Taming of the Wolf (closed)

Crouching behind the boulder, Avo leaned with her back against it, writing in a notebook. By her feet sat a bow easily within reach, but right now the woman was more worried about scribbling away on the page. Every so often she would lean up and glance around the boulder, eyes flicking about. Something had her on edge, but there were no living beings anywhere within sight. In the distance, further down the hill sat a burning Pandaren village, the victim of pillaging. Still bleeding bodies of the poor ursine race were strewn around but there were no signs of the attackers. A flock of crows circled above the flaming buildings before descending to the ground. One landed on the body of a female Pandaren, cawing loudly before leaning forward to peck at the corpse. Avo’s stomach churned as she surveyed the carnage, then turned back around to continue writing.

The sharp sound of a twig snapping caused Avo to freeze completely. Wide eyes were the only thing that moved, scanning the area diligently. Nothing moved except for the patches of tall grass blowing in the breeze. It took a few moments of stillness for Avo to relax back against the boulder, hand reaching down to grab her bow.

Suddenly out of nowhere an arrow whizzed through the air, embedding itself in the woman’s upper right arm. She stared at it in disbelief for a split second before launching into action, throwing herself sideways from a flurry of more arrows broke against the stone. The book fell forgotten onto the ground as she scrambled to her feet. A harsh warcry pierced the air and a group of blue skinned trolls appeared out from behind other boulders and trees, all rushing towards the fleeing woman.

As she ran, Avo gritted her teeth and yanked out the arrow from her shoulder, then twisted her body around to return it back to the original shooter. With the injured shoulder and running, the arrow missed its mark, flying wide of the charging trolls. One saw the arrow and retaliated with throwing his spear towards her. By some sort of pure luck Abi’s foot caught on a rock, causing her to pitch forward and allow the spear to soar over her, passing where her neck was just moments before.

Her bow flew from her hand when she fell, her hands shooting out to catch herself and in the process being cut up by rocks. The sound of the trolls were growing louder, so Avo abandoned her bow and kept going, not wanting to waste any precious seconds to grab it.

Running as far and as fast as she could, stumbling here and there, ducking around trees and rocks until she reached a river. It was too wide to jump across, maybe fifteen feet to the other shore, and too fast to swim to it. The distance between her and the trolls had not grown, and with a look behind Avo saw three atop raptors now joining the chase, and her heart leapt into her throat. She had no choice. Without a second thought, she began shedding her armour, throwing it down as she waded into the rushing river. Without the heavy mail weighing her down the water urged her downstream, pushing at her legs and threatening to sweep her away. As the trio of raptor handlers drew closer, the woman took a deep breath and fell backwards to let the water carry her away.

The frustrated roar of the trolls as their quarry floated away rang out in the air as the stream bore her further from them. It was difficult for Avo to keep her head above the water, so she blindly moved her arms and legs to push her from any rocks or sticks hidden under the rushing water’s surface. The current grew faster and rougher, obvious that the woman was drawing closer to rapids that would tear her body to shreds. With frantic flailing she began paddling to the safe land that was just a few feet from her.

Something sharp, unseen in the white foam of the river, scraped Avo’s backside and cut through cloth and flesh. She screamed out but it was cut short when the river went over a ridge, sending her underwater and swallowing a lungful of water. Unable to see where she was going, the rapids bashed her against several boulders, each harder than the last. Bones were felt snapping, flesh tearing, blood seeping and staining the water red. It was a blessed relief that the snow-fed river numbed her body, else Avo would have passed out from the torment her poor body was feeling. But even so her mind was screaming out where her mouth couldn’t, a noiseless din mixing with the rush of the water all around her.

After what seemed like an eternity the rapids ended and the churning water turned into a gentle current to cradle Avo away. The river began to grow shallow, the stony bottom turning into soft sand. Soon the river deposited her broken body onto the sloped shore. Laying there for a few minutes she waited, listening and trying to regain strength. She lifted her head to look down at her body to survey the damage she had sustained. Shockingly white bone had broken through her calf, its jagged edges cutting through her skin. Scrapes and cuts covered the flesh visible through the torn bits of her underclothing, her shirt and shorts all but shredded. Her right shoulder was still seeping blood, and her left arm sat twisted in the wrong direction. Maybe it was hypothermia, maybe it was shock, but Avo felt nothing from the physical wounds she had sustained. With her good arm she pushed herself onto her stomach and low crawled out of the water, ignoring the mud that coated her frontside.

The thunderous sound of footsteps filled her ears, and the troll hunting party came into view and surrounded the woman. They towered over her, their yellow eyes gazing down hungrily at her prone self. The lead one, a troll taller than the rest with midnight blue skin and draped in the pelt of a jaguar, stepped forward from the rest of the gathered trolls and knelt down in front of the vulnerable woman. His hand grasped her chin, forcing her head side to side. “Cyaa fu a italaf tor.” He spoke in a harsh tongue, dropping her head. His amber eyes stared down at the woman, boring into her intensely. “Deh duti riva mek ackee tor'wassa.” Avo had no idea what was being said in the foreign tongue, and all she could do was watch helplessly as the trolls behind their leader talk amongst themselves. The troll crouched before her just kept his gaze on her for a few bit, then he stood once again and looked over his shoulder to bark something at the group behind him, and they quieted immediately.

A few more words were said, and one of the raptor riders slid off his steed to lead to the leader. As this happened the jaguar-clothed troll bent down and picked up Avo, holding her under his arm. At first she struggled, but being out of the water had warmed her up and the pain began to radiate from her injuries, forcing her to cease her feeble attempt to escape. So she resigned herself to hang there limply as she was unceremoniously thrown on the back of the raptor, her ankles and wrists bound with rough rope. After she was restrained, the troll with the jaguar pelt climbed behind her. He gave a rallying cry, to which the others responded with deafening voices, and the leader led them north. The jostling of the raptor’s movements made Avo cry out in pain, the agony too much for the broken woman to endure, and she slipped away, unconscious from the shock of everything that had transpired.