The leader's blade caught Sabine's eye while she was transforming, but she could do nothing to avoid it except list over to one side. She didn't have great motor control during her transformations; she had never practised it.

At once, Peiter saved Sabine's life and sustained a nasty wound. The seconds he bought her allowed her to reach her full size and fury. Sabine's beast form had grown as she reached maturity and confidence in her adulthood, and she was not so weak anymore. Seeing Peiter hurt was bad enough, but Sabine's beast spirit converted all her fear into additional anger. All she could do to hold herself with lucidity enough to retreat was to lash out and take the leader by surprise. She leapt forth low at the Cathay-raht's legs and push them forward and upwards, upending the leader and letting him fall shoulders or head first behind her. It was only then that she was able to keep running away, nudging Peiter while moving to get him to follow.

She resumed running south for a while, trying not to keep too straight due to the arrows - not that the jungle gave her the luxury of a straight path often. Once she had cleared enough distance, however, she veered right to the west, then back up north. She wasn't going to leave her pack behind.

Kaleeth stood up and walked slowly in Meesei’s direction. She had to warn her, but unfortunately, she was currently in a conversation with Ra’maranja. She had to think of some way to pull Meesei away without altering the Khajiit. If Ra’maranja, or any of the others in his group caught on that she was suspicious before the packs were ready, then there was no telling what might happen. When Kaleeth finally did reach them, Meesei looked up at her curiously, so Kaleeth said the first thing that came to mind.

“Meesei, I…I think I’m…with egg.” Kaleeth said, doing her best to sound concerned. Certainly, it was enough to get Meesei’s attention, and that of a few others in the pack.

Meesei’s eyes widened. “What? Kaleeth, I thought I gave you enough potions.”

Kaleeth lowered her head to mimic shame. “I know, but I…forgot to drink it last time. Everything happened so fast, and now it is taking too long to…can you just please take a look at me? We can head over to one of the other buildings.”

Meesei nodded. “Very well. Hopefully, you are mistaken.”

The pair of Argonians stood up and started to head outside. Their conversation had gathered strange looks from Ra’maranja’s group, but not necessarily suspicious ones. Once outside, Meesei’s expression towards Kaleeth was disappointed, as she had made sure to warn both Kaleeth and Ahnasha of the importance of drinking those potions.

“Kaleeth, I am surprised at this. For three years, you have been diligent and approached mating safely. If you forgot the potion, you should have come to me afterwards to allow me to use my magic instead. You and Janius are mates, there is no reason to be ashamed of…” Meesei began, but Kaleeth stopped in front of her and cut her off as soon as they were out of earshot.

”That is not what this is about.” Kaleeth said in Jel. ”Sees-No-Colors, he hinted in Jel that this is a trap. I think Ra’maranja is a traitor, or something. Janius got the children out, but we need to do something.”

Meesei nodded affirmatively. She had noticed some strange details and behavior as well throughout the day, and she trusted her pack, so she did not argue. ”Then we need to hurry. Let us try to warn the others.”

The pair turned back and returned to the main building with the others. However, their quick return was not overlooked by Ra’maranja. As Meesei walked back towards her pack, Ra’maranja stood up and looked at her curiously. “Well, that was certainly fast.”

“Yes, it only took a quick reading of her energies to rule out her fears. I was able to do it on the way.” Meesei answered simply. Unfortunately, Ra’maranja was unconvinced. He had been paying close attention to Colors’ behavior, and had seen how visible his stress had become. He had made note of the fact that Janius suddenly left with the children, and while he had not been close enough to hear what Colors had said to Kaleeth, he did take notice when his healer had interrupted them. Now, the Champion had left with one of her pack, only to return minutes later. Each of them alone would not be too suspicious, but together, they were too much to ignore.

As Meesei was about to speak to Lorag, Ra’maranja subtly grabbed hold of a knife on his belt, then quickly drew the silver blade. The Khajiit was standing right beside Meesei, so she was able to notice the motion near its end, but the only reaction she had time for was to bring her arm up to protect her chest or head. As such, Ra’maranja quickly stabbed her in the stomach. He pulled back the blade and was going to do so again, but by that point, Meesei had time to cast a spell, and a strong one it was. She blasted him back with a wave of telekinetic force, infused with lightning. He shouted out in pain and stumbled back against the tree trunk at the center of the room, which saved him from falling.

Ra’maranja’s group had all scrambled to their feet as soon as he had attacked, apart from Colors, who had dropped to his knees and raised up his hands nonthreateningly. Even so, they were severely outnumbered by Meesei’s packs.

“Run!” Ra’maranja shouted, prompting his allies to all run for the door. Ra’maranja quickly did the same, but not before launching a fireball at one of the bags his group had brought in from the city. Evidently, whatever was in the bag was highly flammable, because it exploded in fire.

Clutching her wound, Meesei shouted to her pack. “After them! Do not let them escape!” She commanded. With her free hand, she sprayed a wave of frost magic over the growing fire to prevent it from spreading, especially to the other bags. At the same time, she started to hear distant shouting coming from the direction of the forest floor, but she had to focus on stopping the fire for the moment. If it was not extinguished, there was no guarantee that her pack would all be able to get to safety in time.

---

Peiter ran as fast as he could, but with his wounds, he was having a difficult time keeping up with Sabine. Of course, she was not going to leave him behind, but that meant she had to slow down. Even so, they were still moving faster than any biped could hope. It did not take long for them to get out of sight of their pursuers, but they had to assume that they were still being tracked. The followers of Vile they had been fighting for the past few years were generally either hired lycan hunters, or trained by them.

Eventually, Peiter had to stop. He could not keep running with a silver arrow lodged in his back. Luckily, they had likely put enough distance between them and their pursuers that they could take a moment to deal with the issue. They needed to stay in their lycan forms, so Sabine could not heal him, but she could still help.

