Mountain Mayhem

Wearing a blue t-shirt with khaki cargo pants and boots, Leona carried her well-worn backpack and had her Nightshade Machete on her left hip. On her hands were the Argent Gloves that were seldom removed. The Guild Master's job was to find and kill a mountain lion responsible for a string of attacks on the residents of Mountain Village. Today she would be accompanied by Kitalpha Aurence, a member of Silver Wolf that the Guild Master had not seen in quite some time. The midday sun hovered in the sky as the village came within sight.

Leona made the lengthy walk up the mountain and was greeted by the village's mayor, a middle-aged man wearing a black vest with a long-sleeved white shirt and brown pants with matching brown shoes. He was not the height of fashion, but he was reasonably well-dressed. He also wore a pair of brown-rimmed glasses perched on his nose.

"Hi there, Miss. You must be Leona Jarnefeldt from Silver Wolf. I'm Kenneth, the mayor of Mountain Village." He greeted her.

"Yes, Mayor. I'm Leona Jarnefeldt of the guild known as Silver Wolf." Leona repeated before showing her guild tattoo. He walked closer, pushed up his glasses, and looked at the tattoo. He nodded in approval and Leona lowered her shirt sleeve.

"Great! As it said in the job notice, we've been having problems with a mountain lion. It's been sneaking into the village at night and attacking livestock. That wasn't much of a problem... until it developed a taste for human flesh. It's already killed five people in five consecutive nights and we're afraid that it'll kill more if we don't stop it quickly." Kenneth explained.

"The town guard's been doing patrols and trying to keep everyone calm, but the lion seems to come in and out whenever it wants. The guards try their best, but they can't spot it in time before it claims a victim. That's why we called you and your friend for help." He added. Leona was starting to understand the gravity of the situation. A lion that had developed a taste for human flesh could be quite dangerous. Her father had once told her of a pair of lions that preyed on a Desierto village and killed two people every night for two months before they were finally stopped by a large hunting party hired by the village's chief to end the slaughter. Now Leona was faced with a man-eating lion of her own.

"We'll find it and kill it before anyone else dies." Leona assured the mayor. Before she went tromping up the mountain, she would wait for Kitalpha to get here. There was no telling what else was waiting for her, so having a guildmate by her side would be a big help.

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Leona heard a voice and saw a presence that she had remembered only in passing. She had seen the red-eyed blonde once a very long time ago. Back when Leona had first started out in Silver Wolf, she faintly recalled the other blonde being there, but after Leila vanished so did Kitalpha. Now Kitalpha had returned and her timing could not have been any better. The newly appointed Guild Master needed all the experienced guild members she could get... the guild needed them to maintain its presence and to help protect the guild hall if trouble came calling.

"Hi Kitalpha. It's no problem. You arrived just in time!" Leona said as she enthusiastically greeted the not-so-new newcomer. Now that her partner was here, Leona could focus on the job at hand. That job was getting details about the lion and the pattern of its attacks. The mayor said that it could enter and leave at will because of its uncanny stealthiness. She did not know whether that statement meant that it was just naturally sneaky or if it had magic to augment its stealth abilities, like the ability to influence human minds to not see it or cast an invisibility cloak on itself.

"I'm with my guildmate. I'd like to ask for permission to conduct an investigation of the area, Mayor." Leona requested of the older man.

"An investigation? What for?" He asked.

"You said that the lion could sneak in and out whenever it wanted, right? We'd like to look around. Maybe we can find some clues as to how it could do that. Something like a faint magical sig-" Leona said before the mayor clamped a hand over her mouth.

"Please don't suggest that the lion can use magic. People are already about to panic. If they heard that, the village would be in an uproar!" He requested of her, his eyes meeting her own. Leona nodded. He removed his hand from her mouth.

"OK, you've got it. You and your friend can go wherever you need to. I'll inform the town guard that I've given you permission to investigate the town. Please, just stop this lion. We have a lot of elderly people and children here, and they can't defend themselves." He requested.

