[Maaike]

It felt strange to be returning home — which was strange, really, because it wasn't that long, relatively speaking, since they'd left to rescue the slaves. Somehow, this time felt different. Only part of the change was from knowing that Aiden knew about Sammy, that he had already ingratiated himself so much with the clan that he might as well be a Sullivan himself. Silly as it sounded, letting loose in that pub had been what really made this return feel different. She hadn't relaxed like that, hadn't had fun, in so long... The closest she'd come was in mercilessly teasing her "Baby Cakes" back when she still wasn't sure if Aiden was friend or foe. She kind of missed that, actually, but the closer they'd gotten, the more she'd fretted about lying, and the less she'd been inclined to pull his pigtails. (Which was what the teasing had been, now that she thought about it...)

Anyway, it felt good to be traipsing through the forest. Her feet would disagree after their lengthy trek back and forth, and she was still shouldering the shame of abandoning her son yet again, but at least this time Sammy had known what she was doing. He'd asked her, quiet and just shy of begging, the night before she'd left to "please save my cousins, mommy". And for once, he wasn't crying when he waved her off but cheering for the "heroes" he was so sure would save the day (or their clan-mates, at least).

“Man, I'll be so glad to stick my feet in the lake and eat some of Nana's buns when we get back,” Bree groaned, hopping on one foot a bit to shake out a cramp.

Cain snickered as he scrambled over a fallen tree. “Dude, you've spent too much time with Kiel. You're starting to sound like him.” They looked at one another sideways for a minute, then cracked up laughing. Even Maaike had to smile; Kiel had held up his end of the deal and not even wanted payment in the end, so she could admit to something like respect creeping up on her even if she still thought he talked way, way, way too much. “You're buddies with him, Aiden, right?” Cain twisted to glance at Aiden. “You should ask him to meet us sometime so we can—”

Cain gasped and froze on the edge of the clearing. Bree froze up right alongside him, staggering against her still-limping brother and almost knocking them both down. Maaike frowned in confusion, wondering what fresh Hel the clan's kids had wrought in her absence that would shock the siblings so much. Surely, they were accustomed to the things kids got up to when they went largely unchecked? At Sammy's age, Maaike had been into everything and—

Oh. Maaike drew sharply to a halt herself, knees weak as she saw the damage. The camp was trashed, tents collapsed on themselves, a few of the skinnier, shorter trees at the edge of the clearing knocked down and smashed up as if something had crashed into or through them. The smoke they'd all assumed was from the campfire billowed up through the gap in the canopy from burned... Maaike couldn't even tell, but the fires had spread beyond the stone ring, blackening holes in whatever tents had remained upright, as if someone had grabbed a flaming torch and lit up whatever they could reach. Not enough damage for a Nereid, but enough to signal a fight.

Someone whined. Maaike's knees almost buckled on the realisation that no one was here. No one was working to put out the fire, no one was righting the damage, no one was tending the wounded because there were no wounded. There were no bodies, either.

“What...?”

Maaike's brain rapidly fired through the possibilities: bandits, raiders, Malaki who'd somehow gotten past the Chandric Barrier, forest monsters that had somehow taken the camp by surprise and overwhelmed the residents... None of them really made sense. There'd be other evidence, bodies, remains of some kind. Not... this.

“Fan out,” Maaike commanded, her voice hoarse and dead. She worried about her mom and Ellery, wondered if the scouts and patrols were caught in this whatever or if they even knew there'd been some sort of attack. Mostly, she felt numb and, conversely, terrified that Sammy had been here when it happened instead of playing in the trees like a monkey. “Look for—” She cut off, afraid to even think the word "survivors" in case there weren't. She shook her head and amended, “Just look.”

[Aiden]

After The Laughing Solomon, the majority of the group was too groggy or---as Kiel liked to say it---sloshed to move the next morning. As the younger Sullivans slept in, Aiden and Maaike had a quick brunch in a cafe where they enjoyed coffee and doughnuts for the first time in months. They restocked on supplies, shopped in stores, and once the group caught up, had street vendors' food. Rowley found the fried squid a bit disgusting, and Cain enjoyed a hot dog. Bree admired shinies inside a store for imported glass. That day in town provided a sense of normalcy and the illusion that they weren't still fugitives at that moment. But as much as he missed the urban life, he liked being with Maaike, and he missed the clan even more. The clan was the closest he had to a community now, and besides, he had a bag of peppermint candies for Sammy and Matt.

Cain's limp was barely a hindrance as he ran ahead of the group with Bree. Trailing behind, Aiden rolled the stiffness out of his shoulders and re-positioned the straps of his backpack. The ground was dappled with the yellow and orange of autumn, and fallen leaves crunched under his boots as he ascended the hill. The Fae Forest was at its most vibrant in autumn, and he was glad to be back. Grinning as Bree dreamed out loud about bread, Aiden thought of a freshly cooked rabbit. The day was young, so he'd could hunt his quarry and still have time for a bath in the lake.

Except...

Ahead, the peals of laughter broke off with a startled gasp, and he saw Maaike wobble in place. Rowley hissed as if in sudden panic, and Eilisa squeaked. Brows furrowing with dread, Aiden grew tense as he placed a supportive hand on Maaike's shoulder.

Downhill in the clearing, fire crackled and crawled in patches along fallen tent poles and the remains of dried canvas. The lean-tos were in shambles as flames devoured them mercilessly. A loud crack resounded as the largest central tent collapsed into itself; a woolen blanket fell from the tent's entrance and was quickly engulfed. At one of side of the campsite, the stone ring caved inward, indicating the direction of the invaders. As the camp blazed alight, the air became foggy with haze and floating flakes of cinder.

“Stay in pairs,” he barked as he lurched forward. Skirting the edge of the clearing, his heart pounded with each step as he ran toward Ellery and Dioghna's. Xanth, keep everyone safe. He'd promised to bring Maaike back to the family, but who else arrived first?

Pots, plates, and utensils lay scattered across the campsite as if the clan-members had left in surprise. However, nothing else had been pulled out of the tents. The trunks had been left alone to burn, so this was no raider attack. Gaze flitting across the trees as he ran down, Aiden gulped deep breaths, yet coughed as smoke tickled his throat. Off to the side of a tent, he noted a spray of blood on canvas and a broken blade. No bodies though. Thank Xanth. Please let them have gone into hiding. They could be in their animal forms even now.

“Anyone out there?” he called almost pleadingly. Xanth help them.

Something blurry lay motionless at the base of the tree. Aiden's breath caught. The further he ran from the main campsite, the clearer the air, and the sharper the boot came into focus. Planting a palm against the tree as he circled it, he peered at the boot's owner. The man had light armor and dark brown clothes, and a dagger lay in his limp hand. Not of the clan. Throat torn out. Further down, another dead bandit (or whoever). And close by...

