The young kalak knew that she stood no chance against the male. Even if she was healthy she wasn’t sure there were many wolves out there who could fend off one that had been trained to kill those he had been told to. So when the brute pushed against her it was a mixture of fear and defeat that made her pliable and limb, letting him move her and manipulate her however he wanted until Shilo found herself on her back. If he decided to go in for a deadly shot now, she would bleed out in less than a minute. Her jugulars, organs…everything was on display for him to do whatever he wanted, and that was when the tears finally fell. It was not the fear for her brother, because she had already decided she would rather die than tell Perdere where Tiresias was, but it was the fear of pain and death. Her whole life had been filled with pain and hurt, both physical from her disease and emotional from her puphood. And she didn’t know how Perdere was going to make it worse or what it would be like to die…but she had a feeling that she would find out soon. Some of the ways that he could kill her, ways that would be slow torture, never even crossed her mind. If they had she might have tried to fight back out of pure fear. But instead she was limp, afraid, waiting.

Shilo cried out pleas to believe her, that she was telling the truth, hoping that her tears and fear…which was not made up…would help him believe her lie. If he saw through and went to more physical torture methods she wasn’t sure how she would handle that. And the thought of breaking and giving up her brother was too much to bear. Suddenly the pressure of the male on her was gone, and she was still paralyzed with fear to move herself out of the vulnerable position, and she continued to lay on her back with her thick plume pressed between her hindlimbs. But Perdere apparently didn’t want her there anymore, and he grabbed her scruff and forced her to her paws. Shilo shook under him, and when she felt his tongue along her pelt she shied away from him. She would rather feel pain than feel that. “Now, that wasn’t that hard, was it? So you say you were part of Crith-Thalhainn? Perhaps we should go visit there, so that I may ensure that you get home… Safely. And make sure that I can have a discussion with your alpha.” A whimper escaped the femme at the thought of the male coming to where she lived. But how could she refuse him? She had not thought to lie about where she lived, and so he could easily find her. And what would Nimueh think? Shilo had done nothing to contribute to the pack and now she would be bringing a dangerous wolf to their borders. But she saw no way out of what he said.

Remaining silent, looking away from the brute, Shilo thought about her predicament. There was a lot of distance between here and the pack lands, something she had pushed herself to do. How foolish she was to think it would be good for her to go on a long journey alone when she was sick. But she had been so tired of being cooped up in the same place. She would easily trade it back though if she could. But she couldn’t…she was stuck with Perdere. But maybe somewhere along the way she could find somehow to escape him. She knew force and speed would not be the way, but she was smart. Maybe somehow she could trick him…or get someone to help her. She would try to find a way…or perhaps die trying. The male’s vocals drew her out of her thoughts though, and she flinched away from him as he spoke. When he told her to lay down and sleep, she knew that there was no way she would actually fall asleep. Adrenaline and fear was still coursing through her veins, even in her sickened state she was still too fired up to sleep. When the male left the cave, she thought about running. But he was right. There was no way she could outrun him, and even if she ran through a few streams to hide her scent that would only slow her down more. She would never make it far. Not when he was coming right back anyways. Maybe another night, when he was deep asleep she could make a run for it. But right now was not the time.

Shilo did however lay down, curling up around herself with her back to the cave’s entrance. She didn’t want to see when he came back. She didn’t sleep, but she closed her eyes anyway. Maybe if Perdere thought she was asleep when he got back he would leave her alone. For a few moments she let herself cry, but there was only so many tears that one had, and she had already let a lot loose earlier. She felt a little better after having a moment to herself, but that moment was quickly broken when she heard the male return. “Anyone hungry?” Shilo’s audettes flickered at the sound, but she didn’t move. Even though she didn’t eat well because she had trouble hunting, she didn’t want to eat whatever he had. She didn’t want to take anything from him, even something as simple as a meal. And besides, what if he had poisoned it. She had no way of knowing that he didn’t decide to just go ahead and kill her…or torture her this way. Pretend to believe her and be nice and give her some sort of pain inducing herb to make her talk. Instead she just curled up more into herself, hoping he would just go away and let her be, trying not to let herself cry again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Somehow the femme eventually fell asleep, even with the male in the cave with her. Once the adrenaline wore off exhaustion took over, both from everything she had gone through and from her predisposed sickly self. She passed out cold in a dreamless deep sleep. She would have remained like that for much longer if the brute had not woken her up, but he had. Even in her sleep muffled mind she followed him, having no effort or will to fight against him. Her tail hung limp behind her as she stumbled along behind him, not really paying attention to the way that he was leading them back to Crith Thalmhainn. Her thoughts kept going back to what Nimueh would think of her. If they all survived this ordeal she would probably be kicked out of the pack and would die anyways. But she didn’t really care anymore. She was useless to the world and didn’t have a purpose.

Not paying attention to her surroundings, the femme was making more noise than she should. Her paws crunched on every twig and leaf, letting every being in the forest know where they were. For some it was a warning to flee, like deer, rabbits and other prey. But to others it would be an annoyance or threat…and bring some other, larger predators their way. The growl of an approaching creature was the only warning that the pair of travelers got before the form of a mountain lion came into view. Even if Shilo was a fit warrior it would be a tough fight…and she was far from that. Fear that had barely ebbed away from the femme came back, her green orbs widening. They would have to distract it or run….there was no way that the two of them could kill this beast. Maybe this was her chance to get away from Perdere…if she even survived the ordeal…

Picture and table credit to Casey!

//Shilo//Fae//Daughter of Shae and Caspian//Sister to Tiresias, Malina, and Rylan//Crith Thalmhainn//Teen//Violet//