Ayente finished her meat, tearing the fat and grease away from the fur with great relish before she laid that one inedible but useful part down into the grass. “Wonderful.” She said passionately, then wiped her mouth with gusto and licked her lips with satisfaction. “That is good, best food ever. Thank you, unikoslof.” She said, and touched the body of the deceased cave bear reverentially.

Archos however, had turned his attention from her and looked out into the darkness. “Happiness and freedom flavor all meals, they are the best spices.”

Ayente stared at his back, “What are ‘spices’?” She asked with a curious inflection in her words.

“Things put on food to change the flavor.” He explained and took a long, deep breath in through the nostrils. “They come closer.” He said quietly.

“Hunger.” She said succinctly and went to take up her spear. She took the burned meat from off the end and cast it out into the shadows, it crashed through thick bushes beyond sight and landed with a loud ‘thump’ against a tree before it hit the ground.

Various growls began to reach them, and Ayente put herself with her back to the bonfire.

Archos drew his sword and listened carefully to the sounds of the Deep People, he could hear the faint sounds that might have been talking, and then the sounds of feet as they withdrew. ‘No part in this, eh? Or do you only watch?’ He wondered, his brow furrowed in thought, ‘That answers their status with the wolves, and Ayente was not exaggerating, they will do nothing for us.’

He moved his body close to Ayente’s own, but gave himself enough distance to use his tail if necessary.

The howls and growls grew. He answered. His arms flew out, his back arched, and in a stationary lunge forward from the head, he let his roar shatter the night, and all was briefly still. The howls and growls halted, and for a moment he believed the threat was going to fade away.

Then the light of the fire illuminated the shadowy form on four legs. Dark fur that had once been lustrous now looked dull, a body that once had muscle aplenty, was now clearly slowly consuming its own flesh to stave off death by hunger. It padded alone out into the clearing. Longer than Ayente was tall, and standing on all fours just below chest height, it’s lips pulled back in a long growl.

“Do you think this one can speak?” Archos asked her in her own tongue without breaking his watch on the beast.

It answered for him. “I can speak. Give us your food, and live.”

“Do you see the one who stands beside me, the one who asked that question?” Ayente snarled back and lowered her spear in front of her, gripping it tight with both hands. “We two slew two unikoslof alone, what are you, to make demands?!” Ayente planted her feet so that she was turned to the side, bracing herself for a charge or to thrust.

“He is big, but he is one. We could not take the unikoslof because our numbers did nothing against their cave, but you are in the open. You are but two.”

It’s lips and throat moved, but it’s mouth did not break the form of a snarl. The growls redoubled when another emerged out of the darkness, then redoubled again and again until twenty-four fenrisu emerged.

Archos raised his sword back behind him and pounded his heavy tail on the ground behind him. His other talon went out and he turned his body to the side. “You will die if you come one step closer.” He said in his rough, savage voice.

“One death may save my pack. Abandon your meat, and you will live. Go, hunt elsewhere. Take another unikoslof, or deer, or some other prey, and I give my word I will not chase you.” The large fenrisu said as its packmates began to circle around the great flame.

“You are starving, I am not, she is not. But her people have no food left, this cannot be let go or they may go hungry.” Archos began to undulate his tail behind him, it moved serpent like from side to side, warding his back.

Ayente glared at the large fenrisu, “Go feast on the deep ones if you hunger for meat! This is ours! Nobody will take from me!” She shouted and slapped her hand against her breast over her heart. “I am Ayente of the stolen life, I will be stolen from no more!” She bellowed like a banshee’s cry and returned her grip to the obsidian tipped spear, her ice blue eyes swept the group of wolves in front of her, the fire dancing over her blood streaked face gave her a fearsome appearance that compelled the young fenrisu to pause.

