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[sub][color=8E939E]✧     Location: Shit Creek     ✧     Purse: No Paddle     ✧      [@McMolly]    ✧[/color][/sub][/center]
Kyreth tried to avoid fights. He wasn’t good at them. He had always been skinny and weaker than the other kids, they always had more friends than he did to back them up, and he learned pretty quickly that the momentary shame of acquiescing to whatever they wanted – usually a scrap of food or a spot to sleep – was less painful than putting up a fight. Missing a meal or sleeping on the floor were a pittance compared to nursing cuts and bruises for the next week, and he got enough of those without taking fights he didn’t need. Besides, it was always just him paying the price; there was nobody else he needed to worry about. 

Not anymore. 

Kyreth’s mind went blank as he watched Lilann pin the creature, though its writhing made clear it wouldn’t be held for long. Heart pounding in his ears, he struggled to undo his cloak, dropping the pin the blacksmith had given him into the dirt with shaking hands as he let the fabric slide from his shoulders. His feet moved without command, eyes never leaving the putrid creature as it struggled. It got one leg under itself, then the other, and soon, having little purchase against the soft rotting flesh of the beast, the knife plunged straight through it with all the force of Lilann’s will and into the ground. Freed of its captor, the wolf lunged toward Lilann—

—And caught Kyreth’s foot in the cheek. 

Kyreth was as surprised as the beast; it was like he woke up from a dream, with no plan, no idea when he moved, and now off balance from the kick. The wolf staggered sideways, but recovered in an instant, far faster than Kyreth. It turned its pale, dead gaze to him, lunging in his direction with a snarl. Defensively, Kyreth put his hands out, stretching his cloak in front of him like a net.

The beast hit its mark, but by nothing more than Selene’s divine mercy, its teeth were caught in the strong wool, staining the green fabric black as it tried to gnaw its teeth free. But its momentum continued, tumbling them both backwards, the wolf fighting like a demon against the fabric as Kyreth struggled to wind it tighter. They rolled, the wolf tearing long gashes in the cloak with its claws as it struggled to escape, until they came to a stop, Kyreth pinned to the ground with a snarling mass of green wool and black death on top of him. 

Then, all he saw was fire.