Vaguely relates to this storybit about white Korats.

...

The dark creatures with their slender haunches and burly forelimbs had invaded less than two months ago, and already the white Korats who had previously ruled supreme on the ice were being displaced. The intruders did not respond to challenge, taunt, or plea to logic; their claws were as sure on ice and snow and wind-frozen rock as Koratian claws were, and they hunted with a single-minded intensity, regardless of their prey's sentience or fitness. Strong white packs could fend them off, but smaller hunting groups or young families were vulnerable to the dark beasts' hunting methods. And most defenseless were the few loners roaming the snowy wastelands.

The deep, vibrant color of blood was starkly contrasted against the grey-white tundra, splotches steaming against the ice in an erratic trail. The creature to whom the blood once belonged was moving slowly, stumbling and weaving; its heavy tail was smearing the fresh blood-trail, silky grey fur and triangular white blade staining crimson. A long, proud muzzle hung low, fogged and obscured within a mist of gasping breaths that puffed out with no heed to the rhythm of staggering steps. The stringy beard that dangled inches from the creature's chin dripped with saliva and tiny rivulets of blood that leaked from sculpted jaws.

He wasn't dying, not by a long shot. He left purpled tracks because his paws and forehands were soaked in the dark creatures' gore, and there was more purple than the crimson of his own life in the trail that he wound around outcroppings of rock and ice.

The strongest white packs had begun offering selective refuge to small family groups and sometimes to cubless pairs who had yet to start a real pack - always Korats who would contribute well to the bloodline and be able to help in the hunt. Those who were defenseless or stupid were left to die at the talons and fangs of the dark creatures.

He froze, the mist of his breath dissipating as he held the lungful of wet air in, dark green eyes lifting to scan the path ahead of him. Something wasn't right.

"Ajoha!"

The voice was unfamiliar. Who knew his name this far away from his birthpack?

"RUN!"

Well. No sense in arguing with the voices of shadows. Ajoha kicked his aching body into a strong gallop, feeling the thick muscles in his shoulders and haunches heat and then burn in protest. After the first stride and the first glancing blow of his tailblade against the frozen ground, he hefted his long tail off the ice and ignored the searing pain that radiated from the gash near its base. He passed the overhang where the voice had seemed to echo from, but no scent betrayed another beast's presence. He could be running straight into a trap, and he knew it.

But the voice had been gravelly and the word had been spoken in Koration, not Kalash. It led him to think that there was another Korat about who was inclined to help him.

The wind was dead today, and so Ajoha didn't smell the dark creatures in time. But he heard the fleshy thump as they fell from the ridges in the valley walls through which he'd just run, and he heard a few of them scrabbling claws-on-ice to get back up. Once he cleared the last overarching rock formation, he spun and drank in the scene. Half a dozen of the hunters had been waiting in ambush. Had he continued simply walking through, they could have dropped down around him and easily overpowered his flagging strength.

So where was his Koratian benefactor? Ajoha took a step forward, letting his tail fall again. Only three of the five creatures were moving, and one of those seemed unable to do more than crawl forwards. The tumble down the rock and ice could not have done that much damage alone.

There. His eyes darted to the left just in time to see an ivory-furred Korat leap gracefully into the air, launching itself from the rock formations towards the snow-covered area where he stood. A full mane, long beard, and tasseled eartufts marked this white as either immensely good in battle, or immensely good at avoiding it.

Given the purplish-red stains on its paws and muzzle, Ajoha betted on the former.

The ivory Korat landed smoothly, long legs absorbing the shock of impact with ease, and turned to glance at the moving two creatures. Golden-brown eyes glittering with what seemed to be amusement, it glanced at Ajoha and dropped its jaw in a fanged grin. "Give me a moment, Ajo," it said, hurling its bulk forward in a sprint back towards the survivors of its initial attack. Only after its back was turned and tail flowing with each stride did Ajoha notice the lack of a blade and realized that his defender was a woman.

He blinked, then sank to his haunches in the snow to watch. One on one, the dark creatures were never a match for a healthy, full-grown Korat. Only two were upright, only three alive, but he had seen the beasts fake death or greater injury in order to elicit an attack. He wondered if she knew the danger.

She passed the injured, crawling one first, and one swift blow from her heavy tail smashed its skull open against the base of the rocks. Ajoha's eyes widened slightly; those creatures were thick-headed, and it took an immense amount of strength to crack their bones like that. Maybe she wouldn't be caught off-guard after all.

Without hesitating, she had already moved on towards the other two. She passed one corpse that didn't stir, and Ajoha leaned forward as she reached the first creature. It lunged, massive fangs and wicked talons slashing towards her face and forelegs, but she leapt over its attack-- her haunches bunched and then fired, giving her enough force to sink her longclaws into the creature's neck and rip its head nearly off with a single kick-- she landed and didn't even look back as the new corpse sprayed gore and slid to a stop in a crumpled heap.

