G A R E T H
The elk had moved further into the clearing, scanning the rolling horizon for his friend. It had left him quite exposed and the shrill sound of something predatory and very large shook him to his core, all the fur on his body standing on end. The noise was deafening, and Noor cast his audits back flat against his skull as his head swung back, eyes wide as he tried to pinpoint the source of the battle cry. He’d had enough time to register the following events slowly, his mind processing everything all at once, much like a train wreck or a car crash. Both impossible to look away from and in full detail.
The warmth of the sun was engulfed by large bat-like wings, chilling the radius of easily ten feet around him. By gods, what creature could be that big? The elk saw his doom hurtling towards him as he had seen so many hawks dive towards unsuspecting babes who had wandered too far from the protection of their den mother. For that is what the elk was in this moment. A babe, too stunned to move and too terrified to defend himself, even if he knew claws and fang to be certain death.
He wasn’t sure if he had cried out for Gareth, but suddenly, like an avenging angel from the depths he surged. The brute was huge and he bowled the entirety of himself into the creature at top speed. A snarl ripped from his throat, booming a single word. “No!”
Three things happened then, simultaneously.
The predator, claws outstretched, caught the back of Noor’s haunches, tearing a sizeable set of marks into the flesh as the momentum of Gareth’s body wrenched them free, knocking the wind out of the stallion, and Noor with him. The elk tumbled, legs giving out from shock, terror, and the pain. A strangled noise wormed its way past the bonded’s vocal chords, alien to himself and to his equine companion.
Gareth, having now juggernauted himself into the seemingly unstoppable force that was this predator, would continue with his defensive cry as he tangled with the beast. As limbs flew over limb (mostly his own) he roared. “What in Goddess’ name do you think you’re doing?” The stallion was not a graceful man, nor was he a fighter. But he was built like a tank, and when the situation called it of him, he had no qualms with throwing his weight around. The herbs he had been painstakingly gathering over the last few hours erupted around them in a flurry of leaves and stems as his pack flew open, the contents tumbling through the air as Gareth attempted to put as much distance between his companion this newcomer as possible, even if he wouldn’t get very far.
“That’s my friend you are trying to eat!”
The warmth of the sun was engulfed by large bat-like wings, chilling the radius of easily ten feet around him. By gods, what creature could be that big? The elk saw his doom hurtling towards him as he had seen so many hawks dive towards unsuspecting babes who had wandered too far from the protection of their den mother. For that is what the elk was in this moment. A babe, too stunned to move and too terrified to defend himself, even if he knew claws and fang to be certain death.
He wasn’t sure if he had cried out for Gareth, but suddenly, like an avenging angel from the depths he surged. The brute was huge and he bowled the entirety of himself into the creature at top speed. A snarl ripped from his throat, booming a single word. “No!”
Three things happened then, simultaneously.
The predator, claws outstretched, caught the back of Noor’s haunches, tearing a sizeable set of marks into the flesh as the momentum of Gareth’s body wrenched them free, knocking the wind out of the stallion, and Noor with him. The elk tumbled, legs giving out from shock, terror, and the pain. A strangled noise wormed its way past the bonded’s vocal chords, alien to himself and to his equine companion.
Gareth, having now juggernauted himself into the seemingly unstoppable force that was this predator, would continue with his defensive cry as he tangled with the beast. As limbs flew over limb (mostly his own) he roared. “What in Goddess’ name do you think you’re doing?” The stallion was not a graceful man, nor was he a fighter. But he was built like a tank, and when the situation called it of him, he had no qualms with throwing his weight around. The herbs he had been painstakingly gathering over the last few hours erupted around them in a flurry of leaves and stems as his pack flew open, the contents tumbling through the air as Gareth attempted to put as much distance between his companion this newcomer as possible, even if he wouldn’t get very far.
“That’s my friend you are trying to eat!”
"Speech" | Noor | @Pangaea | I imagine Gareth just clipped her on Noor impact and they tumbled a distance away?
