yelled out as his breathing began to become more and more ragged.
"I- I know, but... I am l-leaving you." The older woman said as she pulled her hand away from her mouth to reveal a glass vial with a few drops of the purple vile concoction remaining in it, the rest of the liquid dripping at Raksha's maw.
Zhuun's eyes focused on that vial as if his auntie just presented him with her still beating heart. "NO!" He shrieked, but the shocking situation resulted his staggering sprint to be suddenly ended by a tumble.
As the young man once more ate dirt, his aunt hitting the ground as well and escaping his grasp, he began forcing himself to breath and attempt to get back up. Before he could fully get to his feet, he felt a force, not his own, grasp him from his scruff and lift him.
Before him stood Raksha, the blade in her side seemingly not affecting her anymore, as her form began growing, fur going white at the tips and her eyes slowly starting to flicker blue. The now transforming woman, looked at him with a soft expression, as the corners of her eyes began dripping with tears of blood. "Take care... pup." The woman uttered with a choking voice as growls would attempt to crawl out of her maw instead.
"NO! AUNTIE! WAIT!" That is all Zhuun could yell out before Raksha grasped the clothes on his back with her second hand and then proceeding to toss him with a newly found strength over the barbed wire and wooden wall.
The last thing Zhuun saw as he was falling behind the Tuskir wall, was Raksha as her soft gaze slowly faded away, only to be replaced by angry blue eyes with flowing crimson tears. Her maw was baring agressive teeth at him as if he was a deer escaping the jaws of a wolf. Shortly, his conciousness changed into forced slumber. His aunt's shifting expression was getting burned into his psyche, as he landed on his head on the opposite side of the wall, knocked out by the impact.