[Flashback] The Cold Touch of Winter (Nustril, Cypress)

[Cypress]

Timestamp: 35th of winter, 509 A.V.

Dolanne wove a path through the frost shrouded trees, in spite of her inherent grace, each hoof signaled her path as it broke through the crusted snow. Almost like a blanket, Cypress molded to her back, trying to avoid the whipping wind. Her thighs held her fast in place so that her gloved hands could rest on either side of the horses neck, caressing softly as she quietly sang a tune first sung to her by her father.

Travel on, my sweetest light
Carrying warmth in the touch of your hand
Painting each blade of grass
With the color of the golden sand

As she finished the first verse, the horse seemed to respond by veering toward a low hanging branch with great purpose, ducking her head so the extending fingers of the tree missed her entirely and instead clutched at Cy's cloak as they dragged the length of her back.

"Hey! Well that was uncalled for. I was just trying to conjure thoughts of warmth." She hunkered lower, continuing the song regardless of her bad review..."It makes me feel warmer, even if it makes you cranky."

With the words slipping quietly from her lips, Cy looked ahead , having to squint to keep the brisk wind from drying her eyes. Her eyes scanned the pristine whiteness, looking for that mountain of black fur, a shadow come to life to slink over the snow covered ground.

[Nustril]

Slinking was Nustril's favorite form of travel. It was so much more graceful than walking. It was poorly suited to deep snow but he was prepared for that as well. Tigers were creatures of the winter mountains, his fur was thick and warm. If the weather kept up like this he would likely refuse to return to his human form until they found a building and a warm fire. At least he knew he could go long periods of time without conversation.

Padding up beside Dolanne Nustril leaned up to lick at Cypress' sleeve. He did not want to lick her arm for fear of leaving icicles behind on her skin. People were not very happy about affection when it made them more physically miserable than they were before. Having shown his love for her upon meeting her he felt satisfied and picked up his pace once more.

With visibility low he felt more compelled than ever to scout their trail and preserve their safety. Very few animals would hunt with the wind and the storm whipping violently at their fur, but men were an animal that could not be predicted. Even worse than men were the monsters that thrived in the cold. The only thought that chilled his blood worse than this snow was the possibility of Cypress being mauled by a monster.

She saw the blackness of his fur move passed the cart and into the woods in front of them. He stalked down the paths and through the bushes with speed and purpose. Sniffing at the air he thought, perhaps, that he detected the scent of blood. Hugging the ground with his belly he slowed his pace and searched in earnest. Blood was a poor sign.

Time continued to pass, as time does, and Nustril found himself ranging further and further ahead of his mistress. The monotony of the storm was broken only by his heavy breath fogging the air. He turned his back on the trail ahead, sure that he had imagined his troubles, and heard the snapping of a large twig. Ears went flat and he sunk even lower in the snow.

Moving one paw at a time, practically dragging himself forward, he peeked through a pair of bushes covered with icicles. There he saw a crowd of men. They appeared to be gathered around a pile of clothes. Curiosity had killed many cats and Nustril was sure to be no exception. Peeking ever closer his shoulder brushed against the bush and sent the icicles to tinkling loudly.

The pile was not composed of clothes at all. It was body after body, stacked like cord-wood. Men turned to face him who were not men, either. They appeared to be parodies of human men. Their flesh was composed of thick, frosted over dirt clustered with granite and the occasional lustrous gem. Whatever they were these creatures were armed and armored. Letting out a startled yowl Nustril backpedaled and fled the scene at full speed. He could hear them following him.

A good and a bad can be found in any situation. The good in this situation was that no Yukman could hope to catch a fully grown tiger. The bad was that Nustril soon found himself coming to a frantic halt in front of Cypress and the slow wagon which carried all of their possessions. Oh and, of course, Nustril had left a trail through the snow that a blind Barkbear could follow. Perhaps there were two bads to every good in a situation.

Looking up at his mistress Nustril flattened his ears and extended his claws, dragging each paw through the snow in front of him to signal danger that they should flee from. Reaching up he gripped her pants in his mouth and started trying to tug her around. She would have to make a wide circle to keep the cart from tipping, and they had much ground to cover if they wished to avoid being caught.

[Cypress]

When she heard the approaching ruckus, the hair on her neck stood at attention and she bolted upright. Nustril, who was usually as silent as a feather falling on cotton burst through the trees, leaving behind him, a well broken path that led to her feet. His anxiety seeped into her, compounding the chill already established by the weather. Her connection to him made his state hers, almost as if she were sharing his emotion. She watched as he signaled to her and after a quick glance into the woods guided Dolanne at his direction, clicking her tongue against the roof of her mouth to spur her on.