“Wait…this arrow…I can’t keep running.” Peiter said, turning so she could see the arrow. “Please, pull it out.” He asked in a tone that was almost begging. Normally, it was best to leave an arrow in a wound to prevent excess bleeding, but in the case of a silver arrowhead, that was not the case. The metal burned at his flesh and would just end up causing even more damage if it was not removed.

The whole atmosphere in the room became strange when Kaleeth announced that she thought she was pregnant. It was not enough to warrant reaction, but it made everyone pay attention.

When the knife flashed out from Ra'maranja's belt, the entire world seemed to wrench into panic. Fendros jumped up from his seat and drew his sword, Gallus belied his apparent fatigue and tossed a knife into the leg of one of Ra'maranja's pack members while hefting his hammer in the other, while Uthri dove after one of the others and grappled him against the floor. The fire that hit the explosive bag dazed them all in surprise, allowing Uthri's target to wriggle free and get away, but Gallus' quarry was crippled and was swiftly broken with deft movements of his hammer. Everyone poured after the enemies as fast as they could, heeding Meesei's orders. Gallus in particular pulled another knife from his person, intent on catching the treacherous Ra'maranja in particular.

---

Outside, Janius saw the bright streak of Sabine's fireball before any other commotion. He didn't need eagle eyes to see the ambush party moved to action. In response, he lifted Newt up with one arm and hurried Rhazii, holding him by the hand, as they made haste to the storage building. Janius was cursing under his breath all the way, while Rhazii was swiftly terrified. By the time they reached the storage building, the main building glowed with a sudden flare of fire before people started pouring out. Rhazii shrieked in fright. Janius ushered the children into the storage hut and frantically looked around for a hiding place through Rhazii's sobbing.

Janius eventually found a crate that was full of clean linen and mosquito nets that would do the trick. He set Newt down, removed the lid of the crate, and removed the folded sheets and nets in great handfuls, throwing them unceremoniously behind the crate. Once there was enough space for both children, he lifted them both inside, one at a time.

---

Sabine looked over her shoulder a number of times and allowed Peiter to keep up. She didn't even notice the arrow sticking out of him until he slowed to a stop. They didn't have much time. Sabine looked up and around and saw that they had gained a lot of distance on their pursuers. Sabine was still very panicked, but they had a sliver of time and she didn't waste it.

Sabine pinned Peiter to the ground and wrapped her hand around the arrow shaft. When Sabine pulled at it, it didn't budge easily due to its shape. Trying again, Sabine used the claws on her thumbs to try and open the wound, before taking the wood of the arrow in her mouth and pulling harder. The arrow came out, but not without a large pool of blood. Sabine flicked her neck to throw the arrow to one side and scooped up Peiter by the arm to help him.

Judging by the sounds approaching, they didn't have any more time to wait. If Peiter didn't move now, Sabine would have to go out on the offensive to protect him.

Lorag, Kaleeth, and Ahnasha were all quick to react, just as with the rest of the pack. Ahnasha conjured a bow, which, while not useful in this building, could help once outside. Kaleeth had already been walking towards her weapons when Meesei was attacked, so she ran to her sword and shield, then ran to the door to give chase. Lorag, meanwhile, did not even bother to run for his hammer. He was already wearing his steel armor, which was all that he figured he needed. He was among the first out the door after Ra'maranja's group fled, and was able to catch up with one of them. The Suthay that Uthri had delayed was in the back of the group, and as Lorag rounded the corner to get outside, she tried to surprise him with her blade. Unfortunately for her, Lorag was simply able to hold up his arm, causing the blade to bounce uselessly off of the steel plate. With his free hand, he grabbed the Khajiit by the throat, then forced her off of the edge of the platform, down to her death below.

Despite Meesei's command, Irenya took it upon herself to use her own independent judgment. With everyone else running after Ra'maranja, she would be more useful staying to help contain the fire with frost magic, and to heal the Champion once it was safe.

---

Peiter yelped and howled with the pain of having the arrow ripped from his body, but he knew it was necessary. It gave him more time before he would need to be treated, but he still could not run forever. The silver would slow his healing, so he was bleeding from multiple wounds. Unfortunately, there was no time to deal with that now. It sounded like the enemy was closing in, and much more quickly than he would have expected. It was possible that, after he and Sabine had started to turn directions, the enemy had guessed that they were trying to stay close to their pack, and had taken a shorter path in an attempt to head them off. This Cathay-raht seemed to be strong, capable, and evidently intelligent.

Despite his pain, Peiter ran as fast as he could alongside Sabine. They had to not only put distance between themselves and the enemy, but also figure out how to lose them entirely. They could outrun them easily, but it would not matter if they could not throw off their tracking. "I can't...run forever. We have to...lose them." He said.

Once Lorag's opponent had been dispatched, everyone was able to pour out after Ra'maranja and his pack. Even Tzirret was pulled out by Uthri and found himself with a weapon in hand. They appeared to be trying to escape rather than fight. Leading the charge was Gallus, rushing at a furious pace that rivalled the Khajiits' natural speed, even with the boost of lycans. He intended to beat away any that stood in his way in pursuit of Ra'maranja. Gallus silently promised that, as soon as he had a clear shot at Ra'maranja with a knife, the traitor would not get away.

---

Uninterrupted so far, Janius laid a thin blanket over both Newt and Rhazii where they laid in the crate. "Now, children, you have to wait here until one of us comes to get you. You mustn't move, you mustn't make a sound. Okay?" Janius did not do a good job of hiding his panic and Rhazii's crying worsened. The cub was still upset from the large burst of fire. Janius widened his eyes and put a finger to his lips. "Nonoo-shh-shh. Shh. Quiet now. You must be absolutely silent, you two. Son, hold onto Rhazii. I'll be back soon." Janius lifted the crate's lid over the two, leaving them with a forced smile. Janius didn't seal the crate - they still had to breathe - but they would be safe for now.

