---- It was born in the time of heat and ashes. It had fled the fury of the gods. It knew well the black and dark magic that dripped from his black and darkened fingers.
An enchantment had been born of his hands. A curse bound by dead demons, crafted and shaped into some strange rune.
The creature had stalked from afar, just for this moment. This kill.
Its fleshy fangs licked its broken lips as its shuddering spine rattled noiselessly. The white-haired one was a threat. She was so charged; so ready to burst. It crept closer to the liar while keeping as far from the woman as it could manage.
The air tasted of him. Foulness; bile. The drool poured out by the bucket as it neared.
"Ash," the white-hair whispered.
"I know. Stay still," another creature replied.
It wasn't going to stop until his organs were pulp and garments. Till it saw through his eyes and spoke with his tongue. The bones that meshed together to form a jaw cracked and shattered open wide enough to fit him whole. The thing reared to lunge, but something else blocked its path.
The man ran, and the girl stood as a threat. It watched him wrap the white-hair in his vile arms. He lied, even now, pretending to protect her. Pretending that she needed protection.
It would rip him apart, even if it meant slaughtering these others.
"Stop," and it stopped. It didn't know why, but it did. This woman – this girl – approached so very slowly. She crept like it did. She was low to the ground with her back turned to him and a black fist gently held out.
"Can she not just speak to it, like with the bear?" the liar asked in a hush so silent, it almost couldn't hear him.
"That's not a bear, Sujin," the white-hair whispered back. She was right. This was no bear, no animal. This was a creature of promise. Something more than mortal. Brought to the world by a dead god. Carried up on a gust of hellflame. It was an abomination. It was a punishment.
It was a direwolf, and it hungered.
"Don't look at it," the weaker, older, woman sharply ordered. "Look at the ground."
She was scared, more-so than the others. She hid it well in her actions, but her voice quivered. She alone, it realised, knew exactly what it was.
Any power she had commanded over it was lost in the shiver of her spine. She never dared to look at it, but that didn't stop her approach. She neared with a reverence reserved for royalty. A fitting stance for a lesser creature.
As she came within a few paces, she knelt: one knee buried in the dirt, the other buried in her cheek.
Her balled fist glimmered in the dark. Oily black steel. The kind it hadn't seen in an age. It didn't know if that made her a friend, or a thief.
The twig that snapped beneath its foot didn't make a noise. The only sound was its snarls. Twice, it sniffed her gauntlet, but it didn't trust the scent. There was something old about her, much older than even it was. It snapped its jaw and gnashed its teeth. The younger White-hair yelped and might have charged, had the liar not covered her mouth and clawed her back.
It snapped once more until it heard her. Anger boiled within a grunt. She panted and huffed from beneath her bow but stayed still as a deadwood.
It would waste no more time on the panting cur. Its fangs fell to sprawling tendrils and readied to tear her limbs apart, then she moved. It didn't even see her jump, nor did it see her ripping free her spear, but it certainly felt the tip land in its neck
--- Ash drew back her strike and grasped the spear shaft around the direwolf's neck. She couldn't kill it, but she had to make it submit. If it actually breathed, she would have choked the life from its lungs, but all she managed was to hold a better grip as it bucked and thrashed along the forest.
It tore between trees and dove over their spikes in an attempt to buck her, but she remained. Eventually, she managed to dig a boot into its neck while she pulled back on the spear. The bone-crunching snap brought the creature to the ground, but it wouldn't die. She dragged it onto its back and wrapped herself around its leg and her arms around its neck. The beast struggled for what felt like forever before she heard it, the most beautiful sound in the world. The beast sneezed.
A beaming smile cracked between her cheeks as she fell back from it and caught her breath on the ground. The others saw the beast was paused and Sujin rushed forth with his axe in hand.
"No," was all Ash needed to say. Her natural hand pointed him back, a drip of blood following the act. He skidded still some paces away.
On jellied legs, with warbled breaths, Ashtik rose to face the thing. The thing rose to match her, then exceed her. Its bones cracked and warped until the thing was taller than the man, then the trees, then taller than sight could allow.
Ash pointed to the ground, and Evara knew what it meant. The young girl dragged the Enchanter to one knee and both stayed bowed pending further orders.
The Champion did not bow. She stood as tall as she could, her spear thrust out towards the beast. The thing's head burst from its chest and locked eyes with her. Ashtik knew she had won. The primordial apathy it had seen her with was gone. Now, it was afraid. It was lesser. It was tamed.
"Kneel," Ash spat through bloody teeth. It snarled, it gnashed, it knelt. With all protest and displeasure, it bowed its head and sneezed again.
At last, it did not protest when Ash's steel hand stroked its brow. "What's your name?"
The answer was muddled. It was tongues and terror, a history of all nightmares in a single word. She nearly fell back at hearing it. Her lips trembled and her tongue refused her attempts to repeat.
"Roach?"
The beast snarled and gnashed at its own leg, ripping it off with ease and nudging it close to Ash's feet. She realised that it wanted her to take it.
It was heavy – oozing black and closer to bark than flesh. Roach nodded at her, it wanted her to do something, so Ashtik threw the leg deeper into the forest, to which the beast gleefully fetched.
"Ash?" a rightfully concerned voice whispered from behind.
-- "It's okay. Just don't get too close. His name is Roach."
The creature returned shortly, its own leg lulling from its largest mouth.
"Roach?" Ev doubted.
-- "Something like that. I haven't got enough tongues to say it properly."
-- "Well... Roach, have you seen any Veytors? Is he clever enough to understand what that means?"
It - or he – made a noise halfway between a bark and the combined scream of every birthing mother in history... then he scuffled off into the night.
"W-was that a no?" Ev shuddered.
--"I have no idea."
They got on after that as though nothing had happened. Well, the sisters did. The Enchanter was somewhat useless from then on.
"A- Ashtik," he choked.
The huntress cut the threads of a trap. "Not now."
"Ash," Evara said in a scolding way.
"Do something useful. The dogs gone," Ash sharply insisted.
-- "I- sorry yes. I just... I don't understand. What was that?"
-- "So many fucking questions with you."
"Ash! Enough!" Evara scolded. "Remember the line."
Ash couldn't help but sigh. "I'm busy right now, Enchanter. As should you be. I do apologise for my bluntness, but our current predicament... impedes my... Ugh, what was it?"
"Our current predicament impedes my ability to communicate effectively," Evara recited.
-- "Yeah... Um, I ask that you... remain patient and talk to me when we aren't in a situation that-"
"-demands my limited focus be drawn elsewhere," Evara finished once it was clear Ash had forgotten the rest of her script. She smiled broadly at the man while Ash returned to her work. "But I'm always happy to talk and work if you need."
"I- what was that?" Sujin had to ask.
"Oh, we rehearsed a line so she wouldn't come off as such a bitch to you. I promise she doesn't actually mean it." Ev wrapped a rope around two trees and tied small metal shards to the taught length. "You were going to ask about the creature, weren't you?"
"I- Yes. It's just: why was she so afraid?" Sujin asked.
-- "Did you not get a look at it?"
-- "Well yes, it was rather unsettling but... I saw her smack a grizzly bear on the nose earlier. That thing wasn't half the size."
-- "It was a Direwolf. In Maester Veil we call them Rakhos; soul-eater. It's a name they well earn. I promise there is no fate worse outside of the vampris nation. Look, I don't think even Ash really knows what just happened, but we have bigger concerns right now. Namely the Veytors. Lets just focus on that for now."