Fantasy An Unusual Duo [private for Malhyanth]

[DaffodilsAndDragons]

Malhyanth

Rhian Fletcher gave herself a little cheer as she successively put an arrow through a large pheasant, it was the second she had caught, along with a singular rabbit. She rushed over to the bird, always feeling a twinge of regret. She always reminded herself that she killed so her family could eat well instead of spending all their money on meat from the market; she never hunted for sport. She put the pheasant in her hunting bag gently, fixing the braid in her hair before walking down the new route she was taking, she liked to switch it up sometimes. Rhian always hoped to across something new.

It was an early autumn evening, there was a cool breeze but the evening sun, though low, still crept through the trees. It was one of her favourite times to be out in the forest, and she often didn't come across too many others. Those she did come across were fellow hunters from the town like herself, or travellers, or merchants that sometimes asked her trade her freshly caught kills for other luxuries. She was disturbed from her own thoughts by a small group of men on the side of the path, who were hacking a pair of antlers off a stag they had just taken down.

She stopped and grimaced, watching the unpleasant act. No doubt the rest of the deer would just sit there and go to waste. Rhian always avoiding hunting stags, there was no need - they were beautiful creatures and in few supply. A man turned and saw her extremely unhappy face, and he offered her a grin in response.
"What's the matter, girlie?" he shouted over to her. "Scared of all the blood?" he asked sarcastically. Rhian huffed, rolling her eyes.

"How about you stop picking off the stags and find something better to do, the lot of you" she grumbled back, starting to carry through the area. One of the men stepped in front of her and smiled.
"How about you give us a peek at what you've got?" he asked, feigning innocence. Though before she could respond he made a snatch for the bag, yanking it off her shoulder. "Ooh boys, a couple of pheasants, and a hare!" he snarked, causing a ripple of laughter from the others. Rhian made a grab for it, trying to pull it back from him. He was far superior in strength and weight, and quickly kicked her away, causing her to fall back.

"Bastard" she hissed from the ground, clambering to stand back up again.
"What did you call me?" the man suddenly growled, his already mean demeanour increasing.
"You heard" she replied, finally standing up and winced from the growing bruise on her leg from kick. The other men wandered towards them as the 'leader' squared up to the young woman.
"You ought to respect your elders, maybe we should teach her a lesson she'll remember boys" he threatened, moving towards her.

 

[Malhyanth]

The forest was alive today, and Maxim was concerned at how close his prey had decided to track towards the only town in this part of the world; the little villages and homesteads that dotted these forests were easy to avoid, but this town spread a little further, and one could easily stumble into it without realising. Russet red sable fur blended into the forest as he stalked the stag, watching it slowly work its way closer and closer to the town; oblivious fool. Maxim's amber-gold eyes glittered, his pointed ears pricked forward, muscles bunching, ready to leap. And then that damn arrow shot through it, thunking into the trunk next to his large head. The beast skittered back a little, hunkering down.

"Good shot, Joff." The hollering and laughter as the group walked up the road towards the felled stag caused the hackles to raise across his shoulders, down his spine, and on his rump. His ears lowered, a silent snarl lifting his lip, and creating a face made of nightmare, his tusk like canines bared, amber eyes glowing a little. "Come on, let's get these antlers." Maxim's ears shot forward, his face dropping in shock, his hackles raising further, his lower limbs bunching beneath his form, his forelegs and paws shifting to hold onto the branches and trunks around him, his long claws digging deeply into the wood. As the saw set against the head of the beast, and started to scrape against the magnificent creature's antlers, a shiver of anger rattled through the great beast.

He'd planned on eating the beast, sure, but none of it would have been wasted; these beasts just wanted to take the trophies. The beast backed off a little as one of the goons came across and ripped the arrow out of the trunk. Drool slathered from his fangs, planning his perfect moment. That was when she entered. Hunkering down as she stood up to the men, and pulled a snarl even he was impressed by, a slight tail wag occurring in appreciation. The kick to her thigh raised a rumble from his chest; if there was something Maxim couldn't stand, it was violence against women. She landed heavily, and the claws dug deeper into the wood. She was resilient, and got back up, squaring her shoulders at the men. They surrounded her, and the tension became palpable.

