CW: Blood, Mentioned Attack on a Child

[size=10pt]The cub ran.

[size=10pt]His paws screamed, and his lungs burned. But the ghosts of their fangs snapped at his paws, and though he'd left them well behind he swore he could still hear their pawsteps thundering after him. Lions four times his size, adults so much stronger, trying to get rid of him, to end him, to end his sire's lineage.

But he'd run, and run, and run, and though he was smaller, lanky and thin and scrappy, he was faster, and had somehow lost them along the way. Still though, their ghosts haunted him - the fear coursed through him - his blood wept where their claws had scored him and his pawpads left bloody prints - and when the ground turned to mush beneath them he didn't know but then he was leaping to avoid the snapping jaws of a gator, and leaping again as something pointy was beneath him, an irritated hiss - what the hell kind of turtle was that! - and then he was clawing his way up a tree, baring his teeth and snarling at whatever the hell that had been.

Atbash had ran away from things a long time ago. She had been - and still was, admittedly - a coward. Perhaps she had a reason to be, with the things that had happened to her, it was a bit understandable. She had to flee from a home that was collapsing in on itself, had to flee from Snowbound, and she wanted to flee from Tanglewood after the attack on her. Caesar knew she was here and that scared her, but she had duties to attend to. Maybe if she was just a regular member of Tanglewood, the savannah would be more willing to relax, but just like Vigenere, Atbash was a hard-worker. Even though she was still recovering from her own injury, she was too antsy to want to stay in her home.

The hissing sound of a gator nearby made Atbash turn her head sharply, her good eye widening for a moment as the thought of the gator snapping at her briefly flashed in her mind, until she saw a cub running up a tree. Oh gods, Atbash thought to herself, heart lurching as she thought the gator might actually snatch up the child - but fortunately, he made it up the tree. Sucking in a breath, Atbash came charging forward, preparing a small elemental attack as she charged. She hissed at the alligator, but said no words, trying to use her air elementals to shoo the creature back.. Her throat still hurt despite her not speaking, but she tried to ignore it as much as she could right now. Fortunately, the alligator gave her a distraction.

"Hey. You okay?" The Shaderunner tried to call out to the cub telepathically, trying to reach out to his mind in order to communicate. She glanced back at the cub in the tree before her main focus was getting the reptile away from the both of them.

The cub panted, wide eyed - he'd never seen such a thing before, all scaley and big, the biggest he'd ever seen was wildebeests and only ever dead, he'd been learning to hunt but he'd been learning on small things, less dangerous things without their sharp horns and pointy hooves. And that thing had a massive mouth and even BIGGER teeth!

He shivered and hunched in on himself - it was official, he'd made it away from the New King but he'd starve to death in this tree. Or die of dehydration with water... well, water-ish... right below him.

And then there was some sort of cat below him (wonderful! he was gonna die 2x over!) charging at the gator and oh even better he was gonna watch her die, and he whipped his tail around and began to suck on the fluffy tip in a comfort habit he was far too old for and he absolutely did not do anymore what are you saying as he watched in horror, only to have to grab even tighter to the tree with his claws - and ow he bit his tail - in alarm when a voice whispered in his head.

"Shiyet!" he barked and, ignoring his bloody paws and scraps and bruises, nodded, "Fine, what is that thin'? Is it gonna eatcha?" because it really did look like it was gonna eat her, if you asked him.

Using elemtals used up a lot of energy, and while telepathy didn't require a lot in of itself, using both was definitely wearing her out. Atbash decided to focus on getting the alligator away though, digging her claws into the semi-wet ground beneath her and whipping up a larger gust of wind in order to get the reptile away. Once it was a couple feet away, the savannah looked up at the cub, still speaking telepathically. "It's an alligator. Come on, I'll lead you to a safer place to rest." She hoped the kid would follow; it wouldn't be long before the gator would try crawling back.  Maybe. Honestly, Atbash didn't know for sure but she definitely didn't want to stay to find out.

