Lost Knife Playground Options

[Grits]

Darnand examined their cage from the inside, probing for weak points that a cave bear would have missed but an intelligent being might exploit. The hinges and locks seemed exceptionally solid. Even the metal floor was part of the cage. The knowledge did not stop his heart from pounding. What we are about to witness few have survived to describe.

Salyan spoke to Kayla in a calm tone. Darnand realized that their Elven friend was experiencing an attack of panic. His mind leapt immediately to the key to their cage. If Kayla let herself out they would all be killed. He expected that both of the werewolves would receive grievous wounds, since the situation seemed so dire that Vera had been willing to expose her condition. One or both of them might not recover. He knew little about lycanthropy or daedric healing. Darnand made himself accept the worst so that if it occurred he would have the strength to face it. He had no idea how to impart his resolve to Kayla.

Kayla dropped to her knees, dumping potions bottles onto the ground. She gulped a potion.

Darnand murmured to Salyan. “If anyone should approach our little fortress… that is to say any of the approaching mob… do you know a spell to immobilize them? Even if Kayla and I were to fall under it, I should think that would be preferable to, say, leaving the cage too early.” He gave her a significant glance before looking away.

“My magicka is spent,” he continued. “Kayla, do you have any poison of paralysis? Perhaps we might prepare a few arrows for you. Or even a dagger I might use should anyone reach through the bars. I believe we must trust in Aravi and Vera to look after themselves now. Our best way of helping them is to secure our own safety.”

Curiosity made his head burn, but Darnand kept his eyes away from Vera and Aravi as they prepared to transform. He knew Aravi to be a private person. Though modesty was certainly among the least of their concerns, at the moment it was the only thing he could offer.

He kept his voice even. “To that end, who has the key?”

[King Coin]

Darnand’s face was neutral, a mask. She expected that from him. Kayla’s face however showed horror. She told herself it was a perfectly normal reaction to news like this. It made her feel sick. Salyan’s expression was similar to Darnand’s. Aravi couldn’t guess at what she was thinking. Kayla asked for her bow and quiver, and she wordlessly handed them over.

“Be safe. Please.”

“You too. Don’t open the door, no matter what happens to us. Keep it locked.”

She turned away from her friends. Vera was undressing and talking to any that would listen. Aravi could see the other woman was looking forward to this. The hunt was thrilling. She even enjoyed feasting on the flesh and blood of those her wolf hunted. She remembered the terrified faces, the taste of their blood, and the crunch of their bones. It made her sick.

Vera, already nude, started talking to her.

“Don’t look so downcast. This is going to be sporting. You like to hunt, don’t you? This will be fun like… playing in the snow with your friends and throwing snowballs. They'll be safe in the cages.”

“I hope they are,” was all she said. She took her Elven helmet off and dropped it next to Vera’s pile of armor and clothes. Modesty was the last thing on her mind, and she quickly stripped down. I hope they are.

She started breathing deeply. Vera’s singing was drown out by a rush. Her heart hammered in her chest. Fire poured into her veins, as the ancient magic started taking hold of her. A bone deep ache settled into her limbs. Her skin started tingling, then itched. Hearing and smell became more acute and her vision became less important as these new senses took over. Then the physical pain started as her body morphed into the shape of a terrible beast. She screamed in pain.

Her weight more than tripled as her bones took a new shape, elongating and thickening. Muscles grew in a matter of seconds. Her scream turned into a rumbling roar of agony.

When it was over, she was something else. Something built to kill.

She smelled the air. Blood and sweat was heavy in the air. And so was fear. It made her hungry.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

"I can hear you!" Kayla said to Darnand, her voice sharper than she had meant it. She tapped her ears. "Elf ears, mage." The potion was beginning to work, unclenching her nerves and muscles. She slowly stood up, flinching a little as a scream ripped from Aravi. She handed Darnand the key.

"The potion will only last a half hour. There are several strong magicka potions in my bag, but don't make yourself sick." Her voice was beginning to sound more confident, despite hearing her friend's skin ripping from the change. She took a steadying breath.