“Xanth, no...” the red-haired woman lay curled on one side, and the back of her shirt was soaked with dark liquid. Crouching beside the therian, Aiden's voice grated with recognition and regret. “Duana.” The woman had three children and a knack for tailoring. He met them at the harvest festival, and she sang one of the childrens' tunes back then. Blood caked her mouth and jaw now, and her face was trapped in a moment of shock. No time to mourn. His face felt hot, though his knuckles were cold.

Closing the clanmember's eyes, Aiden stood and shook his head at Maaike. “Keep going.”

[Maaike]

Up until the point that Aiden found Duana, Maaike had refused to worry. Sullivans were a tough bunch. They'd had to be to survive out in the forest all these years. It was actually one of the reasons she'd brought Sammy home and give him to her parents to raise—beyond not trusting herself and fearing for his life if he'd remained at Greenview with her. She'd known he'd be safer here than anywhere else, that her family and her clan would die and kill to protect him.

Seeing the evidence of that and realising that this wasn't just an attack but a deadly one, when she'd hoped before that her clan had bested their attackers unscathed... She should be used to the bodies now, really, but it had never been this close to home before, never been someone she still cared about. Maaike hadn't spent much time with Duana since she left, but they'd grown up together. Sammy played with Duana's kids.

Maaike leaned more heavily into Aiden as her vision blurred. She shook her head frantically when he told her to keep going, taking a moment to grieve in case no one else could. Bree and Cain were calling softly to one another in the background, Rowley scampering up into a tree to scout for the kids' tracks in case they'd had time to flee like they were supposed to. Maaike pulled herself together with concerted effort and inhaled sharply when she spotted Duana's killer.

“I know him...” Maaike swallowed a painful lump and kicked the man over some more so she could get a better look at his face. It was bloodied, and the gruesome cut across his throat made it hard to focus on what she needed, but his features were still recognisable enough. She nudged at Aiden's foot with her own and jerked her chin at the dead guy. “Remember that night you interrupted me getting my ass kicked and assumed I was the instigator?” That shouldn't still burn, really, and she couldn't even blame him, but it still peeved her a little bit. She'd gone to meet this guy on supposed behalf of some street rat named Drague, but this guy—she'd never learned his name—had already known Drague was behind bars. He'd turned tail to run, kicking her butt in the process, and Aiden's interruption let him flee into the night.

Something cold chilled right up her spine and into her gut. Her voice was hoarse when she realised, “He works for Thanatos.”

[Aiden]

Duana's children were most likely close by during the attack, but there was no sign of them now. Frowning, his hand went out automatically to support Maaike as she leaned toward him. “We need to go. The children...” They had already found two of the attackers, but if the raid was big enough to take on a whole Therian clan, more thugs would be out to take their place. However, as Maaike mourned for Duana, she paused beside the killer's body. The man's facial features were obscured by a mixture of dirt and coagulated blood, but she saw enough for identification.

Recoiling, his voice came out as a whisper. “The same guy? If I had--” his voice grew cracked as he looked Maaike in the eye despite not wanting to. How could he forget that night? He'd unknowingly ruined Maaike's interrogation, set a quarter of the city guard on her tail, and nearly broken his neck while chasing after her on the rooftops. Aiden regretted many things from that midnight run...and now this man was going to haunt him. “Xanth, I'm so sorry.” The air was stifling. He wanted to scream and vomit. He wanted to punch people---including himself. He should have gone after this guy back then instead of chasing after Maaike, and now Duana was dead.

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Aiden grit his teeth and stepped around the killer's corpse. Somehow, Thanatos had discovered the territories, and this raid was for retribution. They didn't even have time to stay and grieve. Damn his own ignorance, and damn Thanatos. After beckoning the younger Sullivans to follow, he sprinted toward Ellery's, knowing that Maaike would be close behind if she didn't simply outrun him.

As Ellery's tent came into view, Aiden breath hitched and he searched for familiar faces. One of the three sections was sagging, and two of the tent's poles had been pulled out and broken to splinters. A hole had been seared into the canvas—its edges were frayed and reddish, which indicated an apali's work. While not on fire like the main campsite, the area was equally ransacked and barren. Whatever fear Aiden was feeling right now, Maaike must be experiencing it tenfold.

Frantic and frustrated, Aiden nearly attacked the creature that crashed out of the bushes near the tent. As the red fox seamlessly shrank into human form, Aiden realized with sinking heart that it wasn't Ellery or Dioghna. Aiden couldn't recall ever meeting this clanmember, but to be fair, he probably only knew half of them by name. The man raised his trembling hands placatingly. “Ssh, shh! The bandits are still nearby.” His eyes were wide as he glanced from Aiden towards Maaike, and at the approaching siblings. “Thank Xanth you guys are here.”

Lowering his fists, Aiden sighed and approached the man. “Sorry, you caught me on edge. Have you seen Ellery or the kids?”

[Maaike]

Maaike frowned almost absently when Aiden apologised, not really recognising why he had to be sorry. She hadn't dragged up old news just to make him feel guilty; he wasn't to be blamed for that fiasco. If anyone was, it was for thinking she could circumvent the law and get away with it. (Granted, she kind of had because she was still running about mostly free, but there had still been consequences, and one of those had been Aiden's reluctance to trust her back then.) She'd actually enjoyed their banter back then, even though she had been more betrayed than she'd expected when he'd called his fellow Guards on her. At any rate, he had no way of knowing the dead guy would move on from petty crime to full-out raiding under Thanatos' thumb.

And he had to still be Thanatos' man. Maaike daren't hope for anything else, for the kind of coincidence that would lead a man she'd known to be working for their arch nemesis to suddenly be working under his own banner now that he'd been found dead in her clan's camp. “He was here for us,” she realised, voice soft in an effort to hide the fear trembling through her hands and making her knees weak. She followed Aiden and the others, too numb with shock and dread to outpace any of them, dragging up the rear with legs that had been filled with lead. She stalled at each new piece of evidence of the attack: a shredded garment here, proof of someone's shift; a bloodied body there, fallen under a clanmember's claws. Thankfully, only a couple of the clan had been killed in the attack. The rest seemed to be from the other side, though Maaike didn't recognise anyone else.

Maaike was glad for Aiden's strength when the bushes rippled and rustled and all she could do was stand there and stare. Her parents, her siblings, her grandparents... Sammy. Where were they all? Protocol only had them running if the enemy they faced was too strong, but there weren't enough bodies to suggest that was the case here. The kids, sure, they'd done their part... and the attack seemed like it was recent enough for them to still be in hiding. But the adults? Maaike glanced up to check the trees, but the smoke from what were likely Niamh's fires had scared off the wildlife. Maybe the clan was waiting nightfall to scout for more attackers before they returned.

Maaike whipped back at the sound of Aiden's voice, heart in her throat. The Therian was glancing between them, hands up and sweat beading across his forehead. He kept swallowing as Maaike struggled to recognise him. She'd not been back to the Territories for more than a couple days at a time in so long, and she'd always kept to her family's tent to spend as much time with Sammy as possible. Even so, it was odd that she didn't know this guy.