Pulling out the axe from his belt, Janius strode to the door of the storage hut and assessed the situation. His allies were pursuing Ra'maranja, and they would match his pack and catch them without any predictable trouble, but they weren't aware of the ambush party below. Speaking of which...Janius tried to find them amongst the trees, but they were nowhere to be found. That was until he spotted patches of white frost and spot-fires to the south. Sabine! Peiter! Their absence from the living room struck Janius like a mental hammer. If they had drawn off all of the enemies, they would need help, and fast.

Janius dropped his weapon and transformed on the platform he was on, letting his armour clatter to the deck below him as he outgrew it. He let out a low growl and sniffed the air. They were in that direction, to be sure. He could smell the blood they had lost on the air, even over the nearby fire. Janius vaulted the railing of the platform and swung around underneath it. He let go and grabbed onto the tree trunk with his claws, sliding down a short distance and marking the tree, but stopping and beginning to climb down as fast as he could. He leapt from as high as he dared and landed with a roll on the ground, sprinting south on all fours.

---

Sabine was distraught to see the enemies catching up with them so quickly. Had they heard Peiter's howls of pain? No, they had to know they were headed in this direction. Either they predicted their movement outright, or saw Peiter's blood. That was another problem. Sabine looked to Peiter with panicked eyes, "The blood. They see it!" Sabine said.

They could hope to truly lose their enemies with such a clear sign from Peiter. Sabine slid to a halt and desperately tried to think of a solution. Fighting them off while they still had strength crossed her mind, but another idea surfaced as well. "The stream!" Sabine blurted out. The entire enemy force was between them and the stream, but it was a spot where they could shake them off. It was the only way out Sabine could see. Sabine slid to a halt and darted south-west. They would skirt very close to the archers, but it was the best chance they had unless Peiter had a better plan. Once they had enough distance, they could list west and eventually reach the stream. If they were lucky, the enemy might even think they were trying to double-back to the outpost the other way and waste time trying to cut them off again.

Kaleeth and Lorag were right behind Gallus in their pursuit of Ra'maranja and the other two surviving traitors. Ahnasha trailed behind slightly in the hopes of getting a clear shot with her bow. Unfortunately, the narrow and swaying walkways upon which they were running did not make ranged attacks easy to land.

The three traitors were able to make their way all the way down to the ropes they had originally used to climb up, but it was at that point that Ra'maranja realized his doom. Looking down at the forest floor below, he could see that the allies he thought he had were nowhere to be seen. "Ah, where are our reinforcements?" He shouted in anger as he turned his head back towards his rapidly approaching pursuers. If they tried to climb down the ropes, they would be cut down easily, so at this point, they had nowhere to go. There were no other paths with which to escape; this was going to be their final stand. One of Ra'maranja's allies, the Ohmes-raht to his left, handed him his shield. By the time their pursuers had closed in, the traitors stood ready to fight, with Ra'maranja at their front.

Ahnasha loosed an arrow straight at their leader, but with the shield, he was able to block it. Kaleeth had managed to catch up with him around one of the corners and shouted to him as they drew closer. "Get behind me!"

With her own shield raised, Kaleeth did not stop as they reached their enemy, instead rushing straight into them. She did not care how many stood in front of her, they would not stop a shield charge from a werecrocodile.

---

Peiter followed Sabine's lead without question, as he could not concentrate enough to form his own plans. He had never experienced silver wounds before, and was not prepared for the pain they would cause him. It had been long enough since the fighting stopped that the pain was hitting him at full force now, and it was only desperation that kept him moving.

The Cathay-raht had regrouped with all of his men and were nine strong now, which was enough to handle two werewolves in a straight fight, particularly when one was wounded. Sabine and Peiter passed close by them, but far enough not to be heard as long as they were careful. Their pursuers would find the blood soon, and would be on their trail once again. But, they would have their chance to get to the stream, which would hopefully cover their tracks.

With Kaleeth's warning, Gallus only needed to take the most fleeting look behind him to dodge out of Kaleeth's way and let her surge forward. Now that Ra'maranja had a shield, Gallus couldn't get a good shot at him with his dagger unless he turned tail, but it seemed like they were making a stand here. If Kaleeth could drive them back to a point on the platform where there was space for two to fight forward, he would take the space beside her and fight. Anyone behind them without a ranged weapon would have to be content to wait, but if any got injured, there would at least be plenty of allies to swap with.

In the meantime, Gallus scanned the forest floor for any signs of Ra'maranja's 'reinforcements'. "Surrender, Ra'maranja!" Gallus shouted, "You are outnumbered and have nowhere to go!"

---

Upon nearing where the enemy force was regrouping, Janius slowed his pace to a stalk to observe them. There were a lot of them. At least seven. Most were archers, likely with silver. Janius was outmatched if he regarded them head on, but he had an advantage in surprise. They probably won't expect an attack from behind them.

Janius waited until they were tracking again. He had more experience and a cooler head than Peiter, so he was patient. He needed to be. All he needed was for one of them to stray from the group far enough. Keeping low in the thick foliage, Janius found his mark. He left nothing for hesitation as he sprinted out of nowhere, leapt up behind the archer, tore his neck with his teeth, and disappeared back into obscurity before any others could line up a shot. Anyone who didn't have their eye in the right place would have just heard a brief scream and a dark shape.

If that didn't force them to give up chasing Sabine and Peiter, Janius knew he could take another.

---

Sabine was leading the way for Peiter as fast as Peiter could follow. As they drew past the point where they were most likely to run into their pursuers, her anxiety increased. Having no one in sight was something of a relief, but she did not slow down until they reached they finally reached the stream.

The stream itself was barely enough to run along in single file, but if they were careful, they would be able to traverse it such that the blood would not remain as a sign. They headed upstream, to the north. Sabine guided Peiter by the arm at this point and made sure that he kept going in the right direction. "Keep going..." Sabine urged him desperately, "Keep going..."