“I would, scarred one, for years my pack would raid their lands and take their beasts or even their flesh. But they have a new weapon, a dangerous one that only the old ones like myself can stand against without falling. It kills us from far, and so now we hunger. But you are only two, and we can close the gap.” The largest of the fenrisu replied almost sympathetically and with heavy frustration, he lowered himself into a pounce position.

“Now leave, or be added to the feast, the fire will not save you, our hunger will devour everything, flame or no flame. But if you fight, to show I am not cruel, carry my name with you to the evergreen, you are killed by the pack of Fen’Maki.” The large Fenrisu said with the confidence of the strong. His tail was up as he readied himself.

Archos glared into the bright golden eyes of the fenrisu.

“Yes, we are two, and you, more. But that means you are still outnumbered.” Archos laughed as his blood began to thrum wildly through his body, his sword began to dance at the end of his hand, and he curled the talons of his left hand toward himself.

Fen’Maki let out a rough bark, and it was echoed by the others of his pack. They came on as one, heavy padded paws slapped the ground once and several jumped against Archos at once from front and back, his sword swung out and cut through two, a third was caught in his talons, and held fast at the throat.

It growled defiantly at him rather than providing the yelp he expected, and still clawed and snapped its jaws in desperation to hurt him. He kept his tail waving wildly behind him, keeping the attack at bay, just as Ayente used the flames.

The younger among the fenrisu took the softer target, coming in to surround her, she took them by surprise. With a howling shriek she yanked her obsidian knife from where it was secured against her body and threw it as hard as she could, striking a young one in the eye. It collapsed dead where it stood, and she rushed at the next only a few steps from the flames. Her sharp spear, far more brutal than the old stone, ripped open a fenrisu at the shoulder and sending it leaping back with a yelp, the next two took advantage of the moment and charged in, only for her to desperately bring her spear out across her to stop their teeth from opening up her body.

Fen’maki went straight beneath the gap created by the wounding of his comrades and the brief and sudden grip Archos had on the other, and went straight for the young dragon’s body.

He had a long growl and opened up his maw to grip the wounded place on Archos’s shoulder, slamming his jaws down violently his pads had claws that ripped against the dragon’s thick, hard scales, but could not find purchase.

He spun wildly, his tail bashing in the brains of another he flung the wolf he held into the bonfire, the wood smashed and broke and scattered flame wildly around the clearing.

Ayente’s howling battle cry, fenrisu-like in its own right, morphed into something even more primal as she was pressed down by the weight of the two wolves who had grabbed the thick wood of her spear in their snapping jaws. She felt her knees bending.

She glared at them as her knees began to buckle, “I… won’t… BEND!” She grunted twisted her body just in time to avoid a wolf that had circled around her side, flinging the other two away, she took a chance and put them briefly to her back to thrust her spear into the side of the one that missed her.

She caught a glimpse of Archos beyond the flames, cast against it he seemed to be fighting in the fire rather than beyond it. Swarmed by fenrisu that grabbed at his tail, and limbs the big elder fenrisu tore and chomped at the not yet fully healed injury on Archos’s shoulder. Archos roared in turn, but could not bring his maw down on the massive beast that covered half his body.

His sword danced out, casting of fenrisu blood into fire and green, ripping through their bodies with shocking ease, one or two at a time they began to bounce into the grass and ceased all movement forever. A few managed final whimpers of pain, or to snap their jaws in defiance at the ground where they came to rest.

His tail flung others free, and more than one fenrisu disappeared into the dark woods beyond, usually with a sickening crunch and crack as it hit a tree too hard with its back or skull. Either way, Ayente did not glimpse another rushing out of the dark to rejoin the fray before she lost sight of his struggle as she turned to face the two wolves that had regained their feet and come for her.

With her spear leveled again and the flames scattered from the death throws and impact of the unfortunate packmate that Archos had cast into the fire, Ayente chose her footing with care.

The fenrisu crouched low and began to spread out at either side of her.