“Ellery?” The guy's head ducked forward and back on his neck as he swallowed again, glancing around. He was whispering so it was hard to hear his tone, but there was something in it that didn't sit well. Maaike glanced at Bree and Cain to find them frowning too, as if equally confused by their lack of recognition. They met her stare, barely moving to give away their thoughts. Something cracked in the distance — probably a twig or a branch — and the Therian hissed, “Shh!” He dropped to his haunches, gesturing wildly for them to get down as he peered over the bushes.

Maaike stared at him, even less convinced that he was a Sullivan. For one thing, it was odd that he alone had returned when none of the others had. Of course, he could be the lone survivor—Maaike's stomach lurched at the thought alone—but then, where were the bodies?

There was no more sound from the forest. Maaike dropped low and scurried closer to Aiden, cupping the ball of his shoulder in her palm and meeting his eyes. She tipped her head slightly towards the strange Therian, trying to convey everything she didn't know about him purely with her gaze. They would have to move together, all of them, if they wanted to immobilise him without giving him a chance to shout for help, just in case there really were still "bandits" roaming about. She doubted that, even if there were, they were actually bandits, though. It really did seem that Thanatos was behind this attack, and if he knew enough to locate them...who knew what else he knew?

[Aiden]

The brunette man wobbled forward on his feet as if tired from running and making the shift so quickly. As the man swallowed and repeated their inquiry about Ellery, Aiden had to lean forward in case the therian whispered anything else. Before they could learn anything else though, a crack in the distance sent the group into cover behind the bushes. As Eilisa crouched low, her hair began to redden as she shrank slowly toward the form of a reddish squirrel for greater stealth. Rowley began changing into a hound at better speed than Eilisa, though his shoulder made a popping sound as he did it. If the attackers had circled back, they needed to be prepared for battle. As the unknown therian checked for additional intruders, Aiden felt Maaike's hand on his shoulder. While Maaike's brows were furrowed in concern for the clan, her gaze was distrustful as it switched to the strange therian. Behind her, Cain and Bree looked just as wary. None of them recognized this guy.

Damn it, they could still be under attack, but they needed answers too! After a quick confirmation that nothing was new in their surroundings, Aiden lowered his voice and asked insistently, “Where is everybody?”

“The forest looks clear.” Sighing as if the discussion could endanger them, the therian stood and extended an arm toward Aiden. As Aiden took it and pulled himself up, the other therian pointed beyond the trees to their right. “The bandits outnumbered us so we ran that way. It happened so quickly—almost an hour ago? I volunteered to check if the bandits--”

“Who else volunteered?” interrupted Bree as she placed herself in front of Cain. Even though she was potentially challenging her elder, she crossed her arms and tilt her head with skepticism. “And no offense, but what's your name again?”

“You wouldn't have seen me much. I'm always patrolling the the borders. Can't remember who else came along though. I was i-in a rush to get back.” As he responded, his glance flitted from Bree toward Aiden again. “Glad I found you guys though.”

Waving for the group to follow, the therian started running towards where he'd said the clan would be. “Follow me. The kids and everyone are all right. I'll show you the way.”

[Maaike]

The thing was, everything this guy said was plausible. Maaike was distanced enough from her clan that she couldn't name every single member of it, nor recognise all their faces. It was also plausible that he was one of the 'lone wolves' who patrolled all the time and barely spent time with the clan, preferring his own company to the nightly camp fires and constant chatter. (Maaike herself would probably choose that path now if she came back to the clan for good. She wasn't always so reserved, but she'd never been much of a social butterfly, either.)

So, yeah, his answers all sounded plausible. Maaike wanted to be relieved that the kids were all right, and someone more charitable might have dismissed his nerves and general evasiveness as trauma after the attack. Something just seemed off, though, and Maaike found herself watching him with the kind of suspicion she normally reserved for potential targets, skin humming and the hairs on the back of her neck lifting as if she was being stalked by a lyxeon or a naga.

Bree apparently caught on. As Cain and Rowley offered their sympathies and support to the stranger, Bree hung back slightly and took up the flank opposite Maaike, meeting Maaike's narrow-eyed stare with a wiggle of her eyebrows that was probably supposed to be code of some sort. Cain or even Aiden probably could have understood her, but Maaike wasn't as accustomed to interpreting silent signals as them. Maaike arched her own eyebrows back, blinking slightly to indicate her confusion (though she'd normally be doing her best to hide her lack of understanding). Bree rolled her eyes in response and turned to hand gestures that were even more confusing.

But they were on the move, and the stranger kept glancing back as if to check they were all still with him, and Maaike jerked her head to indicate that Bree should pay attention. Bree huffed but did as told (having no problem whatsoever in reading Maaike's exasperated not-orders), tugging on her brother's sleeve to alert him to potential danger without making it obvious that's what she was doing. Maaike tried to get Aiden's attention to make him aware of the possible threat, too--

And then the bushes rustled all around them and figures were darting up from their hiding places. Maaike sank into a fighting stance and growled, already starting to morph into her naga form so she could wind herself up into the trees and attack from above, before she could recognise Ellery's face behind the snarl and the familiar blaze of head-sized flames in her mother's palms. Someone with more fur than skin lunged with a predatory growl, scattering Bree and Cain and Rowley to separate corners of the makeshift battlefield and whipping around ready to fight -- but the wolf pinned the stranger instead, the others hanging back, and Maaike slowly relaxed back just enough to arch her eyebrows at her grandpops in silent query.

“That,” Niamh spat, jerking her fingers in lieu of pointing since flames still burned merrily away in her hands. She couldn't have infused any more hatred into the single word if she'd been speaking about Ashton, who had personally hurt her own daughter and grandson. “Is not one of ours.”

The wolf was still growling, fangs bared at the stranger's throat and eliciting a series of garbled whimpers supposed to be words that sounded a lot like 'please don't kill me'. Ellery jerked his chin up on a sharp grunt that had the wolf backing off slightly, rump pressing into Aiden's leg. It had been a long while since Maaike had seen her grandma in wolf form, but the wolf's familiarity with Maaike's -- with Aiden -- was enough, along with the grey patch along the wolf's charcoal back, that she figured Aiden wouldn't fear having his fingers chomped off.

“Does someone wanna tell us what under Hel is going on?” Bree was standing beside her brother, fingers still arched slightly as if they were already claws even though they weren't. She looked from Niamh to Ellery to Dioghna to the rest of them piling out of the bushes in varying states of undress and injury. They weren't all here, but Maaike couldn't tell if that was because the others were dead (Xanth forbid) or waiting in hiding until they knew what they were up against.

[Aiden]

Even though Maaike was distrustful of the stranger, Aiden was willing to give the man the benefit of doubt. However, that generosity was quickly diminishing. The man's demeanor was friendly enough, but Aiden had been a guardsman long enough to recognize the sort of nervous ticks of people who were trying to lie. So as Rowley and Eilisa regained their human forms to speak to the stranger, Aiden kept close not to hear the conversation, but to keep an eye on the road ahead of them.