"Khajiit will die before he..." Ra'maranja started to shout, but he was quickly cut off when Kaleeth's shield had impacted his own. He had braced for the hit, but that was quite irrelevant. From the force of her shield charge, he was knocked onto his back, and nearly off of the platform entirely, were it not for the rope siding he caught himself on. Kaleeth glared at him, raising her blade towards him. "Yes, you will." She threatened.

To Kaleeth's left, the healer in Ra'maranja's group tried to engage her. She launched a fireball, but Kaleeth was fast enough with her shield to block it. She could feel the heat from the small explosion of flames, but Kaleeth herself was safe from harm. She slashed at the Khajiit, who was unarmed apart from her magic, which caused her to jump back to dodge. Kaleeth did not relent and continued to press her attack. Unfortunately for the healer, she could only step back a few more steps before falling to the ground below.

Lorag ran up beside Gallus as well and gave him a quick nod. The platform ahead was wide enough for all of them to fight, so they could go in together to finish them off. He was not armed, but in his steel armor, he was still plenty deadly. Blades were almost useless against the steel plate, as long as he could protect his head, since he had left his helmet back in the main structure.

---

In the aftermath of Janius' attack, a few shots were fired, but they were quite literally shots in the dark against an opponent they could not see. The forest was thick, and an easy place in which to hide. The Cathay-raht knew this well, and tracking his prey was not so important that he would risk allowing for more attacks.

"Stop! Form up!" The Cathay-raht shouted. His men encircles him, with each of them picking a side to watch for movement. The Cathay-raht himself, who towered over his men, carried his blade in one hand, and drew a crossbow off of his back with the other, which he quickly readied to fire. Each of his men had their bows ready to draw and fire on a moment's notice, while he sniffed at the air. Khajitt themselves had a keen sense of smell, and this one had the scent of a werewolf.

---

Peiter did not have a good concept of how long they had been running, only that it was quite a long time. They could not hear or otherwise sense any trace of their pursuers behind them, but that did not mean they were not there. They could still be tracking them patiently, waiting to catch them while they were vulnerable. He had heard the stories of the lengths lycan hunters would sometimes go to in order to kill their quarry.

Eventually, Peiter began to slow down and occasionally stumble. Between his blood loss and his fatigue, he could not go on much longer. "Wait." He said, collapsing down to his hands and knees in the stream. "I can't...keep running. How far...have we gone? It feels...far."

Peiter took a few moments to catch his breath as he looked around at their surroundings. "Maybe...we can stop? Not here, but close. Perhaps stop my bleeding, then we can move away from the stream to throw them off if they're still following?" He suggested. If they did stop, they would need to be sure it was what they wanted to do. They would not be able to transform back once they returned to their human forms.

The shield charge did make room. Plenty of room. Fendros, Gallus, and Uthri approached from behind Lorag and Kaleeth with caution, but also determination. There were only two enemies left on the platform after Kaleeth pushed off the mage, so the enemy was encircled quickly. Their only escape was death by either blades or a fall.

Given how hopeless it was, Ra'maranja and his final pack mate took a fully defensive posture. Feints and swings coming at them were deflected or otherwise nullified for a while. All it took was one mistake from the final enemy subordinate for Fendros to thrust his sword forward and run him through the neck. Ra'maranja would not survive now; he was alone. Still, he was making it difficult.

"Do I have to challenge you to a duel!? Put down your weapons!" Gallus shouted.

---

The attack had spooked the hunters into stopping. It meant that they were too well covered to attack again, but it would mean that they weren't pursuing Sabine and Peiter, if they were still out there. It was the minimum Janius had hoped for.

While the hunters stood in a circle, Janius kept his distance and remained hidden. The hunters may have assumed that they would be attacked again, but Janius only needed to keep them busy.

---

Sabine found herself helping Peiter along more and more as they bounded up the stream. He was getting weak. As much as she didn't want to, they would have to stop. He needed to be healed before he lost any more blood.

Less heeding Peiter's suggestions and more for the sake of keeping Peiter alive, Sabine moved to the side of the stream and gently urged Peiter to lay down such that she could see his wounds more closely. Upon seeing their severity, she knew there was nothing else for it. She grit her teeth, closed her eyes, and began to shrink down to her Breton form. Once she was done, she immediately fell to her knees beside Peiter and began shedding tears. She managed to speak through it all, "Turn back. I have to heal you."

Sabine's healing magic glowed forth from her palms as she tried her best to stop the bleeding and the pain Peiter was suffering. However, she knew they were on borrowed time. The hunters would catch up eventually. Her hands were shaking. Everything was going wrong. Peiter wasn't meant to come to save her and now he was heavily wounded. She couldn't help but blame herself. "Stay awake...Please..." Sabine said shakily.

Ra'maranja bared his teeth at Gallus. He had managed to get to his feet, but he was hopelessly surrounded. For someone less dedicated to a cause, they would have surrendered long ago, but Ra'maranja was zealous to his master. He knew he was going to die, but he did not care. He cast his gaze on the closest of his enemies to the edge: Lorag.

With a defiant scream, Ra'maranja charged at Lorag with his shield in front of him, intent on tackling him off of the edge, to both of their deaths. Lorag, however, easily saw what he was doing and was prepared. He braced, and when he was hit, he did not budge. Ra'maranja fell to his knees in front of him as Lorag looked down and gave a satisfied laugh. He punched the Khajiit clean across the face with his heavy armored gauntlet, then kicked him unceremoniously off of the edge of the platform.

"Hmph, pretty weak for a lycan." Lorag commented. "Pathetic traitors."

---

The Cathay-raht growled in frustration. He could still smell the lycan in the area, but had no way of knowing exactly where it was. Trying to attack would just open his men up to another ambush, and the longer they waited, the further their prey would draw away from them. "Bah, this is pointless. Back to the road." He ordered. Upon his command, his men started to follow his lead, but maintained their positions around him. They continued watching all sides as they slowly and deliberately headed off in the direction of the road to Senchal. They would still be difficult to attack, but at the very least, they were no longer tracking Sabine and Peiter.