"I'm fine. We need to keep quiet until they start attacking. We don't want to draw their attention to us."

[iIf we survive tonight,[/i] She thought, I will never be afraid of anything else.

She gave them an assured smile before picking up Aravi's bow and arrow, ready to pick off any straggling bandits.

[Darkness Eternal]

Vera knew fear. She's seen it a lot; in the eyes of her bounties before the takes their life, in the eyes of her prey before she devours them. She's seen fear in her own eyes when gazing at her own reflection in the water. She understood exactly what Aravi's friend felt. She's been there.

Fear for and of a friend.

Just then, a few significant seconds before voluntarily triggering the physical metamorphosis of woman to monstrous wolf, she thought of a friend she never wanted to lose. Someone she couldn't bear to lose.

Praxedes was the best friend she ever had. A sister. The only sister.

“I hope they are,” Aravi says.

Sometimes, Aravi, hoping isn't enough. Sometimes hoping your loved one will come out of this safe won't guarantee their survival. I hoped. I lost. Not even in death will I see her again.

That was the penalty for people like them. Lions and wolves don't befriend the lambs. Try as they might, in the end there will be one standing and one dead. One way or another.

Vera traveled through time to once again see her sister's dead body beneath the ravine at her feet, a result of taking her own life in pain of what she had become, and to escape certain fate whilst choosing another.

All because I accepted my lot in life . . . and because she couldn't stay away from a loved one.

She frowned, deeply now. Her jaws tensed so that bones could be seen visibly through her skin. Beneath her professional and cynical demeanor, her callously cold treatment of others was a deeply disturbed soul. She knows it, Lycus knows it too. He's suffered more.

When she heard Salyan and Darnand comforting Kayla, she couldn't help but wonder how could Aravi make friends?

Allies is one thing. Friends is something deeper, like a lake. A lake that can drown one if he or she isn't careful.

I nearly drowned . . . and you might drown today, Aravi. Do you not despair?

She couldn't fathom the idea of forming relationships with her friend's kind. Kayla killed her friend. It was an act of survival, she couldn't blame her. If her friend was triumphant, she would be skipping along Auriel's feet taking a detour to Sovngarde. It always ends in death and either side always walk in torment, day by day, with grief clawing at their hearts and dark memories chewing in their minds and pushing them to the edge of insanity, and shoving them over.

All. The. Damn. Time.

If somehow she survives this and if Darnand, Kayla and Salyan don't . . . she had to admit their deaths wouldn't sting. If she died, she doubted they would care either. Because of the barrier she's placed. The only wall she could build to keep her from falling into the depths of that lake and drown in her despair.

Vera decided not to ponder on the past even if her mind tried to rebel against her accepted order of things. What has happened has happened. She wouldn't allow it to happen again.

Her eye was set on the entrance where the bandits would be coming through. Through their help, she would finally have her eye restored. She looked at Aravi and saw her already transforming.

Let the sport begin. I call first blood.

Vera accessed the deepest, most primal parts of her soul and called out to the power within her. A cold, mountain where she felt both hot in fury and cold in mawkish emotions. She brought forth that ancient, pure once-dormant power to light, and the rest was nothing but blackness. She felt the familiar heart-pains, the itching beneath the skin, the intense heat, the organs in her stomach realigning with the bones that served to protect and accommodate them.

In the throes of her disturbing change, her glassy amber eyes turned into feral yellow orbs. A canine snout protruded from her freshly scarred countenance, which was already healing itself with preternatural speed. Her open jaws gave room to sharp-pointed fangs made for tearing flesh and chewing apart bone. Her claws, as sharp as Hircine's spear, poked through her fingernails. Thick, black bristles sprouted from her skin and face at the same time and her mass grew and grew until Vera the huntress was no more, and in its place now was a large nearly seven-foot tall black werewolf. The mangled eye was half-healed by the surge of unnatural healing coursing through her.

