Descent of Wolves

Feuds, Fights, and Forbidden Alliances

CW: Blood and language

          Hardly anyone had wandered the woods before the never-ending winter, and after the first blight of snowstorms, the Et Iustus had been the only people to enter them, save for Maloria.

           The woods weren't the only place people chose not to wander either. There was a sort of malice to the cold as if it had a cruel sense of humor and a penchant for violence; some places were buried under so much snow that no one dared venture down the worn-out paths, some places were simply wastelands. 

The 31st Year of the Amara Malediction:

Spring? -

            In a matter of seconds, the idiot who'd been wandering through the woods had collapsed to the forest ground for the second time. Maloria stood up in a rush nearly tripping over air. Shit. The boy clutched the back of his head and winced in pain, his eyes looking up to glare at Maloria. "What. In. The. Hell" he said, almost shouting. "Shhh" Maloria hushed, "the guards could be anywhere". 

            "The guards don't venture this far, and last I checked, being hit with a fucking arrow isn't something you just whisper about" the boy mumbled, pissed off. "Perhaps hitting your head made you stupid, or maybe you were already stupid. The guards have been changing their rotations and have absolutely been venturing this far, so in this case, getting hit with an arrow is absolutely something to whisper about" Maloria said, voice quiet. "I'm sorry about that by the way. The 'hitting you with an arrow thing'".

            The boy looked at Maloria as if she'd grown a second head, eyes widened in disbelief. "Sorry. You're sorry" he shouted, attempting to rise too fast, yet again. The boy, to his credit, managed to get to his feet, albeit stumbling. Maloria grabbed his shoulder to prevent him from falling again. "Three things, one, my arrow barely grazed you, two, you hit your head on a rock and I made sure you didn't die, and three--" Maloria's words were cut off by the sound of nearby horses. "And three" Maloria said, voice deadly silent, "stay down".

            Maloria immediately crouched down beside a giant rock, dragging the boy down with her. "OW!" he whispered. "Shut up, idiot. You'll get us caught". Maloria shifted on her feet and strung an arrow into her bow. She only had three arrows left and luckily for her there seemed to be only one guard. 

           Shade appeared next to her, eyes darting between her and the guard warily. "Is that" the boy started, "shit, I'm going to die, aren't I?".

            "You're not going to die" Maloria grumbled, "he is". As the guard rode into view, Maloria took her shot. The guard went down in a flurry of hooves and blood. "You-- you killed him" the boy gasped. "All in a day's work" Maloria replied.

            Maloria stood up cautiously before helping the boy to his feet. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU!" he shouted. Maloria couldn't stop the scowl that formed on her face. "Won't you please just shut the hell up, you might alert another guard".

            "I'll 'shut up' when you tell me who you are" he smirked. "Fine... I'm Maloria". "Adronias" the boy replied. "What?" Maloria questioned. "My name is Adronias". 

            "I think I'd prefer to call you idiot, but thanks for the introduction. We need to get out of here." Maloria said, walking to retrieve her arrow. "Okay then" Adronias replied, "where to?". Maloria whirled to look at him, "excuse me". Adronias grinned, "I'm coming with you, there's no way I'm going to risk going off by myself and getting flagged down by a guard". "You were wandering by yourself when I found you" Maloria stammered. "When you shot me" Adronias corrects. "Grazed" she mutters, flabbergasted. "Same difference" he shrugged, "you know, maybe I should go off on my own. Running into a guard may actually be a good thing, we could chat about the other person you shot today".

           Maloria had never met such an idiotic person in her life, especially such an arrogant one. Adronias had a point though, it'd be over for her if he blabbed to a guard. She could kill him, but she wasn't in the habit of killing commonfolk. Shade moved to  Adronias' side and circled around him. Adronias didn't even bat an eye, which was strange, however it was clear that Shade didn't find him to be a threat.

         "Fine" Maloria sighed, "we're going to go to the nearest city and lie low for a bit". "Splendid" Adronias exclaimed, flashing a smile. "Yep" Maloria muttered quietly to herself, "I'm fucking screwed".