The crackle of leaves filled the air as multiple forms filled the vicinity. The creatures varied, indicating therian, but they were also aggressive, indicating a potential fight. One of the creatures darted forward to tackle the stranger, and as the wolf bared his fangs, it earned a terrified scream. Fire lit up in the corner of Aiden's vision as Niamh denounced the stranger. Various strands of hair stuck out from her braid, and one of her sleeves was stained with blood. The nereid was so furious that her flames flickered between red and blue.

Balling his hands into fists, Aiden kept them at his sides as he stormed toward the fallen traitor. They were among familiar people again, so Aiden barely paid attention to the wolf as it brushed close to him. Aiden's voice was quietly deadpan as he looked down at the lying son-of-a-kelpie. “Explain yourself.”

“W-what!?” The man scrabbled at the ground as he tried to sit up again. As the wolf snarled, the man flinched and glanced imploringly toward Bree. “Please! You've got it all wrong!”

As Niamh scoffed, Aiden's eyes narrowed slightly. “Sorry. Enlighten us then. Please.” Very pointedly, his gaze shifted from the stranger, to the charcoal wolf, then back to the stranger. Deceiving a therian in their animal form? Nice try.

Cringing, the man's head sank toward his collarbone. He answered with such a small whimper that various clansmates had to step closer to hear it. “Oh gods. He's going to kill us...”

[Maaike]

Maaike inhaled sharply, lunging forward a couple of steps before she realised what she was doing, as if she could hear the stranger's grumblings any better from three feet away instead of six. She pressed a hand to Aiden's biceps -- also before she knew what she was doing. The stranger flinched back; Maaike's grandma growled, fangs bared and already bloody, until he stopped moving.

“Who's going to kill you? Who?” She twisted the fabric of Aiden's sleeve up into the knot of her fingers in lieu of wringing information out of the imposter. Bree and Cain were leaning on each other, gazes flicking between the imposter, Maaike and Aiden, and the clanmembers who had erupted from the bushes. Maaike couldn't see Eilisa or Rowley from here and daren't turn her back on this stranger, but she'd be willing to bet they were watching the perimeter.

The stranger said nothing, staring mutely and mutinously up at Aiden and Maaike until she kicked his boot. He scrambled back a bit, then, jerked out of his stubbornness by her foot and the scratch of tree bark at his back. The wolf didn't move from Aiden's side but the growling ramped up a notch. “I can't -- I can't! He'll kill them! I can't!”

Ellery moved forward, dropping a hand to his wife's furry spine and patting her hard on the rump. She snapped her bloodied teeth at him -- not getting close enough to actually hurt him, but a message that she will not calm down, thank you very much all the same. The wolf leaned into his legs instead of Aiden's and whuffed slightly. Ellery dropped to his haunches, putting himself on the imposter's level and presenting a friendly face despite his wife's antagonism. “Who is he going to kill?”

[Aiden]

The area was crackling with anger towards the spy, yet the man remained recalcitrant as he stared Aiden and Maaike in the eye. As Maaike's fingers tightened around Aiden's arm, Aiden tilted his face to look at her briefly before turning his attention to Niamh and the rest of the clan. Dioghna looked ready to tear out the man's throat, though she probably wouldn't do it until the man gave the information they needed. Various clan-members who were still in their forms, and they bared their teeth aggressively.

As Ellery knelt toward the stranger's eye level, the stranger tensed warily. Ellery, bless the kind man, continued to speak gently. “Tell us where to redirect our anger. Maybe we will help your people---” he ignored Dioghna's growl of protest.

The two held their silence for a while, and the whole clearing seemed to be quiet with apprehension. Until finally...the spy's resolve melted all at once, and he wretchedly curled his arms around his knees and began to rock against the tree at his back. “Your clan can't do anything. He's too powerful. He'll kill my family...” the name came out as a dread whisper...“Thanatos.”

The breath rushed out of Aiden, and he clamped his hand over Maaike's on his shirt sleeve. They had been so careful over the past year, and Aiden had foolishly hoped that Thanatos might have forgotten about them. But this was it, and they'd been uncovered somehow. “He threatened your family and told you to attack this clan? Where is he keeping them?”

Tears streaming down his face as he continued to rock, the spy nodded. “For days, all I've heard are ten-second voice messages. His goons delivered a braid of Neuria's hair...they're probably with the old man that told us about you.” Suddenly, the spy glared contemptously at Aiden and Maaike. “You folks are only making it worse for us therians. Just do us all a favor and turn yourselves in.”

Oh HEL no. “We're endangering our lives to save therians from the slave rings. What have you done?” He tried to keep his voice level, but that control was quickly slipping. “Who told Thanatos? Who's the old man?”

Shrugging, the spy chuckled morbidly. “They showed him to me as a warning. Grey-haired, missing pinky, face too bruised for me to see anything memorable. Looked like he'd been there for a while. Maybe a human?”

[Maaike]

Maaike gasped at the name, Thanatos, spoken as if it was the worst curse in the world. She barely noticed Aiden's tight grip, her own fingers turning knuckle-white and aching. She wanted to rage and scream that anyone would help that vlareon, that any Therian would serve up his fellows for any reason, even as half her heart whispered that she'd do all that and more if it was Sammy on the line. Her principles might hold out for a while over the rest of her family, but not Sammy. Not Sammy.

It wasn't until the spy said "human" that she really put two and two together, though, and Graeme's name was almost a whine past her lips. “No.” He got out. He had to have gotten out. She and Aiden had distracted the bounty hunter and left just enough of a trail to follow that Graeme could skip town without stalkers. That had been the plan, at least, but even as she paled in denial, the realist in her was laughing bitterly at her naivete.

“Oh, Xanth, he's got Graeme.” She didn't need to tell anyone present what that meant, on a personal or a threat level. Graeme had been with her, in one capacity or another, since she married Ashton. He'd been her strongest ally after Ashton's death, right up until Aiden filled in the gaps Graeme couldn't, and he was still her staunchest supporter when he wasn't chastising her for abandoning her baby boy. He never would have given up her, Aiden or the clan -- not without a lot of incentive.

“Missing pinky... Xanth, I feel sick.” Graeme had been tortured. Who knew how long he'd been at Thanatos' mercy -- and she had been completely unaware of the danger he was in because she'd thought it safer to cut off all contact with him until this was over. They'd abandoned all the safety protocols they'd put in place to protect them all, but that just meant she wasn't there when Graeme needed her.

Maaike turned to Aiden, clutching at his sleeve frantically, staring up at him with wide, scared eyes. “Aiden, he knows everything.” He wouldn't willingly give Thanatos anything that would endanger Maaike or Sammy, but people like Thanatos had ways of getting that information, anyway. Graeme wasn't the strongest physically, but even if he was capable of withstanding torture, Thanatos was a freaking telepath. There were dangers to rooting around in someone's brain like that, especially with humans, but Thanatos wouldn't care if he left Graeme a blubbering vegetable.