The beast shook her hide, casting away bits of skin and yellow strips of hair. She bent low, sniffing the ground and then lifted her muzzle to catch the scent in the air.

She smelled it. It was good.

Nevermind the dead that littered the floor, or the insects. The lycanthrope saw prey. Live prey. A score of them coming through the tunnels. Her ears lifted and caught the ruckus the herd was making. She didn't understand them. Not entirely.

"You all heard that roar. Be on you guard. Draw your weapons."

" . . . I never heard anything like it. Whatever it is. Its big."

"Women. Crying. What in oblivion was that?"

The she-wolf turned to the other one, and sniffed once more. There was no indication there in her body language that suggested she was prey or a rival. But another hunter, seeking to fell the same game of the same herd.

She didn't roar as the other one did. She crept alongside the corners of the wall despite her enormous size. She blended in with the darkness, her fur veiled by the shadows of the chamber, away from the lit areas. She climbed the stone formation with her powerful claws and remained high above the tunnel, shoulders strong, eyes set, tail swift and tongue moistening her black lips.

Silent.

The herd marched through the cavern, weapons drawn, visibly alert and agitaed. She waited patiently and they once more made more noise.

"What the hell happened here?" one said before pointing his finger at something. "Who the hell are they?"

"Someone locked them in there." A woman said.

"Ain't no one here to lock em' in there. Who are you?"

More poured through the tunnel out into the open and when the werewolf saw further distress as one cried out "Werewolf!" at the other hunter, she leapt.

She jumped from the hiding place on the stone formation, eyes wide, jaws even wider and claws set for the kill. She tackled one of the men down, her weight effortlessly bringhing him down. Her teeth went for that one weak spot: the throat.

She bit down hard into the yelping prey and began to drag him away from the others, tugging violently at the squirming creature at her jaws. "Stendarr! Dibella! Kynareth! Akatosh! Gods! Gods! Mercy!"

This post has been edited by Darkness Eternal: Dec 14 2013, 09:32 PM

[King Coin]

The wolf looked back and saw prey… three of them. They didn’t run from her though. That was no fun. She turned her attention forward. Another wolf was with her this time, and her instincts directed her actions. They were pack now, with prey approaching. The other wolf darted to one side, she darted to the other, flanking them.

Then she waited as the herd came near. It was agitated, but they still came into the open. Her instincts were conflicted. Her muscles trembled with anticipation, but she waited for the other wolf to make its move, to announce their presence.

The herd came fully into the open, and a shout rang out, panic swept through them. That was the signal.

She let out a terrible roar that echoed off the walls. She loved it when the prey ran. She cut off the herd’s escape, moving between them and the exit, forcing them to run further into the cave instead of outside. She let out another roar and leapt onto her first victim's back. Her weight pushed it to the ground. It screamed until her jaws closed on its neck. Bones crushed and hot blood filled her mouth. It was dead, and there was more prey. Lots more.

She left the dead one and raced after the next, quickly overtaking it on all fours.

[Grits]

Aravi’s scream turned into a fearsome roar. Darnand clenched his loosening bowels and kept his eyes on Kayla while she spoke. He willed his hand not to shake as he pocketed the key.

“Agreed,” Darnand replied to her remark. “It would be wise to avoid notice so as to allow the intruders and the werewo— our friends to focus their aggressions on one another. I believe I can cast through these bars, but I should not like to try it. And as you have already pointed out, I will be of no use at all in the throes of potion toxicity.”

And I should not like to explain a tragic result to Aravi’s mate. Nor would she wish to describe our deaths to our loved ones.

There was no sound from Vera. The implication frightened him more than Aravi’s roar. Darnand knelt in the stale straw and dried animal dung on the cage’s floor, unwilling to risk even a whisper. Vera is stalking something. By each of the Nine, I hope it is not we.

An armed group entered the cavern. “Who the hell are they?” someone called out.

“Werewolf!” cried another before Darnand had time to swear. The fight was on.

