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Draxuz crashed through bushes as he ran, trying his hardest to lose his newest pursuers. True to the Emperor's word, he had set a bounty on him so high that even the mightiest of hunters had been on him. On those few occasions, he had managed to teleport himself away. Far away. He knew they would not give up though.

His sensitive ears heard the twang of another bow. He used his magic again to increase his reflexes, rolling to his left and getting back to his feet without losing speed. He growled as he kept running. It had been six years. Six very long, tiring years of running. He dodged around another tree, where three arrows sunk deep into it.

Draxuz continued to run, despite being short on breath and almost completely depleted of his magic. His vision swam, he started to see two and three of the trees and rocks ahead of him. He shook his head, trying his hardest to to clear his sight so he could go on. He opened his eyes just in time to run right into a tree. He stepped back, his paw rubbing over his muzzle as he tried again to clear his vision.

His canine ears caught the whistle of another arrow taken to flight, so he dived to the side, and took to running again. He began to stumble a bit as he ran, his sense of balance leaving him. He raised his arms above him as he burst through some brambles only to find himself falling down a steep hill. He rolled over and bounced over small trees and stones as he fell, finally coming to rest a little ways away from the hill against a tree.

He groaned as he tried to stand, but he only made it to his knees, his left arm useless at his side. He looked it over, unsure if it was broken or just pulled from its socket. Blood freely ran down his arm in places and dripped from his hand onto the ground. He could see pieces of rock and sticks tangled in his exposed fur, and a rock that was embedded into his upper arm through his shirt.

He slowly rose to his feet and looked around, hearing nothing around him he decided to try to move off. His first few steps were extremely painful, his face cringing with each step, but he continued on and eventually got used to the pain. He carefully picked his way through the trees, taking care to keep from getting near any of the larger trees and their roots that would easily make him lose his balance.

He stumbled along until he couldn't walk anymore. He leaned up against the tree with his right shoulder, resting his head against the rough bark. He knew that they would catch him soon. This time he was going to be caught.. No. If it came to that, he was going to use the last of his life to take as many as he could with them. Pressing past the pain, he stood a little straighter as he pulled away from the tree, just in time to hear a twig snap behind him. He froze, not wanting to look behind him, knowing that he was caught. He slowly turned to face his foe, staring directly into the face of another wolf, twice his size. His fur completely white, with a black spot covering his muzzle, his right ear was a stub, apparently lost in battle somewhere. He smirked at Draxuz as he walked closer, drawing his sword.

"Boy, we can do this one of two ways. You come with me peacefully, and you will live to see the Emperor. You resist, you die, and you still get to see the Emperor. Either way, you are coming with me. And before you threaten me with your magic, I already know you have used all of yours, you can barely stand." He reached behind him with his free paw as he kept walking toward him, pulling out a leather collar with several jewels embedded into it. Draxuz kept backing away until he nearly stumbled over the roots of a tree behind him. He looked back, seeing his way blocked and returned his attention to his enemy.

Draxuz reached out with his right arm, palm open toward the wolf. The wolf's smile broadened at seeing Draxuz do this and nearly closed the distance. Draxuz focused every ounce of his power into one last attack. Time seemed to slow for him again as ropes of blue lightning came from his shoulder, spiraling their way down his arms opposite of each other, both combining into his palm in a ball of energy. After what seemed like minutes passed for Draxuz, he released the lightning, lashing out and slamming the other wolf full in the chest, sending him flying backwards before the bolt of lightning burst through his back and tore through some trees. The wolf crashed to the ground and lay motionless, the hole in his chest smoking, filling the air with the smell of burnt hair and skin.

Draxuz fell to his knees, his vision swimming as he tried desperately to hold on to consciousness. He fought with his eyes, trying to keep them open as he saw two more figures walk out behind some trees to the sides, their bows drawn taught with arrows ready. He tried to focus his energy again, but only accomplished starting a quiet coughing fit, and spitting up blood. Glaring at the figure to the left in defiance, his eyes rolled up into the back of his head and he fell backwards, his world going dark.