---

Peiter's heavy breathing became more apparent as he shifted back into his human form, as well as his wounds. He had a gash across his arm, a hole in his back from the arrow, and another gash running diagonally across his abdomen, to his upper leg. The water flowing across him turned red with his blood, though it did dilute quickly. Regardless, at the moment, he was more concerned with his bleeding than being tracked. Sabine's healing provided some relief from the pain, but it was not going quickly enough at stopping the bleeding. Peiter was no healer, but he knew what he had been taught about silver wounds. He knew that the metal stunted healing for lycans, but there was a technique that Meesei had used years ago on Oswall, when he was wounded. It was something that could be useful even without a healer.

"We have to get away from this stream. Fire. Fire can stop the bleeding. Just...burn the wounds closed. I can take it, just...just do it quick." Peiter said, his voice betraying his fear.

Gallus stepped up to the edge that Ra'maranja fell and observed the source of the final hollow thud on the ground that was his death. After confirming that the bodies of the traitors were broken on the ground, he turned and walked nearer to the centre of the platform. He turned on his heel and gave everyone a serious look. "Kaleeth, Lorag," Gallus gestured to the ropes, "Head to the ground and check if there were any survivors. We might be able to question them, but kill them if you can't keep them down. Once they're secure, have a quick look around for Peiter and Sabine." Gallus turned to the others and pointed around to the other platforms, "Ahnasha, Fendros, Uthri, get bows and keep a eyes out on each side. He mentioned reinforcements, look out for them. Tzirret?" Gallus looked down at Tzirret, who was clutching a spear unsurely. He had been at the rear for almost the entire fight, "Look around, try to find Janius and the children. They can't have got far without using the lift platform." He looked around to everyone, "I'm going to check on Meesei and Irenya. Shout out if you need help."

Gallus' pack mates each nodded and went to their tasks, Fendros saw no reason not to obey either. Gallus put his weapons away and jogged back to the smoking living hut to check on the situation.

---

As the hunters withdrew, Janius stalked them until he was sure that they would not return. Their retreat was not optimal, but at least they would not pose a threat for now.

While making his way back, Janius picked up the trail of Peiter and Sabine. The blood made it simple to find, but it was also concerning. If they were wounded by silver, they would need to get back to Meesei as soon as possible. He quickened his pace now that stealth wasn't a concern. When he reached the stream, he could smell the blood in both directions. He deduced that it was flowing from upstream and began splashing his way in that direction.

---

In her panicked mind, Sabine tried to avoid trying Peiter's suggestion, but it only took moments for her to realise that her healing would not be enough. Sabine looked about frantically, and then dragged Peiter right out of the water by the armpits. Once they were in a clear spot, Sabine's magic went from a friendly glow to a flickering orange.

She hovered her hands over the wounds hesitantly. She had not done this technique before, she had only observed it. "I'm sorry," she whispered, barely able to watch as she charged the spells over Peiter's wounds. The outcome was not nearly as precise and swift as the practised healing hands of her mentor, but Sabine was nothing if not thorough in her desperation. The light touch of her hands turned into a grip as she attempted to hold Peiter still while cauterising his wounds.

Though he was not their alpha, Lorag and Kaleeth saw no flaw in Gallus' plan, and there was certainly no time to argue. Both of them started to head down to check on the bodies below; although, with the distance they fell, they did not expect survivors. Ahnasha too had no issues with standing guard. She even conjured a flame atronach, for additional protection.

Back in the main structure, Gallus returned to see Meesei sitting with her back up against the trunk of the tree in the center of the room. She had discarded the now-torn dress that had been her city clothes so that both herself and Irenya could tend to her wound. She was glowing with quite a large measure of restoration energy, though even raw power was not exactly a solution to silver. Meanwhile, Colors stood nearby, rubbing his hands together nervously with something of a guilty expression.

Irenya turned her head to acknowledge Gallus. "Alpha. Her wound it...complicated. The bleeding isn't that much of an issue, but the knife ruptured her stomach. We've mended it shut, but the silver means it doesn't want to stay that way. If we don't keep it closed, then it will burst open again, which, of course, could kill her."

Meesei, despite the situation, maintained her usual calm. She waved her hand in front of her and looked at the two with confidence. "Do not fear for me; I have survived worse. Gallus, over in that corner, in my bag, there should be potions of both healing and magicka. Please retrieve them for me. With a silver wound, the only true cure it time. The effects of the metal will pass on their own, I just need to make sure I am alive when that happens."

Irenya nodded in agreement. "Yes, this is survivable. She just needs care for the rest of the night. Luckily, we were able to put out the fire, as you can see. No thanks to the lizard over there. He caught a blanket on fire and almost threw it at the other bags."

"I was trying to pat out the flames!" Colors responded defensively.

---

Peiter tried to remain stoic through the treatment, but the pain was too intense, and he could not help but to scream. He wanted to shout for her to stop, but he managed to focus on the fact that this would save his life, and possibly even hers. He could not concentrate on much else while she was burning his flesh, but he could at least focus on that.

Once Sabine's treatment was finally over, Peiter forced himself to sit upright, despite all of his weakness and pain. His body just wanted to give out underneath him, but he knew he could not let himself do that. He had to stay alert, and most importantly, conscious. Although her cauterization was rough, the bleeding had stopped, so they could move without leaving an easily visible trail.

The pain was still intense, so Peiter tried to distract himself from it by focusing on the task at hand. He put his arm over Sabine's shoulder so that she could help him to his feet. "Thank you, thank you, but...we have to go now." He said between heavy breaths. Looking around at the ground around him, there was blood, which would be a sign to anyone following them. "Okay, we have to throw off...anyone following us. There's blood here. They'll see it, so...they'll think we got out of the stream here. Let's...double back a short ways, then get out of the stream carefully and just get as much distance away from it as we can. We can be careful not to leave much of a trail, and hide our scents. Hopefully, we can find some place safe to rest."