[Darkness Eternal]

The beast killed the man, and as soon as she had attacked she had ran into the fray once again. In the torchlight she appeared almost a creature without substance, a dark shape composed of black and dark shadows. But her head was lowered and her ivory fangs gleamed in the falling torchlights.

Her strength was tremendous, her speed legendary. Centuries' worth of potent ancient blood contained within that single body, and all the access to the world's most savage, untamed magicks unknown to man, but known to only beast. Her eyes saw everything in the room, from the tallest creature to the smallest insect.

She pounced on another man whose armor was too much to keep him standing. Her jaws can break a man's thighbone, the longest, strongest bone in the entire body. She chomped her jaws on him as he squirmed for freedom. The spine snapped under her fangs. His death scream was one of horror.

The wolf tore into his skin, digging into his flesh until her eyes was fully healed, and her body strengthened for another night. That was until the prey bit back. The wolf felt a blow to her back and she whirled around with aggression to her attacker. An iron sword was driven into her fur, but it did nothing but infuriate her.

She pulled the weapon with her massive hands, and reached out to grab the man by the throat. His feet dangled in the air as she lifted him off the ground and with a powerful throw, tossed him across the chamber, into two others and straight into the side of the cages. He hit the ground once and never again got up.

While the others focused on the other werewolf, she drove her full attention to a woman banging on the door of the cage. "Let me in! Let me in! Gods sakes, let. Me. In!"

She jumped on all fours, eyes wide, mouth slicked with saliva and panting. She leapt in the air, across it and over to the woman.

"Ah!"

The wolf tackled her down right by the cage, and bit down on her neck with such strength that bones broke audibly across the chamber as she shook left and right while human hands pounded against her muzzle in a futile attempt. Her teeth clamped down and began to pull and pull until muscles and tendons snapped, along with everything else. The werewolf tugged at the body, biting through the armor and tearing away the metal to reach the contents within the bone. Her hands pulled off the steel, and raked off the pieces of cloth until reaching what she desired. She sunk her snout into the side of the fallen prey and began to feast. The wound on her back, not dire, began to close and reform itself into something new. Her nose was bloody and her fur a mess of red.

And it wasn't over.

This post has been edited by Darkness Eternal: Dec 20 2013, 01:33 AM

[Elisabeth Hollow]

When the attack began, Kayla kept her sharp eyes focused on any stragglers that passed by, Aravi's bow in her hands, arrow on the string. She was ready to take out any bandits that passed by the two women.

Until one did, and begged for their help.

The woman looks straight at Kayla, fear in her eyes, tears streaming down her face.

"Let me in! Let me in!"

The rest of her plea was drowned out as blood rushed to Kayla's ear at the sight of a huge black wolf descending upon the woman, tearing her apart. Bones crunched, flesh ripped, and eventually the woman was dead. The potion had its work cut out for it as Kayla's mind took her back over a decade, seeing her friend rip out his own father's throat.

She dropped the bow, letting it fall with a clatter as she stared at Vera.

Nothing will ever be the same after this. She realized. I can never unsee this. She looked to Aravi to see the normally small Khajiit woman follow Vera's lead and rip apart another bandit. Her fear mixed with another emotion: heartbreak. She had wished that her childhood friend would have shared his secret with her, and now that she learned of her friend's secret, she wanted to take it back. She didn't want to know.

She hoped she'd live long enough to change her mind.

[King Coin]

She cornered a group of three. There was nowhere to go but up, and none were tall enough. She relished their predicament. They were hers, to play with and kill as she pleased. With the taste of blood on her tongue, she roared yet again. The smell of urine let her know just how terrified her prey was.

She enjoyed it.

One of them turned towards her and sluggishly jumped at her with an axe. She smashed his hand with a powerful blow, dislocating his entire arm. Next, she pinned him to the ground and yanked on the injured limb with her jaws. His screams of pain became higher pitched as she twisted and pulled on it. She looked up, and saw one of the others hoisting the other up on his back. One would escape if she didn’t act.

