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Night had fallen upon the sky as Akiana huddled closer to the fire. The pain in her shoulder, from a lucky shot during a fight earlier, ached with the fading nights chill. Two of the wolves had perished during the fight earlier and their leader received only superficial wounds.

"Grrr" Akiana grumbled as the wolf leader came closer to her.

"Are you ready?"

"For..."

Akiana wasn't left much time to brace herself as the wolf leader quickly pulled the arrow from her shoulder, much to her painful surprise. Akiana was no stranger to pain and tried not to yelp out in pain afterwards and fainted.

After coming to, an hour or so later, Akiana heard the wolf come from somewhere behind her. His silent movement was broken when he tossed a few more pieces of wood onto the fire.

"You fought good back there..." he said before sitting across from Akiana. "For a woman."

"I can handle myself" Akiana mumnled over the throbbing of her shoulder.

"So I've noticed" he said.

Akiana managed to lie down as the pain was overwhelming. At least I'm still alive she thought as she began to drift off again.

"I've been wondering about you for most of the evening" said the wolf, "What are doing out here?"

Akiana figured it would come down to this, at one point or another. This wolf had saved me, sure, but that doesn't make us friends or anything. Does it? I guess it wouldn't hurt to share but then again why take the chance?

"My business is my own" Akiana said as she turned her back to him.

She could hear him laughing to himself as he moved, the dirt shifting beneath his feet alerted Akiana to his position as she suddenly felt him lean up against her on the ground, fur touching only for a brisk moment, as she realized what he was up to.

"What are you doing!?" Akiana asked in a fit of embarrassment, inching herself away from his warm frame before the pain in her shoulder caused her to stop.

"It's cold out tonight" he said, "And I don't think you'd want to freeze. I know I wouldn't."

Sleeping with the enemy? Akiana thought as something inside told her not to trust this wolf. But he had a point. It was cold. Even with the fire burning off to Akiana's side she still felt cold.

Akiana hesitated for a moment before scooting closer to his frame. His warmth was indeed pleasing as Akiana felt her eyes getting heavier.

"I'll try not to move so much" he said.

Morning had come and Akiana felt the heat warming her fur. She peered to where the wolf was and found out he had already gone and pondered when he left but picked up his scent on the breeze a moment later. Amongst the dirt and brush Akiana picked up the hint of buckskin and sweat. The silence and sun was hindered as he stood over Akiana.

"Eat this, it'll make you feel better." he spoke as he offered it.

Rather than ignore his advice Akiana took the jerky from him and stopped before taking a bite, "Is it poisoned?" she asked.

He laughed and leaned down to take a bite from the jerky. "Feeling better?" he asked as he sat next to Akiana.

"So far." Akiana replied as she took a bite. It was tangy and had a bit of seasoning, something she couldn't place exactly but it was tasty. It reminded her of the jerky the vixens back home would make. At that moment Akiana felt at home even if it was in the company of a wolf, who tried to kill her earlier.

"Slow down or you'll choke otherwise" he said.

"You never told me your name." Akiana asked over a mouthful of jerky.

The wolf smiled in response to her question, figuring that much after such a peace offering.

"Walks With Pride" he spoke after he swallowing. Jokingly he asked, "What's yours, it isn't Stands With a Fist is it?"

They laughed at the joke he had made and fell silent once again, but not before Akiana had herself a giggle or two afterwards. It took a few moments but Akiana was able to regain her composure and answered, "To the wolves I'm know as Ma'ki desh'onai but to my friends I'm called Akiana."

"Wolf Walker" he spoke, in a serious tone while nodding his head. "I like Akiana better"

"What about you? Do you have a name under that title?" Akiana asked hesitant at first as to his reply.

"You can call me Walker. If it suits you better, that is." he replied.

"Walker. Hmm. Short, subtle. I like it." Akiana said.

"So now that we know each other, would mind telling me why you're out here in wolf territory?"

Akiana didn't see the harm in it so she told him about the reason for coming into wolven territory. At first he was skeptical but after awhile understood the reasons why. He told Akiana the wolves were also wary of the growing situation and were looking into the problem as well. Seto had sent scouting parties to search for food at the edges of wolven territory. When Walker mentioned the land where the water burns from the fire beneath Akiana asked him about the land and he told her that it rested in coyote territory and that few wolves dared crossing over, believing that the demon under the water would rise up and devour them.

"Demon?" Akiana asked, "I've never heard of any demon before"

Walker looked at Akiaa, he figured it was where she was headed and tried his best to keep her from going. He spoke out warning Akiana that the combined strength of the wolves and foxes were no match for a demon. Akiana replied in the only way she knew possible. She called him a coward and told him to go fuck himself. Or something along the lines of that anyways.