"Good work, Irenya," Gallus kept his eyes on Colours the entire time as soon as he stepped into the room. He strode over to the bag that Meesei pointed out and lifted the whole thing, placing it by Irenya. "Ra'maranja and his pack tried to flee, but we dealt with them," Gallus began to report, facing Meesei, but looking at Colours, "He mentioned reinforcements, but I don't think they arrived. Maybe they were delayed. Once we rally everyone, I suggest we find somewhere else to stay."

Up until now, Gallus had done well to hide it, but where his hand was apparently holding onto his cuff was actually the handle of a knife. In a moment's notice, he could stick Colour's throat to the hilt. "Sees-No-Colours, was it? I need you to sit down over there. Why did you not attack? Tell us everything, now." Gallus had no humour in his voice. People had nearly been killed just now and this was no time to joke around.

---

Hearing Peiter's scream in the distance was enough to give Janius pause, but he only redoubled his efforts. He was headed in the right direction.

Sabine was only half-listening to Peiter as she lead him back to the stream. As he was, leaning on her shoulder for support, he was in no shape to keep running, but they had to keep moving.

Before they reached the water, Sabine halted, wide-eyed and terrified. She could hear splashing steps in the stream. How did they catch up so fast? How did they know where they were going? It made no sense, but she knew they had no choice but to hide. "Get back! Get back!" Sabine whispered, getting to a rudimentary hiding spot; a tree with lots of shrubs around it between them and the stream. Sabine laid Peiter down, sitting up against the tree trunk and peeked around it to see what was coming. She was breathing so shallowly that she was nearly silent.

The splashing got louder and louder. It was moving faster than the hunters were. Were they lycans too? They didn't smell like lycans. The scent of their pursuer came into Sabine's nostrils as soon as it came into her view. Janius slowed to a halt where Sabine had dragged Peiter out of the water and began sniffing around closely. Sabine recognised him immediately.

"Psst! Janius!" Sabine said weakly, trying not to be too loud. She relieved to see him, but still looked fearful.

Janius' head snapped up to the sound and padded over to them both. Sniffing the air and looking over their wounds. "Are you hurt?"

"Are they still following us? There were nine of them, they had silver arrows. Peiter, he..." Sabine choked up.

Janius scooped Peiter up in his arms. "They withdrew, I drove them off," Janius' throat rumbled through his snout, "We must get back to the pack. Quickly. Can you run?"

Sabine was exhausted, but she nodded.

"Get on my back anyway," Janius could see that she was not going to be going fast with her quivering legs. Sabine did as she was told and climbed onto Janius' back, wrapping her hands around his neck to brace herself. As well as Janius could navigate, they headed back to the outpost.

Colors followed Gallus' instructions immediately and took a seat. Meesei noticed Gallus' quite understandable aggression, so she decided to give him a bit of context. "According to Kaleeth, Colors is the one who warned her of the trap." She explained. Of course, Meesei did not trust Colors immediately either, but she would not things to become unnecessarily violent. She still did not know how much self control Gallus possessed.

Colors glanced to Meesei, then looked back to Gallus and nodded. "Yes, I wasn't with them, not really. I was a prisoner...or hostage, of sorts. The Senchal clan, it isn't doing as well as I told you. A few months ago, it was attacked, in force. Probably two thirds of us were killed or captured, and I don't know where the rest escaped to. The enemy has been hunting down their messengers, and trying to track them down."

Meesei was particularly troubled by this news. "How were they able to overwhelm your clan so effectively? According to the last reports of our representative in your clan, you had considerably powerful defenses."

Colors lowered his head. "I thought we did too, but they had this gas..."

Closing her eyes, Meesei gave a sigh. This was news she had been fearing she would hear for years. The suppression gas, they had done everything they possibly could to get rid of any trace of it back in Morrowind, but she had to expect that their enemy would try to unlock its secrets again. It was just too powerful of a tool for lycan hunters for them to give up on. Now, after all these years, it seemed that day had finally come. "This gas, it forced you all into your normal forms, did it not?"

Colors gave Meesei a curious look. "Yes...how did you know?"

"My pack eliminated the source of the gas shortly after I earned my title. It appears they have finally learned how to make it once more. But please, continue. Why were you with these traitors?" Meesei asked.

"Yes, right. They weren't traitors per ce. They weren't even lycans; they have this...stuff that lets them mimic our scent. Some kind of alchemical concoction. I was one of the ones captured. They made me stay with them in case scouts from other clans showed up. They wanted me to make sure they kept their story straight so they could lead them away and...kill them. Like they were going to do to you. Once I saw that you were the Champion, I...I just couldn't let them do it. I tried to hint that you should stay in the city back in Senchal, but you can see what they did to me for that." He said as he unwrapped the bandage on his hand and held it out to Gallus. It bore quite a large scar on both the palm and the back of the hand. "Put a knife clean through my hand. He said he would have cut it off, but it would've been too suspicious."

"I see, so you did this because they threatened your life?" Meesei asked.

Colors shook his head. "No...well yes, but not just me. It's also..." He began, but he stopped when a thought came to his mind and his eyes widened in realization. "Wait, you said reinforcements...we have to save my pride!" He shouted, his demeanor showing both fear and desperation.

---

To say that Peiter was relieved to see Janius would be a vast understatement. Once Janius picked him up, he felt like all of his fears were lifted out of his mind. His bleeding had been stopped, they were no longer being chased, and most of all, he now had hope. If he had survived this long, then he was sure that Irenya or Meesei could do something for him.

The pain was still present across much of Peiter's body, especially his wounds, but even so, he looked up to Sabine above him on Janius' back and smiled. "Thank you." He said. He did not specify who he was talking to, but he supposed that both of them were deserving of thanks.