"Thanks. We'll do everything we can to stop the lion. We'll begin our investigation right away." Leona assured the mayor. He shook her hand and Kitalpha's, then walked off to go to the town guard station and notify them of the mages being granted permission to search the town. The Silver Wolf mages would have to be careful not to abuse that authority. They already had an idea of where to begin looking. They would check around the site of the latest murder.

"OK, now we need to focus on our search. We also need to be careful not to make the villagers panic because they're already on edge. I suggest we start at the site of the most recent murder." Leona suggested to Kitalpha. It would make sense for them to start there. If the perpetrator did use magic, its magic signature would still be there. Even if it was but a tiny trace, it would be enough for the mages to learn that it used magic of some kind. That would also give them early warning about what they would face further up the peaks.

"Lead the way, Kitalpha." Leona said to her companion.

[Word Count: 572] [Total Word Count: 1,038/3,750]

"We'll stop that lion as soon as we can. As soon as we get the clues we need, we'll go after it and put a stop to it." Leona assured the two men as Kitalpha walked by them on the way to the scene of the attack. She showed them the guild tattoo on her right shoulder to assure them that she was really with Silver Wolf and that Kitalpha was not bluffing when she had made her assertion. The shorter blonde then hustled to catch up with her taller guildmate before the latter got too far away.

Kitalpha had an unusual way of bypassing the men who were reluctant to let them pass, but it was non-violent and got the job done. Leona did not say a word as she walked past them and to the scene of the attack, where she spotted a scene out of a horror movie. It looked like someone had taken a giant paintbrush, dipped it in a can of crimson paint, then dragged it along the wooden floor of the cabin, but it got worse when the blonde peered inside.

It looked like someone had taken a normal paintbrush and flung paint all over the place, but the scene of mayhem was all too real. The walls, doorstep, and wooden fence had been liberally stained with blood and the door was partially ripped off of the hinges. The lion must have wanted to get to its prey very badly if it was willing to go so far as to partially rip a door off its hinges. Leona turned from the inside of the cabin and walked over to Kitalpha, who was busy studying a rather large pawprint left in the mud. The Guild Mistress's stomach did a flip when she saw how large the pawprint was.

Leona listened to the explanation as Kitalpha gave her opinion on the culprit. Kitalpha explained that while the pawprints were indeed large, they all originated from the same animal, which led the Silver Wolf mage to conclude that the one animal was an unusually large specimen. Leona was in no position to contradict her guildmate's testimony born from experience. Kitalpha's testimony made a lot of sense to Leona, who had never encountered a lion before today.

Mindful of the tone in which Kitalpha had spoken to her, Leona lowered her voice to match the tone the taller blonde had used with her earlier. Leona had wondered about the change in the tone of voice but realized that it was intended to minimize what overly curious villagers overheard during their conversation. Kitalpha also did not want to fan the flames of panic and upset the villagers any more than they already were.


"So you think that this is the work of just one lion?" Leona asked her guildmate. The Guild Mistress was not much of a tracker and had never fought a lion in her life, so she was glad to have the support of Kitalpha for this job. Considering what they were going up against, Leona was glad to have someone with her so that if the worst happened word could reach the guild hall and her successor sworn in as the new guild leader with a minimum of delay. The shorter blonde did not plan on dying today, but having a successor already lined up was never a bad idea.

"Do you think you could determine where it went from here and find it before it gets too far?" Leona asked Kitalpha if the latter could track the lion for them. Even though she was the Guild Mistress, Leona lacked the skills of a tracker and thus would be relying on Kitalpha to do some tracking until the lion was encountered. The sooner they stopped the leonine menace the better.

[Word Count: 640]
[Total Word Count: 1,678/3,500]

Leona listened to Kitalpha confirm that the large lion had acted alone and listened to her opine that the large lion was a male one due to the absence of cubs. The latter also added that it had acted alone because there were no signs of other lions that the taller blonde could detect. The situation only grew more precarious when Kitalpha said that the attacker cared nothing for territorial boundaries... it could have gone through the territories of other lions, which would put the Silver Wolf mages at risk when they pursued it. Whether that was a happy accident or a deliberate plan on the lion's part was unknown, but either way the mages would have to be careful when pursuing it.