With that final step, and the lashing out of a fist, the beast erupted from the woodland. The roar echoed through the glade, and birds took flight as the slathering creature erupted out, taking the first man out in one leap, his claws sinking deep into his back, blood erupting. Teeth sank deep into the join between neck and shoulder, and tore. The men shrieked, as the red sable werewolf turned, and reached out for the leader before he could high-tail it. Blood slathered from the jaws of the beast as he pinned the man down, standing over him, large claws digging deep into the flesh of his shoulders. Bloody drool dropped from his large fangs, amber-gold eyes piercing into his very soul.

"Would y'like me to eat him, missssss." The words were difficult to discern from the snarling rumble that rolled through his chest. The man below him tried to push the giant best off him, screaming as the claws dug deeper into his shoulders, the drool sliding into his bloated face. Amber eyes glowed as they looked up at the girl, now alone with him, the ringleader, and the corpses of the man, and the stag.

 

[DaffodilsAndDragons]

The man's fist had only just come into contact with the side of her face when a deafening roar split the tense air. The punch had not been strong enough to knock her backwards, slightly dazing her. Rhian lowered herself to the ground, her eyes darted around trying to follow the creature that had emerged. What was it? Whatever it was, it was lethal. She watched as one by one the men were picked off, blood quickly stained the ground, adding to the pool that had formed from the stag.

Rhian could feel her legs knocking together, her hands quivering. Was it going to rip her to shreds? She was beginning to move backwards, but as the beast slowed, pinning down the man who punched her, she stopped and stared. While clearly some sort of canine, it had a distinct humanoid shape, capable of standing on its back legs. It looked the stuff of legends. What shocked her more were the words that escaped its bloody lips.

She looked around her at the disastrous scene, trying to avoid the gaze of those amber eyes. Rhian couldn't believe what had just happened, let alone suddenly have the fate of a man's life in her hands. She started to say something as she stared into the ringleader's desperate eyes, her voice cracking under the severity of the situation. "N-no" she croaked out, as much as she couldn't stand the type of person the pathetic man that lay under the beast was, she couldn't watch him be eaten. She hadn't wished death on any of them in that moment, regardless of the fact they would've beaten her to a pulp, or worse.

Her eyes suddenly glazed over and stung from tears she forced back; a wave of shock hit her. "I..." she started, listening to the man's continued screams. Rhian moved backwards again, wanting to run from the bloodbath more than anything but fear, and perhaps the slightest bit of intrigue, made her move slowly.

 

[Malhyanth]

Amber eyes stared deeply into the terrified man's face, a long, dark tongue flicking out to take the blood that had splattered up his neck where the claws had dug in. He tasted fatty and gross, but this Wolf couldn't choose too pickily; he'd been hunting that stag for days, and was starved. The scent of blood all around him was nearly sending him to frenzy, but her scents of fear and horror kept him routed; kept him sane. He'd leapt out to protect the girl from an absolute beating, and possibly worse. Though, whether she truly considered herself saved at this point was most certainly NOT the point, Maxim was only doing what he'd thought best at the time.

When she started to make a noise that sounded like 'no', two pairs of eyes turned to her; the man's incredulous ones, that she'd just saved his life, and the beast's shocked ones, that this man whom had punched her, and kicked her hard enough to put her to the ground, was about to walk away free. He growled, and the man whimpered. Planting his back paws either side of the man's hips, Maxim pulled his one set of claws from the man's shoulder, with a shower of red droplets and a squeal from the man. He then raised himself to his full 10ft of height; lifting the man by his shoulder where his other claws still penetrated.

"Get up, woooorm." The beast snarled, dangling him just above the ground. He used his free, bloodied clawed hand to point at the girl, still upon her knees in the road. "If I EVER hear you have bothered thish girl again, or ANY female, for that matter, I will pershonally hunt y'down, and kill ya, got that?" The large tusk like fangs in his mouth made it hard for Maxim to talk within a lisp, but regardless, the point was made. The man nodded enthusiastically, grimacing in pain. Maxim looked down at his clawed hand a moment, flexing the claws, wondering if it was worth giving him some extra scars to remember this event. No... the girl seemed traumatised already. He pushed forcefully and suddenly into the centre of the man's chest, winding him, but removing him quickly from his curved claws, which he used to indicate his fallen comrade. "Take him back to hish family. Tell them he died tryin' to attack a woman, alone, in the foresht becaushe y'told him to."