A snap of her jaws silenced the screaming man. Then she leapt at the one pulling herself to freedom, snagging the woman’s leg in her jaws. Gravity did the rest and the wolf ended up on top of the one trying to escape. It was a female, she could smell and see. Her claws reached into the screaming woman’s flesh, worming up into her chest cavity, shredding her innards.

Stars exploded in the wolf’s vision. The other one bellowed again and swung his mace. Rage replaced bloodlust, and the wolf roared louder than ever. The prey didn’t flinch, but bellowed back at her. Despite his courage, he lasted no longer than the one with the axe.

[Colonel Mustard]

Salyan was vaguely aware that, on some intellectual level, she should probably be horrified at what she was seeing. Yet even as Aravi and Vera, or the monstrosities they had transformed into, slaughtered the bandits en masse, she did not feel any kind of real horror. Even when a bandit woman scrabbled at the door of the cage, begging to be let in, she was unmoved.

She supposed that this was probably due to her upbringing on the Shivering Isles. She had spent most of her childhood in a world intimately steeped in violence, a world of murderers, cannibals, rogue sorcerers who experimented with the very matter of life and with it all presided over by a capricious, whimsical god. What she was seeing right now didn't shock her, because what she was seeing was something normal. The thought was almost a little unnerving.

Fingers resting on the right strings, Salyan watched the massacre beyond the bars, ready to cast a calming spellsong should either of the two werewolves try and break in; she wasn't sure it would necessarily work, but unless Darnand had some miraculously powerful spell that could disable Aravi and Vera without killing them then it was their best chance.

[Grits]

Hot blood splashed through the cage bars. Aravi and Vera dismembered the bandits as easily as one might pull apart a roasted chicken.

More disturbing than the death cries were the werewolves’ noises. Darnand suspected they might contain a magical element to intensify the victims’ fear. My Birthsign makes me weak… I must not attempt to flee.

In retrospect it seemed that Salyan would have been the best choice as key holder. She appeared composed and ready to respond to whatever might occur. Darnand took comfort in her resolve.

He watched through the bars, hoping that some of the other humans would survive long enough to lead the werewolves away from their cage. The thick stench of blood and spilled bowels filled his nose. I prefer fire, he thought. The screams are the same, but fire is cleaner.

[Darkness Eternal]

With a severed leg in her mouth, the pureborn werewolf's tail swayed back and forth as she ran around the area while chewing on the leg. For awhile she focused on nibbling on the bone until movement captured her attention once again as the commotion of the herd drew her hunger at them.

A low, deep-chested bellowing sound came from her nostrils as her nose crinkled and her teeth bared. The rest of the men ran in a single unit, fleeing toward the exit.

With tremendous force she leapt from the body beneath her feet, through the air and above and over them. She landed with a large thud in front of the craven men, and blocked their exit path. With weapons drawn they began to walk backwards as she approached them, almost savoring the fear emanating from them like the sweet scent of flesh in the air.

The she-wolf snarled at the other wolf, and that deepest, primal level of communication between lycanthropes said: Flank them.

[King Coin]

Aravi lifted her snout from the remains of some bandit. She licked the blood from her lips, her eyes upon the last of the prey. For a moment she was content to sit and eat her fill, but then shouts filled the air. They ran for the exit, and Aravi couldn’t have that. They ran so she must chase. The other wolf blocked their exit, and Aravi knew where she must go. Working with the other wolf, the entire herd would be theirs.

She moved quickly, though silently, to the side of the stunned group. They didn’t notice her, their eyes fixed upon the other wolf as it stood blocking their path. Then a gruff voice called, and the herd organized themselves. Something had changed. One of them rallied the others, and they slowly backed away, careful to keep their guard up. It would have been difficult for the other wolf to attack them without suffering grievous wounds.

They had forgotten about her though.

With grace only a hunter of the night could possess, she crept closer to the hapless band. She got so close, she would see the whites of their eyes before she was noticed. A fearful shout and weapons were whirled to point at her.