"Yeah. We don't have any choice but to kill the lion when we encounter it. Trying to subdue it for relocation is way too risky and besides, where are we gonna relocate it to?" Leona asked Kitalpha rhetorically in a whisper. A male villager in overalls was taking a little too much interest in their conversation and the shorter blonde could not think of a way to get him to move on. Again Kitalpha came to the rescue when she confirmed that she could track the lion who had attacked the village. Leona noticed that Kitalpha said that she could smell the blood and follow the trail as long as rain did not wash it away before they could get moving. Leona had a feeling that the statement was not just a fancy embellishment, but felt that Kitalpha was serious when she claimed to be able to smell the blood.

"You can smell the blood?" Leona asked in a whisper. The unwanted observer, having grown bored with his task, meandered on and the pair were finally alone again. Kitalpha quickly changed the subject and suggested that they get moving immediately. Leona agreed because she did not want any inclement weather to wash away the trail because it was the only trail they had.

"Sure, let's get going." Leona said to Kitalpha, who was already setting out for the gate through which she had entered the area. There was nothing else to do here and the villagers were waiting to see if Silver Wolf would do anything about the threat or if they were just talk. Leona would prove to the doubters that Silver Wolf was able to handle this sort of job. She quickly followed Kitalpha to the edge of the forest and watched as Kitalpha pointed out some broken branches where the lion had passed through after making the attack on the farm.

Leona noticed Kitalpha's eyes glow red when the latter picked up the scent, something that she had noticed no other guild member do. Leona had a feeling that there was more to the taller blonde than met the eye. For one thing there was her sense of smell, a sense so strong that she could both smell blood in the air and follow the scent trail to its source. Another thing was that the taller blonde's eyes glowed red whenever she had picked up the trail. Leona chose to let the matter drop for now, a decision that was reinforced when Kitalpha asked a question that caught the Guild Mistress by surprise.

Kitalpha had asked why Leona chose to select the former for this job. Leona thought for a moment as the pair walked farther away from the village and closer to the mountain slope. Out of all the guild members she could have selected, why did she choose Kitalpha?

"Kitalpha, I chose you to accompany me because you're one of the most experienced guild members I have to choose from. I needed someone strong to go with me for this job and you fit the bill. Also, your ability to track the target's a lot better than my own. Had I come out here on my own I'd be stumbling about looking for footprints. You, you can smell it and you're leading us right to it." Leona did her best to make a convincing case for why she chose Kitalpha to accompany her on this job. Leona had a simple and good explanation that was also the truth. Kitalpha really was one of the most experienced mages the Guild Mistress could call on right now. Leila Vergious was a lot more experienced than both of them put together, but Leila was no longer available to help them, so Leona would have to use people who were already part of the guild.

"I know I made a good choice because you've gotten us this far without any trouble. I would eventually learn where to look, but you've gotten us here so quickly it's like the lion rolled out the red carpet for you. We'll stop it long before it can threaten anyone else." Leona assured Kitalpha that the former knew what she was doing when she chose the taller blonde to accompany her on the lion hunt. Kitalpha was more than pulling her weight... she was all but carrying the pair to success. Leona would have to pull her weight during the fight with the giant lion, but Leona was not too worried about the fighting because she was a better fighter than she was a tracker. Leona was better at fighting than she was at doing anything else in this world.

Leona was aware of the irony involved in hunting her namesake. Had the lions who her parents had sworn to name her in honor of could see this, she highly doubted that they would have chosen to rescue her parents from the bandits eighteen years ago. She wondered if those lions were even alive right now. She doubted that too... they were probably dead and their heads adorning the walls of some trophy hunter's house right about now. Leona was so amused by the irony of her situation that she was moved to comment on it.