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At a stream not far away, a globe of water rises with the whispers of magic, hovering in the air a good three feet off the ground. A purple paw reaches toward it with an open water skin, the young wolfess closing her yellow eyes as she concentrates on the translucent orb, pulling at a small part of it and dragging it down along the air as if it were flowing down a funnel and into her water skin. After filling the skin, her white muzzle draws up in a smile, lowering what was left of the globe into the creek as she turned about on her heels, a soft breeze swirling her pale blue dress around her feet as she walks away, putting the stopper back in its place.

Slowly walking along the trail, she spotted a small blue flower with a yellow center. Smiling a little brighter, she bent down and plucked the flower from the ground and placed it in her silver hair near her left ear. She hummed to herself as she made her way back up the trail, which led uphill through some brush to a small clearing, which held the entrance to a cave.

She had no real idea why she was here, other than her magic had led her to this point. She had been here for 4 days. She had looked around and had made every attempt to find something that would have brought her to this place, but she had not been successful in revealing anything, so she had tried to leave. The pain and sickness that the magic had washed over her had quickly changed her mind of that thought.

She sighed as she looked around her. She enjoyed being out in nature, she loved the scents from the different flowers and trees, and loved the many different colors that bloomed here and there. She just couldn't figure out for the life of her why she was being held captive here, by her own magic. She shook her head and slowly made her way back to the mouth of the cave.

She stopped suddenly, her ears perked up as she caught a sound. To her, it almost sounded like a yelp, but she couldn't be sure. Then she caught the faint sounds of something crashing through twigs and leaves. Her ears swiveled in different directions, her eyes searching, looking for what could be making the noise. She ran to the edge of the clearing, her eyes darting back and forth, looking through the limbs and brush, trying to see. She finally caught someone rolling down the nearby hill, before she lost sight of him through another layer of trees. She turned back to the mouth of the cave, calling on her power and called her staff to her open, outstretched paw. It trembled slightly where it leaned against the rock wall, then suddenly launched away and smacked into her paw. Closing her clawed fingers around it, she spun around and darted back down the trail, her face showing absolute focus. She wasn't sure who it was that had fallen down the hill like that, but she was certain that he was going to need her help.

She looked off toward the hill, trying to keep track of where she was going and trying to see if she could spot whomever it was she was racing off to help. She looked back to the trail in time to see the trail split off to the right, and she darted down that path. Her hair and dress flowed behind her as she kept up her speed, darting around small low lying limbs and roots. She came to a stop at the bottom of the hill, looking back and forth, trying desperately to figure out which way she needed to go.

She caught the muffled sounds of someone talking, and took off in that direction. As the voices got louder, the area ahead of her suddenly lit up a bright blue, and a large white wolf went flying backwards, a bolt of lightning cutting through his chest and devastating the trees behind him. She slid to a stop, her eyes wide as she stared at the body, mortified. She saw another figure coming out from around another tree, heading in the direction that the body came from. She slipped behind a tree and stood there, panting from her exertion.

She gripped her staff tightly as she worked out in her mind what she should do. She remembered seeing the smaller silver form tumbling down the hill. She knew that it was highly plausible that he caused the lightning and that he was trying to fend off people who were hunting him. But it could be just as well that he was an evil person that deser-. Suddenly, her magic coursed through her, causing her head to begin aching like she had been hit full on by someone large with a huge club. She fell to her knees as she tried to fight it off, pressing through the pain to remember what she was thinking beforehand. She finally thought to herself that she had to help the person when the magic lifted its grip on her.

She shook it off, panting hard as she got her self back under control. She pulled herself back up to her feet, unsteady at first, but quickly regaining her balance. She looked back around the tree, spotting a second figure, both with bows drawn and pulled taught, with an arrow bearing down on the silver figure whom was laying on the ground. She steeled herself as she quickly and quietly moved from tree to tree, trying to get as close as possible. She managed to work her way around the trees, and end up a short distance behind them. She was close enough to hear them talking between each other, both seemingly oblivious to her presence.

"We should just kill him now, instead of him getting better and killing us both! The money his dead body would bring will set us for life." One growled to the other.

"Oh, shut it. I say we take him alive. The bounty for that will buy us our own island and enough slave girls to keep us entertained for the rest of our lives. Now, go get that collar so we can get going before it gets dark."