The spy chuffed bitterfly as the pack moved in sync, barking orders and bobbing off to thicken defenses. Dioghna and Ellery stayed where they were, snarling and glowering their concern, and keeping the spy effectively trapped against the tree. “And you wonder why I didn't even think about fighting? Thanatos is a monster. He wouldn't think twice about sending my wife to me in tiny pieces.” The spy scoffed, thunking his head back against the tree, then shot forward and glared darkly at Aiden. “And you. You think you're helping? All you're doing is pissing him off!”

[Aiden]

He barely knew Graeme. The human was always busy with the trading partnership, so they didn't have many opportunities to talk while in Greenview. Even so, Aiden held the human in high regard. When the two first met, Aiden had been backstabbed by the guard, and Graeme was a deeply paranoid man who extended help based solely on Maaike's request. Aiden barely knew Graeme, but he knew that Graeme was a good person, and more supportive of Maaike than expected. And yet...they'd failed Graeme. Was their friend even still alive?

Face turning stony as he imagined Graeme's suffering, Aiden placed a hand on Maaike's shoulder. He tried to be reassuring, but his hand just felt heavy and useless. What use was resolve and endurance against a telepath? Thanatos knew [u]everything[/i] and was aiming at Maaike's weaknesses. Sonofahydra's head. They'd flitted recklessly around Thanatos when the 'vari could've simply swatted them like flies.

As the spy's criticism sank in, Aiden listened to the hum of clan activity. Dioghna and Ellery were closely supportive of Maaike, and Niamh's fire still crackled softly. Eilisa was back in her squirrel form and scurrying up trees. Cain was reporting details of their caravan raid to one of the elders. Rowley and Bree were gone from the clearing, but they were probably scouting nearby. Like the Guard, the clan operated upon a system in which everyone knew their roles. They'd withstood Thanatos' first attack, and they'd hopefully withstand more.

Squeezing Maaike's shoulder, Aiden's brows furrowed as he looked into her eyes uncertainly. What if all they'd done was for naught? Should they give up while their lives were still intact? Convince the clan to escape to Dardanos? But what about Graeme? The corrupted Guard? The therian slaves?

Pulling on his experiences from the Guard, Aiden inhaled and counted to ten before turning to look sternly at the spy. For once, they had a lead on Thanatos. He'd learn all he could before determining their next step. “You wanted us to follow you somewhere. Why?”

The spy started to cross his arms mulishly, but when Dioghna snapped mere inches from his face, the therian yelped and scooted back into the tree again. Averting his eyes, the spy seemingly deflated as he spoke listlessly. “We have more people waiting down the path. If you two showed up, we were supposed to bring you to Thanatos dead or alive.”

“How many? Any other therians?” Aiden pressed. The clan had regrouped by now. If they could scout ahead, they may be able to reverse the ambush and find more information from their attackers.

“You're really?--” the man started with an 'are you stupid' tone--“Fine. Your clan killed a lot of the invaders, but about nine got away. I'm the only therian. The others are mostly rutilus. Two anyeli. Varius will be the worst—she's an aurumus.”

Should they evacuate the area, or confront their would-be ambushers? Either way, they needed to act quickly. Glancing questioningly toward Ellery, Aiden saw the older man nod in acknowledgement and run to speak to Rioghain.

[Maaike]

Ambushes were the territory of the Faeth, and Sullivan wolves were well practised in using the forest against their prey before they ever reached puberty. Aiden didn't even have to say anything about turning the tables on their attackers before Ellery was off to plot with Rioghain, and soon the clan was melting back into the shadows and the trees. They would be sneak through the forest in the direction the spy had given, taking up positions around the wannabe ambushers. That none of their opponents were Therian worked in their favour, despite the presence of Rutili; those muscle-bound brawn-heads might be better in close quarters or on a proper battlefield, but no one was better at guerilla warfare than the Therians.

Maaike turned a scowl on the spy and bent to grab him by the arm, hauling him to his feet. Dioghna stayed close, quiet and watchful. Maaike shoved the spy towards the ambush so he could see a real clan in action and realise that he'd done himself no favours. “If your family dies, it's because you trusted a psychopath to keep his word instead of going to your clan for help like a good little boy.” He scowled and jerked in her grip, yanking her arm almost out of the socket and making her hiss with pain. Maaike slammed him into the nearest tree head first as Dioghna loosed a growl that was all the more menacing for how quiet it was. He squawked and cupped his hands over a bloodied nose, glaring at her over the top of his fingers through watery eyes.

Maaike's scowl darkened as she rubbed at her shoulder. “Aiden, would you mind escorting this piece of taroch dung to the party?” Dioghna whuffed a laugh and shook her furry body right out to the tip of her tail — her wolf's equivalent of a derisive headshake meant to question exactly why her granddaughter was sassing instead of getting on with it. Maaike wrinkled her nose at the animal and moved on.

By the time they got to where the raiders had set up for their own ambush, the fight was over. Dioghna whined and flattened her ears in disappointment, trotting off to snuffle at Ellery's bloody fingers. Maaike rolled her eyes. “I'm starting to question just how bloodthirsty my Grams is.” She didn't get much further in that line of thought — or in finding someone alive to question — when something screeched in the branches over her head. Before Maaike knew it, she had an armful of fur and monkey's cheek pressed to her own that quickly turned smooth and pale and human.

“Mama! Mama! You're okay, you're okay! Matt said you'd be okay because you weren't here and Rowan said you wouldn't be coming back because you never come back for ages but I knew you'd come back and save us!” Sammy was talking too fast to really hear half of what he said, but Maaike's chest gave a pang of guilt anyway, even as she made a mental note to find this Rowan and swat his backside for scaring her baby boy. She glanced over Sammy's head to give Aiden a sheepish grin because she hadn't actually done much of the saving, cuddling her baby boy close to her chest and nuzzling his hair. She spat out a twig and frowned, wanting to tell her kid he spent way too much time in the trees, but told him instead, “You did good, baby boy. You did so good hiding like that.” He nodded and babbled about something how one of the older kids had wanted to help fight even though the grown-ups said no, but Sammy had been good and done what Grams had taught him. Maaike squeezed him tighter, trying to blink away tears of relief, and let all the worry wash away with her son's words.

OOC: I have this idea that Maaike will put Sammy down to deal with a ruckus of some sort, and when they turn back the spy has Sammy by the throat. But I didn't want to get too far ahead, so I'll leave it here for now.

[Aiden]

Letting go of Maaike as she confronted the spy, Aiden stepped to the side and checked for any sudden movements. He couldn't see any outlines of weaponry under the spy's clothing, although decent shapeshifters wouldn't need any weapons. Attacking them was probably the dumbest thing that the spy could do, but desperate people were prone to the craziest ideas. At Maaike's request, Aiden nodded and stepped to the front of their small group, leaving Maaike and Dioghna with the duty of pushing the traitor along the path.