"It's funny. I was named in honor of the lion and here I am hunting another lion." Leona commented to Kitalpha while they continued to hike up the mountain slope in search of their leonine quarry.

[Word Count: 1,048]
[Total Word Count: 2,726/3,500]

Leona was surprised that a member with longer tenure like Kitalpha would have praise for her so soon after being entrusted with the mantle of Guild Master. Leona was not some once-in-a-generation talented mage, an erudite scholar, a spellbinding orator, or a peerless administrator that guilds fought to possess. She was an ordinary mage from Desierto who happened to be in the right place at the right time, something which was a mixed blessing.

That was good because Leona was in an excellent position to keep Silver Wolf going after Leila's disappearance. She was entrusted with the position of Guild Master after Leila's replacement Poko Monstar suddenly disappeared one day. Leona had been Guild Ace for only a short period of time before Poko disappeared and the powers that be decided to follow the chain of command and entrust Guild Ace Leona with the responsibility of leadership.

That was bad because to some observers the unexpected promotion made Leona look like she had only gotten the title by sheer luck instead of by being qualified enough to hold the title. Leona was only Guild Ace for a short time before her unexpected promotion, so she had not had very much time to grow into the role of Ace before she had to grow into a larger, more important role. As a result the blonde was not the ideal Guild Master, but she was doing what she could to keep the guild going in the face of uncertainty. Two abrupt changes in leadership certainly did not help Silver Wolf's image or project an air of stability, both of which might make prospective members reconsider joining.

Leona's thoughts began to trail off, but she soon came back to her fellow blonde's comment about her welcome being the opposite of what she had expected. Kitalpha had clearly expected a more hostile reception, possibly even the start of a stern lecture where Leona told her to get lost and stay gone because of a perceived lukewarm commitment to Silver Wolf. Leona would do no such thing.

Leona wanted to keep the guild together as much as she could and retaining senior members like Kitalpha would help build an image of stability. Unless the member in question had done something beyond the pale, Leona did not believe in kicking people out for no good reason. Senior members also had valuable experience that the new Guild Master could benefit from. Their experience made them good choices for Ace candidates.

"It's no problem, Kitalpha. Silver Wolf's my new home. I'll do everything I can to keep it going." Leona said to the taller blonde when the latter thanked her for keeping Silver Wolf going and for letting her rejoin without a bitter harangue on commitment. She then listened to Kitalpha describe Leona as the leader of the pack and defender of its territory, something which made the shorter blonde blush a little. Leona was not used to being important in any way and had not deliberately sought prominence. She would do her best to fill her new role and live up to the responsibilities of a Guild Master.

Leona then heard Kitalpha comment on the appropriateness of a person named Leona being hired and sent to kill a rogue lion terrorizing a peaceful mountain village. The shorter blonde was somewhat amused when her guildmate put it that way. Leona was now the leader of a pride and would defeat any external challenges to her territory or authority.

Kitalpha then explained that she was named after a star in the Equuleus constellation, one which she had never heard of. She commented that her name was not exactly appropriate for a member of Silver Wolf either. She then offered to explain more about herself but was interrupted by something. That something was a black bear standing approximately thirty feet behind them. It emerged from between some trees to challenge them and Kitalpha took up the challenge, forming the fingers of a hand into a claw shape and facing down the bear until it charged.

Leona hung back to look for any more animals who wanted to get in on the fight between Kitalpha and the bear. If they tried to jump in the Guild Master would make them fight her instead. In the meantime she would let Kitalpha fight the bear, but the taller blonde would not be alone.

"If you need help, don't hesitate to call me!" Leona said to Kitalpha as she prepared to clash with the bear. Leona would stand back and let Kitalpha handle this one. She would not butt in unless Kitalpha called for her help because she wanted her guild members to be able to fight without her, something that Kitalpha could easily do. Still, Leona would intervene if Kitalpha started to get knocked around by the ursine menace.