The remaining beast skittered backwards, howling, as Ajoha stared in a mixture of awe and morbid fascination. She had kept up her brisk gait after killing the other two, and she reached the third before it could hope to escape. In desperation, it swiped at her with its long forearms, hand-like talons curved to grapple if they got purchase on her fur or flesh. She dodged to the right, nearly passing it before her tail whipped around and smashed its face in, sending it sliding wetly backwards. Not missing a beat, the ivory female curved her path back around towards Ajoha and, a few moments later, stopped in front of him, barely breathing hard.

He tried very hard not to let his surprise show, but by the look in her eyes, she knew and found it amusing. "Good to see you again, Ajo." She settled into a sitting position, idly wiping her tail on the snow to rid it of some of the gore and shards of bone. "Are you hurt badly?"

Ajoha inhaled deeply, trying to identify her scent. It came to him after a few seconds of concentration, and despite himself, his eyes widened. "Fedi?!" She'd been his sister's favorite playmate until her parents clashed with their birthpack's leaders and left. His sister was unhappy for almost a full year afterwards; they were old enough that they would have become 'lai had Fedi stayed with the pack.

She laughed loudly, the sound ringing off their frigid surroundings. "Who else would it be, Ajo?"

"It's been years," he said, mostly in his own defense. She nosed at his wounds curiously - the slash in his chest, the gash in the base of his tail, and the few other bite-marks and scratches on his haunches and flanks. "I'm not badly off, Fedi." He paused as their gazes met again. "Were you hunting them?"

Her muzzle creased in a barely-stifled grin. "Perhaps." She sniffed his nose and he almost recoiled; he hadn't had anyone this close in months and months, if not years. Unsurprisingly, she caught his reaction and drew back, mirth fading from her expression. "Is something wrong, Ajo?"

Ghrayu, that look. When did the cub that he remembered grow into this beautiful, powerful adult? "It's been years," he repeated, trusting that she would understand. He felt sore and hungry, and he glanced past her to the five carcasses. "Lunch?"

Fedi nodded and leaned onto her paws, a fluid motion that had her standing before Ajo could haul himself upright. "Thanks," he added belatedly, moving carefully towards the bloodied path. She kept pace beside him, and he couldn't help but glance over and eyeball her frame. She was an inch shorter than him but more filled out; she'd probably been more successful in the hunt than he. Her fur wasn't choppy and rough, like his; she hadn't had as many close calls and deep wounds to mar her pelt and hide, at least not recently. There weren't any other Korat scents on her - which meant that she'd been doing better as a loner than he had...

"Quit sizing me up, Ajo. I'm not competition." She shot him a half-amused, half-not grin, more teeth than mirth in the expression.

He shook his head rapidly. "I wasn't. Well, not like you were competition. Sorry, Fedi." He swung his muzzle forward and realized that they'd slowly walked past the first carcass and towards the second, fresher, skull-cracked one. He glanced at it as they stopped, then mustered the pain-tolerance to lift his dragging tail and use his blade to cleave the creature's torso nearly in twain. Still-warm intestines spilled out onto the cold ground, faint steam rising. "You get its heart, if you want it."

"No," she growled. "They aren't prey, and there's no honor in killing them. The heart stays uneaten." It was unusual for Korats to ever eat the flesh of sentients, but in the frigid arctic areas, whites were not too honorable to refuse food - especially if it was from the bodies of those who would kill or starve them.

Fedi dipped her muzzle down to take up a loop of intestines, tugging and jerking until most of the coiled length had dropped onto the frozen earth. She proffered her jawful of ropy innards to Ajoha, and he accepted, wrinkling his nose as their whiskers tangled. But the food was welcome, and they settled down to eat in silence.

Well, it would have been silence - the same silence that had stretched for almost ten years between them, ever since Fedi's parents left the pack. But the ivory Korat looked up, muzzle stained dark with blood from her meal, cocked her head, and said, "Your eyes remind me of the buildings in Olashi cities. A marble gaze."

He blinked at her, still chewing on a slab of tougher meat, then ducked his head when she didn't look away. After swallowing, he managed to find his voice. "You went so far south as to see those things?"

"I've been around," she said dismissively, nonchalant. Neither of them had ever mastered the white way of showing no emotion and revealing no information that was not chosen to be displayed. "What have you been doing?"

"Nothing." The answer came out more hollow than he'd intended. "I left the pack a few years after you did - too young. Should've died, but I made it this far. The dark creatures showed up a few months ago and started displacing all but strong packs. I used to encounter other loners or small nomadic groups every few weeks. Now, I just find their bones."

Fedi nodded, sharpening her foreclaws on a thigh bone that she'd gnawed clean of meat. "You survived attacks from them, then."

"Only a few. I keep my distance." He curled his lips high in a Koratian smirk. "I'm faster than they are. So I run away if I catch sight or scent of them." He eyed her. "And what of you? You fought like you were used to killing them."

She growled a chuckle. "Actually, I'm not. I came back north earlier this year; before today, I'd only encountered them once before, and only two that time. They tried to kill me as I slept, and I barely escaped with my life, but I learned my lesson."

Ajoha arched a furred brow. "Where'd you learn to fight that well, then?"

"The south," Fedi said noncommitally, tilting her head in a shrug. "I spent a few years in warmer climes."

"Why'd you come back?"

She looked surprised. "This is my home, Ajo. I might stray, but it's still home."

To be continued...