Fen’Maki was screaming inside his head. ‘How can anything have a hide so hard?!’ He wondered as he struggled to tear into the beast with the claws on his paws. He scrambled and scrambled as he tried to climb up the scaley monster, his powerful jaws seemed to cause it pain where he bit into the wounded place, but pain only seemed to urge the monster on to ever greater violence, the long unfamiliar weapon did unthinkable damage to his packmates and his golden eyes watched his brothers, sisters, mates, and children fall.

‘This can’t be! This can’t be!’ He tried to pull back, to twist and throw the behemoth off balance and make it land on its back, but the blasted tail slammed to the ground and held it stable whenever that threatened to happen. His deadly finger talons ripped open fur and sent blood hissing like snakes into the fire where one of his number had already died.

The few that faced the human fared no better. Until at last there was no scrambling. From high up on the black scaled monster, and Fen’maki saw he was alone.

He felt the blow in his heart before he felt the taloned fingers grab his throat and pull him away from where he bit. Blood fell from the wound and oozed out, but finally, inexorably, he was removed from his hold on the monster’s body, and held aloft.

He tried to snarl defiantly and snap his jaws, but held high in talons that gripped him tighter than the snakes that crushed the life from unwary prey, there was nothing he could do. ‘So this is how it ends… my pack is dead, our young will starve… why did I think this would work…?’ He snapped his jaws one last time at the monster and then felt himself flying briefly into the air, thrown up by the dark scaled one. Sailing briefly higher than the flames, he saw the brutal work the human had done on the few set to bring her down. As his body twisted and he saw the ground approach, he saw also that he was sailing unstoppably toward the open jaws of the black scaled monster.

‘Just make it quick…’ He thought as the jaws clamped down over his body, the teeth pierced deep, he felt his bones snap and further rip him apart from the inside as the powerful neck of the monster began to swing him left and right, tearing open the already deep wounds even further..

In that agonizing and pain filled hell, Fen’maki remembered an occasion when he was a young pup, padding after his father, already the largest of his whelpmates, he’d proudly picked up a stick and shook it wildly, scattering the leaves that clung to it before saying to his father, “One day, I will be the strongest, and even they of the caves will run from my pack.”

If he could have shaken his head on his own as his body shook in the monster’s maw and he felt life fade away and his leg snap, he would have. His golden eyes began to close, he felt like he could see the watching ghosts of father, mother, and his small self, and he saw pity in their eyes. ‘I did my best…’ He thought only once, and then a moment later, he felt the taloned fingers of the beast around his neck, his head was torn from his body, and he thought no more.

Archos let loose a roar that shook the woods and drew the eyes of the two remaining fenrisu that faced Ayente.

They saw the head of their leader held aloft in the bloody grip and bloody body of the black scaled monster, and horror filled their eyes. Horror… and distraction. Ayente thrust her spear out and caught the one at her left, directly in its eye.

The long thin spearpoint pierced its brain and it fell immediately. The remainder, realizing he stood alone, was torn between courage and fear, and had the decision made for him.

Ayente ripped her spear from the eye of the dead, and thrust it into the fenrisu’s neck, opening up it’s jugular with a sickening tearing sound as fur ripped open. It struggled to flee, gushing blood at each step, and didn’t make it to the end of the clearing before it fell into the grass. Ayente approached with a few smooth steps and looked down into its eyes.

The beast was in agony, shaking, trembling, whimpering ever fainter as it faded away. She looked down on it with pity, drew back her spear, and thrust the obsidian tip in between its ribs, piercing its heart, and ending its pain in an instant. The smell of voided bowels and blood filled their nostrils from all over the clearing.

With no evident threat, Ayente began to check the other bodies in a slow, methodical fashion, finishing off the few who had signs of life in their eyes, until she noticed that Archos had not said a thing.

She was about to speak as she came to within a few feet of him. He raised his palm up, and Ayente closed her mouth as quickly as it opened. He raised his nose, sniffed, and listened.

“Stop, there are more…” He said softly. “Remain here.” He said, and held his sword out halfway from his body.