She jerked her head back to avoid being poked by a pole arm. Then she roared.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla gulped a few times, gulping down the bile that threatened to rise from her stomach. She gripped the bow tightly, her body humming with nerves and fear. She hoped the vibrations would not be too much to keep her from aiming where she wanted the arrow. She took a deep breath as she aimed, then exhaled and loosed an arrow. It planted itself in the leg of a bandit, and she cursed. She was aiming at his chest.

She then waited to see what would happen to them once the bandits were finished off.

[King Coin]

The man holding her off with the pole arm shrieked and fell to the ground, an arrow lodged in his leg.

That was all the opening she needed.

She smashed into the formation of terrified bandits. Wide swipes of her powerful arms sent men sprawling. Fresh blood coated her claws as she tore into them. She felt blades tug at her skin, but she paid them little heed. The minor wounds would heal soon, she didn’t even feel pain.

“Back! BACK!” one of them yelled and swung a shining great sword at her. He was clad in steel plate armor. He was the leader of the group, the one that rallied the others.

Aravi caught his blade on her forearms and howled in pain. She backed out of his reach, snarling. The sword was silver, and the wound he dealt burned.

[Grits]

Darnand watched Aravi draw back from the leader of the bandits. Torchlight flashed on his blade and plate armor. There is at least one warrior among the rabble.

The bandit chief called for a retreat. Good, thought Darnand. Draw the wolves away from us.

He wondered if they should take the opportunity to slip out the back. The thought spurred him to speak.

“I believe that the werewolves’ roars are having an effect on me,” he murmured. “It has occurred to me that we might attempt to flee down that narrow passage. There, where the stream flows out of this cavern. But that lies within the fighting pit, and an exit surely would be secured against such attempts on the part of unwilling combatants.” He looked at his fellow inmates. “If I should lose my nerve, I hope you will prevent me from acting against the interest of our group.”

His teeth felt dry when his attempt to smile turned into a grimace, “Heh heh, nothing potentially fatal, of course.”

Darnand took a swig from his water skin, feeling desperately for the first trickle of magicka to return to that vast emptiness inside him. There is nothing so helpless as a mage without magicka. At least a disarmed fighter can still bite and kick.

His hand found his staff where it lay on the cage floor. His fingertips brushed over the deep grooves made by scamp claws. His thumb found the dent where it had halted a dremora’s overhead strike. Though the staff’s enchantment was defensive, the memory of using it brought back his resolve. Disarmed but not helpless. Still, when I test myself against a werewolf, I should not like it to be one of my allies or friends.

A grim smile lifted the corner of his mouth. “That warrior appears to have a silver blade,” he said. “I should think that one of them will disarm him shortly. I wonder how long it will take them to open his tin suit. Anyone care to wager?”

Darnand glanced between Salyan and Kayla. It was his hope that the fight would pass out of their presence, thus removing them from danger. That was the point of locking themselves within the safety of the cage, placing the burden of the hunt on the werewolves. Darnand feared for Aravi’s and Vera’s safety in their fight, but his greatest concern was that he would have to kill one of them if the hinges and lock somehow failed. Yet Kayla appeared ready to fire at the bandits again, risking drawing attention back to the caged humans and elf.

Perhaps this was not the right moment to ask if anyone had brought along cards or dice.

[King Coin]

Aravi roared at the bandits. The one with the shining blade was a threat, and the rest of the herd gathered around him, preventing Aravi from dealing with him.

The others didn’t flee from her when she roared again. Instead, they stayed close to their leader, weapons at the ready.

The wolf circled around them, now they were between her and Vera.

Aravi probed for an opportunity. Moving closer and backing out, trying to get one of the cowards to lash out at her.

One of them took her bait, and her iron jaws clamped on his arm and pulled him out of the group. Everyone was focused on her and her wailing victim.

Vera pounced down onto the leader. Aravi slashed her victim’s throat and left him to bleed. The other bandit’s courage was smashed and they fled. Aravi ignored them and went after the horrible sword.