[Word Count: 818]
[Total Word Count: 3,544/3,500]

"I will! But… if I start acting strange, restrain me. Take me out if need be, but make sure I don't get to you. Can you promise me that, Leona?" There was the briefest moment of eye contact, crimson eyes flushed with a determined plea, yet Kitalpha did not await her guildmaster's reply and dashed forward, ready to meet the bear head-on. There was reason behind her asking, rather demanding what she thought necessary, for she did not trust the beast inside of her. Never had, but then again, she’d never faced a foe -in the vicinity of an ally- with a high capability of drawing blood. Bears were such things, but Kitalpha’s sudden urge to level its dominance over her triggered the blonde’s adrenaline. There was a thin line between scared and excited, but right now she balanced perfectly between them. Her eyes focused back on the giant hulking beast as she joined its charge, closing the distance they had between one another within mere seconds. Even despite the armor she was wearing, the blonde was agile, moving as if she were wearing the lightest of cloth instead, and ducked underneath the bear’s gaping maw when she came within melee distance. Rather than strike to kill, the woman sweeped its front legs from underneath it, fingers gripping its fur to catapult her back on top of the beast as it came crashing down after losing its balance. Using its momentum she vaulted to its other side, arms clenching around its neck in a vice as she allowed the first seal of her curse to come undone.

Crimson eyes flashed, fangs protruding a slight bit across her lips, elongated pupils wildly looking for a pulse-- an urge she tried to resist, knowing it was only to snap the veins and free its blood. So its blood could free something far worse… Kitalpha shook her head to keep her thoughts clear and dug her heels in the ground, an elbow burying itself into the bear’s fat as her grip tightened, the creature actually heaving and gasping for breath the stronger she held the beast. There was a liberty in strangling it to death; a horrible way to go, but one that would prove most harmless in the long run. Even the slightest bit of blood could trigger her curse in full; especially after the massacre back in the village had Horama stirring inside of her. She hadn’t told anyone about it yet. And if he’d ever rear his head during an unguarded moment… no, after this, she’d have to confide.

As oxygen became lacking in the bear’s body it started tensing, thrashing around viciously rather than growling, making it hard for the blonde to stay grounded as it reared instead, rising to its back legs. As she felt herself being picked up as well her grip only tightened on the beast’s neck, trying to dodge its claws trying to tear her from its neck. A sharp pain struck her as one of its claws connected, leaving a deep gash in her arm… and a whole lot of blood. The metallic scent almost immediately filled her nose, her senses sharpening at an alarming rate. She felt how her nails too were growing sharper, longer and stronger; like her canines became proper fangs. Her eyes shivered, exhilarated, as if they’d been drugged with a potent concoction forcing her to take in every single detail around her with minute focus. And then, it stopped.

The world stopped around her, for a split second.

And during it, she saw everything. The throbbing of her heart, picking up its pace only to die down into calmth, while the bear’s grew into that of a crescendo, like drums of war being struck to match an almost inhuman pace. Panic. An urge. The urge overthrew the panic, far faster than she could’ve thought. Faster than she could’ve imagined. Her mouth opened, as if to say something, but hoovered half-open instead. The bear became frantic, as if scared, its act abnormal to bystanders, but normal to her. It knew a predator now hung snugly around its neck, ready to strike. Her eyes flicked to the right of its neck. The next moment, Kitalpha lunged, jaws opening and biting down on its impenetrable fur, only to penetrate it. Her fangs pierced fur, its sturdy flesh, and sunk deeply into its neck, biting and pulling. With a vicious yank Kitalpha tore part of the bear’s neck straight out, holding on tightly as the molosser fell back down on the ground with a heavy smack, shaking the very ground underneath them. She spit out the chunk of flesh she’d torn from the beast, watching it gurgle as blood spilled from its gaping wound. Surprisingly alert eyes flicked around in search for something as she rose from behind the dying bear, and pinned themselves on Leona once they noticed her. Curious eyes gazed at her, Kitalpha appearing very unlike herself; as if she was beholding the world anew. As if she was not herself. Cautiously she took a step closer to her, not paying the bear any more mind.