As they neared the radius of the ambush site, Aiden spotted some areas where the raiders would have been waiting for them. The trees were thick with leaves, and the ground dipped in various places where stealthier people could hide. An skotadi lay on the ground, unmoving, and her wings were riddled with talon marks. Seemed like she'd taken a long fall. A nearby bush sizzled with fire and the smell of burnt flesh. Hands outstretched toward the flame, Niamh drew it back to herself before nodding grimly in greeting. Not far away, Bree tended to the gash in the side of one of their clansmen. Other than the scuff marks covering her arms, Bree seemed to have left the fight without injuries. Aiden would have scanned the crowd of clanspeople for the rest of his 'team', except a sudden screech erupted from over their heads.

The boy was uncannily gifted at concealing himself, but that was good. The bandits hadn't found Sammy. As Maaike wrapped her son into a hug, relief seemed to loosen all the stiffness from her body. Even Dioghna adopted a wolf-grin as she looked up at the pair. Letting the family have their well-deserved reunion-time, Aiden took the spy by the arm and dragged him toward the rest of the clan. One of them---his name was Kasper?---was rummaging through one of the raider's gear for possible clues. “Hey Aiden. Take a look at this.” In Kasper's outstretched hand was a pendant and what looked like a common house key.

Without better clues, the key might not lead them anywhere. Regardless, Aiden nodded in thanks and took the items. “Thanks. Did you find any ID on--”

A piercing whistle cracked through the air, and Aiden was thrown into a tree before he could respond. The cloth on his back scorched with heat where the blast of light had hit him in the right shoulderblade. Yelling, Aiden grasped for the empty space where the spy had been knocked out of his grasp, but another whistling sound signaled for him to swivel for cover. The beam tore a layer of bark off of the tree that guarded Aiden. Based on the light's trajectory, the anyeli was on the ground but moving quickly.

“Thought he was dead!” “Where?” “Fan out!”

Damn.

[Maaike]

With Sammy snuggling his face into her neck, Maaike cupped the back of his head with one hand to keep from getting too curious about all the blood and signs of destruction, and curled her free arm under his butt to hold him up around her waist. She didn't want to let go of him, refused to let go of him — but then a burst of white-hot swept by her, all but singing the hairs on her arms. She didn't have time to so much as duck or dive for cover, barely twisting her upper body to sway Sammy away from the worst of the blast, before her brain caught on to what happened and she was shrieking Aiden's name.

Maaike glanced around for cover and to get a better idea where the attack was coming from as the rest of the clan scuttled into action and shouted over each other. Sammy was shivering and whimpering but he was being quiet about it — too quiet to be healthy, really, but he knew better than most what could happen if he gave himself away. Maaike wanted nothing more than to dash to Aiden's side and check on him, back him up, but she couldn't just set him down to fend for himself so she scurried to put her back to a tree and set him down, keeping a grip on his hand so she could peek around the thick trunk. She saw a flash of grey fur — probably Dioghna — and heard the swoosh of a flame, but she couldn't catch a glimpse of the Apali even with her gaze on the canopy.

And then — there, a flash of white right over Ellery's head. Maaike cried a warning but his attention was on the bushes ahead of him. Maaike flung herself across the clearing, taking her grandpa with her into a thicket of bushes and trusting that Sammy would know to get back up into the trees out of sight.

A beam of dazzling light seared across the tall grasses where Ellery had just been standing, smouldering a trail of ashes ten feet long. Ellery rolled one way, Maaike the other, coming up to the tree where Aiden had taken cover. Before the Apali could attack Ellery again, he was scampering up the nearest tree trunk in a monkey form not unlike Sammy's, except with silvering fur and slower limbs.

“Hey.” Maaike's greeting was a trembling sigh as she twisted around to get a look at Aiden, terrified of what she'd find. She tried for a smile that wobbled into a shaky grimace, reaching out to gentle his shirt aside to see the damage. “You're such a Big Baby,” she teased even as her fingers shook all the more. At least the wound was cauterised; by their very nature, Apali wounds meant no risk of bleeding out, but Maaike couldn't tell if she should be relieved or if the crozzled edges of the injury were more cause for alarm.

Niamh's scream cut through her internal debate on what to do. Maaike whipped around, searching automatically for the flame-bright trail of her mother's hair. When she came up against Sammy dangling from the spy's arm where it curled over her baby boy's throat, claws tucking into Sammy's soft skin, Maaike felt all the blood drain from her face. She shot upright, staggering in dizzy horror, and whimpered out a, “No,” and a weak “Don't.”

OOC: Please, please tell me if I'm not taking my posts far enough. I don't want to push too far and not give you chance to input, but I also don't want you to feel like you're doing all the work.

Also, HAPPY CHRISTMAS!!!!

[Aiden]

Hands shaking as they involuntarily reached for the burn on his shoulder, Aiden hissed sharply as his fingers grazed over cauterized skin. Craning his neck, he tried searching for the escaped spy even as another beam of light shot past him and nearly hit the monkey-formed Ellery. Despite the pain, Aiden pressed his back against the tree to provide a smaller target to the anyeli. Part of it was also to make room for Maaike, whose hands shook as she reached for the frayed cloth on his back. Before she could get a good look at the wound, he leaned out of reach with a wavering smile. “Was I--”

A chorus of howls signaled that their clansmen found the anyeli. Stray beams of light seared through the trees during the skirmish as the apali desperately fended against multiple therian forms. However, the noise was quickly cut short by a sharper scream that drew all warmth from Aiden's face. Jolting to a crouch, his eyes darted toward the source of the scream, then toward the squirming figure in the spy's arms. The bundle of light brown fur faded into a small child.

“Stop moving, son...” the spy panted as he shook his hostage. The claws tightened minutely—just enough to form an indentation that frightened Sammy into stillness. Damnit, they'd thought the apalos was the bigger threat.

Lifting both hands as a gesture of peace, Aiden lowered his chin as he pushed kindness into his voice. Though Aiden tried to look unphased, his heart pounded with each whimper that came out of Sammy. The spy had been so quick to grab Sammy and retreat from the fight. Even Dioghna, who was still in wolf form, was too far for a surprise lunge. “Let's just talk this---”

“No.” Though frazzled, the spy's eyes were calculative as they darted to where his anyeli comrade struggled under the weight of therians. His eyes narrowed in warning toward Niamh, who had taken a cautious step forward. “All of you, back away, and release the apalos.”

He didn't have the authority, but he took the offer immediately. “Done. We'll trade for the boy and leave.” Anything to get out of this Hellish situation.

“No. You care more about this boy than I do about my partner there,” the spy tilted his head in challenge as his free hand tightened around the boy's wrist, “We know Thanatos' orders. If I must leave the apalos behind, then so be it. But I don't think you want to hear this boy's bones crack as we negotiate to that point.”