Her jaws closed on his hand, and she thrashed her head, breaking bones, tearing ligaments, and rending flesh. The entire hand came free with a high pitched scream of agony. Then it was over. His armor came loose under Vera’s probing claws, and without the metal plate to protect his soft flesh, he died. The others abandoned their leader to his fate.

A horrible cracking of bone echoed in the cave. Vera broke his rib cage open and her muzzle closed over his still twitching heart.

Aravi glanced at the mouth of the cave where the last of the bandits fled. She could chase them…

..Or she could get the prey that was right here. Her eyes shifted to the cage.

A low growl issued from her chest as she approached. They couldn’t escape. She just had to make a way in.

She circled the cage, looking for any weak spots.

[Grits]

The wolves Aravi and Vera tore the armored leader apart. Darnand watched in awe as Vera opened his chest and devoured the heart.

So it is true. His research for Abiene had convinced him that a mortal’s consciousness could be found in the brain, but the heart was obviously a source of some kind of power. Perhaps that is where the soul resides.

The cavern had gone quiet. Darnand realized that the other bandits had fled. Aravi approached their cage on silent feet. Her low growl made the hairs on his neck stand up. She circled them, her strange eyes scanning the bars.

Oh skitt.

“Salyan,” he murmured, “I will soon have enough magicka to cast a single spell. I expect the cage to hold. However if we appear to be in danger, I suggest that I might begin with a spell that will weaken her to magic. Then if you would be so kind as to attempt to Calm or Demoralize her, we might avoid doing real harm. What do you think?”

The image of the wolf Aravi wreathed in flame burned in his mind. His reading suggested that a werewolf retained its daedric form after it died. Please, not that.

“Or I might summon a clannfear for you to frighten,” he continued. “Perhaps the wolves would chase it out of the cavern. Other than that I should need to drink another potion. That would be risky but preferable to death.”

[King Coin]

Without warning, she threw herself at the heavy iron bars, slamming into the cage with all her might.

The cage tipped, but stayed upright, and the bars remained sturdy. She tried this twice more, but a dull ache in her shoulders was the only fruit of her efforts.

Then she stood at her full height and gripping two bars in her claws, started pulling the bars in opposite directions.

[Elisabeth Hollow]

Kayla jumped and let out a small yelp when Aravi threw herself against the cage. She had no experience with werewolves, and didn't think they were anything near dogs. Or wolves, even. Wolves could be tamed under the right circumstances. From what she's read, werewolves were pure instinct, complete animals, and whether their conscious selves were aware or not, they acted on that instinct alone. She'd seen that firsthand when Vera and Aravi had formed a sort of a pack with just the two of them. They both had operated on instinct.

And now her own instinct was telling her to get out of there.

But how? Opening the cage door would kill the three of them. As long as they weren't outside of this cage, they were safe. The bars were only bending ever so slightly between Aravi'a huge paws, but the fact that they moved at all unnerved Kayla. She frantically thought of a way to distract Aravi until she returned to the form that didn't want to eat her.

The thought of Aravi becoming frightened of spiders came into her mind, but she shook it off. Wolf Aravi didn't seem to be scared of anything. She wouldn't waste her magick on summoning. She wasn't skilled at that.

Poisoning her didn't seem to be a good idea, either. Most of her potions targeted the nervous systems of vampires and humans. She didn't want to kill her friend.

She was at a loss. Her only other option was to use the one Thu'um she knew, which would temporarily freeze her. It had taken her nearly ten years of study and practice to learn the word, should she use it now?

She stood up and held her hands out and gently pushed Darnand and Salyan out of the way, and stood just out of reach of Aravi's paws, which swiped at her now. She drew her sword and began prodding Aravi away from the bars, giving her cuts along the arms to push her away from the bars. Once her growling friend was far enough away, she took a deep breath. She concentrated the Word onto her friend's body, and used all of her will and force into the movement.

"IIZ!"

Ice encased Aravi's body, leaving her head and neck exposed. She would be weakened, but not by much. Hopefully enough to keep her from wanting to pursue this prey any further.

This post has been edited by Elisabeth Hollow: Jan 18 2014, 03:54 AM