A lot of heavy information ran through Gallus' mind like a whirlwind. He opened and closed his mouth repeatedly, trying to pick one of the many questions he now had, both for Meesei and Colours. Each time, he either thought of another question, or was interrupted by Colours or Meesei.

With Colours' final plea, Gallus somehow looked even more confused. He angled his head to the side and responded. "Your pride? I hardly think your ego is our biggest concern here. We have lookouts for any reinforcements, now, but there weren't any trace of them while we were fighting. Now, what were you saying before? Tell us why else you were with them."

---

Through the jungle, Fendros could see a rustling disturbance from his side of the outpost. As quickly as he could, he drew and arrow and aimed, focussing on the shape moving towards them. He didn't know what it was yet. As it closed in faster, he was about to shout out in alarm, but then the shape took on features he recognised. It was Janius' beast form. A naked and bloodstained Peiter was in his arms, and the pale shape clutching onto his back must have been Sabine.

Fendros slowly lowered his bow. Holding the slack arrow with the fingers of his left hand, he turned to the others on their platforms and cupped his right hand around his mouth. "Janius is back! He found Sabine and Peiter."

Down on the ground, Janius didn't regard Kaleeth or Lorag with so much as a greeting as he approached them, slowing his jog. He stopped, panting deeply in the heat, and lowered Peiter to the ground. "The lift. Peiter is injured."

Now that they were this close to the tree with the lift platform, Sabine slid off Janius' back and once again knelt down by Peiter. Just because his bleeding had stopped, it did not change the fact that he was heavily injured. She brought about more healing magic to soothe his pain and tried to help close the injuries, but there was only so much that she could do about silver. By this point, she was not crying any more, but the previous tears were still on her face and her eyes were heavy-lidded with fatigue. She managed to give him a desperate smile.

Fendros had already rushed over to the winch to lower the lift platform, but Janius had taken his own initiative and climbed up the tree in beast form. Upon reaching the top, he was able to help Fendros to the point where Janius was doing most of the physical work. Once the lift was lowered, Janius returned to Imperial form and made his way to find Meesei as soon as possible. Fendros was left to lift Peiter and Sabine up on the platform once they had helped him onto it.

---

After finding nothing in a cursory search of one of the sleeping huts, Tzirret had decided to rush over to storage hut as it was the next nearest. His heart sank as he looked across all the potential hiding spots. Sighing, he leaned his spear against a wall and tried a barrel. It was full of grain. He then tried a crate. "Rhazii!" He called out, emphasising the vowels as to summon them. The crate was full of medical supplies and spare clothes. "Newt!" The next crate had nothing, and the next, and the next. "Rhazii!"

Then there was a small muffled sob from the other side of the room. Tzirret's ears perked up. He didn't know how he didn't spot the blankets haphazardly tossed around on that side of the storage room, but he knew what that sound was. Within another minute, Tzirret had both children, holding them by the hands. Rhazii pulled towards his mother and cried out as soon as he saw her on lookout. Tzirret didn't let him go so as to prevent him from falling off, but he did lead him to her. "Rhazii is unharmed," Tzirret said simply before leading Newt to the main hut.

With the fighting passed, others began to return to the main structure. Meesei saw Janius come through the door, followed shortly by Tzirret and Newt. Prior to their arrival, she had also heard Fendros shout from below that Sabine and Peiter had returned along with Janius, which was a great relief to her.

Colors, upon Gallus' response, raised his hands up and shook his head. "No no, not that kind of pride. Werelions. We're werelions. My pride, we were all captured. They've been holding them in one of their own outposts nearby, t-torturing them, but keeping them alive. They said that if I didn't do what they said, they'd execute them. I knew Ra'maranja planned to burn this place down, but I didn't know about those reinforcements; I guess that was his backup plan or something. But if they got away, then they'll at least know that I'm not useful to them anymore. They might head back there and give the order to execute them. Please, I-I can't let them die. We have to go save them!"

---

Peiter tried to keep his spirits as high as he possibly could, given the situation. They were back with the rest of the pack, and it at least seemed like everyone was fine. By the reactions of everyone around him, he seemed to be a priority in terms of healing, so hopefully, no one else was hurt any worse than himself. During the fight, he had heard one of the archers shout out something about Ra'maranja being "found out," which certainly made it seem like they were in league with one another.

Although it would have been easier just to lie down and let everyone else carry him around, Peiter did not want to allow himself to fall unconscious. Not until he was in the hands of one of their healers. Once he was placed down on the lift, he slowly forced himself to stand, holding onto one of the roped for support. His legs were not especially injured, he just felt weak overall from a combination of fatigue and blood loss. He could stand on his own, but needless to say, he was not going to be doing any running.

To Sabine in front of him, Peiter tried to return her smile. Her healing had dulled the pain somewhat from its former intensity, even though it was still there, he was still thankful for it. Indeed, without her treatment by the edge of the stream, he might have lost too much blood before they could make it back. A few tears formed in his eyes, and his breathing became unsteady. Taking a slow, deliberate step forward, he reached out and hugged Sabine tightly. "Thank you. I'm so glad you're okay." He said in a shaky voice, almost as if he were sobbing.

"Werelions, hm?" Gallus said, a little surprised, "I should have guessed. Do you know where they are holding them?"

Before Colours could respond, Janius walked through the door, recently transformed and short of breath. "Meesei, I found Sabine and Peiter, they ran into a group of werewolf hunters with silver outside and tried to lead them away, I think. There were at least nine of them, Peiter and Sabine dispatched one or two beforehand, I believe. They injured Peiter, but he's stable now, they're both coming up the lift. I managed to kill one of them and force them to stop pursuing. Last I checked, they were headed to the road to Senchal."

Gallus exhaled through a pout, inflating his cheeks and looking overwhelmed. "So there are, how many? Seven?" He asked.

"By my count, eight strong, a couple with superficial injuries, one of them is big, the leader, he was a Cathay-raht. Those are the big ones, right?" Janius noticed Newt and walked over to check on him.

