What One Thinks is Only A Monster...

The boy was right, the hunter wouldn't take the risk of injuring him that badly just to prove he's dominant.
Razgul at up slowly, his eyes leering into the other man's.
His human name was nothing important to him so he had no issues with answering.
"Razgul, son to Rastul, alpha to Wolfridge Pack."

He figured that was his entire name to humans. He didn't understand first middle, last names.
Of course the boy looked rather young to be an alpha but eh, his father was killed very early so here he was.
And...that gave him another thing to say.
"Taking back."
AKA, take me back.
 
Eska leaned against the wall, the hand with the blade in it hanging at his side, but still ready for action. "Razgul huh, and an alpha at that. You just raised your own price." He didn't give his own name in return and wouldn't even if it was asked for, this was just how he chose to operate, finding that without a name, people find you more dangerous...that was people, he wasn't sure how that all worked out in a human/wolf creature.

Keeping his eyes locked on the kid, the hunter neither shook his head or nodded at the demand, instead replying in such a way as to hopefully confuse the boy's understanding to gain enough trust so this back and forth didn't have to keep happening. "Yes, taking back t'my friend." slurring a key word just enough and speaking a bit faster than he had been with the wolf boy.
 
The boy tilted his head at the comment and was a bit peeved that he didn't receive a name in response.
So, that would be the first thing settled.
He stood once the hunter moved to stand against the wall.
The room wasn't very big so he barely had much room to do that but he managed.
"When give name get name."
His eyes narrowed on the hunter's, annoyance in them.
An alpha wasn't disrespected and this name had already done that to an extreme extent.
Best not to do so any longer.

Also...
"Take me far then back...why?"
Yes, he thought the man was trying to trick him and as his emotions boiled his wings unfurled slightly and rustled in agitation.
 
The hunter's head shook lightly, "I'm a hunter as you know already, that is all anyone needs ever needs to call me." The boy was sharper than he'd anticipated. Quickly his mind thought of a way to keep tricking the kid without raising more suspicion. "I know a man who wants to show you something, but he could not come to you, so we must go to him." Giving that he hoped it was enough to satisfy, but his brain was still working in case the kid asked what the something he was to be shown was.
 
The boy laughed loudly, his voice softer now that he wasn't trying to talk.
Then he was pointing a finger at the human, baring fangs and bristling up his hair like a messy mane.
"You lying!
Why a human want to show a wolf thing?
Why send hunter? Hunter kills Rastul father!"
Oh yes, the boy was not stupid, even if he sounded stunted when speaking.

He stretched both of his wings out to full length, smirking when his damaged wing barely gave him any pain.
"Hunter hunter food."
(Hunting hunter is food now)

But for now...
The kid turned and bolted out of the room and down the hall.
In mid-run he shifted into his canine form and the second he was outside he was flapping and lifting off.
The only problem?
If he got away he had no idea how to navigate...
 
Shit, there goes the kid. As the boy darted out the room, Eska climbed out the window, jumping just enough to catch the ledge of the roof with his fingers. It'd been a while since he had to do something like this, but thankfully his body still remembered the motions and within half a minute, he was up on the roof and getting his bow ready. There was a reason he'd always requested rooms on the top floors of inns, and this was exactly it.

He'd guessed right, figuring after the display of wings inside the room, the boy was going to try and fly away. As the kid took off, Eska waited to note which direction he was headed, which was certainly not north, but it wasn't the way they'd come either. And then he let the arrow fly, waiting and watching for it to hit the mark.
 
The arrow struck but possibly not true?
It sliced through his back leg, breaking through the muscle near the femur.
Blood and fur flew through the air as the arrow's tip sliced through the flesh and emerged from the other side.
However, it didn't go clean through and was indeed stuck now in the creature's leg.

Razgul yelped loudly and tried to continue his flight, even with the wound but it ended up being to painful to keep the wings function considering they buffeted air down very close to where the arrow was stick out of the front of his back left leg.
So, unfortunately the wolf was back on the ground...on three paws.
Several humans were staring at it with wide eyes, a few reaching for knifes to try and claim him as their own catch.
Raz shook his head angrily and bolted, even on three legs the pup could move faster than a normal human.

He was headed for the woods to try and use the cover to escape the only person he currently feared from the town, the damned hunter.
 
It was getting dark, and the hunter knew his vision would never surpass the wolf's, his pet's however...Within seconds, Sé was flying over head of the downed wolf pup, giving her master a view from above of where the kid had gotten to. Eska let his vision through his hawk tune in and out, making sure she was still following the wolf while he did his best to catch up, grabbing his horse on the way out the Inn.

There was a murmuring as he left the village, but the man was thankful none of the simple folks had managed to get their hands on Razgul, or he'd have more possible wounds to heal on the pup. As a team, Sé and Eska tracked the wolf, until the hunter was close enough he could see the pup's rear not more than fifty feet away. He didn't want to use another arrow, so instead he prepped the blow darts again, this time using only one with a second ready. He'd need to be much closer, at least fifteen feet, maybe less if he could get it safely, to even get close to using the darts successfully.
 
