built our empire ● border patrol & encounter pt 2!

[teef]

don't be so distant,

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code by spacexual

Quick and thunderous was the roar of wind and thunder ripping  through cracks in stone and smashed beams, the plaster of walls peeling off, the warmth of the drenched fire a distant memory, the Queen laid upon her furs, paws over her muzzle as she struggled to wake up, woken by one of her bandits shaking her shoulder, threatening to grab her by the scruff. Twas not long before her sleep addled mind clicked and put the pieces together, realising that the ground under her painted paws was shaking, threatening to rip itself asunder. Suddenly, she could hear the chaos of the storm, as if cotton had been ripped from her ears, air filling her lungs as she tried to make sense of her unfamiliar surroundings. Oh where in the hells was she? Where was her mate? Where was everyone? Shaking her head, the Queen snarled at the bandit that had shaken her awake, hauling herself to her paws as the ground trembled once again to the deep growling and crashing of rock and wood outside the broken door of the house she had set up her den in. Taking a deep breath, she pushed her worries to the back of her mind, snarling as she stumbled towards the door, sides heaving as panic wormed it's way up her throat, red eyes glaring from the shadows of her face, teeth a glowing ivory against the darkness of her gums and lips. If only a snarl and fierce expression could stave off disaster.

Shouldering open the door, weighed down so by a rock slammed up against the door, the Queen dug her claws against the rock, hauling her own frame up to the top of the boulder, wind and rain whipping her ears and making her brain scream for relief from the sound. Exhaling sharply, her red eyed gaze taking in the chaos and detriment around, the storm that had stirred her wreaking havoc upon the buildings, even the steady drone of the waterfall drowned by the screaming gales and gusts of wind, soaking her to the bone instantly. To her eyes laid the destruction of several cliffside houses, the wooden pathway around it broken and smashed through by boulders and stalicitites, stranding some poor fools to frightened to leap below or make the leap of the gap. Gritting her teeth, she leapt off of her boulder and onto the pathway, slickened with moss and neglect, her claws sliding for grip as she raced to help her bandits with a howl. "BANDITS! ESCAPE UP THE CLIFF AND WATCH YOUR FOOTING - THE CLIFF IS FALLING APART!", she ordered, the last of her mate's scent as she tore off to aid those stranded and too afraid to make the leap. Crossing such gaps and bringing her members by their scruffs to what remained in tact of the pathway, she urged them upwards and up the stone hewn path running up the cliffside, catching those who stumbled, unable but to watch in horror as rain made the footing foul and knocked some poor souls over the side of the stairs and into the monstrous swells of water below.

Grabbing one of the smaller bandits by the scruff, she worked her way up the stairs more slowly, fearing every howl of wind and lash of rain against the cliff would send her to her doom. Eventually, the bandits would flee into the slight shelter of a pinnacle of rock, left to make the climb up to the edge of the cliff, no longer trusting the steps as it wound in land and away from the edge of the unstable cliffs, where she would take over the group gasping for breath, the horror of the storm leaving them all shaken. Shaking her head briefly to clear the rain from her eyes, she barked and snapped at their heels, urging them on as she raced to the front to take the lead, streaming up the remaining steps and onto the plateau of the cliff top, the wind threatening to knock her legs asunder, claws digging in as she started off, knowing that they were far too close to the inn and reclaimed territory of the group. She could only pray to whatever gods were listening, if any were out there, that they would not encounter any of the group's members as they fled. Little did she know that they would not be so luxurious in their luck.

so distant from me