The one closest to her lowered his bow with a huff and turned towards her hiding spot to go retrieve the collar. She hid back behind the tree as he spun around, her breathing quickening as she tried to come up with a plan to stop these two and get to the other wolf that was laying on the ground unconscious.

She listened to the crunching of leaves and twigs until she was certain that the cat was just beside her and spun around the tree, her staff tucked in to her forearm. The cat jumped in surprise as she cleared the tree, the staff catching him across the face and sending him stumbling backwards as his partner behind him spun around with his bow pulled tight, arrow to string. She reached out with her power, drying out a small section of the top portion of the bow, just above the handle. The bow snapped, slamming down with a great amount of force and slapping the cat across the top of its muzzle. The cat dropped the bow and reached up to rub his muzzle as she ran toward the feline. He looked up just in time to get the staff slammed across the side of his head.

She spun around, her staff spinning and locking itself around her back. The feline she had struck first was stumbling, trying to get back up to face her. She smiled wickedly, calling onto her power more heavily, which caused her eyes to glow a bright blue. The feline's eyes widened in terror, threw down his bow and quiver, and ran off. She glared back to the other feline, which layed motionless. Dropping her smile and use of magic, she quickly spun back around and dropped to her knees next to the silver wolf.

She looked again at the prone shape of the cat, ensuring that he wasn't moving before gazing curiously at the figure below her. He was not very big, with short silver fur and short hair, his lower muzzle, neck, and inner arms all were white. She gently laid her head down on his chest, and was happy to hear the beat of his heart still going strong. She smiled a little as she raised back up, gently reaching out and stroking his cheek with her thumb. She got back to her feet, looking around before spotting two small gum trees about the size of her wrists in diameter, and about 7 feet long each. She concentrated her power again, pushing all the fluids from the very bottom of the trees toward the top, causing them to snap cleanly at the base. She then drained the fluids from each small limb and they too fell off.

The poles floated over to her, laying down on either side of the silver wolf. She dropped back down and gently pulled his legs out from under him, laying him out flat on his back. She picked up one leg, then the other, pulling the makeshift poles under them, then rolling his torso around enough to allow the poles to lay down his back. After finally getting him positioned where she wanted him, she realized she needed rope. She looked around but saw no thick vines to use, then spied the downed feline. She carefully walked over to him, pressing his side in a little with the end of her staff. Satisfied he was still out cold, she dropped down and began going through his things, finally finding a small roll of rope.

She quickly went back to the wolf and tied his arms and legs around the poles, then stood back up to check her work. Under normal circumstances, she would find a different way to do this, but time was against her, and she didn't want to be anywhere near when this cat decided to wake back up. She stepped back a few feet from the wolf, gently bringing her paws out in front of her and closing her eyes, calling on her magic. Her eyelids glowed as she drew on her power, raising her paws as the two poles responded to her call. The poles lifted up to her waist before she opened her eyes and gripped the poles, her eyes still shining brightly. She shoved off toward the path that would lead them back to her cave, and hopefully, safety.

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Night had fallen by the time she had made it back to her cave. She had been careful to take paths that were very hard, so she wouldn't leave any prints in the ground that could be tracked back to them. When she had finally gotten him to the mouth of the cave, the poles were wavering around badly. It was all she could do to keep her hold on the magic long enough to gently set him to the ground. She sat out with him for a few minutes, trying to regain some of her strength. She knew she didn't have the magic power to move him inside the rest of the way, and after a few minutes, got up and pulled on the poles, taking him back a ways into the cave.

Once she had him settled near one of the walls, she removed the rope bindings and poles, gently laying them off to the side in case they were needed again. She noticed then that he had started shivering slightly, no doubt from shock, even in his unconscious state. She quickly went to her pack off to the side, rummaging through it until she found a bright blue blanket, and took it over to him, wrapping him up inside of it.

Sighing, she looked around at the walls, at all the multi colored gems that were embedded into the rock face. Shaking her head, too tired to really think about anything, she crawled up next to the wolf and laid next to him, slipping under the blanket to share body heat as she slipped into a deep and dreamless sleep.