Kanan

The pain in his tail was distant by the time the white and gray wolf reached the fringes of the marsh. Adrenheline had helped with that, and so did his emense fear. As his big, wolfish paws began to splash through water, Kanan finally slowed down and came to a stop, panting hard to catch his breath. Wide blue eyes took time to survey his surroundings and see if Spirit had followed him out of the prairie or not.

As he waited anxiously, Kanan craned his neck around to inspect the damage done on his tail. To his utter horror, he saw that nearly half of his tail was gone! It was a one-in-a-million shot, but the riffle bullet had managed to pierce dirrectly through the center of small little tail bones bones, about half way down the appendage.

SPiRiT

The ghostly white wolf trailed the other wolf to the marsh, not wanting to give up, no matter how great the pain extended. She, so unlucky for her, had been struck in the left hindleg with a bullet, giving her a limp that was simply horrifying. If anything came after them again, she'de be best off hiding rather than running.

Now her limb was nearly completely soaked with the crimson blood, and a bit was still finding a way out and dripping on the ground. She was gasping for breath by now, feeling the incredible loss of blood take a toll on her energy. She could still go on, though. She wasn't about to fall over.. Yet.

Drawing in a deep breath as she felt her own paws sinking into the mud beneath the water, and the soft, cool splash of the liquid itself, she slowed, and looked up at Kanan. It may have taken her a while, but she had managed. Just then, feeling her legs become utterly tired, she tried her best to scamper to the shore again, and collapsed right on the spot. She laid there for a bit, panting hard to catch her own breath, before immedietly bending her neck back to lick at her fresh wound, with the bullet still embedded in her flesh. It was even making her sick.

Ben's Pack

The seven-canine pack had been temporarily reduced to a six-member pack after Meservea was wounded capturing Pheral. But it was no great loss, for the black-phase king hound was only a Filler- a pack member with no specialized characteristics.

Dip, the blue-merle King Hound, was the most important part of the group. It was his job to interpret his master's commands and lead the pack. He was also the largest, weighing in at 225 pounds and standing 38 inches at the shoulder. An impressive mammoth of a canine. It had been his decision to track Kanan and Spirit, rather than the other two wolves after Ben gave him a command. For obvious enough reasons.

"On the bank! I see them now!" Bayed Casper, a grizzled King Hound. The keenest sighted in the bunch, he had been trained as a Target; the one in the pack who's job it was to keep track of or visually locate the quarry.

The tallest hound, another blue merle and sister to the latter two, came rushing forward. Long-legged but not so heavy as the others, Honder had the job of the Tagger. The one who made first contact with the prey and ensured that it didn't get away before the rest of the pack could catch up. But before Honder reached the other shore, Dip barked sharply.

"Hon, stop! Ben didn't tell us to kill- just to track." The big brother commanded, "Surround them!" He was still trying to figure out what Ben would want him to do, but figured for the moment he'd just keep the two wolves at bay and figure out things from there.

As commanded, the rest of the pack spread out across the marsh ground, moving to encircle the wounded duo. Six hounds in all, though one of them, Tommy, was a cross breed collie/wolf. A great deal smaller than the others, but with a viciousness that none of the others could beat.

SPiRiT

Spirit was still lying there, partly in the water and partly now. The pain stung, giving her great pain, especially after touching the murky, motionless liquid of the marsh. Each time her tongue wasn't running over her wound, she was grinding her teeth together to help rid the pain.

Just then, she stopped what she was doing, and raised her head. Her eerie baby blue eyes surveyed the land around them, extremely wary of potential threats. "Smell that?" she asked Kanan, sniffing the air harshly. She was surpisingly strong when dealing with pain, but never before had she experienced getting a bullet stuck in her hide. But either way, she was handling it like a brute would. So much for the girly girl, eh?

She released a blood-curling snarl as the group of canines showed up, obviously of the human "clan." As they began to surround her and Kanan, she tried to get to her paws, struggling all the way up. "Get out of her you mangy mutts! Go back to where you came from!" she snarled again, her nasty side beginning to show. Some saliva began to fly from her maw as she said her words, which were a bit choppy from the snarl. Standing on her remaining three legs, she lowered her dial and tucked her neck in. The blood had finally ceased seeping through the wound, but she was still weak from losing it all. This was just her luck. Her hackles raised, she took on a defensive position. No telling which of these mutts would possibly try their luck at attacking.

Al Sheratan

A scream peirced the still air suddenly, as a white mare came rushing through the marsh, her hide becoming flecked and stained with both mud and her blood from tree branches that hit her as she ran. She had followed Spirit and Kanan, she wanted to make sure they to were all right. As she saw the hounds, her thorns pinned back and she came at a run, leaping over the two wolves and landing as a guard in front of them. Rearing high, she screamed again. A piercing call, one that could shatter ear drums. "Run!" She said to the wolves. "I'll hold them off." She wasn't a large horse, indeed she was considered a mere pony. But the egyptian arabian was not one to take on. Especially when angry. She kicked out at one of the dogs, Honder. Biting at Dip. Anything to keep them back from Spirit and Kanan.