[Maaike]

Maaike edged closer, shuffling sideways, nudging up onto her toes to minimise the noise her feet made as she stepped over old leaves. She let Aiden talk, let him keep the spy's focus so she could inch ever closer to her son, and for one shining moment imagined what their life could have been if Sammy had always had a father like Aiden instead of Ashton.

She drew up short with a sharp gasp when the spy's claws dug in to Sammy's vulnerable neck, slapping a hand over her mouth to push back a sob of despair. All these years she'd been so careful not to bring this crap back home to her family, and it had followed her anyway. Sammy deserved better. Maaike's parents deserved better, too, but it was the wet sheen of tears in her baby boy's eyes and the way he gritted his teeth to hold back his whimpers that made her want to cry in his place. She should be angry. She needed to get angry, to use it against this abusive asshole the way she'd taken out so many goons to date, but her hands were trembling violently and her knees were weak, and all she could think was, “Xanth, please not my baby.”

“But I don't think you want to hear this boy's bones crack as we negotiate to that point.”

Maaike barely held in her sob, and it caught in the back of her throat like bile when Sammy whined, tiny claws scrabbling at the vlareon's hands, and looked right at her. “Mama!”

The spy realised that Sammy was starting to change, and squeezed all the harder, hissing right into Sammy's ear. “Don't even think about it, squirt.” Sammy choked and gasped for air, but the spy was wild-eyed and didn't even seem to notice the claw marks in his forearm where Sammy was frantically trying to worm free. “I don't wanna have to kill you, kid, but. I. Will.” Sammy's face turned purple to prove his point and Maaike jolted forward on a half scream.

“Don't!” She drew up short when the spy turned those frantic eyes on her, whipping up her hands, palms flat towards him to show supplication. She whimpered in the back of her throat when she met Sammy's eyes, trying to tell him silently not to be scared, that she wasn't going to let anything bad happen to him, that he was so brave, and that he should do what the man said until she could get him free. “We're not—We won't d-do anything. You can have the Apalos. It's all—it's all good.”

Dioghna's wolf snarled in fury. Maaike shook her head. “It's okay, Grams. It's fine. He'll give Sammy back if we let him take the Apalos. Right?”

The spy smirked. Maaike felt like she was missing something, worried that he was going to snatch Sammy anyway, but the clan was scattered all through the forest by now. He wouldn't get far. She'd just have to hope this incident didn't traumatise Sammy any more than he already was. “Right.”

So the Apalos was let up and made a great show of brushing himself off, and then wandered off into the trees as if he expected the spy to follow. The spy backed away from Maaike and Aiden with Sammy dangling from his arm like a limp rag doll. Maaike held her breath because this was it—this was the moment of truth. He'd either give Sammy back, or he'd be torn apart by the clan.

They reached the edge of the clearing, Maaike tentatively inching along after them. The spy gave her a sardonic smile, arm loosening as if he was getting ready to let Sammy plop to the ground. Maaike couldn't tell if Sammy was unconscious—Xanth, no— or biding his time, but it looked a lot like he was cataconic and that scared her more than all of Thanatos's men combined.

And then the Apalos whipped around, white wings flaring like stark banners in the forest gloom, and a flare of light blinded Maaike just enough that she missed the next bit. The heat of a blast of light hitting too close to her feet had her diving for comfort, screaming Sammy's name, and huddling under her arms for useless cover against the sudden barrage. When she looked again, the spy was gone, the tree canopy rustling violently as the clan went after him, but the Apalos and Sammy were gone, too, and there was a gaping hole where the trees had been blasted away and the sun streamed through. That flying rat vlareon had taken her son.

OOC: I was thinking the Therian would be too easy for a clan to catch, so it made more sense to me for the Apalos to fly him away. Harder to track, too, but they could catch the spy and beat Thanatos's location out of him instead?

[Aiden]

When the vlareon threatened Sammy directly, Aiden couldn't suppress a harsh intake of breath. The coward was already using Sammy as a shield, and was now traumatizing the child further. Sammy was too small to fight back. Fear distracted the spy so much that he was oblivious to his suffocating hostage—didn't flinch even as Sammy's tiny claws gouged his arm.

Inhaling, Aiden tried to regain control of the conversation. “Think hard on what you're doing...you're letting Thanatos manipulate you.” He stared intently at the traitor as Maaike pleaded for her child. Slowly, the spy looked from Maaike to Aiden, and for a brief second, the cold expression wavered---not from uncertainty, as Aiden had hoped, but resigned anguish.

“--we won't d-do anything. You can have the Apalos. It's all...”

Aiden had also agreed on the offer, but as Maaike affirmed the trade, his hands shook with unease. Watching steadily as the apalos wrenched his arm out of a clansmember's grip, Aiden's eyes narrowed when the apalos met his gaze, then Maaike's, with a sneer. Ignoring Dioghna's menacing growl, the apalos and the spy retreated further out of the clearing. They outnumbered their enemies, yet the other side seemed too confident. Keeping pace with the retreating spy, Aiden bent his knees in case he needed to dart to Sammy. The boy seemed to have lost all will to fight—wasn't even looking at Maaike or Aiden, and that made Aiden want to shout out. We're not letting you go, Sammy. Please believe in us.

But what good was belief against a real explosion?

Diving for Maaike at the apalos' first sign of treachery, Aiden huddled with her and could only hope that the blasts would miss their vitals. One of the beams grazed his arm before fanning out toward others in the clan. As soon as the blinding light died out, Aiden realized that the apalos, spy, and Sammy were gone. With a growl, he leaned forward to claim his leopard form...

...and collapsed into the dirt. Spasming in between states, the muscles of Aiden's face rippled under his skin. His forms fought for dominance, and Aiden screamed wordlessly as new bones tore into his skin only to disappear in seconds. His spine cracked at some point. Shutting his eyes to focus, Aiden attempted to visualize paws and feline eyes again, but he gained nothing (except the strain of his collarbone clicking back into place, the sting as previously exposed phalanges retreated back into human flesh...). Caught in agony, his senses still latched onto a simultaneously sweet and pungent smell.

As the majority of clanspeople crumpled forward, howling and struggling in various states of transformation, Niamh ran ahead defiantly. Screeching for Sammy as she spotted a flash of white wings, the nereid fired multiple blasts of fire that lit up the canopy. A few therians had luckily been in their forms before the attack, and the forest broke into a cacophony of screeches as they leapt or flew to recover the boy.

Lying sideways with his arms curled around his knees, Aiden gasped for air. He strained his neck to check on Maaike. Gods, the Apalos had aimed straight at her. Vision blurry as his iris battled between amber and green, he barely recognized the shape of a pale osprey. Not Maaike, but---“Go after Sammy. Don't try to change shape.”

[Maaike]

Maaike's arm was smoking where she'd thrown it up to protect her head, soft tendrils steaming up off her skin and into the humid air of the forest. She should probably get that looked at.