Razgul could tell that the hunter was coming.
That blasted bird had been following him for over two miles.
The only problem?
Raz wasn't gonna be able to handle the pace any longer while the bird could probably fly all day at the current speed.
As he heard the pounding of hooves behind him he sped up, much to the disapproval of his body.
It was still extremely hot out and the sun was just starting to go down.
Aka, black wolf, black fur...overheated.

Raz slowed to a stop after only a few seconds...then dropped.
His mouth was twitching as he panted, chest rising and falling ridiculously fast.
Without his full four feet gate he tired much faster and even so he ran much too far, even if he'd been on four feet.
Now he was basically paralyzed until he managed to catch his breath and cool down.
Hopefully he could manage it, shaking is normally a rather bad thing with heat stress.
 
As he saw the wolf slow down and eventually stop, Eska pulled back on the reins with the single hand holding them "Whoa boy..." His horse came to a stop about ten feet from the fallen wolf, Sé up in a tree watching the scene with a rather astute eye. Cautiously, the man approached the wolf, the darts still out and ready. There was no way he was trusting this one after he'd just seen the intelligence of the creature first hand back at the inn.

Carefully, he came around near the front, just out of reach of snapping jaws should the body not move further, and looked into those eyes. "I told you I didn't want to have to hurt you again, my friend..."
 
The wolf just lay there, its eyes not even really following the hunter as he moved around him.
Within a few seconds the pup's eyes rolled back and he was out cold.
However, his chest still rose and fell in quick succession as his body tried to recover from the overheating.
Not even the hunter's words or the pain from the arrow brought him back.

He needed water badly and not just to drink.
Hopefully some submerging and quite a bit of ice (that doesn't exist yet)
 
He sighed recognizing the signs of the heat taking its toll on the poor pup. Shaking his head he let his guard down, approaching the animal on the ground at his feet. He knew he had to move fast if he wanted to get out of the woods before the other pack started hunting for the night, a wolf laid out like this, especially one that had pissed them off earlier would not be left alone, hunter or no hunter there to protect the beast.

It wasn't easy getting the thing on the saddle, but he managed it eventually, making sure to attach the newly forged collar around the wolf's neck, locking it in place well before the thing was going to wake up again. It was slow getting back to the road, and even worse finding his way to the outskirts of town. There he set up camp, outside the wall not wanting to deal with the villagers asking questions or trying to fight him for the creature. Stashing the wolf against a bush, he hastily entered the village, got his cart attached to the horse again and left with barely a notice from more than the guards on the wall.

When the hunter had gotten the collar made, he purchased a length of chain as well and had some left over leather straps he used to tying things down on the pack he rode with. After putting the wolf into the cart again, he attached the chain to the collar already around it's neck and then to the cart itself. The wood was thick enough where he'd attached it that he was nearly completely certain the beast wouldn't be able to easily break the wood in half. The straps the man used to wrap around the wolf's muzzle, giving it room to drink and barely open for small pieces of food, but he'd not be able to open wide enough to bite what wasn't cut up for him.

Finally he worked at bandaging the wounded leg, using similar techniques he did with the wing, seeing how fast that had healed. The last thing the man did, though all this was done rather quickly, was start pouring water on the creature. The sun had gone down since he got back to the village, so the air was much cooler now. Eska had out smarted himself even, stealing several buckets of water from a trough inside the gates and getting them out on the cart, which he now used to douse all over the over heated wolf.
 
The water brought the pup back into existence but it took a few buckets.
His eyes slowly opened after the third bucket. The cool water had helped a lot with bringing his temperature down but now he needed to get most of it off of himself before he became hypothermic with the temperature now dropping.
He carefully pushed himself up and started to try and shake but just ended up falling right over again.

Razgul was disoriented and confused and was about to start howling for help out of instinct when he noticed he could barely open his mouth.
The pup quickly brought his paws up to the stuff around his muzzle but it wouldn't budge at all!
This was definitely not something he wanted to wake up to!

There was a high pitched whine from the wolf as he squirmed to free his mouth repeatedly.
He didn't even notice the hunter nearby or the chain collar and links connected to him now.
 
"Welcome back, again." Leaning on the back of the cart now with his back to the wolf. At best the thing could swipe at him now, but he wasn't that concerned with it at the moment. The hunter had been hoping the third bucket was enough, his fingers running through the fur while the pup was still out in an attempt to get the water closer to the skin, past the guard hairs. It seemed to work, and now the man was holding a big blanket he'd stolen from the inn. Yes he was just taking whatever he needed left and right at the moment and didn't much care.

Spinning on his ass, he faced the wolf and tossed the blanket across it's lower half, using it to dry the creature off. Eska was gentle and careful around the fresh bandaged wound on his leg however.
 
The pup watched with bright clear eyes.
They were dilated and larger than normal, his ears pointed forward in slight panic.
He didn't like being touched, petting was bad but being dried off by someone else while being tied up?
Not okay.
His hackles would have risen if they hadn't been rather wet.
Instead, he just grunted several times out his nose to vocalize his annoyance and discomfort with his current situation.

Damnit! He couldn't even bare his fangs right now!
 