"Well, we can't wait around," Gallus turned to Meesei, "We've got to tail them, at least. Find out where they're headed."

---

Sabine stood up with Peiter and took on a worried look. She put a hand on his shoulder as he rose. "No, stay down, you are..." Sabine was silenced by Peiter's embrace. As strong as she was trying to be, she resumed shedding tears as well as she slowly brought her arms up around his shoulders. She would have hugged him just as tightly as he was, but for the sake of his wounds, Sabine restricted herself to pressing her face into his shoulder and sobbing.

"You...you didn't have to come back," She said between strained breaths, "Stop saying thank you!" Despite Sabine's words, she didn't let Peiter go and it didn't seem like she would.

"If they are heading to Senchal, then tracking them may prove fruitless. It would be easy for them to lose themselves in the city, especially since they are likely expecting to be followed." Meesei commented. "We need to gather up our supplies and move our camp, and from what Janius describes, we have other wounded to tend to as well. I would like to send someone to track them, but we may have need of everybody."

Meesei's gaze shifted over to Colors. "Sees-No-Colors, you believe your...pride is in danger. Are you privy to their location?"

Colors nodded. "They didn't want me to be, but yes. Like I said, they took me to them occasionally to prove that they were still alive. They always put a bag over my head, but one time, I managed to poke a hole in it to get a look around. I recognized some landmarks on the road on the way there, so...I think I can take you to it."

"And this outpost itself, what is it like? How well-defended is it?" Meesei asked.

Colors scratched his head briefly as the thought. "It's...not that big. Maybe six or seven of them there, but...if you don't kill them all quick enough when you attack, they might still be able to hurt my pride."

"That may be true." She responded. It presented her with a difficult choice, but ultimately, she did not want to risk the lives of her allies. "It may be best to send as many of us as possible to mount the rescue. Several of us are already going to need to stay behind, myself included. I would like you to go out and have everyone that is available gather up as many useful supplies as possible from the storage building. We need to assume that this place is no longer safe, so we should make sure not to leave behind useful supplies. We will move our camp elsewhere, then rescue Colors' pride."

---

Peiter gave a chuckle, doing his best to avoid showing his pain. Even so, his voice was softer, and more weak than usual. "Of course I did. I wasn't going to let you get hurt. The plan didn't go quite like we wanted. Don't, blame yourself, though. My plan wouldn't have worked any better, I don't think. You stopped me from bleeding to death out there, so yes, I'm going to thank you. You deserve it."

The lift was close to the top, but like Sabine, he was not keen on letting her go. He felt comforted by her embrace, and vindicated in his choice to attempt to save her.

Sabine, with her eyes closed, felt the platform halt, forcing her to step to keep balance. Fendros' voice sounded from next to them, "Come now, we'll get you to the others." Sabine opened her eyes and raised her head to see Fendros holding his hand out to help them. It was only then that she slid her arms away from Peiter and helped him to Meesei and Irenya.

"Alright, I'll gather everyone up," Gallus said, finally letting go of the knife up his sleeve and turning to inform the others. Before he left the building, he halted and looked over his shoulder, "If there are any more of those bags around that Ra'maranja's pack brought, we might put them to use on the supply building once we're done." He grinned, "Just a suggestion."

It took about an hour to consolidate all the information they had and gather supplies, including gathering up the bodies of the hunters. The slow speed of the lift platform for anything heavy was the bottleneck in the operation, but thankfully its use was mostly restricted to lowering the wounded and the children.

Following the ideas from their attackers, the packs left a bag of the flammable substance in the supply building on their way out. A well placed fireball lobbed into the door had all the supplies they left behind go up in flames. Fendros was holding Rhazii at the time and was sure to keep his eyes averted.

While the supplies were being gathered, Irenya tended to the wounds of Meesei and Peiter, and checked up on Sabine. For Peiter, she determined that his primary issue was blood loss. Sabine's treatment, though crude, had certainly prevented it from being as bad as it could have been. There was still some internal bleeding, but between potions and Irenya's magic, it was eventually halted. Thanks to the general mass and bulk of werewolves, Peiter's injuries had been flesh wounds, so he would not need the same kind of vigilant care as Meesei. Sabine, apart from a few minor cuts and bruises, was mostly just fatigued.

As soon as the packs had everything of value that they could possibly carry from the outpost, they headed down to the forest floor, then lit ablaze what remained. If they were not going to be able to make use of it, then they certainly would not allow their enemy to recover the supplies. By this point, the pack was able to change out of their city clothes and into their normal hides, as fur was far, far too warm for this environment. The others had retrieved both Peiter and Sabine's belongings from the stream while Irenya tended to them, though neither them or Meesei were tasked with carrying any significant portion of the burden.

The packs made their way back to the road, then followed Colors' lead in the direction of this enemy outpost. Fortunately, it was no great distance away, so their wounded did not have to travel too far by their own power. They stopped about two thirds of the way from the outpost, then headed off the road to make their own camp. They had no particular destination in mind of where they wanted to make their camp, but a random spot in the forest would at least be unpredictable. Once stopped, they unpacked only what was needed for those that would be staying behind.

Meesei found a comfortable spot to sit on her bedroll with her back leaned up against a tree for support. "As much as I dislike it, I cannot join you all for this rescue. Lorag, you will be in command in my absence. Peiter, Sabine, with the ordeal you both have been through, you of course will be staying behind as well. We should be able to care for Rhazii and Newt. However, I would also like to have at least one able-bodied fighter here for defense, just in case. Uthri, I would like you to remain here with us.

Irenya gave Meesei a confused look. "Champion...would my healing abilities not be of more use here? I assure you, I am perfectly capable of using offensive magic as well."

"That is indeed true, Irenya, but from what Colors described, his pride has been the victims of torture. They may need your assistance, and I can handle the treatment of myself and Peiter while you are away." Meesei explained.

"Very well, Champion." Irenya answered with a nod.