Agony

 Graea stepped out of the shed that housed the forge, blinking slightly in the daylight. Her eyes had quickly grown accustomed to the dim light afforded by the fires within. In her left hand an oiled rag was being drawn slowly over a scythe blade bringing a glinting sheen to the well polished and brutally sharp metal. Her ears perked towards the den. She could hear Naia arguing with her brother. "Get that out of here!" the human female was screaming. An 18 year old Solus suddenly bounded through the cave entrance in his lupus form howling with glee, his golden fur shimmering in the light. Dragged in his wake was a tree branch, covered in dead leaves and bugs and other such things all intended to rile his neat-freak eldest sister. Within the cave the soft, soothing voice of their mother could be heard trying to calm Naia, but their words were lost to distance and the breeze.

 Graea watched Solus bolt into the trees, vanishing from sight. A small smile played on her lips as she shook her head and sat down on the stump by the shed door. She picked up the scythe handle from the ground and began to slowly set the newly sharpened blade into place. She appeared lost in thought as she deftly wrapped the bindings into place, securing the curved metal and when it was done she set it down beside her and pulled her father's armband from her waistpouch. She gave it a few experimental stretches and smiled. Cleverly twisted and folded leather along with a rubbery substance made from tree sap had made the normally rigid leather band that held three brown feathers able extend and snap back to shape without breaking. Pride was clearly etched on her face. He would be so pleased. He did break it so often when he shifted.

 Suddenly the still calm of the forest was shattered by a horrifying howl. Solus's voice carried desperately on the wind, panic and fear etched into every tone. Before the sound had even registered in Graea's mind, instinct had wrenched her to her feet, dropping the leather band to the ground. She barely even noticed her shift, something deep inside taking over as she sprinted through the trees, first bare feet and then massive clawed paws hitting the ground in sure-footed strides as she quickly covered the distance between the den and the lunar pool where her father had been meditating. "Solus!" she cried, howling out a reply as she neared, golden ears perked for the boy's response. There was none.

 Snarling, Graea burst out into the clearing, a vicious glint in her eye as she scanned the area. Her muzzle lifted as she took in the scents around her... her father... Solus.... blood. She growled a low rattling sound. Solus's unconscious form lay beside the pool, blood staining his golden fur. With a furious roar, the huge crinos female stalked towards her brother, emerald gaze still searching... searching.... there was another scent. Evil mingled with fear, exhilaration mixed with panic. Then another howl came. This time deeper, louder. "Father!" she howled, darting into the trees on the other side of the clearing. The scent now was unmistakeable. Drow.

 It took mere seconds for Graea to find them. Four hooded drow surrounded her father's limp form now laid out on the ground. A fifth stood off to one side, his head back and his hands stretched out at his sides. Snarling and snapping her jaws, and without a second thought Graea ran at the group around her father. She launched off her massive hindlegs with her jaws open and her claws extended, hitting the nearest drow in the back. Her teeth sank deep into the side of his neck, even through his hood. Enormous paws folded around his shoulders, every movement of the raging female carefully calculated and executed. The drows head was wrenched easily from his neck with a sickening, wet tearing sound and he slumped to the ground with the golden wolf standing on him as she turned snarling to the others.

 Two of the remaining drow had by now unsheathed weapons, one a sword with an impressive and ornate curved, silver blade the other a long sickle. The third held his hands before him, cupped, as a small ball of blue light crackled and churned into existence. Graea's emerald eyes moved quickly from one to the other assessing them. She had all but forgotten the more discreet fifth standing off in the trees. Quickly determining the sword wielding drow as the most immediate threat, Graea pounced once more. A twisting roll of her body onto all fours brought her up beside him as a massive paw aimed at his throat. The sickle bearing male was equally fast though and as a huge golden paw closed around his companion's neck, he had sunk his curved blade deep into Graea's thigh, twisting his whole body to kick up at her chest.

 The kick would have had little impact if not so well timed. With a heavy grunt she stepped back, her rage not allowing her to feel the searing pain of the steel blade in her thigh, even as he slid it out and swung it again. Throwing the sword wielding drow aside she turned to dodge the sickle as it cut through the air towards her stomach. The fourth drow now turned a burning ball of energy between his hands and she became aware that he had not yet used it. An agile leap backwards meant that the sickle missed and she had time to assess the fourth male if only for a fraction of a second. The glowing ball left his hands and she tensed, but it was not aimed at her. Following its trajectory she was just in time to see it stun the golden lupus wolf that was running towards them and Solus fell once more.

 An enraged howl left her throat and a red mist clouded her vision for a brief moment, suddenly all else was forgotten and her sole focus was the drow who had cast. That was her first mistake. The sickle cut deeply as it slid across her side, following the line of her ribs. Crimson flowed freely from the wound, staining golden fur. She didn't feel it, still intent on landing her paws on the fourth drow who by now had turned to face her with another growing ball of energy. Her senses were bombarded, the echoing of her brother and father howling still  ringing in her ears, the scent of their blood... and her own... along with the foul smell of singed fur filled her nostrils, her vision narrowed by the cloying mist of Rage. She would not realise that the howls she heard were her own. Nor would she see the drow priestess standing off to the side lift her staff.

 The burst of energy slithered through her body, shattering every nerve ending into a painful oblivion. All at once everything seemed clear. The emptiness that grew outward from her gut slowly began to consume her. Every muscle screamed in agony as the bolt from the staff ate its way through her until it dissipated and her massive limp frame slumped heavily into the leaf litter with a soft thud. Just before her eyes closed she caught a glimpse of her father, his crinos form battered and bloodied, laying not more than a couple of feet from her. The whine that echoed in her head never left her paralysed body as she stared at his lifeless body.

 Consciousness remained with her long enough to see the drow kick aside their dead companion and retrieve something from the grass. A small dark stone, polished and glowing with runes. It was handed to the priestess who turned without a word and walked off in the direction of the lunar pool. Solus, still unconscious and still was ignored by the drow, clearly not a concern. The remaining three circled Graea, mumbled words exchanged in a language she couldn't understand even if she could have focussed on it. Her mind screamed and raged from within a body that could not, would not move. A million permutations of their gruesome deaths at her hands played out in her mind as the drow wielding the silver sword stood over her with a malicious smirk playing on his dark lips. Emerald eyes tried to swivel upwards, more screaming from her subconscious, willing every muscle into action.... but there was none. The silver bit into her skin over and over again as the drow marked out six perfectly parallel marks into her shoulder and left the poison to do its work as the three stalked off to follow their mistress. Slowly darkness took Graea's mind and her eyes finally closed.