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Total wordcount: 5298 of 3500

Leona was not sure what her guildmate was asking her to do, but when Kitalpha's crimson eyes met Leona's green eyes for a brief moment where facial expressions spoke louder than words, the shorter blonde knew that her guildmate was serious about everything that was said. Leona was not sure what to say to the request because on the surface it sounded strange. The taller blonde wanted Leona to restrain the former if she started acting "strange", even kill her if it came down to it.

What qualified as "strange" enough behavior for Leona to have to subdue Kitalpha? Leona had no idea what to look for and she did not want to use force against a guildmate without a solid reason to do so. She hoped that she would never have any reason to use force against Kitalpha or any other member of Silver Wolf.

Leona did not have time to respond because Kitalpha dashed towards the bear before the former could respond. Leona felt guilty about not responding in time, but she was honestly confused by what Kitalpha was asking her to do. There had to be something she did not know about going on for Kitalpha to make such a request, but what that "something" was was up in the air and Leona did not have time to ask about it because Kitalpha was already on the move. The crimson-eyed blonde did not need a distraction at a time like this, not when a bear was the enemy.

She watched as Kitalpha moved into battle against the ursine menace with a grace and agility that was unusual considering how much armor she was wearing. The taller blonde was running around like she was wearing athletic apparel while Leona would have been lucky to be able to jog in the kind of armor the crimson-eyed was wearing. However, Kitalpha's grace and agility were not the most amazing parts. The most amazing part of the spectacle was how she was going to go toe-to-toe with a bear with only her bare hands. For Leona fighting a bear without a weapon would be very foolish of her to even consider attempting, but Kitalpha was going to make fighting it without a weapon look so easy.

The slightly taller blonde started off by charging the bear, then ducked under its snapping maw and sweeping its front legs out from under it. She then vaulted over it and wrapped her arms around its neck. Leona then watched Kitalpha begin to strangle the bear and watched it struggle to get free before appearing to succumb to a lack of oxygen. Then it made one last effort to get free, violently rising on its rear legs and lashing out with its claws.

Some of its claws made contact with Kitalpha's arm and made a deep gash on it. Leona began to grow concerned, fearing that her guildmate had gotten in way over her head and might need help. Then the blonde looked at Kitalpha and noticed that the latter had changed a lot in a short time.

Kitalpha's fingernails had grown longer and sharper and she now had pronounced and pointy canine teeth. She hesitated for just a moment, then plunged her teeth into the bear's neck. Once her teeth had punched through its fur Kitalpha began to pull and managed to pull a chunk of its neck straight out. Leona involuntarily took a step backwards when she saw Kitalpha do that. The bear fell to the ground and began to bleed out and gurgle.

Kitalpha spat out the piece of bear meat and after a brief period of looking around her crimson eyes met Leona's eyes again before taking a step towards the Guild Master. The last time they had locked eyes Kitalpha had asked Leona to either restrain or kill her if she began to exhibit "strange" behavior. This time Kitalpha saw Leona not as the Guild Master of Silver Wolf, but as prey. Leona took a deep breath. She was not expecting to have to take on her guildmate, but here she was facing Kitalpha while the latter was in an altered and aggressive state.

"Kitalpha, listen to me. I'm not your enemy." Leona tried to talk Kitalpha down from grabbing her and trying to take a chunk out of her neck like the crimson-eyed blonde had done to the bear. However, doing that might be easier said than done. Kitalpha was fast and agile and Leona had never fought with a guild member before, so there was some hesitation on Leona's part.

"Kitalpha, let's just talk through this." Leona urged her guildmate. Leona did not want to hurt Kitalpha, but now the former understood what the crimson-eyed blonde was talking about earlier when she had made her request. Leona would have to be ready to fight for her life if she could not talk Kitalpha down.

[Post Word Count: 816]
[Leona's Word Count: 4,360/3,500]