It didn't take long for the man to finish drying the pup off, but the grunting was duly noted. "You know, Raz, you'd have been better off if you had just accepted my answer and you could have ridden up front again, no collar or chain." Clicking his tongue and shaking his head in disapproval.

They continued their travel at night, sleeping during the day in a cave or shade of giant trees; the hunter feeding small pieces of fish or meat at a time to the wolf when he'd eat it, giving him water and the pup could stand and stretch if he wanted to. Eska made sure to keep checking the wounded leg, which was thankfully healing up quite nicely. Finally on the fifth day after the village, they reached just outside a larger city. The whole rest of trip the hunter had barely spoken to the wolf, and now was no different.

Calling Sé down, he placed a message on her foot and off she went. An hour or so later she returned with a response, causing the man to turn and move himself and the cart his horse pulled in through the winding city streets. People stopped what they were doing to stare at the creature being brought in, but they'd seen many strange things coming through, and were more oogling than wanting to cause Raz harm. Eska led his steed right up to a large building and after going through another set of gates, dismounted.

A rather rotund man came out, arms spread wide with a large smile across his features, and headed straight for the hunter. As he always did, Eska managed to avoid the other's attempt at a hug, instead moving on to business. "M'lord, I have here a very rare creature should you desire such in your collection..." moving to the back of the cart and nodding at the winged wolf.
 
The pup didn't eat much during the entire trip but he had no choice but to drink some since the water slipped through his lips.
He fought as hard as he could when moved from the cart or when traveling but the binding around his muzzle held strong and the chain was unbreakable.
So, by the time they finally got to the larger city he just stayed in the back next to the tether.

His attention finally peeked when the bird flew off.
Confusion shown in his eyes as the hunter's prized pet vanished into the horizon.
Awhile later he seemed to understand what he'd done.
Sent a message.
Because as soon as the man read the paper the large bird carried back they were moving again.
It was starting to become light and by the time they were weaving through the city it was light out and he was trying to remain calm as the sun beat down on his black coat.

As they pulled up to a big set of gates he glanced over the side of the cart just to see a rather fat human running towards the hunter.
He bristled up his hackles and tried to bare his teeth to snarl but another grunt was all he got out.
Tch!
When the hunter spoke of him he stomped his paws and snorted loudly again, trying to glare at the fat man so that he might leave...but it was hard to look threatening when your mouth was tied and you were chained to a damned cart.
 
Eska had just been in the middle of explaining that the wolf was still very wild when the pup only drove home the point for him by making the fat man a bit hesitant to get closer than twenty feet of the cart. "Oh my, he is a rather wild and spectacular creature!" emphasizing his words with an excited brief clapping accompanied by a little squeal that no man should make. "Hunter, do tell me your price!"

As the hunter looked on his captive, he stated, "Eight hundred gold pieces," tilting his head as his eyes narrowed, "And I will come in and help train him for you however you wish for as long as it takes, but you will provide my expenses, room and board for this." Turning back to the collector with a neutral face. It was a deal, they shook on it and the man showed Eska where he could bring the newest pet.

They passed a few other cages with animals locked inside, most having lost the fight long ago and sat at one corner or the other of the enclosures waiting for food that day. Finally they reached an empty one, it was made also of metal and hoping up into the back of the cart, Eska looked down at his wolf captive as he readied himself for the pup to try and dart if the chain was removed from the cart to act like a leash.
 
Razgul was unsure how much he was bought for but he knew he would pay him back...in blood.
As the cart started to move again he got up, eyes watching as they passed several full cages of random creatures he had never seen before.
They all looked...broken.
Like they had given up ever getting away.
How could such regal creatures look like that?
He would never give up! He belonged back with his pack and he would get there one way or another!!

As the hunter moved up into the cage with his chain leash Razgul did respond, but not the way the man would probably have thought.
He knew the human was good with his bow and arrow but that was a long range weapon.
No.
This time it would be close range...it would be personal.
The wolf's wings unfurled...then slammed a wave of air behind him, sending him right into the human's gut.
Just the force of the headbutt had the man flying back into the bars as the wolf snorted loudly again in lough of a growl.

Oh yes.
This was going to be one good last fight, even if his mouth was bound shut he still had a nasty set of claws and still three well-functioning legs...
And the two front ones were outstretched with claws heading straight for the man's chest.
 
The chubby collector squealed his hands clapping as he watched from what he felt was a safe distance. "Ooo Hunter he looks very dangerous and beautiful those wings!"

But the hunter wasn't paying attention to the fat man at the moment, he was far more concerned with the raging wolf in front of him. The headbutt into the back of the cage knocked the wind from his lungs long enough to daze him a moment. When he finally gathered his senses back, the beast was already mid charge, claws definitely coming for whatever they could get. He had the option of pulling his own knives, or going for a tactic maybe the creature wouldn't see coming. Eska chose the latter, waiting and staring the wolf down until he was nearly on top of the man. Suddenly he ducked, kicking his leg out at the injured one, letting his foot impact hard with the wound. After he rolled away on the ground and managed to get back to the door, closing it as fast as he could. "I told you Raz I didn't want to hurt you..."
 
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