Atbash hopped out of the muck she was standing in, shaking her paws to get some of the looser bits out of her fur. She looked back at Baylock, a frown on her face as she waited to see whether he would follow. "My name is Atbash Cipher, I promise I won't hurt you."

The sound of rushing and gusting wind was what had caught her attention. Normally they didn't have such winds within the swamp and though spring was clearly here their weather was mild and calm. The life that dwelled here was thriving and it showed in the life that was everywhere. The thick foliage that clung to the sodden bed and those that lived within the town. There was life there now too and she was pleased to see that others were moving and doing the things that they wished too after such harsh times they had all went through. From subjugation to many deaths they had survived. But the pale lioness could feel tiredness clinging to her limbs. It was something she still hadn't gotten used to. The lioness was trying g her best to be a good leader. But she still felt that she had short comings.

Shaking her head she focused on the path she had set herself on and came upon the scene of Atbash forcing an alligator away by way of using the wind. It was a curious thing for her to see and she stared for longer than she should have. Then she realized that there was a child here. Her flaming mane dimmed slightly considering she was a bit alarmed at the circumstances and she kept an eye on the gator as she moved closer toward the situation. "She wants to know what is going on here. He may come down as she will keep an eye on the cousin so that it doesn't catch us off guard." She spoke softly before her crystalline blue eyes flicked back to the alligator.

"An... alligator?" the word rolled rough off his tongue, and he hesitated in following her. He hadn't had much luck recently after all - he'd managed to escape the New King only to nearly be eaten by this 'alligator', though he had been saved... but who knew what this woman would do? She had magic, which none of his Pride had had, and he, well, he had nothing. Then again, it was turn around and face the New King, jump back into the alligator's mouth, or go with this woman and... well, he didn't like surprises, but at least there was a slight chance nothing bad would happen.

And then oh god what was that was it on FIRE he puffed up but... wait, that was a lioness? a lion? but it had a mane and that mane was on fire? but it was a lioness and that was familiar and he could have cried, even at her strange speech he gasped "Okay," and leaped down - an auntie! she wasn't related but she was a lioness and lionesses are aunties and aunties are to be obeyed and it was familiar. He scrambled behind her, looking at this... what's with her long name? But he was to be polite, there was an auntie and it was only polite to introduce himself, "'m Baylock, I don't have a second name." and he was sorry not to have such a long name to introduce himself with.

Elsweyr's approach seemed to help convince the lion cub - who introduced himself as Baylock - to come down and it made Atbash slightly more relieved. "That's okay. Not everyone has a second name." Atbash's telepathic voice had a light-hearted tone to it, almost as if she was laughing. There was a smile on the savannah's face, to further prove that. But now that they weren't hopefully going to be eaten by a giant reptile, Atbash could now see that Baylock was injured. Her smile quickly faltered as she 'spoke' again, "Are you alright? We can take you to our medic to get you fixed up." It was more of a statement than an offer, seeing as this was a child she was talking to. Atbash didn't want to leave some poor kid to fend for themselves.

Figuring out what happened and seeing if Baylock knew where he was shouldn't be the focus right now, in Atbash's opinion. Getting the guy to Moth was the first thing they needed to do.

While the woman was not prepared for the cub to hide behind her she took it well enough. With care she gently wrapped her tail around the child a bit of sadness leaking in as she thought of her daughter Ares and how she was run out of Tanglewood before she could have gotten better. Still she knew she was safe and well in Palm Glades. Or at least she hoped that she was. Flicking her gaze back at the alligator it appeared that it wasn't making any moves and she had to agree with Atbash that now was the time to go. "She thinks that it is really nice to meet him, Baylock. As Atbash said we should all go to town and Moth can look at his wounds. Then if he wishes he can tell her why he is out here alone." She gave a small and warm smile as she looked at the child before she then gently nudged the child forward gently.

"Ah, he may call her Elsweyr and this is Tanglewood. This one is the leader here and she offers him a home here if he needs it." With a light movement she began to move forward and head towards the town.