Ayente grimaced, ‘No. Where you go, I go.’ She thought to herself and holding her spear out at an angle, followed him as he broke through the clearing into the trees. Leaves and branches crunched underfoot, the faint smell of still living fenrisu grew stronger and stronger. Branches bowed and night birds cooed, shadows cast by the light of the moon competed with the receding glow of the now multiple small fires in the clearing they’d left behind.

Ayente felt the endless invisible eyes of spirits of the forest on her as she followed Archos, if he felt them, he gave no sign of it. The very small hairs on her skin stood on end as fear of the unknown surpassed fear of what had tried to end her life by firelight.

She suppressed a sigh of relief when Archos stopped dead in his tracks, a faint, tiny growl and yipping was just a few feet in front of her, just in front of the dragon. She moved to his right side and looked down. There was a large female fenrisu lying on her side. She had her eyes closed as if sleeping, but it was clear as she stood beside her companion, that the fenrisu female would never wake up. Ayente followed the sound of the faint yipping and looked down, a waif thin, mostly starved fenrisu pup had its paws squared out in front of what must have been its mother. It yipped fiercely up at the blood soaked dragon, desperately trying to protect the corpse behind it.

She must have once been a beautiful beast, a body nearly as large as the one that called itself Fen’Maki. Archos reached down a little and touched her head, “He died brave.” He said to the corpse.

Ayente raised her spear over the yipping little one. It’s eyes caught the faint glow of the flames in the clearing, illuminating the milky white gaze. Archos looked around. “Where are the rest.” He asked thoughtfully.

“What?” Ayente asked hesitantly.

“There should be more than just one…” He said slowly, scanning the area.

“Fled with their remaining young?” Ayente suggested. “This one must be hers, and the only of her brood to survive. Till now at least.” She said, and as it growled at her in front of the corpse, she hesitated with her spear up.

“If you want to kill it, I have no right to stop you.” Archos said calmly.

The little thing lowered itself to an attack posture, its white eyes glaring up with desperation.

“There is enough meat, for ‘one’ more.” Archos suggested thoughtfully as he wiped the blade of his sword on the corpse of its mother.

Ayente thrust her spear down into the dirt, it pierced a few stray leaves and sank tip first into the soft earth.

“I suppose there is.” She said and she found herself staring at the half starved pup. “No wonder they fought, we were their last chance.” Ayente shook her head and looked down at the dirty, hungry little thing.

As the pup seemed to sense the threat was gone, it went to nuzzle the female’s jaw trying to wake her. It barked and barked into the darkness, it clambered up to her ear, bit, and tugged to stir her from her slumber.

“How do you think she died?” Archos asked as he looked at the body.

Ayente crouched down and picked up the little pup from off of its mother’s body. It squirmed in her arms, eager to return to the corpse, she held it close and let it nibble at her hands with an infant’s ferocity.

“I do not know. It could be she was sick, those who fought, fought like those who had no hope but winning. I have heard that unikoslof flesh is good for healing, perhaps it has a better effect on fenrisu? What does the how of her death matter? She is dead, that is all.” Ayente replied fatalistically as the little beast clawed and fought desperately in Ayente's hands.

“Now come, we must feed this one, or he will join his parents in death.” Archos said and started to walk back to the orange and yellow glow.

“He reminds me of someone.” Archos said, as Ayente fell in at his left and the little thing kept squirming, struggling, biting, and clawing. She shifted the black furred fenrisu around uncomfortably until she held it securely nestled against the crude furs that covered her body at the breast.

“Oh? Who?” Ayente asked with interest as she reached back and yanked her spear out of the earth, and began to walk as soon as he did.

“Nobody you know.” Archos said with a gruff laugh as the orange and yellow glow of the flames drew ever closer.

‘I am missing some sort of joke I think.’ Ayente pondered as she kept looking at him cockeyed all the way back to camp.