A shoulder jostled her, tipping her world forward and back again as her body reflexively sprung back into its pole-straight stance on wide-braced feet. Part of Maaike's brain tried to track who the shoulder belonged to as Sullivans darted forward en masse to track the men who took her baby, but her eyes refused to move from their fixed hundred-yard stare at the spot where Sammy had disappeared. That same part of her brain -- the survivor, the instinct, the fighter -- pulled snippets of scent and sound together to knit a picture of carnage. People were yelling, orders and countermands. Some were screaming as control of the shift was torn away from them. Anyone who tried to change was brought hard to the ground, bones and muscles snapping back in wrenching pain. Maaike had only escaped the effects of the wolfsbane -- had to be, nothing else could bring down a clan mid-shift like that -- because she'd been too frozen to shift herself.

An echo of Sammy's name filtered through Maaike's ears in a twisted version of her mother's voice, deformed by shock and a grey haze of confusion, as Niamh chased off into the forest, cutting down trees with a swathe of fire that went against everything the Nymphs had ever taught about Balance. The desperation in her mother's movements and screams made something in Maaike twitch, her fingertips spasming until her nails grazed her palms, but her brain wasn't quite ready to switch back on. She was vaguely aware of the dull burn of singed hairs and skin over most of the arm that was smoking, a near-numbness that tingled all the way up her shoulder and across half of her back, but it was Sammy. He was gone. She'd lost him, and she couldn't -- she wasn't --

Tears stung at her smoke-strained eyes, at the wash of white where she'd stared too long at an Apali's light. She wasn't blind but the forest was washed out and blurred, only slowly resolving back into the familiar shapes of trees and leaves and family. She heard Aiden's voice somewhere close but it was strained and short, commanding. She wasn't sure why she was so surprised, really. He'd been a Guard before she met him, had earned a respect all of his own. He let her lead, let her run roughshod all over him, but that wasn't because he didn't have a backbone. She'd known that, she'd admired his ability to lead when the going got tough. Hearing him take charge now was like cool water over a burn.

A shadow fell over her. Maaike lifted her gaze but her eyes wouldn't move. The blurred-out white shape slowly morphed into her grandfather, warped sounds growing familiar. “Maaike. Maaike! For Xanth's sake, girl.” He rolled his eyes and pulled back. Maaike saw his fist and that survivalist part of her brain tried to duck, tried to dodge. It hit her full force under the jaw, jolting her head back. She staggered two steps away and mewled, hands coming up to clutch her jaw. By the time she was upright again, her scowl was back in place and she hissed past tears she'd blame on pain.

Ellery pursed his lips and arched his eyebrows. “You're back. Good. Get a grip.” He cuffed her up the side of the head -- tried to, at least, because Maaike managed to get her body under her control this time and side-stepped easily, just like when she was a kid dodging his tickle fights. His lips twitched up at the corners in a half-smile of nostalgia and acknowledgement, then pulled back down as he scanned her head to toe and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “We've got birds in the air tracking the Apalos. He is not getting away.”

Maaike nodded, wincing as the damage to her arm and back made itself known. She wanted little more than to curl up and cry for her baby boy, but she scanned the clearing for the people she loved instead. The Apali's beams had scorched down trees that had stood for hundreds of years. There were half-shifted corpses burned beyond recognition. Maaike grew ever more frantic until she spotted Aiden, then dropped heavily to her knees at his side. “Aiden. Aiden? Oh, Xanth.” He didn't seem too badly injured, but wolfsbane could be damaging -- as if the loss of bodily autonomy wasn't bad enough. He'd at least recognised it for what it was, at least. Too many Therians tried to force the shift even after the onset of pain, rupturing organs and tearing muscles that would never heal by themselves. It looked like Aiden had stopped as soon as he realised he'd been dosed. He should be fine once it wore off, but she reached out to pet through his hair anyway. “You're okay. You're all right.” Because he had to be. Maaike couldn't lose him and Sammy in one day.

Dioghna snarled, garbled and muffled with her fangs around the meat of the spy's thigh as she dragged him into the clearing. He was crying openly, his fingers splayed and petrified in the shape of half-formed claws as if in rigor mortis. Mottled feathers had sprouted around his face and merged into his hair, his pupils wider, his knees bent the wrong way. He'd tried to shift into a bird to follow the Apalos and got caught by the wolfsband.

Maaike slowly stood, putting her body in front of Aiden's like a shield, her own fingers curling even though she daren't try to even partially shift for fear of the 'bane. Her head tipped back a little bit so she could scowl at him down her nose, a gleeful smirk twitching at her lips despite the cold in her eyes. “Looks like you've been abandoned to your fate, traitor.”

[Aiden]

The osprey took off—a blur of black and white among the forest's greens and reds. Vision wavering as he struggled to breathe, Aiden closed his eyes as skeletal structures flashed through his mind, dragging him toward shapes he no longer wished to take. Dirt and dust settled on his parched lips with each long breath. His lungs need to fit the correct ribcage. Shaking his head only made the spinning worse, but he had to forget the leopard. Wolfsbane ran its course more easily if the mind didn't think so much about how to shift. A shout, and then a string of murmurs. He tried to listen, but everything was muffled. The poison had stolen his ability as if he were a pup re-learning how to shift. Footsteps pounded on the ground. Maaike's voice murmured his name, and he involuntarily curled toward her as she gently ran her fingers over his hair. Her voice was a soothing anchor to Aiden, but it sounded so sad. Blinking blearily, Aiden patted a twisted hand upon her foot. She shouldn't have to worry on his behalf. Sammy was in greater danger, and Aiden was afraid to imagine the worst. If the fighting became tough and the Apalos dropped the child, or if they lost---NO. The clan would get to Sammy in time. Xanth wouldn't be so cruel.

A wolfish snarl signaled Dioghna's return, and her quarry scrabbled at the trees, futilely, as he was forced back into the clearing. Partially-formed keratin clacked on the traitor's lips as he babbled at his captor. Skin and feathers speckled the spy's face, and it came off in flakes as he shook in fear. The spy had also inhaled the wolfsbane, and obviously the Apalos didn't care enough to wait up. There was no honor between the teammates, and Aiden was grimly grateful for that. Rolling painfully into a seated position, Aiden watched as Ellery strode toward his wife and the spy.

Tangling his fingers into the fur at the wolf's shoulderblades, Ellery crouched to the spy's level. His face tilted at an angle that enhanced the shadows beneath his brows, and the glint in his eyes was anything but benign. This sniveling piece of scum had hurt his clan, and now he'd endangered Sammy too. Ellery might not have his wife's fangs, but the menace in his expression was enough to pin the spy into stillness. “Speak now. Where is the apali taking Sammy?”

Dark pupils expanding, the spy shook his head in protest. His beaked lip clattered as he attempted a weak response. “Mby fambily--”

Voice sharp and pitiless now, Ellery leaned forward until he was mere inches from the spy's face. “You are useless to Thanatos now. Your family is going to be shipped into slavery. They will be branded and separated. By not telling us everything you know, you are guaranteeing your family to that fate. Understand?”