Kanan

Kanan was just hurrying towards Spirit to assess her condition when the dogs came. Forgetting he only had half of a tail left, the wolf held the remaining section low and stiff, in what would hopefully be seen as an agressive posture. Striking white canines were bared to their fullest at the encircling hounds, "We've already danced this dance once!" He knew that this was a different group of hounds than the ones that assaulted his home pack, but at least he knew what they were up against. Although, it didn't help him a whole lot.

When Al Sheratan appeared, Kanan was taken aback. He looked uncertainly to Spirit, then back to Al, "You'll be slaughtered! We all need to run!" He remembered how 'well' Nightcrawler had fended off an entire pack in order to buy time for Jessie's escape. It was a miracle that he survived the assault at all, and would have been toast if not for more pack members showing up to lure the hounds away.

Fauve*Kiran

A second scream was heard as bay mare came streaming into the clearing, crystal flashing in her mane as she came to her friend's aid. While wandering the prarie she had picked up Al Sheratan's scent... along with the smell of blood.

Kicking up her heels, she skidded beside the little white mare as her son came in, turning about and kicking her heels at Dip for all she was worth. Her frantic voice called out, hoping to reach Kanan. We can handle this! For heaven's sake, run! That said, she turned her attention back to the battle.

Ben's Pack

Honder yelped at being along the side, and felt a rib crack under the furious blow. Dip, for as massive as he was, pulled away from the duel assaults by the equines to escape any injury. "Back up!" He growled, but the order was not given to the horses. His packmates enlarged the circle they had formed, giving the horses wide berth, "Horse isn't on our list today, ladies." He growled to the equines, "But we could always make an exception." He shot a look to Tommy.

The wolf-collie mixbreed was one for being light on his feet. He struck like an angry wasp, and being a great deal smaller than his comrades, agility was his marking strength in the pack. The little two-colored hybrid leapt at Kiran's side, trying to sink his teeth into the flesh of her shoulder and curl his body up so that her hooves could not reach him...

Kiran

Kiran had taken the side opposite his mother, enclosing the smaller Sheratan in the middle of their defense. He watched carefully as they all backed away, but he was completely caught off guard by Tommy's attack. Letting loose with a scream of pain and anger, he tucked his neck in and reared, shaking side-to-side violently in hopes that he might dislodge the pesky thing. At the same time, he turned his neck in on himself and aimed bone-crushing jaws at the mix's rear legs.

SPiRiT

Spirit was a bit confused as a horse suddenly appeared, along with a couple more, but then she suddenly realized what was going on. She snarled lightly, not wanting to let these horses take her show away. Why would they care for a couple of wolves whom they didn't even know? NO! I will NOT run yet! she thought to herself, sending a few good snaps of her strong jaw in the nearest canine's direction.
As she went to move backward, she had forgotten all about her wounded limb and fell back on it after trying to apply weight to it, emitting a sharp and sudden growl to mask her actual cry of pain. But she could handle it, even if it was a bullet lodged in her leg.

Deciding she couldn't carry on any longer, she slowly but surely moved to her paws, holding her wounded hindleg up a bit to avoid stepping on it. As quick as she could, which was actually pretty quick, she swung around on her remaining limbs and began limping in a wide protion where the opposing hybrids had moved from when they were under attack by the equines. Grinding her teeth together, she headed away from group, knowing full well that she was in no great condition for fighting. Now gasping for breath again, she reached the opposite end of the marsh waters, turning her head around to take a breif glance at the fight. Nothing could help those horses now but to run, and run fast. Then she turned forward and began moving on her three good legs, with passing time enabling her to go faster. Since it had been a while ago now that she had been shot, the pain was still there but it wasn't as strong. She was beginning to feel achy, though, but ignored it as best as she could. Suddenly turning, she started away into the surrounding trees, deciding to find herself some human help. And what better place than the Woodland Farm, where she had heard some Lady helped animals? With her mind made up, she changed her course only slightly and headed in the desired direction.

Ben's Pack

Tommy sprung away from Kiran, snarling savagely as those giant teeth were gnashed his way. But the lithe little creature was harder to tag than an angry wasp. He was about to run around the young stallion, but Dip barked out a new order. It was time to go.

"Come on, we've wasted enough time on these fools!" He growled, "Keep their scent for future reference though. Ben'll surely take us out tomorrow." Dip eyed the horses and wolves, then turned away and headed at a brisk pace for the mountains. The rest of the pack followed after.