The werewolf bared his teeth in a horrid grin as the man scrabbled to the fallen body, and started to drag it away, weeping as he did so. The giant Wolf stood, watching him, until he was out of sight. He lowered, with a pop and a grind of his hip joints, back to all fours, and approached the girl, towering over her even as she sat. "Ash for you, little lady. What on earth posshesshed ya t'try and take on thoshe brutesh?" He looked at her puzzled, trying to identify why she looked at him so perplexed. And then he realised; he'd forgotten himself! His eyes widened, and he backed up, sitting back into his his haunches, and placing a large forepaw to his chest.

"I'm shorry, thish musht be all a bit much!!" He coughed, and tried to use his furred arm to wipe blood from around his maw, but realised there was just as much blood up his arms. "Drat..." He murmured, starting to feel very foolish; this was going to be another of those torch and pitchfork times...

 

[DaffodilsAndDragons]

The warning that the creature gave to the man made Rhian's skin crawl. His voice, though it spoke her language, was so unique, so abstract to her that she still couldn't quite believe he was talking. A wash of relief swept over her when he released the man from his iron grasp. She had tried not to have any sympathy for the men who had just assaulted her and were probably going to cause her so much damage, though perhaps not as much as the creature had caused them. Rhian found it hard to take the emotion out of it, her humanity was too strong.

Rhian stared at the creature after watching the man, who was bawling his eyes out, fade away from view and sound. It was creature was a he, from the voice. It was hard to refer to him as a he. As he approached her, she fell back into a more seated position - frozen by just the thought of him that close. He loomed over her small frame, it would be so easy for him to just snap me in half, she thought, her eyes meeting those his almost hypnotising amber ones.

"A bit much" she repeated after her him in barely a whisper. She really wanted to cry, but she felt as though she was numbed by the fear, so much so that crying didn't seem feasible. She waited a few moments before managing to get to her feet. Her hands quivered from the previous shock. "W-what are you?" she asked, a little louder. Rhian regretting the question a moment after she asked it; did she actually want to know, or did it seem wrong to ask. "Who are you?" she corrected after a couple of seconds of thought. The fact that he had saved her life had crossed her mind by now, but the words 'thank you' were difficult to form with other concerns dominating her mind.

 

[Malhyanth]

Maxim watched the girl try to come to terms with what he had done, what he was. Her staring was not particularly friendly, more incredulous, and fearful, two emotions he hadn't really prepared for... he hadn't really even prepared for any of this! He'd just gone out for a nice hunt, to feed his belly, and now he was stuck with a fearful, quaking woman whom had been about to have her face slapped into next week. His stomach growled loudly, as if reminding him of the purpose with which all of this had come about. His canine face looked to the dead stag with longing, her her question, and then the correction of her question, brought his attention back to her as he sat, blood soaked and a little dazed by the whole situation.

She was stood now, so they were nearly on eye level with each other. He contemplated her question, one ear flicking back, his tail thumping intermittently as he thought the queries through, before he answered in a measured way. "I am... I was... like you, once." He raised a clawed, paw like hand, and inspected the way it had slightly longer digits, like stubby fingers, and a set back opposable thumb. "It'sh not eashy to explain, but shomethin' happened, and I got turned int'a pershon that could change int'a Wolf... then, I sheemed to get curshed again, thish time by shome Shaman Woman." After frowning at his own paw for a moment longer, he looked up, his face more like a perky, interested pup... just a really large one.

"Ash for who, I wash a man called Maxim. Maxim Jackshon. But that... that wash a long time ago..." His large fluffy tail thumped the ground a few more times. Realising the ground was really quite hard and dusty here, he flopped onto his side, and started to roll across the ground that wasn't contaminated, trying to clean his fur. Where the path ended, grass started, and this was even better, like a sponge or towel in cleansing his fur. Soon as he was rid of this woman, he would return deeper into the forest, and seek the river trails. Wash himself thoroughly. As he rolled, he realised the bag that they had yanked from her was near by. He stood, going from quadrupedal to bipedal in a range of crunching and grating sounds at the area of his hips, as they dislocated and relocated in their new positions, and he stooped to pick up her bag, bringing it across, once again towering over her, almost more than twice her height. "Here. Take y'bag back, darlin'."