A Game of Worlds and Chaos

Raina scrunched herself into a ball and settled into her position against the rocks. She sincerely hoped Neptune's friends would find them soon, or there was a very real possibility that Raina would get stuck in this position and be unable to uncurl... Raina winced at the thought.

Off in the distance, a twig snapped, the sound so loud it might as well have been a gunshot.

Raina stiffened. Had an ally or an enemy made that sound?

A twig snapped again, closer this time, and Raina heard the faint sound of voices.

"Ugh, all this dirt... How much longer?" someone complained.

Neptune stiffened. That wasn't exactly a mighty war cry of the British army, but any voice could signal that Neptune and Rain were doomed.

Raina tried to stay as still as possible, straining her ears for any other sound. Were the people coming this way?

Artemis

Artemis the wolf slowly approached Dakota, nosing at the binds on their wrist.

One of the mercenaries pulled out a gun. “Don’t worry, American. We’ll protect you.”

Dakota

Dakota had stopped screaming and was now frozen in place, motionless except for their eyes tracking wolf-Artemis's every move.

The other mercenary laughed harshly. "Leave the prisoner alone, igni. Though if you want Sawyer to pump you full of bullets, that's not my problem."

Artemis growled, completely frozen from her place right against Dakota's bonds. She nosed them again. Dakota had to understand. Artemis wasn't going to hurt them.

Sawyer clicked his revolver into place. "One wrong move, monster. And you're dying right where you stand."

Dakota stared at Artemis. Artemis as a human had been nice enough, but as a wolf... Well. How much control did Artemis have in wolf form? And Dakota still had to wrap their head around the fact that Artemis had just /transformed/ into an animal and was now being threated by mercenaries and did wolves eat people and-- wait. Artemis had aimed for Dakota's bonds. Was... was she trying to free them?

Sawyer took a step closer. "I'm warning you!"

Artemis was running out of time. She needed Dakota to calm down, or they would make everything worse. She nudged Dakota again.

Dakota tried to get their breathing under control. If Artemis had wanted to eat them or something, she'd have done it by now... Dakota stared at Artemis again and tried to convince themself that they could see a spark of intelligence and humanity in those wolf eyes. With a deep breath, Dakota held out their tied arms to Artemis.

Sawyer growled. "What are you doing? She'll rip you to pieces!"

Artemis bit down on the bonds and tugged until the rope tore, stumbling back.

Sawyer fired the gun with a sharp, "I warned you!"

Dakota gasped, wringing out their newly-freed hands and looking frantically between the mercenaries and Artemis. Did the shot hit?

Wincing at the dirt under their knees, Dakota crawled over to Artemis. "A-are you okay?"

Artemis felt the bullet hit her front thigh, just below her shoulder. She whimpered, crumbling to the floor for just a moment. Pain exploded through her like a blazing forest fire. She looked up at Dakota helplessly.

Sawyer grinned. "I hit it!"

The other mercenary nodded. "Yes, but you didn't kill it."

Sawyer's face crumpled into a frown. "Ugh, can't you celebrate my successes for once?"

Dakota watched Artemis fall and suddenly felt like throwing up. They'd never asked for an adventure in the wilderness like this, and who knew how far away it was to the nearest hospital or vet and there was dirt everywhere and oh shoot was the wound bleeding?