The next day Akiana departed the makeshift camp, after regaining her strength, just enough to carry her and her pack. Which, judging by the chat with Walker earlier, would only get heavier if she stayed any longer. The wound in her shoulder hurt every time she shifted the weight in her pack and her mind from worrying about her surroundings.

It had been a few days since Akiana seen any sign of wolves or coyotes. Her mind kept going back to the demon Walker had mentioned. How am I to kill such a thing? Is it even possible? The lives of my people depended on me. But a demon? Were the legends true then? Akiana asked herself.

The sun had already set over the mountains as Akiana neared the edge of wolven territory. She would have to be extra careful now as coyotes are prone to act first and question later, at least when they were dealing with wolves. As for foxes? Akiana couldn't really say because they tend to do the same when compared to the coyotes.

Akiana made camp in the cover of the tree line at the foot of the mountain. The sound of crickets singing their twilight song eased her into a hypnotic state as her ears shifted around atop her head as she rested for an early start at sunrise.

Akiana dreamt that night about Arukai. They were at Ravenfold gathering fish and goofing off. The water was warm and the sun was full. It was refreshing while they splashed each other with water, making fools of themselves.

Suddenly Akiana's ears picked up the sound of a twig snapping, alerting her to the presence of another, nearby. Slowly she reached over and unfastened her bow, making sure to maintain a good level of stealth. Akiana hadn't picked up the scent yet and hoped they haven't picked up her own. Raising up Akiana took cover behind a tree and peered out.

Three coyotes came out of the tree line, a good twenty yards away. They hadn't picked up Akiana's scent which meant that they were unaware of her presence. Silently she listened to their conversation.

"Ak'ir said he stumbled upon a group of wolves at Ravenfold. Said a vixen was among them.", spoke the one out front. "Said it was the foxen leader too. If I was there, I would've asked Ak'ir to have a bit of fun with the vixen before he killed her. Such a shame you know. Why waste a good piece of tail. Am I right?"

"Ak'ir" Akiana spoke silently, "So that's the scarred ones name"

"You couldn't handle a wet vision, let alone a vixen." replied one of the coyotes, "Besides she needs a real male to show her a good time not some pup."

Akiana heard them all laugh and drew her bow. The first coyote she could take with relative ease but the other two? She had to make sure there weren't any more first before doing anything rash.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Your just mad that I got to go first." came the reply of the one in front.

When Akiana didn't see any more she leaned out from cover and lined up her first arrow, making sure the arrow was a killshot. "Dead coyotes tell no tales" she whispered.

"In trouble again?" came a voice from behind Akiana.

Almost immediately Akiana recognized the voice, Walker. But how did he evade my keen senses? she thought.

Walker's voice came from the darkness once more, "I'll take the two on the right. No reason for me to keep all the fun to myself."

"You been following me?" Akiana asked while aiming.

"I've been tracking you for a few days now. I figured you'd get into trouble otherwise. Why, you not happy to see me?" Walker asked, coming up behind Akian with his own bow drawn.

Akian was happy to see him again. Just not so suddenly.

"Okay. On three" Akian spoke as she held breath.

The first arrow shoots forward and hit's the first coyote in the neck, dropping him to the ground clutching his throat. The other two looked around frantically as to where the arrow originated from when Akiana heard Walker's bow snap to life, his arrow hitting one of the coyotes square in the chest and sending him flying lifeless to the ground.

The last coyote took off running when Akiana heard Walker's bow snap again. The arrow flew silenty in the air before lodging itself into the shoulder of the last coyote, fumbling to the ground.

"Why not just kill him?" Akiana asked in a state of confusion.

"Don't you want to know more about the demon? What better way to find out than from a coyote, right?" Walker said as they closed in on the wounded coyote, who tried to crawl away but to no avail.

Walker did have a point but how he got the information was another thing. Walker tortured their captive into telling them more about the demon. Personally Akiana wanted to talk it out but Walker said his way was better. They soon learned that there was indeed a demon under the water and that it was using the coyotes to gather its food. Akiana didn't know whether to feel sorry for the coyotes or angry that they were feeding the demon so much food. It was a little of both but soon that feeling would end when Walker finished off the coyote.

"Seems what they say is true" said Walker as he pulled his knife from the coyotes side, "To imagine such a thing actually exists."

That old question came back up and Akiana asked Walker if they could kill such a thing. He said he didn't know. Leave it to a wolf to tell you something you already know Akiana thought as she gazed upon the lifeless coyote. "So what do we do now?" she asked.