Sprinkled in sand Alouette’s quick retreat sprayed over her, the black, scarlet-tinged wolf froze like a gargoyle before her, only her ebony tail swayed back and forth like a pendulum. Alouette’s instincts were frayed into fearful pinnacles along her shoulders while she regarded the wolf, who seemed both posed to play and eager to attack. The focused gleam of the black wolf’s metallic eyes reminded Alouette of Sehkmet’s dangerous glare. Alouette desperately wanted to avoid the fangs of her species; in her nightmares, the cannibals she lived with feasted on her… and she felt every pull of their ravenous teeth.

Ignorantly, Alouette toed a step backwards. The result was the black and red female’s tail dropping into a stiff arrow behind her and posing just on her toes, inches above the ground. She looked like a knocked arrow. Conditioned by her mentor, The Monster, to never flee such situations, Alouette remained paralyzed. As her heart slowed from the initial shock of being pounced, Alouette noted the devilish delight of the stranger. Although the older female’s black and red tinged guard hairs weren’t original in Modalion, she felt disturbed. Her guts tightened in the presence of physical prowess, her heart pounded in fear of superiors, and her stomach clenched with anxiety of interrogators. But this wolf was none of those things. She was lithe, not outwardly dominant, and hadn’t said a word. She caused Alouette to feel feverish and nauseous. She felt she needed to lay down to keep from feinting or vomiting.

Her ears flattened backwards while her tail sank between her legs and she shrunk closer to the sand. She waited for immense doom to claim her.