With Dolanne seeing to their forward progress, she turned to face the wagon, keeping an eye on its stability to make sure it didn't tip. In her mind, she replayed the lay of the land already traveled, trying to remember something that would veil their escape, giving them a direction that would allow movement without so much detection. She returned to the tracks they'd already made, at least the trail was already broken and it would offer them a little more speed in their movement.

She tried to hurry the plodding oxen into a quicker pace looking behind them to see if she could catch sight of what was behind them. Nothing was forthcoming... yet, so she returned her attention to the road ahead, once again clinging to Dolanne like a second skin.

A picture snapped into her thoughts, a line of trees flanking a small ridge. They had passed it a short while back, and her hopes were for some kind of sheltered valley on the other side. In the moment she hadn't taken much note because each blast of wind threatened to freeze the breath in her lungs, forcing her to keep herself small and covered, but now it seemed like their best option. With a whistle that was nearly swept away by the wind, she signaled to Nustril. Once his attention was caught she traced her fingertip from right to left across her forehead, then quickly ran her open palm down her face. His ears perked and he glanced in the direction of the ridge.

They kept to the path until they spotted that line of trees. Cy began nervously singing her fathers song as she directed Dolanne toward the ridge. The wind had increased, and the blowing snow threatened to cover their old tracks, leaving only the new footprints to betray their path. She had never prayed for worse weather, but she did now, offered up in the form of her fathers words.

"Run Lanny..." She whispered into the ear of her treasured companion. "Catch up to that tiger of ours." Her heart was pounding as she stole another look over her shoulder.

[Nustril]

Nustril leaped forward through the snow to investigate the valley ahead. Each bound sent snow bursting up around him and left a deep depression from which he could be tracked. No call for stealth at the moment anyway, they already knew he was here. A glance backward showed him that the oxen were plodding along at a slow but steady pace. They were not fast enough.

Running up to Cypress he swatted at her hip with a heavy paw, claws retracted. Once she looked at him he cocked one ear to the side and then wiggled his fur as if coming out of water. Without another look back at her he sped into the forest. With the wind and the snow he found it difficult to keep their trail straight, with any luck the Yukmen would have the same problem.

The tiger ran the full length of his own trail, backtracking to where he first met the creatures. Wherever they were now, it wasn't there. If he wanted to distract them from Cypress he'd have to find them first, or at least mess up the tracks so that any who followed afterward would have trouble finding the first. Careful to pace himself, he would need all the energy he could muster if it came to combat, he began to criss-cross his own trail. He was both searching for the enemy and making it difficult for any who came after to know which direction he had truly gone.

Twice during his mad dash through the blinding white he encountered the men made of earth. Wherever they found their weapons, they appeared well made. During the first encounter they were too startled to react, and chased him away from Cypress deeper into the snow-covered trees. The second encounter was not as lucky.

Sliding through the snow Nustril attempted to change direction without rushing headlong into a Yukman who had been standing behind a tree. Failing to do so he crashed headlong into the hapless creature. The weight of the tiger sent him crashing against the trunk of his hiding place and turned his head completely around. As his chin lolled down uselessly onto his spine Nustril felt a stinging pain in his shoulder.

Yowling he turned to see three more advancing on him, one reloading a bow. Without waiting to test his might against them he fled through the snow. Splashes of red would now make it difficult to conceal which trails were most recent. His ruse no longer viable, he began sprinting back to his mistress. The arrow had slit his flesh, luckily it was fired from the wrong angle. A bit of wood sticking out of him would have made it difficult to fight.

[Cypress]

When she felt the large paw pouf against her hip she twisted to look at the tiger, her blue eyes softening as she quickly reached out to sink her hand into his fur before he ran off. She looked back at the wagon to see how far behind it had lagged. Though it wasn't as bad as it might have been they needed to go faster.

She flattened against Dolanne and continued toward what she could now see as a valley. She gave a quick, silent thanks and rode along the ridge and down into the valley. The force of the wind was drastically cut once she'd made it behind that small mound of earth.

There were fewer trees in the valley, as it turned out, it was more like a bowl carved into the ground, but there were two ways in. It was not perfect, but it offered some shelter, and it was all they had. She rode to the far side and leapt from Dolanne's back. The wagon approached and instead of waiting she ran to it, climbing on as it closed the final distance. With fingers slowed by the cold, she undid the straps securing their belongings and threw back a covering blanket to pull out pieces of Nustril's armor. Involuntarily, a grin split to her face as she pictured his quivering fur...that might be her favorite signal. She placed everything they needed on the top of the wagon, it had taken some time for her to work up the strength to move the pieces of armor on her own, but she had a system now, using her whole body to hoist them from place to place, almost as though she were trying to wear them herself.

