Thread: Shifting Sands [ Rook10 & Bear ]

Nyla leaned into Ramla's embrace, too preoccupied with her grief to feel embarrassed at this out of character outburst of self pity and sorrow. Her wails did subside to softer sobs after a moment and she listened to Ramla's words. The beasts had gone too far. The Anthros had done nothing wrong, they had hurt no one, certainly Zoran had never hurt anyone who hadn't deserved it. But what were they to do? How could you fight an enemy that you could never see coming? You have to go to them. Nyla thought to herself and ideas began to form in the female's head. They were both interrupted though by footsteps and the rap of knuckles against the tent's front pole. Nyla. A raspy voice carried past the tent flap. It was Kirvan, the scaly lizard anthro who also worked the guard shift. They want you at the front of the village, there is something you need to see. For all the heat of the desert Nyla only felt ice in her veins as her mind raced through the possibilities of what could possibly create a need for her at the front gate. She stood, slowly, letting Zoran's blanket fall to the sand below her and still holding onto Ramla with one hand for support, more emotional than physical. She looked at her friend with eyes that said Nyla wanted, needed, Ramla to come with her for now. They stepped outside where Kirvan was waiting for them. It was difficult to read the expression of a reptilian, their faces didn't change much with their feelings and their eyes always seemed so distant. Still she could tell by the way that he avoided her gaze that he was uncomfortable, perhaps feeling guilty that he was still here and Zoran wasn't. I don't blame you, Kirvan. Zoran volunteered for the guard. I blame the furless bastards. She spat the last bit into the sand, her body shaking. Please, take me to him. She already knew what awaited her at the front of the village. What she didn't know was just how ghastly it would be. The walk did not take long as the village wasn't very big to begin with though large enough to discourage Anthro raiding parties. That was another thing that made the kidnappings so terrifying, despite their group's size their abductors did not seem to care. Almost as if they were targeted for that reason. There was a crowd at the gate already though it was less of a gate and more so just a wide opening in the low wall of sand and clay that had been formed around them to protect from the wind and now from their new predators. Mothers were careful to keep the cubs far away though, no need for the young to be filled with even more fear at the sight that awaited Nyla and Ramla. Just inside the wall lay a body, or what remained of it. As anthros moved aside to allow Nyla and Ramla to the front Nyla gasped audibly, covering her mouth and clutching Ramla's arm a bit tighter. Zoran lay there in the sand, his body naked, torn, and broken. His flesh covered in bite marks of some sort of canine though too small to be comparable to a wolf anthro or the like. His wrists had chains wrapped around them though the guards who had retrieved his body had cut them and allowed his arms to rest at his side. Blood matted his fur and his mane, cuts and lashes covered the parts of his body that hadn't been torn off and his leg was at an odd angle, broken as if by some sort of blunt object striking it. They found him a mile or so away, still chained up but with nothing but some tracks leading west. He must of put up a fight and they decided he was too much trouble to take back to whatever hole they call home. Kirvan explained. Nyla just stood there staring at the body of her mate. Before she had been drowned in sorrow but now she felt the overwhelming anger at what they had done to him and to her rising up in her chest and causing all of her fur to stand on end. There will be vengeance. She spoke in a low but deadly tone. They will be made to pay. Tears still streamed down her face but these were tears of rage, not of sorrow.