Once she had everything ready, she ran back to Dolanne and began to ready her bow. With her attention focused on the mouth of the valley she waited quite impatiently for Nustril to return, each passing moment speeding the flow of blood through her body, forced on by her pounding heart. The song began to play in her head and soon her voice began to accompany the voice of her father.

The sheltered valley was nearly silent compared to the open forest and she began to hear the crunching of the frozen snow. Standing next to the wagon she was ready to get Nustril in his armor. Crunch Crunch Crunch At first it came from the mouth of the valley, and then, from the ridge overhead.

[Nustril]

The amount of ground covered in the amount of time allowed would have impressed Nustril on any other day. Today, with an unknown number of attackers and his mistress in danger, he found himself wishing that he could move faster and further. A few times he criss-crossed his own trail again, allowing the blood to sprinkle all around the area and his feet to churn up the snow into confusing patterns.

In the distance he saw the ridge and the line of trees. Slowing so that he might catch his breath, he jogged the remaining distance to the valley. It always took the air out of him to have that armor slapped on and strapped to his back. Any time lost by slowing his approach would be balanced by the increased effectiveness of a tiger who had saved his strength.

Strange noises could be heard in the darkness of the trees. Confused noises. He had managed to distract them with false trails. There was the possibility that his optimism was clouding his judgement. Since he could not understand the voices it was difficult to claim that they were confused. Pushing that thought from his mind he approached the lip of the valley.

Nustril's paw slipped as he moved to the edge of the bowl and he lost his footing. Tumbling end over end the great cat rolled through the snow to the bottom of the valley. Behind him he left sprinkles of blood. His shoulder was not bleeding heavily, but he could be tracked by what was coming out. Rushing over to the wagon he stood next to it and waited for her to place his armor on his body.

[Cypress]

The random smattering of blood painting the entrance to the valley caught her eye before he even reached her. She winced as Nustril tumbled down the hill, resisting the urge to rush to him. Instead she waited, watching him travel the last distance to her.

Once the massive tiger stood in front of her, her hands quickly began to explore the dense fur. Moving deftly with speed and care until she found the moisture of the wound, already glazed over with bloodied ice. When she touched the spot she gauged his reaction.

"I will fix this.." She spoke the words as she nuzzled her face against his. "But we will soon have company" She hoisted the first of his armor onto the tigers back then shimmied beneath his stomach to secure it. Each piece was placed an secured as the sounds of the crusted snow began to break around them. She placed the last of the armor then launched into the wagon and grabbed her bow. With and arrow notched she aimed toward the sound above them...waiting for their enemy to show themselves.

[Nustril]

Nustril waited patiently as she strapped his barding onto his body. Once fully armored, when he saw her grab her bow, he lowered his head and placed it under her armpit. Flipping his head into her body with all the strength he could muster he nearly toppled her over. Once again he flattened his ears and dug at the snow in front of him with both of his paws. This was the time to flee.

Lifting his nose to the wind he sniffed and laboriously climbed through the snow so that he could look back in the direction which his blood trail led to. There were nearly ten of the creatures searching through the snow in the distance. He was sure that they were not in danger of being heard. The storm was too fierce for the sound of a wagon wheel to carry far. It was still important that they stay low and hurry away.

If these Yukmen were anywhere near as dangerous as real men then he was in trouble. On a good day he would be lucky to fight off three intelligent warriors, and Cypress could likely only take two before they closed the distance and rendered her bow useless. That left five which could gut them and stack their bodies just like the corpses in the clearing. It was time to run.

[Cypress]

When she caught her footing again she nodded, slinging her bow and putting the arrow away. She climbed atop the wagon and secured the ties once more. With a look back at Nustril she ran her thumb down the side of her cheek and mounted Dolanne. She lifted her chin toward the exit on the opposite end of the valley and began to move toward it. Her eyes stayed focused on her mate, waiting for him to follow.

[Nustril]

Nustril crept back down into the valley and moved closely next to the wagon. Once he was next to it he turned his back to the oxen and faced the direction of the threat. Walking slowly backward he used his flicking tail to gauge the location of the vehicle while he was walking. Moving in this way he managed to keep his bearings while focusing the attention of his eyes solely on their defense.

In the distance the Yukmen continued to move closer. The larger force had broken into pieces trying to find their prey. If the gods were kind then no more than those ten would find their real trail, at least until they had fled the area. One of them peered through the blowing wind and snow. Black was spectacular forest camouflage, but not in winter. Here it comes...